Meditation, Mindfulness, & My Slutty Mouth

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Two major things happened to me in February: I had one of the worst depressive and anxious spells of my life, and I became obsessed with giving blowjobs.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that these things happened at the same time. We’re drawn to what we most need at any given moment: when your body’s deficient in magnesium, for example, you might crave chocolate. And likewise, I see now that when I most needed to clear my mind and focus up, I craved the sexual act that gave me that experience most readily.

This connection didn’t really hit me until the owner of my favorite BJ dick skipped town and I found myself in a fellatio drought for a while. As my anxious and depressive episode worsened, I craved blowjobs the way I’ve craved other life-affirming touchstones: nutritious food, quality friend-time, creative expression, cat cuddles. It ran deeper than my typical carnal hankerings. It felt more like a core psychological need.

When you struggle with anxiety and depression, people constantly offer unsolicited advice. So I’ve heard it all. “Get more sunshine!” “Try yoga!” “Eat more greens!” One suggestion I’ve heard many times is mindfulness. This seems counterintuitive at first blush – if my issue is feeling sad and scared, won’t focusing on those feelings just make me sadder and scared-er? – but I actually find it works the opposite way. Acknowledging my negative self-talk, greeting it like an old friend instead of slamming the door in its face, diffuses some of its power. And then I refocus on my breath and my body instead of my buzzing brain, and those quotidian sensations are calming in their simplicity. It’s not a magic pill, but it’s something.

That’s what blowjobs can be for me: a venue for mindfulness. They force me into my body and don’t allow me to fall back into my anxiety-brain until the deed is done.

When I first started giving BJs at age 19, I didn’t find it hot at all. “My mouth just isn’t an erotic zone for me,” I remember telling a friend. I felt all those mouth sensations very vividly – the weight of a cock on my tongue, the texture of the skin sliding over my lips, the smells and tastes – and they captured my attention so completely that I couldn’t focus on other things, like my own arousal or pleasure. I hadn’t yet developed a concept of sexual enjoyment that didn’t centre on my own genitals, so I interpreted my BJ dalliances as, “My mouth just isn’t eroticized.” Wow, how wrong I was.

That sensory overwhelm is the main reason I enjoy BJs so much now. They are unique among sexual acts for me in this way. When someone’s fucking me, fingering me, or even going down on me, I can tune it out to some extent if I want to. My mind can wander into anxiety-land, and sometimes I need to remind myself, “Oh, right, I’m having sex right now!” I never, ever experience that with a blowjob. I can’t. My mouth is so front-and-center in my perception that I can’t think about much else when I’m slobbin’ on the knob. It’s just me and the dick, and nothing else matters.

Leo Babauta calls this concept “the universe of a single task” (albeit in a rather different context!). He writes that you should “make each task its own universe, its own specialness.” This is an approach I try (and often fail) to bring to my relationships, my creative work, my very existence as a human. But for some reason, when it comes to blowjobs, I succeed. A beej can be my entire world for its whole duration and I don’t feel deprived or distracted. It is my everything.

This is highly affirming at times when I feel like a fuck-up in every other arena. Maybe I’ve missed a work deadline, or I’m fighting with someone I love, or my financial situation is unsteady. It doesn’t matter. Faced with a dick to suck, all that other shit fades away. A blowjob is a task with crystal-clear parameters and expectations, unlike many other challenges we face. I know exactly what I am supposed to do and how to do it, especially if the person I’m blowing is someone whose body and preferences I’m familiar with. I’m not an Olympic-level cocksucker, but I feel fairly confident in my skillz. Giving a good beej makes me feel empowered and successful even when I don’t feel that way about my life as a whole.

