{"id":1946,"date":"2016-07-14T13:29:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T21:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jaeminyi.com\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2021-04-08T09:12:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T17:12:06","slug":"living-in-an-orgasmic-meditation-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jaeminyi.com\/living-in-an-orgasmic-meditation-house\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Lessons from Living in an Orgasmic Meditation House"},"content":{"rendered":"
I just spent the past 7 months living in an Orgasmic Meditation house.<\/p>\n
Yup, you heard me right.<\/p>\n
And it was an absolutely amazing, frustrating, complicated, and fascinating 7 months.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s back up a bit. <\/p>\n
So\u2026what the hell is Orgasmic Meditation?<\/p>\n
Basically, it\u2019s a consciousness practice where a partner strokes a woman\u2019s clitoris for 15 minutes with no goal other than to feel, connect, and be present. (See<\/a> these<\/a> videos<\/a> if you wanna learn more)<\/p>\n It may sound a little weird, but hundreds of practitioners swear Orgasmic Meditation has transformed their lives, their relationships, their health, and yes, their sex.<\/p>\n The practice itself seems to be derived from the Eastern spiritual lineage of tantra (ever heard of tantric sex?), but a woman named Nicole Daedone formalized the practice and dubbed it \u201cOrgasmic Meditation\u201d, or OM for short. <\/p>\n Her organization, OneTaste, has popularized OM and has even built a spiritual path and community all centered around this practice. There are now OneTaste centers all over the world where people come for morning and evening OM practices, just like yoga, and can take workshops and programs.<\/p>\n The organization itself is pretty controversial. There are those who call it a weird cult. Say it brainwashes people and takes all their money. And yet, others swear that it\u2019s the most powerful, transformative thing to ever happen to them. That OMing and OneTaste\u2019s programs are the most powerful tools for self-expansion they\u2019ve ever come across. That their lives have a clear \u201cbefore OM\u201d and \u201cafter OM\u201d demarcation.<\/p>\n So, how did I get involved in all of this?<\/p>\n The first I ever heard about OM was a few years ago, when I read the book Slow Sex<\/a> by Nicole Daedone, OneTaste\u2019s founder (and guru – she\u2019s pretty much worshipped). The book was amazingly insightful and the benefits of the practice sounded too good to ignore. <\/p>\n But every time I went to learn more (at their social mixer TurnOn events), I got turned off. There was something about the OneTaste vibe that felt unsettling to me.<\/p>\n After a few years of this, my curiosity finally grew strong enough that I decided it\u2019d be worth exploring – weird vibes be damned! At this time, I felt like I had enough of a grounding in who I was that I could safely explore something like this. That I could shield myself from anything that didn\u2019t resonate with me, and open myself to that which did.<\/p>\n So I began my journey in Los Angeles, spending a few months exploring the OM community there. And for the most part, had a really wonderful experience.<\/p>\n I made some amazing friends. Had some OM\u2019s that blew me away. And even dated a beautiful, soulful woman I met at one of their events.<\/p>\n However, there were still enough strange, discordant experiences to leave me feeling wary and protective of myself. The culture had hints of cultiness, aggressiveness, and money-hungry-ness that felt off to me. But for the most part, my experience was very positive.<\/p>\n A few months later, I felt a strong pull towards San Francisco to explore community living. But I had no idea where I\u2019d live. No idea where I\u2019d find this \u201ccommunity\u201d.<\/p>\n And so, you can imagine my surprise when an OM friend casually mentioned to me, \u201cYou should come live in my Orgasmic Meditation house in SF!\u201d<\/p>\n Wait, what? For real?<\/p>\n I soon learned that there were OM houses all over the world, where practitioners lived together in community. Most OM houses are structured so there are two people (usually a male and female) sharing not just a room, but the same bed! <\/p>\n If you\u2019re thinking, \u201cThat sounds batshit insane\u201d, well, that\u2019s kind of the point. <\/p>\n The compression of so many people living and relating in close quarters was supposed to bring up your shit and fire up your triggers. To allow everything to come to the surface so you could face it, work with it, and grow from it.