posted January 18, 2001 07:13 PM            

from the book Sexual Energy Ecstasy
by David and Ellen Ramsdale

Sexercises, of course, is a combination of the words
"sexual" and "exercises." Sexercises are designed to
maximize sex muscle strength and control. Weak flabby
muscles cannot do their job well. Your arm muscles can
do their job fairly well because you use them every day.
Your sex muscles, though, are rarely used in your daily
life. You use them to hold in urine or feces until you can
get to the bathroom. That's about it.

The monarch of the sex muscles is the pubococcygeus
(pew-boh-cox-uh-jee-us), or PC, muscle. This muscle
contracts at the rate of one every .8 seconds in both sexes
during orgasm. The anal muscles also contract. The
contemporary rediscovery of the great value of these
muscles for sexual health and pleasure is credited to a Los
Angeles physician, Arnold Kegel. He developed the famed
Kegel (ka~gill) exercises in the 1950s. It may not be news
that you can exercise your sex muscles. The popularity of
Kegel exercises has seen to that. But do you know that the
Kegel exercises are a rediscovery? Effective sexercises
have been practiced in China and India for thousands of
years.

The ancient experts viewed the human body-mind as a
bucket full of energy with holes in the bottom where life
energy leaked out. These holes are the urethral opening,
the anal opening and, in the woman, the vaginal opening. It
was believed that when these sex muscles were sufficiently
strengthened through exercise they sealed the bottom of
the bucket.

The Eastern sexercises were developed in cultures that
placed less emphasis on the genital orgasm. Currently, sex
experts tout the development of the PC muscle and other
sex muscles as a way to achieve, intensify, prolong and
control genital orgasm in both sexes. Neither approach is
better in itself. When less emphasis is placed on getting the
orgasmic payoff though, other personal gains such as
emotional growth or health benefits may become more
noticeable.

Whether or not you focus on having orgasms is not the
real issue. That is a matter of personal style. It is also
worth noting that some men and women have observed
that these sexercises have a significant rejuvenating effect.
In our seminars, we ask how many regularly do Kegel or
yogic PC muscle exercises. Usually, only a few hands go
up. Given the endless emphasis on exercise in this culture,
this seems surprising. Perhaps it is guilt about sex, perhaps
it is the fact that it is not obvious (until you make love!)
that you do these sexercises, as they do not give you big
breasts or bulging biceps.

Addicted to appearances, we fail to become artists of love.
As the paint brush is to the painter, these sexercises are to
the love artist. They are not crude mechanical gestures but
symphonies of the body-mind that lead to self-generated
waves of bliss. For those so inclined, these methods lead to
the awakening of Kundalini, the mystic life force, and the
arousal of and union with the cosmic lover within who
leads us beyond inner conflict to happiness.

Kegel Exercise

Before you start Kegel muscle squeezing, it is most
important that you locate the exact muscle involved.
Where is your PC muscle? It stretches between your legs,
from your genitals to your anus. It is part of the pelvic
floor in both sexes. The standard way to find your PC
muscle is to stop and start as you urinate. Do this several
times. Women may need to keep the legs open wide so
that the muscles in the buttocks don't add confusing
signals. Another way is to pretend you've got to hold back
a bowel movement and tighten your anal muscles. Do not
use the stomach muscles to do this. Men should stand in
front of a mirror and make their penis move up and down
as they squeeze their PC muscle. Women can delicately
place their index and/or middle finger in the vagina and
squeeze. The vagina will grasp them, perhaps quite firmly.
It may even push them out. The PC muscle itself can be
felt in the vagina as a ribbed muscle about one and a half
inches in.

Once you have definitely found the PC muscle, start with
quick or short Kegel squeezes. Contract the muscle 20
times at about one a second or faster as one session. Do
two sessions your first day. Gradually build up to 75 twice
a day. When you can comfortably do 75 quickie Kegel
contractions twice a day, add sustained or long Kegel
movements.

