I struggled with depression when I was a young man. I guess you’d say I was a nerd when I was in school; I was very good at math and science and not as good at sports or handling social interactions. I just felt like I had no instruction manual for how to connect with others, and by the time I got to high school, the sense of shame and inadequacy was overwhelming. I was 16 when my anger and sadness got so bad that I was pulled out of school and sent to an inpatient crisis center for troubled adolescents.
That crisis center gave me something I hadn’t had before real friends. We were locked down together for six months, and we had no choice but to find support from each other. For the first time in my life, I had girls who were friends, and I grew very close to a few of them. Something about the structure of the crisis center helped make that closeness possible. We had all experienced the normal high school cliques and cruel social games that had left me feeling so alienated. In the crisis center, we could be authentic, and I experienced real intimacy with my peers for the first time in my life.
As an adult, I spent years trying to recreate the same kind of comfort and closeness I had known in that teen crisis center. I joined countless groups, looking for that kind of intensity and mutual support. I also dated as best I could: I was serially monogamous but always fell apart as soon as one of my relationships ended. I’d be incapacitated by depression and loneliness for months after each breakup until I found the strength to drag myself to another group or community where I had a chance to find safety.
I first heard about Orgasmic Meditation at a party in Los Angeles. It was my first event after another breakup. I told this guy I met about my situation and the cycle in which I felt stuck. He got animated and told me I had to try Orgasmic Meditation. I must have given him a strange look because he reassured me that it was so much more than I could imagine. “What you’re struggling with, OM will help with that.”
My first OM (Orgasmic Meditation) was amazing. The moment I started to stroke her, I felt and saw her whole body light up. It was stunning. My finger had only been on her clitoris for a moment, and she was responding so powerfully to my touch. Before I could get excited, I sensed a change, and I realized that it felt more like her clitoris was stroking my finger rather than the other way around. It was a new feeling, and I didn’t want it to stop. We OMed twice that day and had a really good conversation afterward.
Later, when I got in my car and started to drive home, I felt this sudden rush of well-being. It almost felt like I was on a drug, but I was completely sober, just rolling on waves of warmth and happiness. I felt my heart open, and this incredibly intense, pleasurable sensation moves through every cell of my body. I could still drive just fine, but even the steering wheel beneath my hands began to feel wonderfully warm and good.
Some OMs have left a greater impact on me than others, but I've found that I’ve developed the ability to connect deeply with people in a way I never have before. One thing I realized in Orgasmic Meditation was that my past relationships often failed because they were unbalanced; one person was the receiver and the giver, and there was no real mutuality. Depending on the woman, I’d been one or the other – but never was I able to experience what it was like to both give and receive.
In the structure of the Orgasmic Meditation itself, I found a way to practice that healthy exchange. It was important, too, I think, that I first learned how to do this with a woman that I wasn't necessarily attracted to, and she wasn't necessarily attracted to me. It helped me understand that this exchange is about so much more than traditional sexuality.
Growing up, "normal life" felt unbearably uncomfortable. It started a pattern of running away from discomfort repeatedly in my adult life, which became a huge issue in my relationships. Orgasmic Meditation showed me that every uncomfortable situation is temporary. If my back aches in the nest, it will all be over in 15 minutes; I can bear it that long.
If someone is confronting me about something, the confrontation will end. “You can bear it for that long," I tell myself; it’s just a set of sensations. Orgasmic Meditation taught me how to give and receive pleasure on a very high level and how to handle challenges and discomfort. That’s a pretty amazing thing to have in your toolkit, and I have it. I am so grateful.