<\/p>\n Honestly, it sounded pretty damn crazy. Especially since I\u2019ve always needed more private space than the average person.<\/p>\n Yet something in me was intrigued.<\/p>\n It would be an amazing opportunity for me to really dive deep into this practice, which had given me some cool experiences thus far. It would be a chance to really see what else OM had in store for me.<\/p>\n And the house was actually calmer and more peaceful than I thought. I stopped by for a visit and it felt more like what I\u2019d imagine a yoga house to be – just a bunch of practitioners living mostly sober, clean lives. Healthy, organic food stocked in the kitchen. And everyone focused on expanding to their full potential, which is what I\u2019m all about.<\/p>\n And more than that, it was finally a chance to live in COMMUNITY. I was so hungry for that. <\/p>\n Having worked from home for my entire adult life, I was sick of being completely isolated and alone during the 9-to-5 workweek. And my time in Kauai<\/a> reminded me that living in community is a) fucking awesome, b) possible even after college, and c) so goddamn fulfilling. <\/p>\n So for all those reasons and more, I said yes. And they said yes to me. <\/p>\n And just like that, I was officially living in an Orgasmic Meditation house.<\/p>\n I had no idea how long I\u2019d initially stay. I started off thinking I\u2019d only last a month or so before I\u2019d be crying for my own bed. But one month went by. Then two. Then three. And before I knew it, 7 months had transpired.<\/p>\n And in those 7 months, I laughed, I cried, I got majorly annoyed, I felt my heart open, and yes, I stroked a lot of clitoris.<\/p>\n Here are a few personal takeaways from my time at the house of Orgasmic Meditation\u2026<\/p>\n Disclaimer: these are my personal, subjective views and not fully representative of Orgasmic Meditation or OneTaste. If you\u2019d like to know what it\u2019s really like, you\u2019ve got to find out for yourself. <\/em><\/p>\n Whenever I tell people about Orgasmic Meditation and how you\u2019ll often do it with people you just met, the first thing they ask is, \u201cWait\u2026but isn\u2019t it\u2026sexual?\u201d<\/p>\n That question always throws me off a bit. I think what they\u2019re really asking is, \u201cHow can you do something lusty\/romantic with a non-romantic partner?\u201d<\/p>\n I used to think sexual energy only came in those prescribed flavors too. But after OM, I learned that sexual energy can be so much more than just lusty. <\/p>\n It can be quiet, angry, heartbreaking, buzzy, cloud-like, sharp, and everything in-between.<\/p>\n Sex can be as open and full of range as our emotions (and in fact, I\u2019d argue that sexual energy and emotions are part of the same energetic system. They\u2019re one and the same!).<\/p>\n I think one of the most powerful things about OM is that it began to expose my cultural conditioning around sexuality. Made me realize that our culture teaches us what sex is supposed to look, feel, and be like. <\/p>\n But none of that is inherently true.<\/p>\n Our culture teaches us that sex should be a goal-oriented mission of turn-taking, with each person slavishly working to get the other (and themselves) off, often at the expense of true connection and fulfillment.<\/p>\n Our culture also dictates that it\u2019s weird to take your pants off in a room full of people. Or to touch someone\u2019s genitals that you\u2019re not romantically involved with. (Or, in the past, to engage sexually with someone of the same sex or different race.)<\/p>\n But these rules aren\u2019t etched into stone. Not at all.<\/p>\n Once you take a step into another cultural perspective, it\u2019s amazing how quickly your sense of what\u2019s normal will shift.<\/p>\n Our beliefs and views on sex can be much more fluid than we think.<\/p>\n And much more expansive.<\/p>\n Our culture paints sex with just one or two colors. But once you step outside our culture\u2019s narrow framework, there\u2019s a whole palette waiting to be discovered.<\/p>\n1. Sexual energy can be more than just lust<\/h2>\n
2. Living in community is fucking AMAZING<\/h2>\n