womens sexuality Archives - Relationship & Sexuality Counselling Specialists

Women’s Pleasure: Is the idea that it is overly complicated true?

October 19, 2022 By Annette & Graeme Leave a Comment

Is it making women’s pleasure more elusive?

Leaving men confused and women frustrated.
And both missing out on the pleasure they are capable of.

It is surprising how much of our reality is influenced by the beliefs of our time.

You might think it’s just you in the bedroom with your partner. Yet there are many other voices in the background as well, both heard and unheard. Voices that help determine women’s pleasure. And man’s.

Maybe it’s “women must bear these things for the compensating joys of motherhood”.

Or “It’s a man’s obligations to sow his wild oats so he can show off his experience to his woman”.

Or even that “sex is dirty, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

One of the most detrimental ideas we carry about sex is that women’s pleasure is complex and tricky, and men’s is simple and straightforward.

It’s detrimental because believing this puts us on the back foot in approaching female sexuality. Whether it’s our own, or our partners.

And this idea is possibly not even true.

It’s possibly something we’ve simply come to believe.

Women’s pleasure statistics

Now a large, collaborative study published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour has revealed that 95% of women orgasm every time they practice solo sex.

This drops to around 65% in women when they are with a known male partner. And it drops even further in casual sex experiences with men. This same drop is not experienced in lesbian sex.

Whilst (straight) men are shown to orgasm “usually-always” 95% of the time. This is whether they’re alone, with a long time partner, or having casual sex.

There are several reasons for this pleasure gap

The people who responded to the survey may have been more comfortable in their sexuality (although it was a very large survey, over 52,000),

In masturbation the orgasm for a woman could be serving a purely functional, even stress relieving purpose. In other words, it’s kept simple.

In sex, especially with a male partner, it is easier for a woman to get her orgasm tangled up with desires for romance, intimacy and commitment. Which would make it easier for her to lose focus on achieving her orgasm.

Though we still have a way to go, the rise of female power and equality is happening across the world. But even in this emancipated day and age, a woman is still likely to give her man’s orgasm a higher priority than her own.

A woman will give a man’s orgasm higher priority because:

she has a lifetime of conditioning to give to others before herself.
both her and her man have been conditioned by the patriarchal system to think he is entitled to his orgasm every time, and she is not.
women still hold a lot of shame about their pleasure and can hold it back in front of their partner.
she has been conditioned by the patriarchal, goal oriented way of viewing sex that doesn’t work for her feminine body, leading her to not be in touch with what it wants, or how to ask for it (even though she can easily order three different kinds of lattes, muffins and smoothies).
she doesn’t want to offend him by making him think he’s not doing it right.
it’s common for her to endure suffering eg. in periods and childbirth. So it’s easier for her to endure a lack of pleasure long enough for him to come, rather than cause offence.
she has got really good at faking her orgasms.

Yet underlying all these are two very powerfully held beliefs.

Firstly, that a woman’s pleasure is complex and tricky, so it is easier to give up on.

And secondly, that a man’s pleasure is simple, like a microwave, 30 secs and beep, beep, beep, he’s done. Giving him no reason to hold it back, just a little more effort and it’s done.

These beliefs are doing both men and women a disservice.

It:

makes a woman’s pleasure seem more daunting, and off putting to seek.
keeps her in a straight jacketed, uninformed way of thinking about her pleasure capacity.
keeps both thinking that one good come and he’s done. This view of male sexuality is a very limited, purely biological one.
short circuits man’s ability to have the more deeply fulfilling, full bodied, multiply orgasmic pleasure he is capable of.

How would it be to believe that both mean’s and women’s pleasure were more similar than different?

Both deserving of time and attention.

Both deserving of a curious, rather than a goal oriented approach.

In a goal oriented approach you have a pre determined outcome that you try to achieve.

A curious approach is more experimental and open ended ie. let’s try this and see what happens.

Leaving both lovers more in the moment, in their bodies, aware of their responses, open to seeing their desires.

Women who orgasmed more frequently were more likely to receive more oral sex, deep kissing, manual genital stimulation in addition to vaginal penetration, have longer duration of sex, be more satisfied in their relationship, ask for what they want in bed, praise their partner, be flirtatious and adventurous eg. use sexy talk and lingerie, and express love during sex.

Wouldn’t men benefit from this variety of approaches to more parts of their body as well?

Leaving them more capable of experiencing more extended pleasure.

Not to mention leaving them more interested in trying a few tantric tips. Tips that leave both lovers even more more in the moment, in their bodies, aware of their responses, open to seeing their desires. Leading them to higher states of ecstasy and bliss, and receiving more of the benefits.

Pleasure Benefits such as:

enhanced mood and body confidence
reduced stress and better sleep
improved relationships through more enhanced oxytocin levels
better communication
boosted immune system
improved skin
increased release of the body’s natural painkillers, called endorphins, which are released during touch and sex.

There are, and likely always will be differences between men and women’s pleasure, and their psyches, sexually speaking.

