A woman has detailed her time at a retreat that centers entirely on orgasms.
Most people think of retreats as calm, restorative breaks with yoga and massages.
That description only partly fits this one in California.
The Back to Body Sex Retreat takes place in Joshua Tree National Park.
It meets outdoors in the desert and focuses on helping women reconnect with their sexual pleasure.
Attendees usually pay about $15,000 for the full program.
Shorter weekend options cost under $1,000.
Jana Hocking, a sex and dating columnist for the Mail Online, described her stay on the ‘Just Between Us’ podcast.
The retreat sees women focus more on their own sexual needs (Getty Stock Image)
Hocking said she expected a crowd of loud extroverts seeking attention.
“I thought it would be full of extroverts who were outlandish and wanted to perform in front of each other, but it really wasn’t,” she said.
She added many attendees were either navigating divorce and seeking missed orgasms, or healing from trauma and relearning how to enjoy sex.
Hocking described that reality as “quite heartbreaking.”
The retreat’s aim, she explained, is to teach women to prioritize their own sexual needs.
The group began with each woman saying why she had come.
Hocking noted that was “about the only tame thing they did.”
Founder Pamela Madsen and her team then led participants into tantric meditation.
Some exercises include bondage, tantric movements and guiding yourself to orgasm (Getty Stock Image)
She described a practice where participants held their vulvas and gently rocked, either nude or in underwear.
They spoke to their vulvas, stating desires, identities and goals.
Hocking said: “My goal was to take back ownership of my sexuality because I realized I was performing — I can do a Meg Ryan orgasm like the best of them — but am I having a real orgasm? Am I putting my needs first?”
Other sessions used bondage, sensory deprivation, and guided touching by the retreat’s helpers.
In one exercise, Pamela Madsen was brought to orgasm by a male assistant after around half an hour of foreplay.
That occurred with the other women watching.
“It just went on so long I got bored,” Hocking said.
A urologist also gave a demonstration of female anatomy using Madsen’s body.
Hocking recalled: “We all stood around as the urologist kind of pointed at her private parts. ‘This is your labia, this is your clit.'”
Hocking said she was the only attendee who did not reach orgasm during the retreat.
She left feeling more confident and better prepared to achieve climax at home.