Abstract: Orgasmic Meditation(OM) is a structured, partnered meditative practice in which one person, who can be any gender, strokes the clitoris of their partner for 15 minutes. As such, it resembles a sexual activity. OM is taught as a practice that is distinct from sex, and we wondered whether people who engage in OM actually maintain that distinction themselves. We conducted an online convenience sample survey including qualitative open-ended text questions and quantitative Likert-style questions that was distributed to email listservs for practitioners of OM. The 30-item questionnaire included questions designed to differentiate the potentially related concepts of OM, seated meditation, fondling, and sex, as bases for comparison. The quantitative results of this mixed method study show that OM practitioners view the practice as significantly more similar to meditation than to sex or fondling. These results were consistent, regardless of whether the question was asked in the positive or negative and whether OM was being compared to one behavior individually or to multiple behaviors at the same time. The distinction between OM and sex/fondling rapidly becomes more pronounced as practitioners complete more OMs. This suggests that the novelty of genital touching in meditation may diminish over time, as practitioners get used to the more alternative point of focus. The results of this study have implications for the practice and how it is approached and regulated.
Discussion
This is the first study of its kind on the topic of Orgasmic Meditation and how practitioners
perceive this practice. There is little research on Orgasmic Meditation in general, and this study
helps place it in the larger context of meditation and sexuality, two fields with much ongoing
research. The quantitative results of this mixed method study show that OM practitioners view
the practice as significantly more similar to meditation than to sex or fondling. These results
were consistent, regardless of whether the question was asked in the positive or negative (i.e.
disagreeing with the question OM is sex, agreeing with the question OM is not sex) – and
whether OM was being compared to one behavior individually or to multiple behaviors at the
same time.
The results of this study also show that the distinction between OM and sex/fondling rapidly
becomes more pronounced as practitioners complete more OMs. This suggests that the novelty
of genital touching in meditation may diminish over time, as practitioners get used to the more
alternative point of focus. If OM is viewed differently by different groups of practitioners, there
may be programmatic and policy implications in the management of OM instruction. For
example, if new OM practitioners are more likely to conflate OM and sex, there is a heightened
likelihood of unintended outcomes related to sexual stigma, trauma, or perceived sexual
harassment at that stage. Such sexuality-related side-effects should be addressed in the
instruction and in communications with participants, and additional supports may be necessary
to help new practitioners navigate these complexities until they are clear on the practice and
how to internalize their experiences.
In addition, of the gender and sexual orientation combinations with large enough sample sizes
to study, bisexual women viewed the practice as most different from sex/fondling. This was
surprising because of the scientific research showing that lesbians were more likely to classify
manual-genital contact as sex. The finding suggests that the context highly impacts how an act
of a sexual nature is perceived. The same physical behavior that in the bedroom may be
considered sex, is considered meditation in the container of a practice setting. The fact that this
subgroup was more adamant that the practice is not sex highlights how much the intention
behind the act makes a difference. That is, the practice is not differentiated from sex because of
the actual physical action, but because of the intention behind it.
Future Research
Given the fact that OM involves genital stroking, it is therefore interesting to ask the question
why the response to the survey is so clear. One possibility is that there are certain aspects of
the practice itself that clearly divides it from sex and fondling. For example, the stroker in OM is
fully clothed and wears gloves. There is no eye gazing or kissing. Practitioners generally do the
practice away from their beds, usually on the floor with meditation and other cushions that do
not resemble bed pillows. Practitioners are also taught that if the practice stirs desires for sex,
that they complete the practice and put away the practice supplies before deciding whether to
have sex. If practitioners follow this guidance, then OM will effectively be separated from sex or
from activities that might lead to sex.
It is also important to note that OM is not the only practice that confounds the traditional
conceptualizations of sex and meditation. Tantra, for example, seeks to use sexual energy to
reach a meditative state (Nagaraj 2013). It would be interesting to know how practitioners of
tantra would respond to a similar survey.
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