But perhaps it’s time to put some of those differences to bed.

Sexual Breathing Enhances Your Pleasure

December 4, 2017 By Annette & Graeme Leave a Comment

Sexual Breathing brings more pleasure and more connection…

Start simply…breathe in down to your belly, breathe out through your mouth…this is the beginning of Sexual Breathing.

Once comfortable breathe in all the way down to your genitals, breathe out through your mouth…

Then squeeze your pelvic floor muscles as you inhale and relax them as you exhale…

Keep coming back to this practice, whether you are making love, self pleasuring, driving the car or sitting on the back verandah with a cuppa.

In lovemaking actively play with your breath

Sexual Breathing is consciously playing with your breath. Speeding your breath up increases your pleasure (build up slowly if you’re new to it), breathing fully and deeply spreads your pleasure through your body as it relaxes. Nb. You create room for more pleasure in a relaxed body than in one full of tension, especially as you get close to orgasm. This is true for both men and women. It might seem to fade a little at first as you relax, that’s just because it’s spreading. Keep breathing and relaxing and your pleasure will come back stronger! Once you go into orgasm take short sharp breaths to keep your pleasure going longer. This also reduces the ‘owie’ oversensitive feeling on your clitoris.

Get a little more fancy (and more powerful) here:

The Feminine & Masculine Breaths

Sexual Breathing begins with the Feminine Breath, as this is an energy building (or receptive) breath.

The Masculine Breath is a discharging breath so it makes sense to build your energy first.

Then you can try a free breath which combines both…

Try it alone first, then with your partner, one doing the feminine and the other masculine breath.

The Feminine Breath:

Lie on the floor or the bed on your back with your feet flat on the floor or bed with your knees up and leaning in a little. Your feet are up near your hips, and your sacrum is contacting the ground. Stay relaxed. Move very slowly. As you flatten your lower back your pelvis curls up. Add a deep inhalation as you do so. this in breathe is in through the mouth, breathing energy into the Yoni. Breathe all the way up to the chest. Expand the chest and then expand more. Draw the shoulders back and apart and inhale more. Take in everything you can imagine needing on your inhalation, on your breath. Take in all you have ever missed out on receiving on your inhalation. Take in so much so you feel totally full. Keep the inhale larger than the exhale..

Breathe out through the nose, constricting the throat slightly and sighing or making an “mmm” sound. As you breathe out slowly release the pelvic curl to sink into the ground, arching your lower back as you do so. Let go, let go, surrender all control. Visualize or feel the energy moving up from the pelvis and radiating out the heart. Pause at the bottom of the exhale.

Repeat at your own pace for 5 to 10 minutes, breathing in everything you need.

Allow the body to shake or orgasm if it wants to, allow feelings to come, but return to the breath as soon as you can whatever else is going on. Pause, rest and observe your feelings for a few minutes.

The Masculine Breath:

Keep your knees up but allow your legs to fall apart slightly. Feet are still up near your hips. Continue to move very slowly with the pelvic curl but in the reverse direction to what you’ve just done. Tilt the pelvis down (or arch the back, pressing the sacrum into the ground) as you breathe into the heart. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth making the exhale bigger than the inhale.

Pause at the top of the inhale and slowly curl the pelvis up, flattening your lower back as you exhale out through the genitals with an open mouth, making a “ha” sound. Let everything go on the exhale.

Repeat at your own pace for 5 to 10 minutes, slowly moving your pelvis together with the breath.

Using either the masculine or the feminine movement, breathe both in and out through the mouth, more rapidly, keeping up a steady pace.

Or simply let go of all technique and let your body breathe and rock as it desires to.

Pause. Cease all and feel your body/mind. Lie quietly and notice what you’re experiencing.

You can use this as a sexual warm up or as a meditation.

Once you feel comfortable with your breathing invite your partner to join you, and breathe in the opposite way to each other. Breathe in and out together but one in masculine style and one in feminine. Your connection will flow quickly and powerfully. Enjoy!

You can add in a few Feminine/Masculine breaths anytime to add some juice to your love play.

NB. It is particularly valuable for women who generally breathe in the masculine style, or who find themselves in a masculine role to practice the Feminine Breath to nurture and re energise yourself.

If you would like to learn more about the power of your breath check out our coming events here.

The No.1 Tip to Keep Your Woman Wanting You

February 21, 2017 By Annette & Graeme 4 Comments

Keep your woman wanting you by touching her.

Your woman needs to be touched.

Something that often stands out for us is the way guys are missing one of the most basic rules in lovemaking.

Well, it’s more than a rule really, it’s a necessity!

What is even more surprising is that sometimes women don’t know this rule either…

Women need to be touched everywhere else before their genitals for them to work fully!

This is especially true in relationship sex- what we call sex for the long run. Any woman’s body that is not touched in lovemaking will sooner or later completely shut down, leaving her lover scratching his head wondering what happened.

