Have sex, the other way

There's nothing new about hooking up. As a sexual-revolutionary, I practically lived on the Relationship Roller Coaster. Little did I know that biology was arranging every ride. Like many, I believed I just hadn't found "Mr. Right," even after I married and divorced. As it turned out, the issue wasn't so much who as how.

I started to connect the dots in my thirties, when I experimented with a little known sacred sex technique -- and learned something unexpected. The technique calls for generous affection and relaxed intercourse. Instead of climaxing, lovers keep melting into a sort of sexual meditation until they feel completely satisfied. Over thousands of years, people have rediscovered this approach, so it goes by various names: angelic dual cultivation, le jazer (cortezia), karezza, the reserved embrace (amplexus reservatus), and so forth.

The "avoid orgasm" element seemed peculiar, but as much as I loved orgasm, I was ready to try anything that promised greater harmony. I was expending far too much time and energy angsting over my love life.

Early results were mixed. As long as a lover and I stayed with the practice, we experienced growing harmony and deeper intimacy. But it was really easy to drop back into hot foreplay and orgasm. At first, the resulting pattern was almost too subtle to identify, but after a while it became exasperatingly predictable. During the days and weeks after a passion bout, the spark faded. Arguments arose. So did a need for space. Both the drive to "fix" the tension with more hot sex, and the drive to "fix" each other, reached gale force. I thought, "If only he would...." He saw me differently, too. Eventually the relationship would crater, and I would start anew with increased determination. Read on >>