Jon Doe This is such a common friction that will show up over and over again in so many things that you tie that it makes sense to practice with both hands to become a bit ambidextrous at this one!

Hi Jon! If you’re worried about needing to quickly release this tie from the start of the pattern you could go back through the original wrist cuff instead of the bight!

Great question! We often get questions about modifying harnesses and the answer often boils down to: try it out. We think what you’re proposing here makes a lot of sense. Keep in mind that a low hands position will be less anatomically stable and the arms more likely to shift up and down as Tam mentions. You’ll notice this most in more upright positions. Paying attention to the location of that top wrap friction/length of the stem will probably also be important as you lab! If you explore this, feel free to share your results and thoughts in the community space! We’d love to know how it goes. 

Sir Zegna We love Naka style and have deep respect for him and his practice. Naka gives careful permission to a select few of his students to teach his style, and doesn’t give permission to his students to teach online, so while you may see some of our instructors use his harnesses on our site, you won’t find tutorials about his patterns here. We care a lot about respecting his wishes for how his work is transmitted throughout the community!

That could definitely work! 

If you start exploring and have more questions, feel free to take pics/videos and ask our community for support in the new community space. 

Great question! Box ties have a reputation for being a bit more high-risk when it comes to nerve compression, and for good reason. That said, lots and lots of people enjoy tying and being tied in box ties all the time! Lots of people think of high risk areas as places where you should never place rope, but most of the time we think about higher risk areas as indicating that more knowledge and communication is necessary to stay safe. Some things you can do to practice this tie more safely are: be really attentive to your tension and making it even, work on the ground to build confidence (working on the ground means that a LOT less load is being exerted upon the harness, which minimizes the risk of nerve compression), watch our nerve safety and hand checks videos. And yes, you’re absolutely right that a quick release at the wrists can be helpful. When we drop the arms out of box position and to our sides, they push out less against the ropes, which can also relieve nerve symptoms! 

You’ll find that the ribcage changes shape and size a bit as the arms go up and down. If you want to tie the arms up and out of the way for convenience and for the energetics of having the hands bound, try tying the arms so that the wrists hang at about face height. You’ll get a bit more bondage out of the whole experience without needing to worry about your tensions changing once you drop the arms! 

Absolutely! Give it a try and let us know how it goes! If you want to upload a picture or video of your experiments in the new community space that would be great! I’m sure you’d inspire a lot of other folks to play around too! -fuoco

You can definitely lock to the top wraps here if you prefer, as shown in the other tutorials you mention!