I've read in books that if you have trauma, if you have old pain or grief stored in your body, and you don't have a way of releasing that or detoxing it, you’re stuck and can’t grow. You need something with enough force to break it open and let it out. That's what I think the practice of Orgasmic Meditation (OM) does.
When I first started the practice, I had a lot of trauma that I wasn’t even aware of. I actually thought OM was a way to avoid intimacy. When I first heard about it, I thought, Oh, my god, you mean I can go and get my genitals stroked and not have to date the guy? This is fantastic! Sign me up! Boy, was I wrong?
On the surface, Orgasmic Meditation looks like it’s about sex. But that couldn't be further from the truth. In my experience, it's a practice that harnesses erotic energy to accelerate awakening. Before you get into it, I strongly recommend that you realize what you’re getting into a healing transformational process that will most likely not be easy. From my perspective, most people don’t really want to wake up. So, you need to know what you’re getting into!
A guy I knew introduced me to Orgasmic Meditation in August 2012. The first time I went to an OM event, I remember being really triggered by all the other women in the room. I had a lot of unrecognized (and unresolved!) issues with women at that point in my life. I would say I was internally misogynist when I started the practice, fundamentally hating women. (And thus myself. But hey…)
When I first attended OMed, it was really intense and enjoyable. Something was there for sure. But I just didn't know if I could handle it. The next day was my birthday, and I was invited to another event. I remember thinking how connected a couple of the women there appeared. They had bright faces, and their eyes were really clear. I remember feeling so tired and haggard in comparison. I wondered how these people were like this.
Something drew me back—I think it was those faces. For the first three months, I cried during every OM, which was not okay with me. I thought I had to be functional all the time. I didn't think anybody could approve of me being in tears, exposing my woundedness and all my feelings. Looking back now, I can see that I had no conscious understanding of the trauma I was carrying in my body around being adopted. My birth mother never held me, and I never saw her. That painful loss was in me, festering. And yet, my self-image was that I was this totally together pillar of strength.
I didn't realize that coming to OM was going to be an awakening process and that that awakening process was going to bring up a lot of issues in my life that were very painful. I was totally unprepared for that kind of unraveling. I was always crying. I was angry. At one point, I hated it, and at another point, I felt I needed it. I remember thinking, Oh my God, if I don't do this, what am I going to be like? So, I stopped OMing for a couple of years because I didn't want to feel like I was reliant on anything.
Then things got really dark. I started dating a guy who was violent and threatened to kill me. I was suicidal. But then I had a shift. I realized that all of the demonization of myself and others was just a reflection of the crap that was being unearthed in me. I was projecting all my pain and bitterness outward.
As soon as I figured that out, the fog lifted, and everything was cool. It was almost instantaneous. I started OMing again, and ever since, my momentum—my energy system—has been moving in a positive direction. Although I no longer do the practice, it has had a long-lasting impact on me. I used it as a sort of micro-universe to practice things I wanted more of in my life.
Before Orgasmic Meditation, I was way more sexual. I was more of a hypersexual person. I was using sex as a weapon to keep myself distant from others. The OM practice has helped me to hone the tools of openness and vulnerability to the degree that I have taken what I learned in practice out into the world. I’m always asking myself, How can I open more, right here, right now? That has affected everything in my life.
Before Orgasmic Meditation, I was really emasculating in my communication with everyone. I had this terrible communication pattern around expressing my desires. I learned approval through OM. I learned how to ask for what I wanted in a way that made it possible for me to actually receive it rather than alienating everybody around me. I learned how to be softer. I learned how to communicate with connection rather than beating people down with my words.
The practice is experiential, and it connects you to your body so that the truth is clear all the time, giving you an internal compass and a sense of rightness within yourself. This is an essential piece of awakening because if you’re not in touch with yourself and what’s true for you, you’ve got nothing.
I used to think that a successful OM took two people. But I eventually came to realize it takes only one. One person being present can actually shift the dynamics of the whole session. That is also true out in the world. If it only takes one person, then all you have to do is shift yourself, and then the other person changes. It's like a magic trick. I practiced that level of responsibility over and over until I could replicate it. I definitely was not somebody who used to take responsibility for myself before learning the OM practice.
Now, I'm all about personal responsibility because taking responsibility is power. Power comes with taking responsibility. Releasing my trauma is still an ongoing process, and sometimes, it feels like detonating a cavern of grief. But as a woman, I think when you are really connected to your erotic energy, that is probably the most powerful thing in the world. You're unstoppable when you are connected to that and moving from that place.
Orgasmic Meditation was essential for me to wake up and move into my power. I would never wake up without that kind of physical energy movement. Sitting and meditating for twenty years was never going to get me there. As difficult as awakening is, I’m grateful for it and that this particular tool showed up in my life when I most needed it.
