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Shibari, this ancestral Japanese art of erotic bondage, goes far beyond the simple act of tying. It is a language, a silent dialogue between bodies, breaths, and resistances. Where some see only ropes and restraints, others discover an initiatory path: the paradox between surrender and power, between pain and pleasure, between control and release.
In shibari, pain is not an end, but a bridge. A way of opening the inner doors we too often keep closed. It flirts with the limits of the body, teases the ego, undresses certainty. And the deeper one enters the sensation, the more malleable it becomes—almost beautiful. The body no longer flees from pain; it tames it. It welcomes it as a wave linking the inside to the outside. Like a fight, but without an opponent.
There is something deeply martial in this art. The same respect for rhythm, breath, and presence in the moment. The same dialogue between tension and release, between the urge to defend and the decision to yield. Shibari teaches how to surrender without submitting, to yield without disappearing. Within it, as in combat, there is space to explore raw instinct… and the elegance of control.
And then, there is that element of masochism. Not as a shameful perversion, but as a refinement of our relationship to sensation. A capacity to sublimate pain so that it becomes beauty. A delight in simply being—fully present, in one’s skin, in one’s flesh, in one’s animality—while remaining dignified, poised, upright, even when suspended.
Shibari teaches this: that sometimes the greatest power lies in surrender. That true mastery does not mean controlling everything, but dancing with what exceeds us. It transforms pain into language, the body into landscape, the rope into brushstroke. And in that suspension between two states—between struggle and peace, between anticipation and thrill—a rare form of freedom emerges.
Why Tension?
In Montreal, shibari is gradually freeing itself from BDSM clichés to become a true art of connection—intimate, poetic, at times even therapeutic. It is within this current that Tension situates itself, cultivating a sensitive and accessible approach to rope. A unique space where aesthetics meet ethics, and where the community ensures a deeply safe, inclusive, and respectful environment.
My first visit to Tension was striking. From the moment I entered, I felt something different. An atmosphere both soft and vibrant, a subtle balance between mystery and welcome. That evening was one of their monthly performance nights: shibari demonstrations interspersed with exchanges, knowing glances, and charged silences. Nothing voyeuristic. Just something alive. Human. Connected.
Curious and touched, I decided to take an introductory class. My instructor, Will, immediately set the frame: safety, consent, communication. Not as a formality, but as a foundation. His mastery of gesture, his calm precision, gave me the confidence to let him tie me. It was not a trivial act—it was a conscious decision, an offering of the body, a pact of trust.
During that session, something was released. As if my muscular tensions—but also deeper resistances—had dissolved to the rhythm of the ropes. Surrender came without struggle. And afterward… an unexpected calm. A sense of clarity, a reopening to the world. A well-being so profound it remained etched in my smile for several days.
At Tension, one does not come to be seen. One comes to see oneself. To redefine one’s relationship to the body, to contact, to surrender. To experience shibari not as performance, but as a living art.
An art of presence.