Of course, I’m a kinkster, so my brain is forever swimming in kink, and that probably informs the psychologically restorative way I experience BJs. Being a good girl – in this case, by giving good head – is a way for me to feel valuable when I otherwise don’t. My boss, editor, dad, and best friend could all be fuming at me, but if I’m pleasing a dom partner, that’s all I’m thinking about at that moment – and I’ll feel great about it. Maybe that’s fucked up, but there’ve been times when the satisfaction I glean from pleasing a partner was the boost I needed after depression dug me into a hole in every area of life.

Giving head is also an activity that gives you moment-to-moment feedback on how you’re doing. That is precious and rare in this world of anxiety-provoking uncertainty. I can try out a new trick during a BJ and know in under five seconds whether it’s a flop or a worthy addition to my repertoire. Nifty!

This all makes it sound like I approach fellatio as a zen monk would approach his meditation cushion, and that’s not quite right. True, sometimes kneeling at a partner’s feet to take his dick into my mouth feels akin to prostrating myself before a statue of a revered deity. But there is, of course, a sexy element too. Beyond just having a straight-up BJ kink – which I absolutely do – I also think the psychological calm I get from sucking cock takes the pressure off my sexual brakes. The less anxiety and overwhelm I’m feeling, the easier it is for sexual arousal to flow into my body and mind. Abraham-Hicks says your mood is like a cork held underwater, and it rises fast as soon as you let go of it; I find it’s the same with my arousal. The less I cling to my anxiety, the quicker I turn into a hot puddle of arousal in the presence of things that turn me on. Hence, a meditative blowjob – or other anxiety-quashers like marijuana, booze, and sleepiness – makes me hornier by sheer virtue of eliminating my stressors.

Naturally, this process relies on having a partner I trust – someone who I feel safe relaxing around. But I’ve found this penile peace with more casual partners, too. It’s a nice moment for both of us – him luxuriating in pleasure, and me zoning out on his dick. It’s why, for example, my Tinder hookup in Minneapolis asked me mid-beej if I wanted to “do anything else with that cock,” and I looked up at him with confusion in my eyes and said, “…No.” It had been a couple months since I’d had a hard dick in my mouth, and dammit, I needed my fix.

 

Do you find certain sexual acts meditative or calming? Got any stories or suggestions?

Beating the Stigma: Whipsmart Thoughts on Kink and Mental Health

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It’s funny to me that many people think of kink as dark, dangerous, and edgy. It can be all of those things, of course. But for me, it’s not scary or mysterious. It’s a key part of how my brain works and how I relate to other people. It’s a sexual interest and also a non-sexual paradigm. And sometimes, it’s a boon for my mental health.

Earlier this year, I entered the last semester of my four-year journalism degree, and found myself unable to cope with the challenges it brought. Newsrooms are an anxiety-provoking place to begin with, and I was also experiencing one of the worst anxious and depressive episodes of my life – so, as much as I wanted to be up to the task, I just wasn’t. Two days in the newsroom were enough to convince me of that: the real work hadn’t even begun yet, and already my heart pounded, my mind shouted self-hating epithets at me, and I found myself thinking everything would just be easier if I walked out in front of a speeding truck.

I spoke to one of my instructors, and she – blessedly – was sympathetic to my cause. We discussed possible accommodations and arrived at the idea that I’d get my final credit by creating a journalistic audio series on a topic of my choice.

Over the preceding months, I’d found that my bad mental health days could sometimes be turned around by an intense spanking, a service-submission BJ, or various other acts of kink. Giving up control to a partner made me feel, ultimately, more in control of my life. So the intersection between kink and mental health was front-and-centre in my mind at that time, and I pitched that as a topic for my audio series. My prof loved it, and so I began.

I spent the next six weeks producing Beating the Stigma. Several local sweethearts volunteered for interviews, and generously lent me their time and energy to discuss this topic on tape. Our conversations ranged from intense to funny to mindblowing, and were often all three. I’m so so grateful to my interviewees for being candid and clever every step of the way.

