A Simplified Explanation of Levels

Figuring out your level and which rope workshops are right for you isn’t always straightforward. Terms like beginner, intermediate, and advanced can be vague, and interpretations vary widely from place to place and person to person. From experience, we know that workshop prerequisites often lead people to either underestimate or overestimate their skill level—which can result in frustration if the content feels too challenging, or in teachers needing to adapt material on the spot.

To help clarify things, we’ve created our own internal levels system. Please note that these descriptions apply only to workshops at Daruma, and mainly reflect the skills needed for the technical side of rope bondage—such as patterns, harnesses, suspension, and hashira tying. Many people may be considered ‘advanced’ in other ways, especially if they’ve focused on different aspects of their rope journey.

Level 0

Steps 1, 2, and 3 in our regular course program together make up what we consider “Level 0” (e.g. Level 0: Step 1, etc.). These courses are designed to take you from absolute beginner, through to safely attaching suspension lines and performing simple suspensions and partial suspensions. Alongside technical skills, we also teach the basics of rope handling, body handling, communication, safety and building a session.

Some standalone workshops outside of our core curriculum may also fall into this level if they are broadly accessible to all, and require minimal prior experience.

Level 1

After learning the foundational knots and frictions in Level 0, shibari progression becomes far less linear—which perhaps is one reason it's difficult to define levels like intermediate or advanced. Most Level 1 classes introduce a specific tying style or technique, such as hashira, transitions, semenawa, or aibunawa.

At Daruma, ‘level 1’ refers to any workshop where participants do not need any previous experience with the specific topic of the class, but do need a solid understanding of tying common harnesses and working with suspension lines (in the case of riggers), or being in suspension/common suspension harnesses (in the case of bottoms). All participants need an awareness of common safety issues, and experience communicating clearly with their partner.

Level 2

Level 2 workshops build on level 1 and do assume prior knowledge of the specific subject being taught.

For example, attending a level 1 hashira workshop will help prepare you for a level 2 hashira class—but not for level 2 transitions or semenawa, as each style requires a very different set of skills, and background knowledge.

Workshop Prerequisites

In addition to the general level definitions above, you’ll usually find a section called Workshop Prerequisites at the end of each workshop description. It’s important to read this carefully, as it’s written by the instructor and includes more specific requirements relevant to that particular class.