I love to live my life as a continual opening, a progressive expansion.  This means pushing the boundaries, feeling out my edges and pushing past them when it feels right.  Recently, I moved past one of my edges in a really beautiful way, and I’d love to share it with you.

One thing I’ve been wanting to do for some time is to have a date with an escort.  I hold space for so many clients, offering sensual healing touch and helping them to move into their vulnerability.  But it’s rare for me to open up and allow someone else to hold this space for me.  And we all need it.  No matter where we are on our journey or how wide our hearts have been cracked open.

So, after having had the thought roll through so many times, years, really, I finally did it.  I paid for sex.  But not just sex.  Even on a personal level, the experience offered so much more.  Intimacy. Connection.  Being seen.  Being met and held.  I am so used to holding space for others that this was a real journey for me.  It has helped me to understand my clients better, how they feel when they come to me, the journey that leads them to my door and my session room.

One beautiful realisation is that the experience begins way before the actual meeting.  For me, it began as soon as I really decided to find an escort and gift myself with a new experience.  It’s easy to let hesitation get the better of us.  I did it for years before deciding to take the plunge.  And then, when I finally made the decision, it was as if a weight had been lifted off me.  I was cracking open in a way I hadn’t realised I could.  But making the decision was just the first step of the journey.

After I decided to go for it, I started looking around.  I explored the sites to find an escort that really felt right.  I looked for someone that I really resonated with, or thought I could resonate with, at least.  And even then, I could feel some hesitation creeping back in.  Did I really want to do this?  How could I know that the pictures on the site were genuine?  How could I find someone I could really connect with without meeting them in person?

In the end, I went with my gut.  I found an escort that had a profile I really enjoyed, with pictures that inspired my curiosity.  And I let it go from there.  Surrender to the experience, let the chips fall where they may.  That wasn’t the end of my hesitation, though.  Really, it was just the beginning.

After I’d chosen a beautiful man to share an experience with, I started the process of booking a date.  I sent an email, and one of the first things I noticed about the experience was the response time.  I appreciated that the escort – let’s call him Jason – got back to me quickly and responded openly.  Even before the session began, he was holding space.  Creating a safe and comfortable container for the experience.  After a few emails to feel him out, we made arrangements and set the date.

Aside from the personal experience, I chose to hire an escort so I could feel what it was like to switch roles.  To be the client rather than the facilitator, and feel what my own clients feel when they come for a session with me.  I feel that you only truly understand an experience when you feel it from the inside, and this has shown me so many subtle things about what my clients experience on their journey to my door.

In the days and hours leading up to Jason’s arrival, I had so many thoughts and feelings come up.  I was nervous and excited.  Self-conscious and with tendrils of self-doubt creeping in around the edges.  Questions flitted through my mind.  Would he like me?  What sort of first impression would I make?  Would we even be able to connect?  It’s hard to know when you meet someone online.  Another question I had was: how would he smell?  Smell is big for me, a huge part of the process of attraction.  And there’s just no way to gauge that before a personal meeting.

Catching myself in this spiral, I took a breath.  Lit some incense.  Did a few deep breathing exercises to ground and come back to centre, to drop the mind and get back into my body.  When Jason arrived, I was ready to invite him into my home.

Upon his arrival, I relaxed a bit.  I hadn’t even realised how tense I was.  But he was young handsome, and fit.  And he smelled nice.  But, most of all, he was confident, relaxed, and present.  We spoke for a while, talked and joked.  Jason was witty and funny, honest and well-spoken.  He had all the qualities of an outstanding escort, and I found myself really enjoying the encounter, even before the touch began.  I appreciated that it felt personal, not like a job or a paid session.  Genuine.

We moved into touch naturally.  There was nothing rushed or awkward about it.  And the touch was delicious.  There were a few moments in the beginning where my facilitator side popped in, where I felt the urge to control and direct the experience.  But I was able to catch myself, to step back and allow Jason to lead the experience.  And this was another beautiful thing I noticed – it felt amazing to let go, to give the reins to someone else and let myself be taken on a sensual journey.