This leaves him sadly buying into the belief, likely to be endorsed by his mates that a loss of interest in sex is “normal” in a woman. It is not.

A woman’s body is made to be touched, it’s not only luscious to look at its yearning to be fully appreciated.

Her body, not just Female sexuality more than just lingerie her vagina, needs to be penetrated with attention.

Anything else leaves her uninterested in sex and sometimes uninterested in her partner. It will also leave her more over emotional, critical even bitter; or cold, withdrawn and unapproachable.

A lack of touch makes her more interested in being with her kids where some of these needs for physical and emotional (not sexual) intimacy get met.

The interesting thing is that these people aren’t lacking in intelligence.

They’re smart, caring, creative and competent so it’s not that they aren’t capable of touching it’s just that they literally don’t know the importance.

And they’re not alone.

Why DON’T men touch?

Of course many men do touch, we’re looking here at the ones who don’t yet.

Survival of the species

A guy’s primal drive in sex, as it is in his life, is to produce.

To get to his goal as fast and as efficiently as possible. His primal urge to “get there” can override everything else in his pathway, leading him to ignore anything he perceives as distracting along the way.

And at its most basic level a woman’s pleasure, or anything beyond the perceived openness of her vagina, is not required for man to achieve his primal objective.

This is not an excuse but it is part of the reason behind a guy’s blindness in bed.

We’ve moved on from sex being merely about the survival of the species.

We’re now capable of sustained physical pleasure, emotional closeness and intimacy in sex, closeness and intimacy that men, given the opportunity, will admit they crave as much as women.

They just don’t know how to go about it, and the complexity of a woman’s body can be overwhelming.

Part of it is that men lack the quality information that can teach them.

Nowhere to learn from

Men have little opportunity to learn from others in their environment.

Open, honest conversations about sex and how it happens are as rare as hen’s teeth and mostly what we hear is disinformation about sex that perpetuates the stereotypes we labour under.

It’s one of the things we most love about our work- making these kinds of conversations possible.

Of course, pornography is the master of disinformation about sex- about truly satisfying sex at least.

Porn is great for titillation and getting us to the end point but terrible at showing us how to make the most of the bit in between.

Porn shows men penetrating women increasingly without any kind of touching beforehand and mistakenly portrays the women screaming in pleasure from the mere act of having a cock inside her.

Porn is teaching women too that she doesn’t need to be touched. A woman’s body doesn’t work that way.

Except on the occasions she is really hot with all systems firing and there’s usually reasons behind this other than just the immanent sex.

Cultural conditioning

Men grow up in the bullshit culture of how men should be big, strong and tough, not sensitive or ‘girly’, primed for fighting rather than loving, leaving them numb in their bodies and less sensitive to touch than they’re capable of.

Believe us guys, the more sensitive you become (without losing yourself) the more powerfully masculine you become where it counts- in the lingam (cock) and in the heart.

Men often grow up in an environment where touching, even non sexual touching wasn’t a normal part of daily life for them.

Such as hanging out on the couch together, having hugs, being held when they’re sad or even being kissed goodnight at bedtime.

It can be true for women as well. This kind of touch may even have been shamed.

Growing up with a lack of touch makes it difficult to know what it feels like and what its benefits are.

Performance based touch

When men do take the time to become good at touching a woman they’re unfortunately taught to “turn her on”.

As Leonard Cohen so powerfully sang “I didn’t know how to feel so I learned how to touch”.

A man can even believe he knows how to touch so well that his woman ‘should’ like it, no matter what.

This external touch can leave a woman feeling pressured to perform in order to validate his skill and feeling manipulated rather than fulfilled no matter how pleasure she has.

It limits the connection possible in truly intimate lovemaking.

Men also carry shame about their sexual needs and often have anger towards women who as they see it, don’t provide for their needs.

This leaves them resentful about having to “give” touch in return.

Men haven’t been taught how to take responsibility for their own sexual needs and having unsatisfying sexual relationships makes this worse.

Not knowing what is possible

And finally it’s just that most people don’t know what is possible in sex, beyond having a “genital sneeze” type orgasm.

In the rush for the mechanics the intimacy in sex is lost. In relationship sex in the absence of intimacy much of the pleasure is lost.

And why do women accept it?

A woman is primally driven to open and receive in sex.

This leaves her without a voice to ask for what it is that she needs for her own arousal and continues to happen despite the growth in women’s liberation elsewhere in life.

It leaves her lover in the dark operating on instinct leaving her to just “go along” and hope that it’s over soon.

Woman’s strength has been in her capacity to endure rather than her ability to speak up.

She knows intuitively there is more but she is at a loss in how to create it, and with today’s orgasm performance based sex so much the norm she can even doubt her instincts.

So how DO you touch a woman in sex?

Begin getting into your own body first so she can feel you.

By touching her outside the bedroom to help her get into her feeling body too- not groping, just relaxed touch without an agenda.

Then by asking her.

Ask questions to make sure you understand her fully.

Dropping any expectations of a result, just enjoy each moment.

