When we think of a new year, the thoughts often come with a lot of noise: resolutions, goals, the pressure to improve, and the heavy expectation of “new beginnings”. When a rope practice is a part of your life, that noise can easily translate into feeling like we need to learn more, learn faster, tie “harder,” or level up in ways that are visible to others. It’s especially easy to get caught in the internal dialogue of whether you’re doing enough or doing it “right”. Many of us can relate to these feelings as we settle into 2026, and I’m writing this blog in an attempt to start a wider conversation about it.
What I have found healing in my personal life journey is to unsubscribe from the cultural concepts of a new year entirely. Instead of thinking about the new year as a reset, a race, or something heavy with expectation, I find it more grounding to think of it as a threshold, a gentle opportunity.
Instead of thinking about the new year as a reset, a race, or something heavy with expectation, I find it more grounding to think of it as a threshold, a gentle opportunity. A threshold is simply a pause. We all need moments to notice where we are before we can consciously and organically move forward. In our rope practice, these pauses can be integral. They remind us that rope is not about collecting techniques or striving for “mastery”, but about building a relationship with a tool that unfolds over time. The way rope feels in our hands, on our bodies, and within our nervous systems can change from day to day, and that variability is not a problem to deal with, it’s an essential part of the practice.
When I talk about tending the thread of your rope practice, I’m referring to (re)introducing care and attention, no matter where you’re starting from or what kind of day you’re having. It’s meeting yourself where you are, so you can better meet others where they are. Intention doesn’t mean having everything figured out, or even moving perfectly. It means approaching this human practice from a place of curiosity and heart, checking in with your body, your capacity, and your interest before you tie, whether you’re on the top or bottom end of the rope, and extending that care to those who you tie with. Practicing with intention allows learning to happen at a pace that feels supportive rather than rushed.
Intention doesn’t mean having everything figured out... It means approaching this human practice from a place of curiosity and heart, checking in with your body, your capacity, and your interest before you tie… Approaching rope this way creates room for trust in yourself, in your process, and in the people and communities you choose to learn from and share your journey with.
Bliss & Honey Intention begins in the body Rope is first and foremost a bodily experience. It can be easy to think about intention in rope in terms of mindset or goals, but rope is felt . Because of this, intention doesn’t begin when the rope touches the body, it begins before you tie, with awareness.
Our bodies are constantly offering information and sending messages. Are you listening? Have you created a habit, a ritual, a practice out of listening? A simple way to check in with yourself intentionally is to pause and breathe. Notice what is present. Is your breath shallow or full? Do you feel grounded or scattered? Are there areas of tension, numbness, or ease? This kind of noticing isn’t about fixing anything or identifying problems; it’s about orienting yourself to where you are.
From this place, choices often become clearer. How quickly do you want or need to move today? How much intensity feels supportive? Is this a moment for practice, play, both, or rest? Letting these questions guide your rope practice allows it to respond to your body rather than override it.
Embodiment in rope doesn’t require special techniques or perfect awareness. It’s simply the practice of paying attention and strengthening that muscle through practice. When intention is rooted in the body, rope becomes less about pushing limits and more about building trust as you move through different physical and emotional terrain. These moments of trust support sustainability, deepen connection, and help create the conditions for genuine community.
Bliss & Honey Reclaiming agency with intention as a student of rope Deepening your rope practice reveals intention not just in how you tie, but in how you learn . Rope education is often framed as something we receive, but in reality, it is a relational process, another relationship to tend to, and your agency as a student matters.
As you enter a new year of practice, I invite you to recognize yourself as an active participant in your learning experience, and in shaping the avenues of access for learning that you desire. Use your voice, ask questions, request clarification and resources, take breaks, and flex your discernment. How do you like to spend your time, attention and money? What kind of learning environments support you not only in building skill, but in feeling seen, respected and resourced?
As you enter a new year of practice, I invite you to recognize yourself as an active participant in your learning experience, and in shaping the avenues of access for learning that you desire. Practicing agency often means leaning toward teachers, spaces and communities that listen to feedback, honor boundaries, and prioritize relationships alongside technique. It may also mean choosing environments that help you vet other experiences you wish to have rather than pushing toward dependency, comparison or a sense of urgency.
When students practice agency in their learning process, rope spaces become safer, more collaborative and more sustainable. Learning shifts from something to prove into something we build together, a shared culture rooted in consent, curiosity and care.
Bliss & Honey Rope in community As we practice intentionally with others, have experiences alongside one another and engage in this practice in shared spaces, communities begin to bloom from both visible agreements and unspoken norms. Practicing rope intentionally is never only a personal effort, it’s a collective one. How we show up alongside one another directly influences the kind of belonging our rope spaces have the capacity to hold (consider this both in a parasocial way and as well as in person).
Rope is a human skill and humans don’t thrive in isolation. Belonging is a fundamental human need and shapes how we show up, how long we stay, and how willing we are to invest in ourselves and in shared spaces. In rope, where vulnerability, trust, and intimacy are often present, belonging isn’t a bonus, it’s a part of the foundation that allows the practice to be sustainable and consensual. Belonging helps determine whether people feel supported enough to learn, explore and return.
In rope, where vulnerability, trust, and intimacy are often present, belonging isn’t a bonus, it’s a part of the foundation that allows the practice to be sustainable and consensual. When we strengthen the layers of individual awareness, relational care, and thoughtful community design, we’re not just improving our own experiences, we are contributing to the resilience of the communities we grow. This is where rope skill and life skill meet, shaping environments where people can be supported over time.
Bliss & Honey A ritual for the new year One way we are committed to practicing intention in 2026 at The Empty Space studio in Austin, TX is through a collective ritual we hosted during our Open [Studio] Space on January 1st. Together, members of our community built an intention tree: a visible representation of what we would like to carry into the new year and what we hope to grow. Alongside this, we also named and released what no longer feels welcome in our practices: comparison, judgement, urgency and other patterns that can quietly erode connection over time. Each intention becomes both personal and communal, as something we claim for ourselves and something we allow to be witnessed by others.
We stamped and addressed these intentions to ourselves as we concluded the ritual, and they will be mailed back to participants halfway through the year as a gentle check in, inviting reflection. This ritual is not about accountability through pressure, but a reminder that we tend to intention over time and that there is a community to help support goals collectively.
Bliss & Honey On the threshold of a new beginning… It’s important to remember that our rope practice will shift as our bodies change, as our relationships evolve, and as our communities grow and adapt around us. Intention itself is a practice alongside our rope journey and to tend to this thread is to choose presence over pressure, relationship over performance and curiosity over comparison. It’s a practice of listening to your body, listening to others and listening to the environments you choose to move through. If you need some prompts, ask yourself:
What do I want my rope practice to feel like this year? Where am I craving clarity or care? How do I want to show up? Who or what do I need? What can I provide to others? Written with love, intention and care,
S.Bliss
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