I could go on, but much of what follows was intimate and personal.  It is mine, a gift to myself and a delightful indulgence.  But I will say that my time with Jason has left me feeling sexy, confident, and alive.  And I truly value the reversal of roles, seeing what it’s like for my clients when they choose to book a session with me and when we meet for the first time.  And, after the rush of emotions that led up to the encounter, I’m left with even more tenderness for those clients who come to me feeling nervous.  The journey was so much more than just a physical encounter.

Thank you for a wonderful, juicy experience, Jason.  And thank you, to my readers and clients for receiving me in this space.

In love and light,

Taranga

How do you like your bush?  Neatly trimmed?  A triangle or a runway?  Completely clean shaven?  Or absent entirely?  Have you ever thought about it?

So many young women and men feel pressured to remove their body hair.  Modern media and the porn industry depict sexuality with hairlessness, but this wasn’t always the case.

Body hair is a symbol of maturity, of our capacity to make new life.  Biologically, our body hair collects and releases pheromones, the chemicals that signal sexual readiness and evoke powerful responses in our partners.  Our current obsession with the hairless vulva is a reflection of modern media and public opinion more than any real understanding of sexuality.  And this isn’t a consideration for women alone.  It’s currently come into vogue for men to remove all pubic hair as well.  If you enjoy the feel of your body without hair, amazing.  The biggest question is one of motivation.  Are you grooming your body the way you like, or the way you will expect others to like it?

How do you enjoy your body?  How do you like to feel?  Is your regimen regarding body hair based upon what you want or what you feel others want of you?  Do you shave, wax, or apply depilatories because you like to be free of hair, or do you do it because you feel that this is the way to be sexy, to be accepted by others?

When it comes down to it, personal grooming is a personal choice.  It should be something you like.  You have every right to groom yourself to fit the way that you like to feel.  Anyone else’s opinions are secondary, if they even merit consideration at all.

Just to dispel some of the myths that have arisen around our personal grooming, the clean shaven vulva is neither sexier nor more hygienic than the glorious full bush.  Both are beautiful, as is anything in between.  The same applies to men.  Removing our pubic hair can offer a sleek, smooth finish, but it also removes one of the most tangible signs of masculinity and virility.  On a practical level, if we enjoy anal play, a bit of body scaping can clear the path.  But practical concerns aside, our body hair is one of the most intimate aspects of our appearance.  It is a reflection of our most personal choices, how we would like to maintain the sacred space of our bodies.  And there is no one outside of ourselves who can tell us what is right for us.

When it comes right down to it, we are each looking for a person who can see us and love us for who we are.  Without masks or games, without expectations or roles.  And this extends to even the most personal aspects of how we present ourselves to one another and to the world.  What we all want is a person who can see our beauty, regardless of cultural conditioning or societal expectations.  And yet, the only way we can know we’ve found such a connection is to do what we love most, on every level, and see how our preferences are received.

So what do you prefer?  If you love to shave or wax, amazing.  Do what you feel.  And yet, if you’re only going through these challenges to appease a man or fit in with some cultural image, have a bit of a think about it.  One of the simplest and most eloquent ways for us to take our power back is to determine how we would like to treat and maintain our bodies.  And anyone who is worth keeping around in our lives will both respect and love us for exactly what we like.  What do you like?

We live in a busy world.  Lots of pressures, lots of demands, and it can be easy to get caught in a cycle.  Rushing from one thing to the next, and thinking about what’s ahead the whole time.  On top of that, since we were young, we’ve been surrounded by “shoulds” and “ought tos”, things that are ok, and things that aren’t.

The result, all too often, is that we live in our heads.  Focused on something in the future rather than what’s right here in front of us.  Thinking, planning, strategising, making stories.  Worrying about things that haven’t happened and might never happen.  About what we should do or say.  Playing games and roles, sometimes without ever realising that we’re going through the motions.  Wearing masks even in front of ourselves.  And cutting off that sense of feeling which makes life meaningful, joyful, exciting, and truly worth living.