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback as you touch her, not from a place of insecurity but from caring- would you like it slower/faster/softer/firmer/to the right/left etc.

And keep asking. She will love you for it.

If she really doesn’t know, start with kissing her a lot.

Then follow the basic idea of imagining she has a bikini on and touching her everywhere else but under her bikini.

Particularly the back of her neck, her head and her hair, her breasts (all of them not just her nipples), over her heart, her lower back, buttocks and inner thighs. For more see Tantric Touch

Once you arrive at her genitals (or yoni as we like to call it which means sacred space) take the same approach- touch from the outside in- pubic mound, outer labia, perineum, inner labia, clitoris, entrance to her vagina, gspot and aspots (at cervix).

If she’s liking it do more of it, at the same speed or keep coming back to it.

Touch her from a place of exploration rather than performance.

Breathe and invite her to breathe with you.

And women, ask for it. And love touching yourself too so he’ll want to join you.

Make it a team effort.

She will love you for it and so will you.

Instant Beauty: Get it Here!

October 1, 2016 By admin 2 Comments

How Can You Look and Feel More Beautiful?

By Recognizing More of What Lies within You!

After one of our Power of Yoni Workshops a group of participants headed out to a local restaurant to celebrate 4 days of empowering self love, nurturing and discovering pleasure. It so happened the local race meeting was on the same day and the bistro was full of very glammed up ladies who could easily have won “Lady of the Day”. Surprisingly, it was obvious that however glamorous their exteriors were they couldn’t compare with our gorgeous Goddesses who were spilling over with a glow and a vitality from deep within, making them beautiful both inside AND out!

This difference raises the point, what are we actually doing when we simply focus on (or obsess about) our external appearance? Focussing on our outsides rather than accessing and accepting our beauty that comes from within? A beauty that can only enhance the best outfit and beauty routine whilst giving us confidence to burn? I believe what we’re doing is actually abandoning ourselves, or at least abandoning the little girl inside of us that longs for love and acceptance…no matter what age we are…

Read on for ways to connect with our inner beauty and bring our little girl in out of the cold…

Challenges to Looking Good

When it comes to looking good (and loving and approving of ourselves in the process) I‘ve noticed that we as women come up against 4 main challenges:

Every time we look in the mirror we’re holding our own image up against the ones we carry in our minds, of the impossibly perfect (and unreal) body images displayed in almost every advert we see, magazine we pick up, dress shop we look into and movie we watch.

We face a vast array of publications with articles screaming about how we can “improve” ourselves. Treatments including everything from weight loss programs, breast enhancements to genital reductions. Not to mention enough products to cover ourselves from the hair on our head to the toenails on our feet. All aimed at telling us we’re less than perfect so we will buy, buy,buy!

A lifetime of conditioning telling us how we “should” be, what rules we need to follow and what good girls do and bad girls don’t do in order to be approved of, accepted and loved that doesn’t leave us now matter how old we are, unless we let it go.

And finally there is the shadow in our sisterhood, which receives unending satisfaction from us putting ourselves, or our potential female competition down, and giving us the sympathy vote in return for our “insult-athons” on our bodies.

We Hate Ourselves Too Often

As a result, several surveys report that over 91% of women have regular days of “hating their bodies”. It seems as if when things aren’t going right in our world, if we’re unsatisfied in our relationships or our jobs, if we’re having uncomfortable emotions such as stress, loneliness and boredom we’re more likely to criticize our bodies than deal with what is actually behind our dissatisfaction or negative feelings. So how we perceive we look is based more on how we “feel”, rather than the physical reality of how we “look”. When we perceive ourselves negatively we abandon the little girl inside of us that longs to be loved for who she is…

Have you ever looked into the mirror and judged yourself as looking that supposed worst of all body sins, “really fat”? Only to have something good happen in your life and then catch yourself looking in that very same mirror shortly after thinking you look “pretty fabulous”? Where nothing has changed except your perception?

Even more interestingly, have you noticed how much pleasure you feel when you’re body shaming yourself vs when you’re feeling beautiful and appreciated?

Neuroscience has shown that whatever you focus on shapes your brain. So if you focus on how defective your body looks it actually translates into a numbing down of how it feels. And the opposite is true, if you focus on how wonderful your body is, so it will become!

How to find Instant Beauty:

Make a radical choice to think and do things differently.