You can listen to the whole series by clicking here, or you can skip to specific chapters below:

Chapter 1: Introductions

Chapter 2: Pain

Chapter 3: DD/lg

Chapter 4: Dominance

Chapter 5: Safe, Sane and Consensual

Chapter 6: Trauma and Recovery

Chapter 7: Sex 2.0

Chapter 8: Aftercare

I hope this series sparks some thoughts and feelings for you! The process of producing it certainly brought a lot to the surface for me.

5 Kinda-Sexy Things to Do When You Don’t Feel Sexy

C’mere, I’m gonna tell you a secret. It should be an obvious fact, but it’s still weirdly taboo and many people don’t accept it. Here’s the thing… There will be times in your life when your sex drive will wane. Even if you are typically a pretty libidinous person. And that does not necessarily mean there’s anything wrong with your body or your mind.

Granted, sometimes it does. As I’m sure you know, certain health conditions and life circumstances can contribute to a sag in passion. Sometimes it has to do with the expectations a partner places on you, or that you place on yourself. (Emily Nagoski has a lot to say about that in her book.) Sometimes your relationship structure doesn’t excite you, and that affects your lust levels. (In which case, I prescribe Esther Perel’s book and some soul-searching.)

But sometimes it just happens for no damn reason. And that’s okay too.

I’ve been singing “Where did my sex drive go?” for the past week. A week wouldn’t seem like a long time to go without desire or orgasms for some folks, but for me, it’s suspicious. I’m chalking it up to a combination of things: a confusing crush that’s occupying a lot of my heart-space, a recent disastrous encounter that left me feeling resistant to touch, and just general life-busyness. It’s all added up to me feeling pretty unsexy, and unmotivated to do much about it.

But there are things you can do to reactivate your appetite for the sensual, even if you’re still avoiding the sexual. I have some suggestions for you; they might make you want to have sex again, or they might not. But either way, they’ll be the gentle self-care you need at times like these, and they’ll help you get out of your head and into your body a little more. And that’s something we all need!

 

Moisturize and massage your body

Hey, the saucy definition of “touch yourself” isn’t the only definition!

Moisturization can be a meditative practice if you let it. Scoop up some coconut oil, cocoa butter, or other loveliness of choice, and start rubbing it into a part of your body that needs some love. Make it your goal to cover your whole body, slowly but surely.

You can make this a very focused, present practice by thinking about each body part as you moisturize it – what you like about that part of yourself, what achievements that body part is capable of, what it means to you. Or you can kind of zone out, by listening to some music during your self-massage and just letting your mind wander. Do what feels needed.

Meditation is proven to make you happier, and this is a low-pressure, easy way to do it. Self-massage also helps you get back in touch with your body, literally and figuratively. And hey, even if you don’t notice any of those benefits, at least you’ll have super soft skin by the time you’re done.

 

Exercise

It’s common wisdom that cardio can boost your libido, but of course, there are other reasons to do it.

For one thing, in the absence of sex or masturbation, you might be feeling antsy and full of stymied energy. While you could force yourself into not-fully-wanted sexual activity to help burn off that bounce, that might not be the best option for you right now. Exercise can help.

In cases where your flagging libido is related to depression, moving your body can also help by brightening your mood somewhat. It’s not a cure-all, but it might ease your sads a bit.

 

Make yourself look good

I sometimes view lipstick as a prescription for my lethargy. I make myself put it on when I’m sad, even when I don’t really feel like it, because it always lifts my spirits. Not a lot, but maybe enough that I can leave the house.

Sometimes a drop in sex drive can result from feeling undesirable. If that’s how you’re feeling, maybe some gussying-up is in order, to help restore some of your confidence.

Do whatever kind of appearance-finessing is most in line with your gender identity and/or sexual persona. That could be anything from lipstick and winged liner to moustache wax and a bowtie. See if you feel a little hotter once you’re done. And if not, that’s cool too.

