

This breathing technique could improve your orgasms

We spoke to a sex educator about what it actually is and how to do it

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You might be surprised to hear that your breath is actually an integral part of reaching orgasm. Your muscles tense up around your sexual climax and then release and while a certain amount of tension is necessary to experience an orgasm, relaxing these muscles brings a whole new sensation.

Holding your breath and bearing down during an orgasmic experience is extremely common. We naturally do this to assist with pelvic floor muscle tension to help us reach climax, but if we do this too much, we are trying too hard.

When you bear down and strain your muscles to try hard to orgasm, your entire body tenses and you naturally hold your breath because your diaphragm is also strained. There's nothing wrong with this, if it works for you then it works for you, but you might find that learning to breathe through orgasm will help intensify it even more.

Which is why we spoke to sex educator Portia Brown, the best person to explain what orgasmic breathing actually is, how to do it and what the benefits are.

So, what is orgasmic breathing?

Orgasmic breathing is a practice that has some roots in tantra and other mindfulness practices. Essentially it brings together the mind, body and breath.

How do you do practice orgasmic breathing?

There are various exercises you can do. Essentially you want to sync your breathing pattern with contracting the pelvic floor.

One exercise you can do right now is taking a deep breath to the count of four (slowly breath in deeply, all the way into your diaphragm) and contract the pelvic floor muscles (if you've ever done kegel exercises, those are your pelvic floor muscles. They are the muscles that you use to stop the flow of urination).

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After the inhale, exhale for a count of four slowly out the mouth and release the pelvic floor contraction. Repeat this four times. You can also do this during sex and will find that it not only enhances orgasms but makes it easier to reach climax.

What are the benefits of orgasmic breathing?

The breathing calms your nervous system (that's why we have so much more focus during things like yoga and meditation) it also turns your awareness inward so you can actually focus on the sensations in your body and you're less distracted. The contracting of the pelvic floor increases blood flow which gives your orgasm a huge boost and — in short — increases your pleasure.



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