Sheila Crux

Her Workshops:

• Rough Body Play - together with Frank T. Khani
• Faces

Austrian Sheila Crux (born 1975) has a diverse bodywork background – among other things she practices Shiatsu, Tantra, breath work, Contact Improvisation, Tango and martial arts. Adventurer with body and soul. Unbridled hedonistically and with a fetish for intensity, she is a restless wanderer who values the benefits of being caught in the middle. Vienna serves as her homebase for many voyages, from Europe´s urban jungles to Asia´s arcadian country areas.

She is passionate about sports, dives in caves, climbs mountains, flies hang-gliders and is trained in white water rescue techniques. She has two decades of experience with BDSM under her belt, is a contact communication trainer and regularly teaches workshops on breath guidance and control, rough body play, water wrestling, play fighting and female dominance, both nationally and internationally. Co-organizer of the Xplore Vienna Festival.

More Information at: www.bodyplay.net

Rough Body Play (Kinky Kung Fu) - together with Frank T. Khani

To Play Resistance and Overpowering

Subjugation scenarios are among the most widespread and elementary erotic fantasies – many of us have known them since our youth. Yet only few of us act on them and create real-life scenarios where our partner’s playful resistance is overcome in a sensual manner. The primary reason generally is an uncertainty about how to realise such scenarios safely and consensually.

Subjugation games are a form of Rough Body Play. RBP is a very direct physical manifestation of BDSM. It encompasses everything from joyful scuffles to intense existential sessions. Its focus is less on tools and toys but rather on direct physical contact through physical dominance or stylized confrontation between a “top” and a “bottom” (this discriminates it from play fighting where there normally are no such roles). Despite its obvious physical aspect, Rough Body Play also features a strong psychological component.

In their concept, Frank and Sheila blend elements of martial arts, play fighting, and BDSM; Felix Ruckert’s Resistance Play is also an inspiration. Topics will include: observing and maintaining boundaries, the use of body language, playing with physical “assault”, forms of resistance, strong to painful holds and grappling, controlled use of the fist, using one’s body weight.

The workshop is intended not just for experienced BDSM players of all genders who are interested in carnal scenarios, but also for those who are seeking to take a first step towards BDSM (the focus on one’s body and feelings rather than on tools can be helpful here). And it further addresses anyone who, regardless of BDSM, enjoys these kinds of games.

We welcome couples of any kind and single people of any gender. Previous experience with martial arts or an above average level of fitness is not required, but please be sure to meet the basic health requirements for engaging in sports and physical activity. To those who may find the topic confrontational (e.g., those who may unfortunately have had to experience real violence) we would however politely suggest to refrain from participation (please ask us if unsure).

Faces

Our face is the most individual part of our body. It is a major identifier both for others and ourselves. By studying our face closely, other people can learn more about us than we may be comfortable with at that moment. Language and body expression are the two most relevant and specifically human forms of communication – both are central to our face. Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell - important gates to interacting with the world around us - are focused in our face.

No wonder our face is maybe the most intimate part of our body. But while more obvious intimate parts like our genitals get a lot of attention during sexual acts, it is not as common for our faces to be on the receiving end of erotic considerations. Still - contact with our face in general and our hair, cheeks, eyes, ears, mouth and neck in particular, is usually reserved to our closest confidants or even restricted further.

In this workshop we will take another road: By consciously breaking though our own restrictions and allowing the crossing of intimacy of a face per se, we will experience closeness and trust.

We will study and explore faces, deliberately unemotional and cold, as well as deliberately sensually and kind. During this process of studying, unavoidably our faces WILL communicate with each other and many short scenarios can arise through that. In those I may convey trust and kindness and may be met with resistance or rudeness. How vulnerable does it make me feel to bare my neck, or open my mouth? We will experiment with caresses and other soft touches, as well as with more intensive and symbolically aggressive stimulations. We will experience how a slap to the face may be anything - from a punishment to a gesture of deep and intense trust.

Martial Arts teach: Who controls the head, controls the whole body. We will do exactly that and show how to use someone’s face and head to physically control them by holding, pushing, catching, turning, etc.

Experience teaches: Who controls the head, controls the heart. By focusing on another’s face, we are able to get up real close and intimate to them and influence the way the feel about us, themselves and our situation. We may make each other furious, calm, shaking with tension or melting with devotion. We may want to lay our face into the warm hands or under the feet of someone. We may be deeply disturbed by unwanted contact or by not receiving the contact we crave for. In this workshop we will experiment with situations that are not everyday common and will experience that the intimacy surrounding our face may have been more attention-worthy than we might have thought.

Photos: © Mika Wißkirchen