 

Lose yourself in music

As Jim Carrey well knows, music can help us connect to our more primal selves. When I’m having a bad day or a bad week, few things work as well to shake off my misery as a night out dancing in a dark bar somewhere. It’s such a physically-focused activity that I really don’t have the energy (or even the desire) to think about whatever’s bugging me.

While dancing might help you for the same reasons I outlined when I talked about exercise above, even just listening to music can have therapeutic effects. If it’s music you love, the familiar comfort and joy of it can lift your mood. And some music is so sexy that it might get your hips grindin’ and your heart poundin’, and we all know where that can lead.

 

Use a vibrator non-sexually

My Magic Wand is the only sex toy in my collection that gets used regularly whether or not I’m feeling sexy. That’s because it can bring pleasure to just about any part of my body, not only the sexual ones. Sore muscles, blocked sinuses, even just the apathetic numbness I get when I’ve been sitting around too much – a strong wand vibrator can ease it all.

If you use a vibe on non-sexual body parts for a while and then decide you want to move it onto your genitals, you might find it more agreeable than using your hands to masturbate. Sex toys can give you some psychological distance from your sexuality that you might prefer if you’re feeling unsexy.

 

What do you do to rekindle a sex drive that’s stopped cold?

Hormonal Birth Control Made Me Crazy

I went off birth control when my relationship ended two months ago, after being on it for over three years. In the weeks that followed, school started up again, I did some freelance work, socialized with friends and family, and basically just went about my life as usual – with one key difference: for the first time in three years, I felt 100% happy, well-adjusted, and sane.

When I started flooding my system with artificial hormones in April 2011, I was about to go through some major life changes: starting school, getting into my first sexual relationship with a cis dude, enduring the deaths and mourning of a few people I loved, and falling out of touch with some of my high school friends. So when I started to feel sad, antsy, isolated and irrational, I thought it was just the circumstances of my life transforming me into a different person. I thought, I guess this is my personality now. I wasn’t thrilled about it but I didn’t think it was fixable.

I’d have bad anxiety days, when I’d show up at school and have the unsinkable sensation that everyone around me was staring at me and whispering about me. I’d have bouts of depression so bad that I had to call my city’s distress centre and sob at them over the phone, or lie in bed all day staring at the wall. I’d get irrationally upset at things my boyfriend said or did. I’d look at my body in the mirror and absolutely hate what I saw. My creative output all but stopped and I knew I needed to write and make music but it just didn’t happen, no matter how much I tried.

In short, I had turned into a nutcase. I could see that it had happened, but, again, I thought it was just the new state of my life and that I couldn’t do anything to change it.

Since going off birth control, I’ve felt sunny, excitable, flirty, creative, juiced up, carefree, and ambitious. I’m taking six very challenging courses with heavy workloads at school but I’m breezing through them with excellent grades and not giving a fuck what my classmates think of me. I wake up every day excited to put on a cute outfit, skip to the streetcar stop and go on a new day’s adventure. And my creative output is up up up.

As happy as I feel… I also feel kind of angry. Angry that I had no idea how much birth control was messing me up. Angry that the side effects of birth control are so often misrepresented or downplayed when they can actually literally transform your life. Angry that my doctor told me I should continue with hormones when I asked her to give me a copper IUD instead. Angry that I lost three years of my life to lunacy and turmoil.

Sure, there are some downsides of going off BC – my skin is a tad spottier, my periods will be unpredictable when they start back up, my sex drive is once again high to the point of almost being unmanageable, and my weight loss has slowed right down – but I think mental health is way more important than any of those things. I’ll happily be a zitty, chubby, horndog version of myself if it means I get to be outgoing, cheerful, productive and creative. That trade-off is a no-brainer.

I’ve spoken to a few friends who have corroborated my experiences, and now I’m wondering: did this happen to you? Do you know people who’ve gone through this too? Do you consider your mental health when you make contraceptive decisions? Are you as pissed off as I am that you didn’t know about this sooner?