You’re as beautiful as you tell yourself you are, so tell yourself you’re beautiful often!
If someone else tells you that you’re beautiful, let it in and say thankyou!
Find one thing to appreciate about what your body can DO each day, taking the focus off just how it looks. Put your full attention on this body part and stroke it for a moment with love, baby!
Notice something you find beautiful about the women around you and tell them. Drop the need to compete and see yourselves simply as a reflection of each other. (You may want to omit the stroking part unless you know each other very well!)
Use beauty products with the mindset of enhancing the beauty that is already there, rather than fixing any problems.
Avoid participating in body shaming conversations, even choose to express something you like about your body instead.
See the abundance of treatments and products as a money making device for those making money from them, not necessarily something that you need.
Dress with the primary aim of expressing and feeling good about yourself rather than trying to fit in with the latest fashion.
Avoid trying to “fix” yourself. Instead, do things for their enjoyment value. Find an exercise that you love and it will be a joy rather than a chore.
See your body as your temple and choose to nurture it by attending to its needs as a good servant would do for its master.
Follow this link and listen to our Self Loving Meditation.
Do 3 pc squeeze and releases (pelvic floor contractions) then take a deep breath, enjoy the feeling. Do this often.
Learn to feel more pleasure and you won’t care how you look because you’ll feel so great! And consequently you’ll look more beautiful as a result of your inner glow…

So if you’re looking for even more ways to get your inner glow on and love yourself from the inside all the way out click here for details of Annette’s upcoming workshop just for women the Power Of Yoni Nov 10-14 2016. Contact her for a chat to see how this workshop might work for you!

A Guide to Breast Appreciation

September 22, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment

Well, if it’s not official, we’re declaring it Breast Appreciation Week!

And to do so we’re offering A Guide to Breast Appreciation for both women and the men who love them…

A Woman’s Breasts are the Pathway to her Heart

Have you as a woman ever stopped to think about your breasts? It’s very likely that your lovers have given them some undivided attention, whether it has been in lovemaking, in that hot new outfit or as you’re brushing your teeth naked in the bathroom…

Your relationship to your own breasts is a powerful indicator of your relationship to your heart, and even to yourself.

Do you think of your breasts from an external point of view? How they look, whether, as you wiggle them into their underwire or push up bra, they match up to the socially approved images? Or do you pause for a moment and remember how they may have nurtured your children? Or with a smile how they’re appreciated by your lovers and the degree of pleasure they give?

Perhaps you appreciate them for the amount of pleasure they give you? As the nipples rise to peaks of excitement, sending a direct line of pleasure to the clitoris do you see your breasts mainly as a source of pleasure, a beginning place to stimulate other parts of the body?

Do you ever relate to your breasts from inside of yourself ie. feeling them from the inside out? Do you notice how connect your breasts feel to your heart? Do you notice how when your heart is open your breasts become more sensitive, even fuller and rounder? Have you ever felt your breasts expressing the language of your heart? Perhaps you have experienced your breasts as totally numb, feeling little? This is a common occurrence as our breasts respond to where we have hardened our hearts in life. But they can be reawakened with loving touch.

Breast Appreciation Ritual

Set aside 10-15mins to fully appreciate your breasts as part of your womanly, feminine self. Let them be naked, free of restraint. Touch with gentleness and caress them with love, starting from the outside and slowly working towards the nipples. Touch with appreciation and without an agenda to make anything happen. Breathe into them and feel the feelings that arise. Imagine your heart underneath and notice the degree of connection you feel between both, without judgement. Complete with just holding them in each hand in stillness.

Notice how your relationship to your breasts, your heart and yourself can change after this simple self love meditation.

Breast Appreciation for Men

Men, know that your woman’s breasts are a gateway to her heart and her heart is the key to her fully awakened sexuality. Let her know how much you appreciate this part of her. Tell her often how beautiful they are to you. Touch them with reverence as well as lust. Start with gentle touch around the outsides, hold and feel the weight of them in your hands, touch the space between her breasts with the palm of your hand, melt it onto her heart. Slowly moving to the centre of her breasts. Move towards and away from the nipples, blow warm/cool air over them, lick, kiss, suck gently then harder. Feel your woman’s response to gauge your touch. Woman breastfeeding

Nb. If your woman is breastfeeding check in with her as to the degree of touch she is open to, sometimes she can a bit of overwhelm with too much going on for them.

And ladies remember you don’t need to wait for your lover to touch them, it is OK for you to caress them in self pleasuring and lovemaking yourself, don’t miss out on this important part of your whole body arousal.

A Sexually Empowered Woman

August 29, 2015 By admin Leave a Comment

What Does a Sexually Empowered Woman Look Like?

This question came up after reflecting on my sexual journey over the years and writing it has stunned me to see all the benefits I have found in embracing this part of myself. I am not all of these all the time but I have definitely experienced many such moments of each.
Do any of them resonate with you?

A sexually empowered woman is: (in no particular order)

She is comfortable in her skin, in her body and at ease with who she is in the world.

Her self esteem is not related to men’s (or anyone’s) opinion of her.

She makes her own choices and does not need to conform to the roles required of her by others.

She has deep friendships with women and relates to them as sisters rather than competitors.

She is without the need to compete with other women for attention from men.

She can enjoy feelings of sexual arousal that may arise within her through contact with another knowing that she can fully embrace these feelings of warm, melting, tingling aliveness without needing to act on them , unless it is right for her to do so.

She doesn’t perform in sex , instead experiences it fully as an expression of herself, whoever she is in that moment- maiden, lover, wild woman, slut, healer, Goddess and many more.

