This holiday season, I've been taking a break from running classes in SF to get Crash Restraint video production up and running again. Over the past 6 weeks, I've posted 17 new videos to the site, including:

• Basic single and double column ties
• Somerville Bowline single and double column ties
• A brand new chest harness
• One of my favorite bedroom ties
• A new inline column tie and an improved armbinder using it
• Kikkou, hishi, and knotless karada designs
• The best hair tie technique I've ever seen
• How to tie bent arms
• One, two, and three rope hogties, as well as a basic wrists to ankles hogtie

There's still a bunch more we shot that I'll be releasing in January as I finish editing them, so keep an eye on the Crash Restraint Twitter or Vimeo channels to catch them as they go up.

Happy holidays!

Thanks to some behind-the-scenes help by a generous Google employee, the Crash Restraint YouTube channel has been restored; so for those of you asking after some of my old pre-Vimeo videos, they're all available again now!

I have to admit that this leaves me with some very mixed feelings; on the one hand, if anything it strengthens my convinction in the problematic nature of YouTube's violations appeal process. On the other hand, it demonstrates maybe one of the few forces that can combat the tendency of large corporations to steamroll everything in their path -- namely that the bigger an organization is, the more likely there is to be an internal advocate who cares about some particular cause; and that at least in some cases, those people can make a difference.

I've been hearing from a lot of you looking for my videos, after my YouTube account having been suspended. Don't worry! All my videos that were on YouTube are also available on this site, and on my Vimeo channel.

Why did this happen?

The YouTube content review process is set up in such a way that when they think you've done something wrong, you get one appeal (which you must make without knowing the reason for your content being flagged), and if you lose that appeal, there is no recourse whatever; nor do they provide any feedback on why any such decisions are made. This makes YouTube inherently hostile to controversial content, such as content that skirts close to sexual topics, because every time a user flags something, there is a chance that the reviewer of your appeal is having a bad day, or also doesn't like the content, or whatever -- and if they reject your appeal, you're hosed.

What can be done about it?

Most importantly, if you find a broken link to a...

I'm happy to announce two exciting new events I'll be teaching at:

January 9-10th in San Francisco, I'll be running the first-ever Core Rope Curriculum Bondage Fundamentals Intensive. This will be a full weekend of instruction -- what would normally be 5 classes worth -- covering a huge variety of restrictive and decorative ties and techniques.

February 19-21st in Austin, I'll be presenting two classes at Ropecraft, a brand new rope conference put together by Graydancer; this should be a really interesting event, as Gray is one of the most consistently thoughtful voices in the conversation around approaching BDSM education with modern pedagogical tools.

Over the summer I've been quietly reworking the Core Rope Curriculum to include my latest research and discoveries, get beginners proficient more quickly, and provide a more unified online and offline learning experience. I've now updated the CRC Overview Page to reflect the new curriculum structure (with 8 rather than 7 levels), and include a list of the 2-hour class modules composing levels 1-3. For students taking classes in San Francisco, this will hopefully give you a better idea of where each class fits into the big picture.

For those learning online, keep an eye out over the next couple months for new features and content based on the updated curriculum.

Someone reported to me they were having trouble commenting on ties -- looking into it, it seems to have been broken for a while. That should now be fixed. Sorry about that. Please let me know any time you're having problems with the site!

I have two upcoming suspension intensives; in Baltimore Sep 12-13th I'll be doing a 2-day suspension intensive, and in San Francisco Oct 3rd I'll be doing a one-day introductory suspension intensive that will be the first in a new series of suspension classes running Oct-Jan.

I know some of you have been wondering about the lack of posts here, and particularly the lack of video updates. Don't worry, more content is coming! The past few months I've been very focused on my in-person teaching efforts, as I've expanded my programs in San Francisco and begun running intensives in other cities. However, I remain committed to the CRC video curriculum as well, and hope to have time to make a new series of videos this fall. Be sure to vote for the ties you want to see on video, I'll be checking the most popular requests when putting together a filming schedule!

This coming July, I'll be running a weekend of intensives in Seattle; there will be one track for those already doing advanced rope suspension, and another for those brand new to suspension. See the full details here.

Of course, if you're in San Francisco, you can still always catch me at my weekly CRC classes, and I'll be teaching at Shibaricon next week as well.

I recently posted several videos showing a new approach to second column ties; that is, how to tie another limb into the middle of a rope. That's useful for certain hip harnesses, tying wrists together behind the back, and a variety of bedroom ties.

There's also now a video of the third variation of the Quick Shoulder Harness -- one where you tie it standing/sitting, but it's comfortable to lie back on.

Finally, I filmed a neat elbows-behind-the-head tie which is useful for head support in suspension, or for standalone use as a floor tie.

I recently posted videos of two ways to add arms in at the end when tying a Shinju-type chest harness for suspension; one that just adds some simple support wraps, and another that mimics the wraps of a takate kote.

In general, I'm a big fan of tying the arms in last when starting an extended scene, because then I know if the arms/hands start to have circulation/nerve issues, I can untie just the arms and reposition them without having to untie everything else. This makes everybody a lot safer, because bottoms tend to be less reluctant to mention a problem when they know it can be easily fixed and won't spell an end to play.

Of course, sometimes you want to get control of someone's hands right away. In that type of situation, one option is to do a temporary wrist tie, then re-tie the hands at the end of tying other harnesses. That way you get all the benefits of having the hands bound for the entire scene, and of being able to easily reposition them.