Aneros, Arousal Abstinence/Semen Retention

This is genius stuff Rumel - thank you for being such a dedicated detective in drawing these themes together, your post here has allowed me to make a real shift in gaining a more pragmatic background to the whole Aneros usage phenomenon.

A thought on pornography - if as some evidence suggests part of the reason it is stimulating is because in looking at it - it fires off mirror neurons and thus the brain not only observes but also evokes an acting out (so what you see feels like you are doing it too) - given the depiction of males experiencing super-os is hardly mainstream, over exposure is not going to be conducive to learning an appropriate Aneros response.

With regard to your final 4 drawbacks - the clear stating of these makes them some how feel less insurmountable, as I near 50 I feel maturity and aging give you a very positive benefit - the surrender to acceptance of greater ecstatic experience that they offer in working through them and the patience to do that.

Rumel - thanks very much for your thoughts on this. Only a few weeks ago, I might have been tempted to skim-read this post, BUT since having read Chia and Avara's book "The Multi-Orgasmic Man", I was struck by how much of it already accorded with my own experiences, and how much of what you say also does the same.

I realised for example, that before I always enjoyed my horniness/arousal, and hated it at the same time. I could be elated or I could be grumpy - it was very much in control of me, and the traditional way to indulge one's self when this is the case, is to masturbate and then ejaculate. I have been "edging" for years, but there always came a point where I would just have to cum. Either it was because Blue ball syndrome would be the inevitable conclusion if I didn't ejaculate, or my muscles would give up the fight of holding me close to the edge for so long. I think I would be right in saying that I rarely went 2 days without wanking, and mostly I'd masturbate every day, often for 2 or even 3 hours, and often to internet porn. The ejaculatory orgasms were great after edging, but short as always, and then you are left with NOTHING.

Then came my aneros experiences. I have had so much pleasure since starting, although my progress is what I would call "slow but steady". I have gained a clear understanding of how important arousal is for the maximum pleasure from my helix, and then my eupho. I have also now discovered how much my arousal is feeding my arousal. So now I had found that my horniness had "fringe benefits", but even though I appreciated this, I did still feel the urge to ejaculate frequently. I believe now, that the loss of arousal when one ejaculates does make it harder to make progress with the aneros, but it is the lack of knowledge of how to deal with your horniness if you don't ejaculate that keeps one on ejaculatory path.

I do still masturbate occasionally, but I only ejaculate say once every 8 to 10 days, and if I get better at the control, I may go longer than that. Already, when I do masturbate, my senses are greatly heightened. Every part of my body almost instantly feels like an erogenous zone. My arousal feeds my arousal, whereas before it seemed like I had to work hard to keep my arousal levels up whilst using the aneros for example. Already with my eupho, I am recognising so many more sensations, and am able to amplify them much more than I did before. I even had aneros-less mini-orgasms whilst effectively doing some kegels this morning. So much pleasure - the 6 to 10 seconds of a traditional ejaculatory orgasm seems less attractive somehow. Then there is the effect on health and sense of well being if you don't ejaculate so often.

Of the drawbacks to the non-ejaculatory path you rightly describe, the Taoist approach offers methods of controlling these so that you just don't just explode, as some might think, and when you do ejaculate it is likely to be the best wet orgasm you ever had. Blue ball syndrome is awful, but there are methods to help deal with that too. During my first 10 day - non-ejaculatory period, I got a lot of blue balls, and I used the techniques described by Chia and Avara to alleviate this, which worked! This time around, I haven't found it so much of a problem yet (5 days in), and I am wondering if we can educate our bodies to respond differently, so that blue balls becomes less of a problem? The hormone/mood change is great when you do ejaculate, but I haven't found this difficult to deal with. The loss of arousal is the terrible pay-off. I have noticed that my arousal returns to my new "normal" after 3 days, and that is slightly depressing when you grow to love your horniness, but it has to be accepted as an occasional part of your sexual existence, unless you decide to not ejaculate at all, and have the psychological and physical means to do this.

On a side note, I don't need porn any more to get me highly aroused. Hurray! Most of it was terrible anyhow. Spending hours trawling through images of mechanical sex, just to find the ones where it SEEMED like the participants actually liked each other, was getting to be frustrating. I still look at it occasionally, but if nothing grabs my attention, then it is no big deal. The aneros and these Taoist techniques together have given me a greater fulfilment sexually than I could ever have imagined, but also I have found them to be unexpectedly liberating - and yet there seems so much more to discover.

@ 'hapticbear,

I agree with your statement "...maturity and aging give you a very positive benefit - the surrender to acceptance of greater ecstatic experience that they offer in working through them and the patience to do that." I also think one can develop the same skill at a younger age through mental discipline acquired from Taoist/Tantric practices as pointed out by 'Linum" in his post.