This is what I love about tantra, about Bondassage, about holding space for others to move into a greater depth of feeling.  It happens naturally, as soon as we allow ourselves to slow down.  Once we let go of what the future might bring, even for just a moment, once we start to tune into our sensations, our feelings, a huge weight begins to ease off, one that we might not even have realised we were carrying around.

It goes deeper, too.  So often we’re taught that our desires are wrong.  That we shouldn’t feel this, shouldn’t want that.  But making our feelings and desires wrong doesn’t make them go away.  They are a part of us, signals from within that guide us to fulfil our needs, to step into the joy and vitality life has to offer us.

Tantra is a practice of allowing, accepting, of coming to feel that all parts of us are welcome in this moment, and in each moment.  And, though there might be some understandings connected with it, the core of the process is feeling.  Getting into the body, getting present, using the most sensual aspect of our experience as a medium for moving past our judgment of ourselves, for moving into acceptance on the deepest level, in this moment and each moment.

When we’re living in our heads, in the future, stuck in intellect and judgment, we get tight.  We contract, closing our feelings down, both emotionally and in the body.  But a beautiful, conscious, sensual experience can help us to open up, to let the tightness ease off, and to begin feeling again.  Emotions that have been bottled up for ages come flooding out.  Tensions that we’ve been holding in our bodies slip away, and a sense of peaceful presence comes in that makes every aspect of life more enjoyable, richer and more dynamic.

Our natural state is orgasmic, filled with joy and gratitude for all the richness and beauty of the moment.  And the key to coming back is feeling, allowing, accepting.  Opening up to allow all that life to offer us to come in.  And it’s easy, really.  Fun.  Juicy.  Exciting.  The deepest and most lasting gift we can give ourselves is the willingness to show up for ourselves, right now.  Right here.  To drop our judgment and control, and simply allow our feeling sense of guide the way.

It’s time to debunk a myth that some of us have picked up: sex is not simply for the young.  In fact, it can continue to be fulfilling throughout life.  Even more, sex can improve with age!  And it might have once been taboo to be open with our sexual nature, but those days are gone.  At any age it’s beautiful to share openly and playfully, relating needs and desires to a partner and opening the door for them to share as well.

Some think that desire diminishes with age, but this isn’t the case.  Certainly there are changes that happen in the body.  It might take more time to reach full arousal and to become fully lubricated.  But who’s rushing?  One of the beauties of entering our golden years is that we have more time.  The kids have grown up, the work is behind us, and we can move into our sensual play without distractions or interruptions.

Once we’re older, we know our bodies better.  We know what works for us and what doesn’t.  Sex can be great when you’re younger, but it’s often driven mostly by hormones.  As we get older, sharing of sensual play is more emotional fulfilling, a way to rekindle the passion in a long marriage or deepen a beautiful new relationship.  Also, once we have a bit of life experience under our belt, we tend to let go of ideas about performance and expectation, letting ourselves be really present to the experience.  Most older men know that there’s plenty more to do in the bedroom than just intercourse, and they love to please, to savour the experience, touch, kiss, lick, and caress.  And for older women, the body is often even more sensitive after menopause.  Orgasms can become even more intense than they were in the younger years.

One thing that should be mentioned is that taboos are out the window.  Having more time and more desire means that we have a chance to explore all those things we never experienced before.  Toys, tying, and spanking, role-play and dirty talk.  Openly expressing our sexuality is something exciting and bold.  There’s an entire world of kink to discover, and it’s all fun, exciting, deliciously naughty, and perfectly acceptable.  At any age.

Dating is also something without age limits.  It might take a bit of courage once we get older to step out into the dating game, but online dating services and dating apps are great to close the gap and meet people open to connecting and excited to explore a new relationship.  Society no longer frowns upon older women dating younger men.  Friends with benefits can be deeply exciting and fulfilling.  There are no real boundaries other than those we create for ourselves.

One of the best things about staying sexually active as we get older is that it makes us healthier and happier.  Sex burns fat, improves physical and emotional healthy, increases lifespan, and improves our relationships.  There are no downsides.  It’s beautiful to really own your sexuality, no matter how many years you’ve been on the planet.  So open up, enjoy, and let the later years bring in the best love life you’ve ever had.