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Surrender vs. Submission (2019)

What is the difference between submission and surrender?

I want to offer one explanation. Both are about letting go of control, and the difference is where you go instead. In surrender, you journey into yourself. In submission, you journey into the will of another.

This makes surrender into an introspective experience, while submission into an interpersonal experience. In submission, you dedicate yourself to another being, and your attention remains full on their will. While in surrender you dedicate yourself to your present experience.

In surrender, your suffering is relieved by not comparing the present situation, to the past or future. While in submission your suffering is relieved by replacing your will with the will of another.

This distinction is important greatly when playing with polarity in control and power.

Workshop: Creative Rope Retreat (2019)

Welcome to a three-day retreat where you can learn how to tie and get tied in an intuitive, present, and creative manner, independently of your previous experience. We will work with strategies for improvisation, breakdown the ideas of beauty, and see how it shapes relationships in a tie.
And in the meanwhile hang out with magical people in beautiful nature.

Workshop: A Journey to the In-Between Space (2019)

The most rewarding place to exist as a human being is in the In-Between Space. Away from dogmatic truths and polarizing doctrines. This place is so nourishing in a time of political extremism, and goal-oriented productivity, where consequences are dire and punishment is corporal. The In-Between Space is a place to belong, in togetherness. In the presence, in-between the future and the past – ‘anyhow you get the gist.

Why rituals and BDSM? (2019)

Because rituals are the perfect ship and BDSM is the perfect compass to sail into the subconscious. Now let me explain why I would want to do that.

Workshop: The Point of Surrender with Lin Holmquist (2019)

This is a retreat for couples who wants to explore surrender in their relationship.

How do you relate to the topic surrender and what is surrender to you?

Lin and Andy have investigated surrender, submission and dominance in many different areas of their private and professional lives. This retreat is a practical experience for couples about power dynamics within a relationship.

Tips and tricks for building muscle memory (2019)

What is (one of) the most important skill to have a great rope session?

The boring answer is muscle memory, because that will transform the bondage from monologue with your memory, to a dialog with your partner. Here are my best tips-and-tricks when building muscle memory for rope bondage.

Workshop: Men tying men (2019)

Do you trust men? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll be tied up with ropes, and held by another man without force or violence. You will receive the gift of another man’s full attention and care, and you’ll practice doing the same for another man. Andy will share techniques on how to gently guide the body and mind to relax, trust, let go of control, and maybe even fully surrender.

Workshop: Liquid body bound, with Saara Rei (2018)

This is a workshop about drooling that provides a frame for the participants to explore different situations for drooling. From drooling yourself and getting drooled on, to choreographing the drooling, and observing as a witness. Maybe you will find it erotic, or shameful. Perhaps empowering, or disgusting. Either way there is only one way to find out. Let it pour.

Safer vs. braver spaces (2019)

I’ve for a long time been trying to define what happened to me during the years of Schwelle 7. And now ten years later I carry the fruits of Schwelle 7 forward in my own work with the in-between space. Now I realize that I’m personally more interested in a space to be brave, than a space to be safe.

Bondage and story, or why yoga pants doesn’t belong in my bondage (2019)

The human bondage experience tells a story between two people. In the simplest form of rope bondage, between the person tying and the person being tied. The story is created by individual fantasies coming together. Fantasies are like seeds in our unconscious waiting to be discovered and cultivated. By telling the story with our action, we learn about ourselves.

Workshop: Tantric rope journey (2019)

After teaching rope for almost ten years in different subcultures. The tantric community in Scandinavia has a special place in my heart. It taught me so much. To celebrate that I want to make a longer workshop tailored for the qualities and quirks that make it special to me. That is consciously being with the present experience – how does it feel right now? Breath in, breath out. Welcoming all emotions and giving them space. No fuckin’ charity still apply. This is for you and your experience.

I did a rope love scene in a feature film (2019)

…or I ghost rigged it. Ghost rigging is the deal that I make a beautiful tie for some kind of video recording or photoshoot, but we make it look like someone else did it. In this example a young girl suspending an older man.

Being busy the past years with my theatre studies, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around bondage and performance. One possible element is a story and character development, that the acts to tying ropes move the story somewhere. This is possible in a dedicated rope performance, but often feels forced and a bit out of place. However, being a part of the story that unravels in a feature film gives other possibilities.

In the clip below has Stefan has walked away from his ten year wedding anniversary, after an awkward dinner conversation about old lovers, commitment, abortion, loyalty and freedom. He needs a break from this day and the complexity of life. Faith leads him to Saga. As many times before. She is a university student of his. They share a secret.

Two rope study groups (2019)

I’m coming home to Stockholm this autumn and I’m super-hyped to start up the weekly rope teaching again. I can’t believe that two years of theatre and directing studies are over. Looking back on what I’ve learnt and how I’ve been tying the past years I decided to run two bi-weekly rope groups this autumn on very different subjects.

The story about a lone cowboy (2019)

Women often ask men to advise men on how to interact with women, but who am I to preach? I can share a story that I’ve seen re-enacted hundreds of times over the years. The story about a lone cowboy. It is heteronormative and exaggerated. Still, it carries an important message to some men out there.