What I like about David Deida’s writings is that he invites you to think about ordinary, everyday occurrences in deeper ways. In particular, he invites us to look closely at “sexual arousal” or “sexual energy” and to give it the special attention it lacks in ordinary settings. And he beckons us to figure out how to master it to derive the most pleasure, meaning, and connection from it.
Deida describes sex in the most relatable, accurate, and balanced way I’ve seen. For example, he provides the best perspective that makes the most sense out of why sex is so much more pleasurable than mere masturbation.
Deida describes sex and how to master it in the language of energy and love, and he claims that sex is primarily about channeling sexual energy throughout the body to heal, fulfill, and connect. And so, sex, done skillfully, becomes something that energizes instead of depleting us of energy.
What stands out in this book is how Deida discusses ejaculations and orgasms.
Most people desire orgasms because they have pent-up stresses, excessive energy, and a “libidinal itch” they just want to scratch. And the pleasure they feel after the climax is merely a decrease of energy, which quiets all the stress momentarily - hence, it gives the illusion of liberation.
Deida suggests that orgasms - and sex - can and should be so much more than that. Instead of using ejaculations to cope with “life,” you can use sex to energize the body and free energetic blockages in your body and your woman so that there will ultimately be more energy, creativity, and love in and between you.
He talks in length about how men can have an energetic orgasm up the spine, which shoots up your consciousness up to Jupiter or something… without necessarily ejaculating. This super orgasm is allegedly far more fulfilling, energizing, and pleasurable than just relieving oneself by squirting some semen after a long, stressful day of work and an accumulation of arousal from women on the streets.
The way this super spine orgasm is achieved is by learning how to move sexual energy throughout your body through breathing, visualization, and becoming more sensitive to the subtle energies in your body and your woman. Not to mention deepening your capacity to love and cultivating a relationship that is of the just-mentioned quality.
One of the core elements of this book is that mastering the breath is the key to opening up emotionally, spiritually, and sexually. The breath is the way in which energy flows through us. An inhibited breath means inhibition of our self-expression and also our love.
One exercise that stuck with me is visualizing inhalation going down the stomach and exhalation up the spine in daily life, meditation, and sex. Of course, keep the tongue resting at the top of your mouth (Otherwise, the energy doesn’t circulate properly!)
Deida provides sex advice, all within a framework of “energy” and spiritualitiness. Which was amusing at times, when, for example, he suggested biting, slapping, and pinching the woman to “move stagnant energy.” The funny thing, though, is that there isn’t really any other framework for making sense of these things that are far more compelling than this one.
I mean that there isn’t any real compelling “reason” for why a woman can have an orgasm merely by having her ass slapped.
Something struck me the other day… So let’s say you, as a man, are having sex (Fuck yeah!), and all you’re doing is focusing on your breath. Then… After a minute or two, or three, hopefully, longer, you start to feel a surge coming out of the essence of your being, out of the void of nothingness; the feeling is unmistakable: you’re about to have an orgasm. Now comes the question: what exactly “triggers” this upcoming orgasm? Why exactly on the 1152th rep of stroking caused this sensation, which, if continued, will no doubt result in an ejaculation?
This comes out of nowhere, apparently; I mean, does the body really need a thousand strokes to ejaculate from a physical standpoint?
It’s very interesting to think about these “ordinary” things in more detail. What exactly is sexual arousal, this sexual energy we feel inside of us? What exactly makes us orgasm?
So anyway, Deida is incredibly relatable, both in this book and in The Way of the Superior Man. As someone who has been very interested in the mechanics of the desire to ejaculate, I have “come” to the same conclusions as Deida, namely that the desire to ejaculate has a lot to do with not tolerating high levels of energy.
I believe this requires reiteration: The masses of men cannot tolerate high levels of energy (i.e., the experience of reality - of the body and the world) - the sheer volume, the intensity of “experience” itself is intolerable to people. And so they want to get rid of the energy, and ejaculation is the low-hanging fruit.
Deida even suggests avoiding gnawing teeth, fidgeting (and excessive ejaculations, obviously), etc., to be able to develop your capacity for high levels of energy. I LOVE THIS STYLE OF THINKING. I really adore it. I really do. But I’m not 100% sold on the fidgeting thing. According to Andrew Huberman, fidgeting is an automatic instinct that some people have that gets rid of excessive energy (calories), and therefore contributes to maintaining homeostasis to weight control, as fidgeting can burn up to 1000-1500 calories a day. Nevertheless, controlling fidgeting is a nice way to develop the ego’s control of the body, which is, in my opinion, a masculine pursuit. So, I’m 50/50 on this one.
