I went to an erotic breathwork class
At the end of June, Goddess Amina posted that she would be in Chicago for her next Breathe into Bliss erotic breathwork course. I was excited because I’ve been wanting to learn from her for years now. Even more so after last year’s Sex Down South Conference when she facilitated her keynote while lying in a bed on stage. Her presence and storytelling were captivating, bold, and oozed pleasure and confidence.
In addition to wanting to work with Amina, I’m a huge practitioner of breathwork and the combination of eroticism and meditation. I’ve taken different courses and training around nervous system regulation, deep breathing techniques, orgasmic breathing, and mindfulness. So, of course this was something I had to attend!
I drove up from St. Louis and arrived around 1am. I was extremely exhausted but could barely sleep. I kept waking up, full of anticipation and fear that I’d oversleep and not be let into the event (there was a ‘late arrivals won’t be admitted’ message). But I made it, so let me tell you about it...
The first example of being an embodied being came from Amina almost immediately. I arrived at the building early because we had to take a covid test before starting. There were a handful of people who opted to take the test upon arrival, which ended up causing us to start late. Then the maintenance crew wanted to drill and hammer away at a door right across from us. We were able to move rooms but then there were kids running around the building, dressed as princesses and other characters.
If Amina was frustrated or thrown off, no one would have known. She smiled, joked, and adjusted accordingly. It encouraged me to also go with the flow and adjust to the situation. There’s so much pressure as someone offering services and events to make sure that people are having a seamless experience, so something like that might have taken me out of my body and placed me fully into a spiral of thoughts like:
Do people feel inconvenienced?
Now, we’re behind schedule!
Are they unhappy?
Will everyone leave and ask for a refund?
What if they write a bad review?
This is something I’m absolutely getting better at; thanks to all the body centering work I’ve done over the years. So, it was refreshing to be in a space where we could notice it, joke about it, and move on. There was no harboring over what wasn’t working but our energy was directed towards what we wanted to happen. Our attention centered on the outcome we were actively working towards at each moment.
To be present. To center pleasure. To commune. To breathe.
Throughout the rest of the day-long class, I normalized how common it is for us to lose or hold our breath. I was encouraged to melt, fold, and sink into my breathing, trusting that my partner wouldn’t allow me to fall and hit the hard floor. I practiced different breathing techniques that nearly made me cry. I breathed into my pelvic floor and felt relief. I lied flat on the floor and got lost in the ceiling with each breath.
We discussed how to use our breathing for erotic connection. Goddess Amina reminded us that we sometimes “cover our erotic energy with a blanket of shame,” leaving us weighed down. This weight causes us to respond to pleasure and desire from a distant, self-abandoning, people-pleasing, or unresponsive place. But in connecting to our breath, we deepen our self-awareness and create a space that doesn’t overly rely on physical touch. Instead, our breath ignites orgasmic energy throughout the body. And as we know, energy doesn’t end but transforms. The energy we connect to can be converted into multiple uses – including for sexual energy and erotic connection.
I wish that for all of us.
As the class ended, I felt so connected to people I’d only met that morning. We supported each other with touch. We fellowshipped over a meal. We inhaled. We exhaled.
And I continued to breathe while feeling lighter and more attuned to myself.
After lingering around not really wanting to leave but finally saying my goodbyes, I headed back to my hotel for a quick nap before heading back to St. Louis.
And I SLEPT! Not only did I sleep well for just 30 minutes, but I woke up feeling completely rested and alert.
I hit the highway at 830pm, arrived around midnight, and I felt neither drained nor wired. But while I was awake, I decided to indulge in a solo sex session while incorporating edging and one of the breathing techniques from Amina's class.
I thought to myself, “Mmm, f*$k yes!”, before drifting right off to sleep.
With pleasure,
Dalychia & Rafaella