She has her own inner moral code that she can trust without needing to rely on external rules of behaviour.

She buys clothes and lingerie to enjoy for herself rather than to impress or manipulate others.

She doesn’t have to dress sexy (although she can!) because she IS sex and she knows it.

She has an open heart that sees sex as an expression of love rather than being separate from it.

She is connected with her own body and is able to touch herself sensually, sexually and with love.

She releases shame from her body by owning it as an instrument of love and pleasure.

She doesn’t limit herself to genital pleasure but experiences it in every part of her body.

She nurtures it by eating well, exercising regularly and attending to its needs.

She has a relationship with the wisdom of her Yoni (vulva/vagina/womb) and takes the time to listen to Her messages.

She sees sexuality as a power within herself rather than a power over others to manipulate or dominate them with.

She knows the feeling of freedom that comes from within.

She experiences an expansion in herself as well as pleasure in her sex.

She is creative, playful, spontaneous and intuitive.

She will leave you feeling sated, energized, nurtured, inspired and loved.

She knows that love will arise in all moments of full presence in intimacy with another and accepts the magic of this without needing to attach any further meaning to it.

She chooses to breathe consciously when making love, to ground, connect and expand her awareness and pleasure.

She heart openly embraces her inner slut, not allowing the shame of her conditioning to stop her.

She is not afraid to talk about sex.

She knows there is a time for sex and time without it.

She is willing to feel everything– pleasure, emotion, bliss, pain and love for they are all pathways to herself.

She is not afraid to feel the pain of rejection.

She lets go the stories from her conditioning around sex knowing they come from shame and fear.

She is clear and respectful in her desires and boundaries. If she is not clear she will be willing talk to you about it.

She does not attract men who are abusive, controlling, manipulative, shaming, disempowered or otherwise unconscious as they are afraid to approach her clear, grounded power.

She is not afraid of having a good time, of creating a good time for all, not just for herself simply by being who she is.

She has a good understanding of her body from hours of practice in self pleasuring and is able to ask clearly for what she wants.

She doesn’t expect her lover to everything for her.

She is able to open herself in lovemaking and actively receive her lovers touch, increasing the pleasure for both.

She is able to greatly enjoy giving her lover pleasure without giving herself away.

She knows to nurture herself with her sexual energy by moving it up through her body where it nurtures and awakens her.

She is not afraid of intensity in her feelings.

She seeks to enjoy her yearnings and longings for another rather than suffer in them.

If she desires sex she becomes it, so there is no further need to desire.

She knows the power of sex to heal, nurture and awaken.

She sees sexuality as a part of spirituality, her very aliveness, part of the world’s big mystery.

She can equally participate in a really earthy fuck, a loving and gentle caress or moments of divine union. In fact she likes a little of each!

She comes to her partner as a loving equal wanting to share and create together.

She will demand a safe, respectful space to make love in and if she doesn’t feel safe she is willing to help create safety or leave where this is not possible.

She will not seek to own her lover and if she feels jealous she will see it is because she has stepped away from her connection with herself and will come back to herself again.

She will want you to go deep with her, as deep as she can go with herself.

She will want you to fuck her from an open heart, as that is what she will be doing with you.

She will be a Goddess not a Princess.

She IS radiant beauty and power.

She can have one lover or many but she will make it a choice.

She will crack your heart open with her capacity for vulnerability and surrender- to her own heart and to you.

If you crack she will hold you with the utmost presence and tenderness making it a moment of safety, love and joy.

She will be fully in relationship with herself, her sexuality and with love.

She will give to you, teach and change you just through being who she is, through bringing light to your own darkness.

If you would like to add more layers to your own sexual journey contact Annette on 1800 TANTRA or email here

Or join her for this event in Brisbane on Sept 5th

Sisters Doin It For Themselves

June 30, 2015 By Annette & Graeme Leave a Comment

Are we as women blocking an important pathway to pleasure?

Is it time we became Sisters Doin It For Themselves?

In my younger years, my prevailing belief about a woman’s sexual pleasure was, to find the perfect lover who would magically make it all happen as he opened my body to unimaginable heights of pleasure with stars of love in my eyes. This belief is at least partially inspired by romance novels with lines like “He gazed passionately into her eyes before leaning in to kiss her, his tongue expertly caressing her depths, instantly awakening flames of passion deep inside of her” etc etc.

Women have been subtly (and not so subtly) conditioned by society to the idea that it is a man’s ‘job’ to ‘provide for his woman’, unconsciously encouraging her to see the male lover as the one holding the power and prowess in the bedroom. But does it have to be this way? One of my recent Hollywood idols (yes, there still lives a teenager inside me!) Matthew McConnaughey (think Magic Mike) was dethroned in a live interview on The Actors Studio (see You Tube) by his wife Camila when she stated she wished occasionally when Matthew was home that he behaved more like the ‘throw her against the wall and ravish her’ kind of guy he portrays in his movies! Matthew grins and agrees.

