with Saara Rei
“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.”
In this workshop, we will explore techniques for processing pain - both physical and emotional - in order to access suffering, release, and excitement, while staying grounded in presence and awareness.
Pain can be a powerful guide. It signals our limits, reveals where attention is needed, and can also highlight old barriers we’re ready to let go of. By staying attuned to our experience in real time, we learn to distinguish between the pain we should honor and the pain we may choose to move through. In doing so, we open the door to what many of us seek in BDSM and rope: meaningful suffering, conscious surrender, and transformative connection.
Together, we’ll build the tools to stay present, self-aware, and consensual - even in the most challenging, edgy moments.
We will explore both physical and emotional impact:
Physically, you’ll learn techniques for giving and receiving impact safely, on various parts of the body - including the face. We’ll cover:
Spanking zones for the hand and common tools
Anatomy and safety fundamentals
Rhythm, speed, and intensity
Movement, body control, and positioning
Skin preparation, bruises, and aftercare
Creative games and exercises for building comfort with pain
Emotionally, we’ll dive into the less visible forms of impact - those that leave marks on the psyche rather than the skin. We’ll explore:
Shame, submission, fear, and other emotional themes
Setting intention for the emotional arc of a scene
Navigating and repairing unintended emotional outcomes
Tools for presence, awareness, and regulation during difficult moments
Throughout the workshop, we’ll integrate verbal and non-verbal communication techniques, warm-up and cool-down practices, and approaches to processing pain in ways that deepen trust and connection. This work is about staying open and aware—never disconnected or overwhelmed.
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is open to all - regardless of experience level, identity, or play style. Please note that we may engage with emotionally intense topics, and exercises may be physically or psychologically challenging.
No one will be required to do anything. Sitting, breathing, and simply being present is enough. Your presence alone helps hold space for others. That shared presence is often the most important element in confronting emotions like shame or vulnerability.
This is not a therapy session, and Saara Rei is not a licensed mental health professional. However, she brings extensive experience in facilitation and mediation, and will hold space with care, respect, and grounding.
In the end, this is your practice. You remain in control at all times. You decide how deep you want to go, and what you’re ready to explore.
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Saara Rei is a multidisciplinary performance artist, Kinbaku practitioner, and workshop facilitator with a professional background in music, dance, education, and public speaking. Performing since early childhood as a dancer and classical musician, Saara has always viewed the stage as a space for honest collaboration between performers and audience. Her artistic voice blends the surreal, the provocative, and the emotionally raw, often exploring the absurd and the dissonant to evoke deep reflection.
Since 2014, Saara has been immersed in Japanese-inspired rope bondage, both as a rigger as well as a highly experienced rope bottom. For her, rope is a form of embodied truth - an intimate exchange where vulnerability cannot hide. As an experienced rope bottom, she has collaborated with some of the most respected riggers in the international Kinbaku community, shaping her approach to both performance and teaching. She is a co-founder of Embodied in Rope, an in-depth educational project and curriculum designed specifically for rope bottoms. Alongside fellow co-founders Anna Noctuelle and Natasha Nawataneko, they also host the podcast Model Behaviour together, offering nuanced conversations about rope from the model’s perspective, backed by over 40 years of combined experience in the scene.
With a strong grounding in power dynamics, sadomasochism, and emotional exploration, Saara’s work embraces hierarchy, intensity, and the healing potential of intentional suffering. Her workshops invite participants to engage with pain, fear, shame, and vulnerability as pathways to presence and transformation. Through this lens, she teaches how suffering - when chosen and understood - can be a profound teacher, guiding us into the immediacy of the present moment.
Holding a Ph.D. in mathematics, Saara blends academic rigor with embodied wisdom. Her teaching style is grounded, playful, and infused with humor, creating a space that is both light and deep - welcoming exploration, complexity, and growth. She considers herself a student of Felix Ruckert and the Schwelle7 community. And with that, she hopes to carry on the spirit of space she was once part of, sharing the lessons she has learned and the perspectives she has gained during her time spent there.