Pressure Cooker is a pilot program

Ram’s Head Pressure Cooker is a 6-month immersive program created by the Bondage Soup community in McMinnville, Oregon.

It is presented through three weekend intensives and supported by office hours that create space for skill growth, questions, and practice between intensives.

Built from the shared language, terminology, and curriculum of Bondage Soup, Ram’s Head Pressure Cooker offers an adapted and accelerated learning experience for rope practitioners who are no longer at the beginning.

Pressure Cooker starts with proficiency in tying a fully structured futomomo. This establishes where the curriculum begins rather than assuming proficiency in everything that might come before it.

Description:

Ram’s Head Pressure Cooker takes the original 12-month Bondage Soup curriculum and adapts it into three weekend intensives.

This adapted program is intended for tying pairs with rope experience seeking to take their rope to the next level.

Like Bondage Soup, Ram’s Head Pressure Cooker will be free to attendees for instruction. The only cost will be travel and food related. The program is a series of three weekend intensives spaced over six months with a progressive curriculum as part of a small cohort.

This accelerated series is meant to refine existing skills, develop deep rope connections, and create community. 

Those accepted into the program will learn the same vocabulary, patterns, and suspension sequences as in the 12-month program at a faster pace.

Mission:

Ram’s Head Pressure Cooker’s mission is to support the continued education of rope practice through the refinement of technical skill, interpersonal attunement, and embodied practice.

Building on established fundamentals, this program explores precision, intentionality, and the interplay between structure and creativity.

Our community is built on mutual respect, accountability, and shared responsibility to create space for challenge, growth, and meaningful connection.

Location & Instructors:

Pressure Cooker will be held at Ram’s Head in McMinnville, OR.  Ram’s Head is

a leather house and event space located on 20 acres with a large amount of space. It

includes a dedicated rope room that will provide not just the opportunity for instruction

but for socializing and labbing rope.  Space will be available for attendees to camp or

stay overnight in the main house.  We’ll share communal meals over the weekend of

each intensive.  HedonisticUrge, Stabbie, & Trauma will be the lead instructors for Pressure

Cooker.  HedonisticUrge is a 2018 BoSo Graduate, Stabbie is a double graduate (top

and bottom), and Trauma graduated in 2024.  Collectively we have thousands of hours

of rope instruction, practice, and play.  We are a Leather family with a particular interest

in rope and education.  Additionally, Bondage Soup graduates and instructors

will be providing their perspectives and facilitating learning.

Pre-requisites:

The program is intended for those who are through the early stages of their rope

journey and are ready to take the next steps. Tops will need to be able to tie a solid

single-column, know a suspension worthy chest and hip harness, and are either already

suspending, or ready to do so.  Bottoms should have an understanding of how their

body reacts in rope, be able to articulate when a tie isn’t working, and capable of

communicating clearly.  The objective is to help take those skills to the next level, with

the instructors guiding and improving existing competencies, while sharing attendee

experiences with one another.  Expectations for practice and commitment are high, as

the condensed nature of the program will be intense.

Application & Selection:

The application and selection process for Ram’s Head Pressure Cooker is separate from

Bondage Soup.  We will begin accepting applications on March 1 thru March

30th.  Like BoSo, when applications open we will cap the number of applications

accepted at 20 tying pairs. Tying pairs of a top and bottom will be able to apply for the

program online. The instructor team will then review those applications and select ten

tying pairs to be invited to Ram’s Head on April 18th for the final selection process.

Final selection: We’ll have an afternoon of in person interviews, demonstration of

existing rope competency, and socializing with other candidates, BoSo graduates, and

instructors. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate a single column and a futo, be

able to articulate their interest in rope and the BoSo community, and to interact with

others in a group setting.  Final selection will be based on the instructor’s evaluation of

fit based on those interactions.  Candidates may also opt out at this point.  Five tying

pairs will be selected for Pressure Cooker.

Structure & Process:

Each intensive will be for a weekend, divided between Saturday and Sunday sessions. 

Saturday’s immersive intensive will start at 11AM and run until 7PM or 8PM.  There will

be two or three short breaks, a break for lunch, and for dinner, and ample time for

untie- retie.  Attendees will be invited to stay at Ram’s Head overnight but are

welcome to procure lodgings in McMinnville or return home.  

Sunday will start at 10AM after a communal breakfast.  We’ll have a lunch break and

wrap up no later than 6PM so attendees can return to normal life.  There will be time

and space for individual practice of curriculum, both guided and unguided.

Intensives will be scheduled for June, August, and October.  With afternoons for

practice and development in July, September, and November.  Attendees who complete

the program will do a performance in December at a graduation ceremony. 

This structure is an experiment.  It could go gloriously wrong, or disastrously right. 

Success will be determined by participation of the attendees. Proficiencies will be

incorporated into the weekend intensives, with a proficiency on Sunday based on the

learning from Saturday AND a proficiency in intensives 2 & 3 based on all of the

previous curriculum. Disciplined practice between intensives is crucial. Due to the

schedule, no allowance for missing sessions will be made.  All attendees will be

expected to attend the full weekend intensive, the November practice, and December

final performance to complete the program. No partner changes will be allowed.  

Attendees will be expected to have a full rope kit capable of suspension and associated

rigging hardware needed (rings, straps, carabiners, etc). We will provide a meal each

weekend (usually Saturday dinner) but would ask attendees to pitch in for take-out or

ingredients for the other three meals (Sat lunch, Sunday breakfast, Sunday lunch).

The group will work out details as a group.

Intensive One:

June 6th and 7th

Intensive 1 - Day 1: Theory, Singe Columns, Negotiation, Rope Handling

Intensive 1 - Day 2: Lower Body Harnesses, Uplines, Tie-Ins & Lock-offs.

Intensive Two:

August 8th and 9th

Intensive 2 – Day 1: Proficiency, Gotes

Intensive 2 – Day 2: Non-Gote Chest Harnesses

Intensive Three:

October 10th – 11th

Intensive 3 – Day 1: Proficiency, Rope Physics Class, Partials

Intensive 3 – Day 2: Three Suspensions.