@ 'Linum',

I agree with your statement "The aneros and these Taoist techniques together have given me a greater fulfillment sexually than I could ever have imagined, but also I have found them to be unexpectedly liberating - and yet there seems so much more to discover."
I also agree Chia's book will resonate for most men reading it. As my own Aneros journey has evolved, I've come to a better awareness of the dynamic synergy which exists in the physical body, the psychological body and the spiritual body. Having an awareness and understanding of the physical processes associated with sexual arousal enables you to use your mental discipline to harness those energies not only for better Anerosessions but for better sex in general and a more enriching life overall.

It pleases me to know your Aneros journey is rewarding you both in ways which transcend the pure physical pleasure evoked by your Aneros use. This new awareness, which you now carry 24/7, will continue to bring new insights and joys into your life as long as you remain open minded and open hearted.
Good Vibes to You !

I find your honesty inspiring Linum, I've been there with the pornography so know where you are coming from and the thought to wanting and hating the horniness is really insightful for me too - in my case more fearful than hate, but then hate and fear are different sides of the same emotional coin.

I'm feeling that if you have found any interest towards the Aneros then it may be appropriate for this to be taken up as a wake up call, some part of you is seeking personal growth at many levels - open / surrender to the call 🙂

And I agree Rumel that growth can start at any time in one's life, if you can tap into a body of human knowledge which is supportive - bravo Aneros Forum!

Curiosity the Mars rover landed successfully today - if you watch the animation - you will think bonkers! But as the video ends - "dare mighty things" - look what happens when a group of humanity set themselves a problem - sum greater than the parts and all that.

Great post , Linum and hapticbear sum me up to a tee . As a "total wanker" until recently (probably still called that though ) :)) the need has gone but the satisfaction is ten fold . I am learning that arousal is often not visible it's from within . Excuse my newbie posts but this is so massive for me , the beginning of a journey . Thanks
🙂

I am going down this path as well. I've found that when I keep my sexual energies instead of releasing it, i feel a stronger sensation of pleasure throughout my day.

What is the cure for blue balls, though? That's my main problem. i don't even mind the horniness anymore, it's kind of fun.

Some members say the only or at least possible way to get rid of blue balls is to masturbate to ejaculation. i dunno, don't have that problem, but it makes sense to me, as that is the nature of blue balls i think, arousal w/o release. if u get them every time you have an aneros session and don't wet cum, i wud think that is not pleasant, butt wud depend on how often u do session seems to me. i agree that wet cumming tends to sorta drain one, altho i haven't done it often enuf to say too much from experience. how long does it take to go away w/o doing anything about it? u might do a search on blue balls in the search box at right to of page. i know it has been mentioned since i have been reading forum.

yr99,

The most frequently cited 'cure' for epididymal hypertension or vasocongestion ("blue balls") is to masturbate until ejaculation occurs, this is your RESET switch and you are set back, having to go through the arousal buildup cycle again.

Simply lying down and relaxing may be effective. In most cases the discomfort is only temporary and usually goes away in a few hours, though it is likely to return and become cyclic. If there is no real pain, but instead just the intense urge to ejaculate, engaging in other activities allows time for the urgency to subside as your mind is distracted from thinking about/dwelling upon the temporary discomfort.

Cold compresses applied to the testicles/perineum area will also ease the discomfort. Of course there's also the time tested procedure of taking a cold shower to reduce overall arousal levels.

Finally, there's prostate milking which will provide temporary physical relief without completely resetting your arousal cycle. You can do this yourself or have an intimate partner perform it on you.
Good Vibes to You !

Rumel, excellent advice! I agree with everything you wrote. The cold shower, followed by other activities, is usually the quick, easy way to go. I haven't tried prostate milking, but that sounds even better!!

My blue ball problem seems to be diminishing of its own accord, even though non-ejaculatory sex and masturbation has become more common for me than ejaculatory. I find that sometimes I get a pressure release of masses of precum and even cum, without ejaculation, and this is a guarantee that blue balls will not occur. Even when this doesn't occur, a bit of massage after the "session" makes sure that any discomfort is very minimal. I think my physiology has adapted to this new occasionally ejaculatory state, and I have been rewarded with multiple prostate orgasms as well. Would I go back to always ejaculating at the end of masturbation - definitely not. I am enjoying the route I am now on too much, and my aneros sessions are even more intense too.

Proof positive! I'm now on day 8 of abstinence and for the first time in several weeks have had a series of dry Os that climbed to a minutes-long big O. 😀

I endorse this product and/or service. 😉

I am pleased for you twlltin - that is certainly my experience too.