Long Kegel squeezes are equally simple. Instead of holding
the muscle contraction for a count of one, hold it for a
count of three. Start with 20 of these per session, two
sessions a day. Build up to 75 each session twice a day.
Take your time. Avoid straining. The PC muscle is just
like any other muscle. If you overdo it, it will become sore.
You may find that a tightening of the muscles in the
stomach and thighs happens no matter what you do at
first. This is common. But after the first few days or
weeks, when you've completely isolated the muscle, these
extra contractions should be hardly noticeable.

You will have built up to 300 reps a day. However, once
the PC muscle has been strengthened, a maintenance
regime of 150 per day in one three-minute session should
be plenty. Make these focused, committed clenches.
Concentrate deeply on the physical sensations. You may
find this easier if you close your eyes.

Learn to relax between contractions. Without this
relaxation the muscles will not grow as quickly. Relaxation
is as important to your control as are the contractions. If a
man learns how to relax these muscles during sexual
intercourse, he can last much longer. It may help to
breathe in time with your clenches or to count breaths.
You may be holding your breath and not even realize it.

Some people include the bearing down maneuver in their
daily work outs. After first tightening, then releasing the
PC muscle, push down and out gently as if trying to have a
bowel movement. This is the same sequence that you
would use for sexual arousal and control. You will feel the
action of your stomach muscles and anus as you bear
down. We call this a push out. A useful variation is to do
sets of reps that pair long Kegel clenches with strong push
outs. Try doing these after you've developed good PC
muscle strength.

Men can easily add weight training to their Kegel practices.
After achieving erection, place a small wet towel on your
erect penis. Move this towel up and down. You can
increase the size of the towel. Some men even use sandbag
weights. A participant in one of our workshops told us that
young men in his high school held locker room contests to
see how many towels they could lift.

Women can work with cylindrical objects that provide
solid resistance.

Use the power of visualization to increase affectiveness.
The great bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzeneger worked out
using precise mental images to guide the growth of his
muscles. Women can see their vagina as a tunnel made up
of several muscular bands that can contract or expand at
will. These circular bands of muscle are seen growing in
size and strength with each contraction. Men can imagine
that the PC muscle is a steel cable running between their
legs which they can tighten or loosen at will. The steel
cable should be seen as growing thicker and stronger with
each repetition.

You can affirm as you clench. With a quick Kegel clench
say a short positive affirmation such as "Yes" or "Love."
With a long Kegel clench you can say a longer affirmation.
In the Ananga Ranga, women training in the arts of love
are advised to repeat "Kamadeva," the sacred name of the
Hindu Cupid, with each clench. Another mantra, said to
have great esoteric power, is "Kling."

Don't be surprised if the exercises arouse erotic feelings
while you're doing them. This is part of the fun. Whatever
your approach, develop your ability to focus your attention
on your sensations and feelings for maximum results and
enjoyment. Indeed, you may feel waves of bliss that have
nothing to do with your environment at the time. They are
not caused by an outside stimulus. They are internally
generated. You are awakening your natural inborn pleasure
potential.

The benefits of the Kegel exercises are numerous. These
include getting more in touch with your genitals and sexual
feelings, improving the blood flow to these areas (which
can be quite healing in itself) and making orgasm more
voluntary.

Women can use it to firm up the muscles of the vagina
after having a child. Kegel exercises have enabled many
pre-orgasmic women to become orgasmic. Muscle
strength, sensitivity and control gained through Kegel
contraction exercises are known to make genital orgasm
during intercourse or Self-loving more voluntary and more
intense. Coordinate the Kegel clenches with breathing,
visualization and concentration for maximize results and
control.

Strong PC muscles will aid men in their practices with
ejaculation control.

After two months of dedicated practice, you will probably
have achieved mastery over your PC muscle. If you have-
you will know by the results in bed-you can maintain good
PC muscle tone with occasional workouts. Virtuoso status,
though, is achieved and maintained only by working out
weekly, if not daily.

Once you get the hang of it, you can do "Kegels" writing,
reading, walking, sitting, working, watching TV, listening
to music and so on. A solid practice routine should only
take about 5 minutes twice a day. The benefits will be
great!

This is just one example of the wonderful information
in the book: "Sexual Energy Ecstasy" by the
Ramsdales. It's easy to order it on-line or from our
paper catalog.

From the book: Sexual Energy Ecstasy
available in the E-Sensuals Catalog