This is a good reminder that men are simply perfectly imperfect human beings, just like us, not necessarily Gods in the bedroom.

This deeply infectious conditioning is also supported by our biology, as our sexuality is experienced through the body’s autonomic nervous system. The challenge of the autonomic nervous system response is that it works largely beyond the mind’s conscious control where we can’t ‘will’ it to happen, as anyone trying to ‘force’ arousal or orgasm to happen very quickly discovers. This is where we as women have traditionally handed control of our pleasure, often idealized as the woman’s surrender, over to her lover.

Yet this idea of the man being the sole provider of our pleasure can be a very one hard to give up.

But ladies it is time to do exactly that if your attachment to this romantic scenario is getting in the way of your pleasure. For when you’re pining for the perfect partner who can effortlessly make it all happen you’re making yourself miserable over something that doesn’t actually exist.

There is no doubt about it, that we can experience our lovers as perfect at different times but it’s the idea that we need them to be like this always that gets in the way.

It’s very similar for a guy watching porn who fantasizes about the endlessly and effortlessly horny, wet and willing woman on the screen. If a woman believes she cannot experience pleasure without the perfect partner to do it for her, then she is totally giving her sexual power away. She is putting her focus and energy outside of herself and losing her voice to express what she wants and desires in the process.

In conscious lovemaking a woman really understands that pleasure is a co created experience and that she herself has much to bring. Women’s bodies take time, safety, relaxation and surrender, but can we also give it to ourselves? Where surrender is not so much to the skill of our lover but instead into surrender of our thinking minds to our feeling hearts and bodies, when we let go of trying, pushing, forcing and simply be in the moment open to pleasure arising.

Trusting, loving ourselves and our bodies, giving ourselves loving messages rather than critical self judgement. Feeling our own safety inside of us, wanting and desiring to be there and indirectly activating our autonomic nervous system whilst we’re at it!

When our partners are able to join us in this place of loving, wanting and desiring us, helping us feel loved, beautiful and safe it definitely enhances the impact of our efforts.

Yet if we are closed, untrusting of ourselves and our pleasure, physically tense and in self judgement, then the touch we experience literally feels much less pleasurable or maybe even intolerable.

The autonomic nervous system is very sensitive and requires nurturing. This is where it is important for us to know our own bodies, to be familiar with them through self pleasure, to not only know what they are capable of, but to love spending time there because if we are unwilling to spend time with ourselves, then how can we expect anyone else to?

In lovemaking with another it is absolutely OK to include touching your own body, for the pure pleasure of it, to co create.

If we’re not hoping or demanding that he totally looks after us, then the more your lover can soften and drop into his own feeling body, opening his own heart, deepening his yumminess and his presence with us, sharing the role of lover and co creating the experience.

Ways to claim your sexual power and enhance your pleasure:

Take the time to stop, breathe, relax, connect with your own feeling body at the beginning.
Trust that if you can be fully present in your body and open to whatever pleasure may arise then pleasure will happen. This trust activates your autonomic nervous system to do its magical work.
Drop trying to perform as it will take you away from where you want to be.
Believe how you are is perfect right now. Focus on how you feel rather than how you look.
Allow self touch to be part of your lovemaking, not as a fallback position but as a joy. If your partner sees you he will likely be inspired to join in, once he knows it works for you.
Connect with your heart, be how you are rather than how you think you (or your lover) thinks you should be.
Allow any emotions to be felt, even if they feel inappropriate to the moment- as feeling them opens up new pathways to pleasure. Breathe, feel and allow.

The Power of Reverse Polarity

March 18, 2015 By Annette & Graeme Leave a Comment

The Power of Reverse Polarity-
Where Men bring Heart and Women bring Sex into a relationship.

A couple come to see us, they are disconnected and hurting. She is fed up with years of his insensitive attempts at sex and wants something more ‘intimate’ and ‘meaningful’, the way she believes sex ‘should’ be.

He is bored with being told he is ’doing it wrong’ all the time yet still hopefully nudges her in the back with his morning erection.

She is both rightly protecting herself from further hurt and yet is scared and somehow guilty at the emotional distance between them.

He is feeling rejected, shamed and lost, ready to give up.

Most people struggle at this stage, because in the early days of relationship when both sex and love are in abundance, this issue has not yet emerged.

But as the effortlessness of new relationship fades this stereotypical view becomes a limitation, and at its worst it can become a nightmare.

This is because it puts the power of desire in relationship outside of ourselves.

They don’t yet know about reverse polarity.

What they are acting out is a very common relationship scenario- the stereotypical belief about heterosexual relationship that most of us carry- that men want sex and women want love.

In relationship, it is men who bring heart and women who bring sex

And, if in doubt, simply ask your partner what they want from you.

This is Reverse Polarity in Relationship.