Three really good sessions (Eupho in evening, Classic at dawn, Progasm for lunch) in the last 24 hours and I'm still buzzing. This makes up for the weeks of duds. I'm still planning to abstain for another week, assuming my sanity holds. 8-}

Good going, twiltin! I share your excitement: Syn at 11:00 p.m. last night; MGX at 5:00 a.m. today; changed to Maxi from 6:00-7:00 a.m. Still enjoying a semi-hardon and a full body arousal. 🙂

I've tried refraining from masturbation and didn't feel it made a difference in my Aneros success one way or the other. The first two times I tried it I felt like it was better. But then I tried it multiple times during a 12 day abstinence and had dud sessions. Go figure.

Hampton, I don't regularly deny myself orgasms, either; just doesn't seem healthy to me. I hadn't cum for about four days until a "relief" session Tuesday, so the sessions overnight I let the pressure build; don't know yet if I'll hold out tonight or "reward" myself with a wet conclusion to another aneros session. 🙂

Eek! I had a lie down an hour ago and after about 20 minutes had a chain of a dozen dry Os spaced about two minutes apart. That was without any Aneros inserted. I feel blessed.

Truly! 🙂

twlltin - when you say "abstinence", does that mean in your case, no ejaculation, or no masturbation, or both? I know that Rumel headed this thread with the word "abstinence" but in his brilliant opening post, mentioned Taoist techniques which are non-ejaculatory, but definitely orgasmic. I am wondering if this difference is fully understood by those who say they don't like the idea of it?

I masturbate or have sex quite a bit, except when I intend use the aneros. When I masturbate, I dry orgasm loads (which I understand it is the gist of the Multiple Male Orgasm (MMO) techniques described by Chia in "The Multi-Orgasmic Man"), but at the moment I don't ejaculate more than once every 8 days, since this is the key to getting all those lovely orgasms. I added up the time I dry orgasmed the other day for example (for about half an hour in one session) and realised that to accumulate the same amount of orgasm-time with ejaculatory orgasms, I would have to have sex, or wank 180 times - which is clearly not going to happen in one day - lol.

Hamptonbdsm - before reading and practising the techniques described by Chia, I too found that "abstinence" was good for aneros use in the first couple of days, but bad thereafter. Chia describes several ways of controlling your sexual energy, so that you don't get sexually frustrated, whilst maintaining a high level of horniness, or arousal. I believe that the bad sessions after abstinence were as a result of sexual frustration, which I don't seem to have any more. I am pretty glad about that - because sexual frustration is almost entirely negative.

'hamptonbdsm's post led me to thinking perhaps his neurotransmitter replenishment period is longer than average, as such it may require a longer period of temporal abstinence to reach an optimal level. This led me to ask, what is the time frame to reach an optimal level? How long between presses of the RESET Button (ejaculations)? This is a much discussed topic (most recently discussed in the Continence??? thread.) Did our ancient male ancestors practice ejaculatory control? If so why would that be? I think they did... but not consciously. The males opportunity for copulation was largely influenced by the receptivity of the female. Her receptivity was influenced by her menstrual cycle. Her menstrual cycle (along with other female members of the tribe) may have been synchronized to the Lunar cycle (see Lunaception). The males who were most successful in passing on their genes, probably, were also the most aroused, sexually excited ones, capable of impregnating numerous female tribe members during the fertile period of their menstrual cycle. Thus men may have evolved their neurotransmitter/hormonal system in a similar manner to optimize their reproductive odds. My theory is that men evolved a hormonal cycle to synchronize with a woman's, albeit it's influence is not nearly as evident as it is in women. If that is true then there is no biological advantage to actually ejaculating before a fertile time period in the cycle. Nature tied orgasmic pleasure to ejaculation to assure that the male would take advantage of the female's fertile period as often as possible. Thus a male's optimum time period between ejaculations may also be the 28 day lunar cycle. For a period of time we had a light hearted Full Moon Club here on the Forum. There is much anecdotal evidence for and folk lore about unconventional behavior (Lunacy) during the Full Moon. I think these unconventional behaviors could partially be due to subtle hormonal cycles. So what does all this mean for the Aneros user? Your odds of achieving a Super-O are increased by high arousal levels. Arousal level is influenced by hormone and neurotransmitter levels. Those levels are reset down to a base level due to ejaculation. The build to a homeostatic hormone/neurotransmitter level averages 7-10 days following ejaculation (I suspect it's longer as we age). I think after this period arousal still builds until it peaks in the 28 day lunar cycle and then plateaus with minor up and down variations in arousal thereafter. The good news in all this is that you can effectively use your Aneros at any time during your personal hormone cycle but practicing temporal abstinence may help boost your arousal level to the Super-O threshold. Once you're at your optimum levels from your temporal abstinence you can ride that high arousal level for many orgasms. You always get to choose when to hit the reset button. For those who argue on behalf of more frequent ejaculations for health purposes, I think the 28 day period is probably a reasonably healthy frequency, but the news gets even better. Your regular use of an Aneros massager (every 3-4 days?) may allow you to extend the healthy period between ejaculations much longer. Ancient man didn't have such a sophisticated device at his disposal so the ejaculatory release for health purposes was his best way to release sequestered seminal fluids. Aneros use does allow for that release without triggering the ejaculatory reflex and resetting of the arousal cycle, thus keeping you at an optimal arousal level much longer, which could then lead to more frequent Super-O's Anyway, that's my current theory. For some of you this heightened arousal and/or Super-O during Aneros use may push you into orgasm with an unintentional ejaculation, resetting your cycle. I don't have a good answer for preventing that but if it happens... you might as well enjoy it! @ 'Linum' You said "... I added up the time I dry orgasmed the other day for example (for about half an hour in one session) and realised that to accumulate the same amount of orgasm-time with ejaculatory orgasms, I would have to have sex, or wank 180 times..." That's great, it just reinforces the value of Aneros massagers to amplify our orgasmic potential and the value of some temporal abstinence to help that along. Good Vibes to You !