Anyways. The book is not merely about having intercourse and orgasms. It touches upon what the meaning of being a man really is what it means to live with an open heart. It describes a philosophy of being.
Quoty time!
“If I had ejaculated too frequently, or if my own internal energy was low for other reasons, then the weight of her mood would bend me. I would attempt to figure out what was happening and right myself through mentally muscular means: argument, analysis, and insistence.”
“But if my internal energy was full, then my girlfriend’s moods of push and pull would not sway me. I could relax my mind and stand on one leg of love, feel through her mood into her true need, combine myself with her energies, and dissolve in the openness of our love.”
What do I want from my work, from my sexing, from my friends, from my family? What do I want altogether in my life, more than anything else? An ejaculation is not it. What I really want is a depth of openness far beyond the cycle of tension and release afforded by a genital spurt.”
Deida hits the nail on the head here. At some point or another, you have to question your existence as an internal combustion energy of build-up and release, build-up and release. Is this all that the great treasures of the revered act of sex can offer? It seems like, exactly as Deida put it in words, an infinite loop that goes round and round.
It might be reasonable to try to discard pursuing the whims of sexuality altogether, considering how base you realize it at certain moments of clarity. I think, however, a better approach exists, one which Deida advocates, namely to try to examine what this sexual force is really after, what it truly longs for, and to consider the possibility that the reason why we’re stuck in an infinite loop of desire and release is that we’re going after it unskillfully.
By questioning these topics, we are suddenly thrown into the dungeon of the most fundamental questions of our existence, which is perhaps why these things are so difficult to think about, and we’d rather just discard this pursuit as over-philosophical and geeky.
While some mental models are useful, I would argue that this is not just an “intellectual pursuit,” rather, this type of contemplation is more about developing a deep sense of listening and feeling of what lies at the core of your being, rather than calculating, engineering or figuring out a mental puzzle.
“I woke up in the morning feeling fine. My first thoughts were about what I needed to do that day, my schedule, and responsibilities. I wanted a little extra get-up-and-go, so I had some coffee before heading out the door. The day was OK, but I realized that it had not been the right time for me to ejaculate. I felt the subtle sense of inner ambiguity or lack of depth that I know can be exacerbated by inappropriate ejaculations.”
A subtle sense of inner ambiguity or lack of depth. Deida has a way of describing things! This book is definitely the number #1 resource I’ve “come” (again, the pun) across on having a proper understanding of ejaculations and orgasms. This is not to say that ejaculations are to be avoided for all eternity, but it’s about being in tune with oneself and developing a deeper understanding of what you really want out of life.
The extent to which we can love determines the depth and fulfillment of sex. Sex expresses our special individuality and opens our authentic spontaneity in the union of joy, acceptance, and love.
Sexual techniques are trivial compared to the practice of letting love overcome the securities of fear and ego.
Imagine a baby crying, and you want relief from it annoying you. There are skillful and unskilful ways of handling it. An unskillful way would be to tape the baby’s mouth to stifle the crying. A better way would be to soothe the baby with a pacifier. But to the depth you’re fulfilling, what the baby really wants is to the degree it’s skilful. Maybe you give the baby a bottle of milk, but what it really needs is a deep connection with the mother.
Same with sexual desire. Unskilful ways of handling its “incessant crying” might be being alone, spurting out to the desperate sight of porn, renting an escort, or getting drunk and having one-night stands, etc. The skillful way depends on what you are feeling and needing on a deeper level. Maybe it is unleashing your creativity in art, expressing your emotion in music, doing something that is unambiguously your purpose, or maybe rapture your woman with merciless love,sharing your masculine gifts engrossed in beautiful vulgarity, being renewed and refreshed by the circulation of healing properties of the polarity of energy that’s been flowing throughout and between the bodies.
Let’s talk about food!
“For many people, eggs are a powerful revitalizer after excess ejaculation. In fact, eggs are often considered a normal breakfast food among many people who are addicted to frequent ejaculations. If you eat a vegetarian diet without any meat, eggs, or milk products, then almonds are an excellent post-ejaculative replenisher.”
