Mindfulness and sex
Adele R. McDowell, Ph.D.
August 21, 2009
Mindfulness, the seventh of Buddha´s Nobel Eightfold Path, has outgrown its original container. Mindfulness is not just for meditation anymore.
Remember, there was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, followed by similar books on finding the Zen zone in golf, archery, and happiness. Mindfulness has been used in stress reduction and paired with many current forms of psychology. There is mindful breathing and mindful eating.
It stands to reason that mindfulness would cozy up to sex – and it has.
At the OneTaste Urban Retreat Center, orgasm meets meditation, and slow sex becomes a series of classes. Here, mindfulness, consciousness, yoga, intimacy, education, discussion, and sex find each other through an assortment of offerings.
OneTaste began in San Francisco, where it continues to be wildly successful. Now, OneTaste, featured in The New York Times, has opened a space in New York City. If you live elsewhere, OneTaste offers distance learning options through teleconferences, online videos, and audio pod casts.
OneTaste offers classes, events, personal coaching, and gender-specific discussion groups. There is, also, an online community where (for $20 per month) you have access to blogs, articles, videos, podcasts, online "Intimate Life" course, and weekly emails on subjects such as mindfulness and sexuality. Their programs are open to adults 18 years and older.
OneTaste grabbed the media´s attention with its threefold, holistic (read: mind-body-spirit) practice that is offered daily. This practice, which is their version of "OM´ing," includes three 15-minute segments of movement (i.e. yoga), sitting meditation, and orgasmic meditation. The orgasmic meditation is a structured, mindfulness practice where, when focused on women, the men put on gloves, and the women remove their pants for specific, measured exercise and focus.
"With openness and curiosity, your ability to feel is refined through the practice of Orgasmic Meditation. When you actually pay attention, a deep buzz may reveal itself which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Sensations that were once dull and fuzzy become crisp and vivid, pulsing and alive.
The simple beauty of slow sex is that one doesn't need to go to the extremes of heedlessness or renunciation to experience this vital part of ourselves. You can understand it by slowly and deliberately peeling away the layers of distraction and uncertainty and coming into this amazing energetic core."
The founder, Nicole Daedone said, in an ABC´s Nightline interview: "This is just a way of saying, you know what, every single day... I'm going to take time out for myself and my partner and we are going to take that time and make that the foundation of our lives, this connection … And you get to feel the world around you in this unadulterated way, just raw sensations of life."
She furthered allowed on her website (www.onetaste.us), "Through mindful sexuality, a sense of self, and a deep feeling of connection with others, our lives are grounded in meaning, fullness and happiness."
Intimacy, which requires a mindful, present self as well as a sense of trust, is the basis of strong, healthy relationships, and it is a huge theme in OneTaste´s work.
The most interesting version of yourself is the "you". Think about it.
What if, when you are relating with someone, you just stay in the moment? You avoid the narrative in your head and the personality that you've always used with others, and just honestly drop into yourself and let the other person see you there?
Courageously uncovered, giving them permission to do the same, you may find a moment of connection and intimacy that is more intense and fulfilling than any you could have concocted. With nothing extra shielding you from the real experience, you just might engender more intimacy in your life.
OneTaste is not a prurient practice; it is a way to make peace with your intimate self. Their concept is bold, daring, and innovative. Expressing your authenticity, sensuality, and sexuality in an open-hearted, conscious manner is a healing endeavor.
There is a fine line between sexuality and spirituality; OneTaste offers a mindful point of convergence.
Copyright 2009 by Adele Ryan McDowell.
Remember, there was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, followed by similar books on finding the Zen zone in golf, archery, and happiness. Mindfulness has been used in stress reduction and paired with many current forms of psychology. There is mindful breathing and mindful eating.
It stands to reason that mindfulness would cozy up to sex – and it has.
At the OneTaste Urban Retreat Center, orgasm meets meditation, and slow sex becomes a series of classes. Here, mindfulness, consciousness, yoga, intimacy, education, discussion, and sex find each other through an assortment of offerings.
OneTaste began in San Francisco, where it continues to be wildly successful. Now, OneTaste, featured in The New York Times, has opened a space in New York City. If you live elsewhere, OneTaste offers distance learning options through teleconferences, online videos, and audio pod casts.
OneTaste offers classes, events, personal coaching, and gender-specific discussion groups. There is, also, an online community where (for $20 per month) you have access to blogs, articles, videos, podcasts, online "Intimate Life" course, and weekly emails on subjects such as mindfulness and sexuality. Their programs are open to adults 18 years and older.
OneTaste grabbed the media´s attention with its threefold, holistic (read: mind-body-spirit) practice that is offered daily. This practice, which is their version of "OM´ing," includes three 15-minute segments of movement (i.e. yoga), sitting meditation, and orgasmic meditation. The orgasmic meditation is a structured, mindfulness practice where, when focused on women, the men put on gloves, and the women remove their pants for specific, measured exercise and focus.
"With openness and curiosity, your ability to feel is refined through the practice of Orgasmic Meditation. When you actually pay attention, a deep buzz may reveal itself which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Sensations that were once dull and fuzzy become crisp and vivid, pulsing and alive.
The simple beauty of slow sex is that one doesn't need to go to the extremes of heedlessness or renunciation to experience this vital part of ourselves. You can understand it by slowly and deliberately peeling away the layers of distraction and uncertainty and coming into this amazing energetic core."
The founder, Nicole Daedone said, in an ABC´s Nightline interview: "This is just a way of saying, you know what, every single day... I'm going to take time out for myself and my partner and we are going to take that time and make that the foundation of our lives, this connection … And you get to feel the world around you in this unadulterated way, just raw sensations of life."
She furthered allowed on her website (www.onetaste.us), "Through mindful sexuality, a sense of self, and a deep feeling of connection with others, our lives are grounded in meaning, fullness and happiness."
Intimacy, which requires a mindful, present self as well as a sense of trust, is the basis of strong, healthy relationships, and it is a huge theme in OneTaste´s work.
The most interesting version of yourself is the "you". Think about it.
What if, when you are relating with someone, you just stay in the moment? You avoid the narrative in your head and the personality that you've always used with others, and just honestly drop into yourself and let the other person see you there?
Courageously uncovered, giving them permission to do the same, you may find a moment of connection and intimacy that is more intense and fulfilling than any you could have concocted. With nothing extra shielding you from the real experience, you just might engender more intimacy in your life.
OneTaste is not a prurient practice; it is a way to make peace with your intimate self. Their concept is bold, daring, and innovative. Expressing your authenticity, sensuality, and sexuality in an open-hearted, conscious manner is a healing endeavor.
There is a fine line between sexuality and spirituality; OneTaste offers a mindful point of convergence.
Copyright 2009 by Adele Ryan McDowell.
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