Mistress Couple - The Ultimate Guide to Bondage

Copyright 2018 by Mistress Couple.

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by Cleis Press, an imprint of Start Midnight, LLC, 101 Hudson Street, Thirty-Seventh Floor, Suite 3705, Jersey City, NJ 07302.

Printed in the United States.

Cover design: Allyson Fields

Cover photograph: Kiki Vassilakis

Illustrations: Emily Dorr

Text design: Frank Wiedemann

First Edition.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Trade paper ISBN: 978-1-62778- 274-6

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62778-275-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Some of the techniques described in this book are risky and could potentially cause bodily or psychological harm. Readers should seek the proper outside training and education before trying anything they read in this book. Further, all matters affecting your physical or mental health require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable for any damage, injury or harm to readers or to other people, or to material possessions, allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Bondage ! Im Mistress Couple, and I am here to guide you on a journey into the complex and exciting world of erotic bondage. Id like to tell you a little bit about myself so that you understand my background for writing this book. Like many, I arrived in the world of alternative sexuality through a long journey that involved many twists and turns. Ive been kinky for my entire life, but its hard to say when I first started intentionally seeking out bondage activities. A lot of my decision seems to stem back to my dance training.

Since the age of sixteen, I have studied ballroom and Latin dance techniques primarily, with some modern and ballet training mixed in. Learning how to control my body and make it move elegantly was a huge endeavor in mentally imposed discipline, and most likely my first erotic encounter with mental bondage. Taking my first steps in dance heels and pointe shoes was a humiliating foray into how debilitating different clothing or costume items could be. When I failed at producing the result that my dance coaches wanted to see (which was frequently), Id be forced to dance with a broomstick bound to my back like a scarecrow to enforce good posture. Better yet, when my coach really wanted to torture me, Id be placed in the predicament of trying to balance the broomstick across my arms as I demonstrated the proper ballroom dancing frame. I loved all of it. For me, the discipline, punishment, and pain were almost as delicious as the feeling of floating across the floor at the will of my partner. Yes, ballroom dancing even has elements of leading and following, dominance and submission.

In college, I continued my studies in dance, but also majored in psychology. I wanted to know not only what felt good in my body, but why it felt that way. I wanted to understand more about the human condition. Though my psychology classes provided a wonderful framework for understanding the science of the mind, bondage followed me to the dance department, and thus I focused most of my time there. One week into my freshman year, in a dance history course, an image of a woman stretching and straining within the confines of a Lycra garment shook me to the core. It was Martha Graham performing her famous ballet Lamentation . The emotion that she expressed, yearning to break through the boundaries that confined her, and bemoaning the bondage of the human condition, spoke to me on a deep, visceral level. Later that year I learned that the Graham company would be doing a summer residency at my school, and that Id have the privilege of training with them and learning from them firsthand. I remember sitting on the floor of the dance studio with my back pressed against the glass, watching the company perform Night Journey , a ballet based on the Greek tragedy of Oedipus Rex .

The ballet starts at the moment Jocasta learns that she has mated with her own son, Oedipus, and borne him children. She dances with a piece of rope, twisting and contorting, and indicating that she wants to use the rope to end her life. The ballet then launches into a pas de deux between Jocasta and Oedipus thats intended to portray a flashback to a previous encounter between the two, using the rope as the primary prop. Throughout the ballet, Jocasta holds Oedipus as she would both a son and lover. In the end, the lovers wrap themselves in the rope, which has come to represent both the umbilical cord and the complicated tangle of their relationship.

Witnessing this dance was a formative moment in my understanding of bondage. Watching it for the first time, up close, I was riveted. The ballet was created in the late 40s and I found it hard to believe that such racy subject matter was addressed in plain sight! I also was astounded at Grahams brilliant use of such a simple prop. That night, I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of rope. I had to know, how did it feel to be wrapped up as the dancers in the ballet were?

Through a twist of fate that could only be characterized as luck, the curiosity sparked by Grahams Night Journey ended up guiding me to La Domaine Esemar, the oldest BDSM training chteau still in existence today. Before BDSM became mainstream and pop culture, there were small households similar to La Domaine scattered all over the world, where people could go to discreetly and privately be trained in the sadomasochistic arts. There, I was carefully ushered into the world of fetish exploration at the hands of Master R, Mistress Collette, and the rest of the La Domaine community, which they referred to as their family. Realizing that there was a great deal I could learn from these people, I offered myself to them as a slave. I wanted to give myself to them completely, and in return, to absorb as much training and insight as my brain and body could handle.

As it turned out, La Domaine was the perfect place to achieve what I had set out to do. Not just because of the expertise of Master R and Mistress Collette, but because of the vastly different perspectives and approaches I was exposed to at the hands of the other family members. La Domaine was not a place for judgment. Everyone was welcome, and every approach was considered to be valid, as long as the basic tenets of consent and safety were followed. Down in the La Domaine dungeon, I had the honor of being trained, bound, and even suspended by some of the best bondage Masters and Mistresses that the world had to offer.

Now, it is seven years later. Master R and Mistress Collette have both retired, and somehow, through the strange and complicated journey that life takes one on, I am no longer a slave, but the Head Mistress of the chteau. Now, it is my pleasure and responsibility to facilitate experiences similar to the ones that enlightened me. Having been on both sides of the rope gives me an amazing inventory of personal experiences to draw upon, and also provides some insight into my name.

Just as I switched between the roles of leader and follower on the ballroom dance floor, I now also switch roles in the dungeon. My submission informs my dominance, and vice versa. They are two parts of a whole. You know how ballroom dancers often wear numbers on their backs during competition? Thanks to Master Rs astute sense of humor, my full name is actually Couple Number 69. That might be more than youd ever care to know about me.