Funny how my body craves almonds at certain specific times. Again, goes to show why I find this book so loveable and relatable.
Okay, back to talking about orgasms!
In addition to a lengthy commentary on men’s orgasms, Deida also goes into detail of women’s orgasms.
In contrast to most men’s orgasms, Deida states that women increase their levels of energy and openness from orgasms. This goes strictly against the premise of the book “Cupids poisoned arrow.”. However, Deida acknowledges women can have depleting orgasms if they are shallow and unloving.
It does seem to me that Deida is correct. Let’s just say, then, that women, for the vast majority, are more loving and giving when they have nice orgasms - and it also depends, of course, on the quality and depth of the orgasms. There’s no such thing as an “orgasm,” as a comparable unit, I mean, the quality varies so tremendously for men, I cannot imagine how it would be for a woman.
The three types of orgasms for women are #1) Clitoris, #2) Vaginal, and #3) Cervical. Each type typically requires more trust, openness, surrender, and love in their respective order. The vaginal, or G-spot orgasms and cervical orgasms are what typically are necessary for a deep emotional and spiritual reception of love.
Deida puts the “Cupid’s poisoned arrow” book (one which vilifies orgasms) into perspective. A perfectly reasonable explanation would be that the people who report less love and openness from having orgasms are simply not orgasming deeply enough.
The G-spot area, and the cervical area to an even higher degree, is a place of residue of chronic tension from trauma and emotional baggage. And so sex, done patiently, lovefully and with open breathing and feeling, can gradually resolve these traumas and open up the capacity for orgasms. This echoes Reich’s idea that pursuing orgasmic potency is key to solving neuroticism, an idea I believe has a lot of merit.
I would also extend this thought to the rest of the body. We have “character armor” in our muscles, internal “knots” of energy, for example in our hips, stomach, hearts, etc., and the warmth of loving sexual energy flowing through the body would be analogous to how hot water dissolves and breaks up dried up residue in pipes and such.
“No matter how perfect her lover’s technique is, a woman will not relax deeply enough to experience a G-spot orgasm unless she trusts and opens to her own sexual energy as well as her partner’s. If she is afraid of being seen in the midst of profound pleasure, she will close down.”
“Always feel the effects of your foot play. Don’t impose some weird sexual play on your lover just because you think it’s a neat idea.”
Exactly. Same with positions. Don’t just do stuff because you think it will make you “a better lover to please her,” instead, be sensitive to the subtle changes in the sexual current of energy when doing things … experiment and FEEL the effects of what you’re doing.
“If she feels her partner is weak in his masculine direction in life—for instance, his financial or spiritual purpose is unclear—she won’t open to receive him completely.”
This describes perfectly the limitations of reading books about sex. You can have all the perfect knowledge, know all the techniques, etc..… but what really is the bread and butter of sex is to what degree she can open herself up to you from a feminine trust in you.
Man, I can go on and quote Deida forever. This book is worth a read, and a re-read, and a re-re-read.
As with his other book, the Way of the Superior Man, I don’t really disagree with anything.
One thing I’d mention, just for the sake of trying to balance things out a bit, is that Deida puts a lot of emphasis on “awareness of the other,” meaning to be deeply present and sensitive to the subtle energy of the other, oneself and even the room. To communicate about what feels good, etc., and openness and, again, this acute awareness and deep states of consciousness facilitate what we truly want out of sex.
However, I can’t help but think he didn’t mention the polar opposite, which to me is even more liberating when you’re in a state of mind where you don’t even consider what the woman is feeling, there is no “communication,” no feeling of subtle energies, you don’t care about what she’s feeling, you’re in a state where she’s no longer a person, and so talking to her or considering her needs doesn’t even cross your mind.
The irony I’m trying to point out is that there is some “virtue” in not being aware of the feelings of your woman. So the interesting question would be, is this just a sort of “local maximum?” if we set this as the ideal, we move away from what Deida is talking about, which is about deep connection, instead of objectification in an animalistic state of mind, despite the fact that women find this desirable, pleasurable and validating.
As I wrote in my review of The Way of the Superior Man, while these books may light a flashbulb above your head, the real power of these is the alteration of your course by a fraction of a degree so that your ship is an entirely different place in five or ten years. On this journey, Deida leaves us with the following advice: combine stalwart self-discipline with moment-to-moment freshness, delight, and a large dollop of intuitive creativity.