Remember how I told you about my fucked-up relationship with my vulva? Well, I have been improving on that. Because I don’t want to neglect parts of me, I have been using different resources to accept myself. Let me tell you how Jessica helped me through her sensual self-massage workshop.
Listening to what my body wants and accepting that not only my mind gets to have a say in how to treat my body has been the focus throughout the past months. But that is a very difficult task when your mind is the most active part of your whole body. I don’t get out of my own head most of the time. The mind races and never shuts up, which leads to it drowning out what my body has to say.
Jessica Drouin has offered a four-week self-massage online class, where she teaches how to massage your body safely by yourself.
Who is Jessica Drouin?
Jessica is a wonderful and unbelievably pretty woman. She is based in San Francisco and has recently helped start a community called “Femmepire” with our dear Topanga Turk. The both of them offer bi, pan, and queer women, non-binary people, and genderqueer people a community where sensuality and intellect intersect. Knowing Topanga, it’s no wonder that Femmepire is taking off right from the start with established speakers such as Lonny J. Avi Brooks and Kam Redlawsk, or the lovely Femily dropping in on the weekly Oyster Socials regularly. Head over to their Instagram or Website to find out what is happening with Femmepire!
What Happened in the Workshop?
But back to the workshop, I attended. In week one Jessica focused on massaging the head. And really, that was all I needed! I suffer from headaches almost every week, my jaw is locked oftentimes, and my neck usually kills me. To counter all that pain, I regularly visit a physical therapist, have my neck taped, or take pain medication. Learning how to massage away the pain was a revelation to me! Of course, that doesn’t help every time or sometimes I don’t have time for a massage, but now I know how to relieve myself from the pain in a very caring and loving way.
Week two focused on the upper body. All the tension in the shoulders got massaged right out. And did you know that you can massage your intestines? Well, I didn’t, and I never imagined it so comfortable!
Week three logically followed with the lower body. You would be surprised how tight your butt can be (pun intended). Massaging the butt cheeks, legs, and feet helped with my tired lower extremities, and again with the headaches.
Week 4
You might wonder why I am rushing through the weeks? Because week four is the most important one, and I want to get there already.
I mentioned my vulva in the beginning, right? That is where the focus laid in week four. Welcome to your Yoni massage. Yoni is the tantric word for vulva, and way prettier than vulva, vagina, pussy, or anything else I heard so far. So, I am sticking with calling my own vulva Yoni from now on.
Yoni Massage
What is a Yoni massage? Is it shady to give one to yourself? No, it is not. A Yoni massage is a tantric massage technique in which the female genitalia get massaged by a giver (that can be yourself or somebody else who is trained to give a yoni massage). Let me be clear, this is not about masturbation or orgasm (even though that can be part of it). Attending to the female genitalia in a tantric way is said to relieve tension, pain, or general discomfort of the vagina. You won’t believe how many women suffer from symptoms that can be helped through a yoni massage. If you are interested to know more, you can contact Jessica or find a licensed tantric practitioner near you.
Our Experience with a Sensual Self-Massage
For the group of women joining the workshop online, it was truly enlightening. For the record, everyone had their cameras off and was in their own little bubble at home. Jessica guided us through the motions and through breathing techniques to find ourselves. Days before I was really self-conscious about joining because I was on my period. But I am so glad I joined anyway. Having someone guide you through your body to help you find yourself in a way that you didn’t know is a very desirable experience.
I don’t want to go into details, but I want to let you know that this is one way to learn to accept your body. If you have struggled, like I have, keep an eye out for when Jessica offers her sensual self-massage workshop again.
Photo provided by K