If your struggling to grasp this concept, ask your self these 3 simple questions ;

1. What happens when women say “no” to sex ?

2. What do you feel when men close their heart or are disconnected from you ?

3. What is it you desire to feel from your partner ?

The power trap

Where the man is left seeking what a woman controls – sex, for she has the ultimate veto rights to the sex in relationship, if she says no there is not much he can do about it.

And the man has power over what his woman desires-his open hearted intimacy and his love, which can fall away or close down in the post romantic period of courtship, no matter how much she nags him.

Rejection, abandonment and betrayal.

This leaves both susceptible to the deepest wounds of relationship- rejection, abandonment and betrayal.

Rejection of sexual advances, emotional distance or abandonment and a sense of betrayal from being denied what they signed up for.

This dynamic can of course happen the other way around with the woman desiring sex more often and the man feeling isolated, or between same sex couples as the underlying premise is the same but it is strongest in a man-woman relationship as it is the base where the stereotype began.

It is a very painful place to live.

What happens in this place is a version of our previously mentioned couple, with both partners trying to micro manage each other to get their needs met, they’re playing out that old saying where “women fake orgasms and men fake relationships”.

Both are missing out, feeling frustrated, powerless and unhappy. In this dynamic each person wants what the other has and feels incomplete without it.

Their reality is that the other person cannot satisfy this desire, so strong it actually feels like a desperate need, two halves seeking the other to make one whole, then holding them responsible for their needs not being met.

When this dynamic is playing out, both are engaging from their perceived and socially conditioned strengths where men believe they’re all about sex and women believe they’re about love.

This makes it harder for men and women to see each other clearly, inviting negative judgements like men are unfeeling, selfish sex maniacs and women are cold hearted, whinging witholders…

The answer is within

Instead of looking to our partner for resolution of our hurt the solution is in reverse polarity: looking past the obvious and inside of ourselves for what is missing, for it is inside of ourselves that we have both choice and power in what we create.

The irony is that our looking inside ourselves can have our partner magically falling over themselves to offer us what we have so long desired.

This embracing of ourselves confirms that healthy relationship is two whole people sharing their own wholeness with each other.

This is an important dynamic for any relationship and is something that we teach and encourage in all our work.

Our Couples retreat, V.I.P. sessions and Ultimate Couples Getaways create an opportunity for couples to experience and learn this, and is why we have an excellent success rate with our clients, regardless if their stepping back from the edge, or are seeking something deeper with more connection.

So what do we look inside of ourselves for?

Men- Your sexual heart connection

When a man owns and stands up in the power of his open heart and is heart connected in his sex he has become empowered in himself.

He is no longer driven by his sexual desires as they become a conscious choice. He is able to step out of shame and make love, rather than ‘get off”.

He no longer feels the need to ‘play the game’ to get his desires met, he can be his authentic self.

Sexual rejection is less painful because he no longer feels totally invalidated, he remains connected to himself, making it paradoxically less likely. He knows how to go fearlessly and deep into feeling, and into lovemaking, focussing on heart opening pleasure rather than performance.

His depth, clarity and safety will draw his woman close. It may also piss her off as he will be less likely to tolerate her being less than who she is capable of being. He also has an ability to take life head on, no matter what it brings.

Women- Your heart sexual connection

When a woman owns the power of her sexuality and is unafraid to connect it to her heart she becomes empowered in herself.

She is no longer driven by a need for intimacy outside of herself, it becomes a conscious choice. She is then able to step out of neediness and embrace pleasure and connection rather than be limited or controlled by it.

She no longer feels the need to give herself away in order to get her needs met, she can be her authentic self. Emotional abandonment is less painful as she no longer abandons and remains connected to herself in her vulnerability, making it paradoxically less likely.

She knows how to go willingly and joyously into pleasure, focussing on opening her heart to herself rather than getting it from her lover.

Her radiance and empowered surrender will draw her man close. It may also piss him off as she will no longer tolerate less than full presence in him.

She also has an ability to stand up in life and be who she is, no matter what.

We see it over and over in working with couples:

When a man is deeply validated in his heart rather than told he needs to improve his performance he can truly open and step into relationship in a way that is literally beyond words, repeatedly bringing tears to the eye of those experiencing it.

His heart exudes a love that has a tangible power far, far beyond romance and anything commonly seen or expressed about love in our current superficial society.

And in this place when a woman is supported and held in giving herself permission in owning her heart connected sexuality she has a radiance, passion and well being that is a sight to behold and be around.

Where she expresses herself and nurtures both others and herself from a place of abundance and inner contentment rather than a need for love and approval.

We are aware that this idea of reverse polarity will challenge some who have their own idea of relationship, best discussed late at night over a glass of red… and that each relationship will have their own version of this very common power dynamic.

We also strongly believe it is an area worth exploring to discover your own core truth. It involves taking risks in being vulnerable but will also give you an unforgettable taste of what is possible.

Be part of the solution!

Much is being said these days of a quote from the Dalai Lama about the potential power of western women in changing the world.

We believe the world is too complex for the answer to be that simple and see it will take equally open hearted men as well as equally empowered women.