Interesting ideas there Rumel.

]Just to confirm - temporal abstinence, is abstinence from ejaculating, but not abstinence from masturbating?

Linum,

Yes that's exactly correct, by "temporal abstinence" I am meaning no ejaculations for a certain period of time. It's up to the individual to fine tune his chosen time period length.

The user chosen abstinence period is independent of one's masturbatory frequency as long as the masturbatory session doesn't include ejaculation. Non-ejaculatory, masturbation sessions will increase one's arousal levels for future sessions.

Some people would consider an Anerosession as masturbation though I consider it a healthful erotic meditation. That's a semantic distinction and discussion topic for another thread.
Good Vibes to You !

My personal abstinence this week has been abstinence from both ejaculating and masturbating. I don't have enough control yet to be able to do one without leading inevitably to the other.

My most recent session was anerosless and ratcheted through a series of dry Os (which my body's only just worked out how to produce in the last month or so), to increasing levels of continuous orgasm, until it got to a level where the feeling was continuous and felt everywhere over my body (but not in my head) with all the muscles in a very slight state of quivering tension.

It's almost exactly a year today since I got my first Aneros (a Helix) and thought it was a load of snake oil. How wrong could I be!

twlltin,
Don't you just love "Dr. Aneros Magic Snake Oil and Elixir" ?
I know I do!
Good Vibes to You !

I like your theory of an underpinning biological fertility cycle Rumel - it would perhaps explain a phenomenon I have that having ejaculated after an abstinence period (usually 14 to 21 days for me) I don't reset immediately - I actually feel incredibly horny for about the next 12 hours (24 / 48 hours later it really feels like I've reset) and in those 12 hours it feels like I could ejaculate forever, but I know if I do, do it twice, I really go down afterwards - however that would make sense in your theory Rumel - once you'd impregnated it would make biological sense to do it again soon after to ensure a better success in fertilisation. Does anyone else experience this 12 hour post-ejaculatory heightened horniness?

@Hapticbear - Yes I do. Even though I've used ejaculation abstinence for a few years now in my Aneros practice. Lately I've found that having a weekly super-T ejaculation actually makes me more aroused and makes my Aneros sessions more pleasureful and eventful. Almost like it reminds my body that it can orgasm, even if ejaculatory, and receive great pleasure.

twlltin said - "My most recent session was anerosless and ratcheted through a series of dry Os (which my body's only just worked out how to produce in the last month or so), to increasing levels of continuous orgasm, until it got to a level where the feeling was continuous and felt everywhere over my body (but not in my head) with all the muscles in a very slight state of quivering tension".
twlltin - this is exactly what I am experiencing now - that was a wonderful description you gave there. Unlike you, I can generally masturbate and have sex without ejaculating but now they are invariably punctuated by dry orgasms. I practised edging for many years before I found the aneros and Taoist practices.

My anerosless sessions have recently led to 20 minutes of continual dry orgasm, with the all-over slight muscle quivering tension that you describe, in addition to waves of other dry orgasms before and after. They get stronger and longer as they go on, and I get get all "steamed up " as the arousal builds and builds. I don't think I could have achieved this, without having sensitised my prostate with the aid of my trusty helix. I still love to have aneros sessions, although these are somewhat different, but the anerosless are easier to achieve on a daily basis. I can incorporate the anerosless sessions into making love with my partner very easily and naturally - for a start there is no need for any preparation.

I have been doing this(dry Oing) at work lately, when I have extended sit down periods. The beauty is that all I really have to do is think about the buzzing thats going on and away I go. Get some pretty strange looks sometimes, "what are you smiling at?" type thing, you know. I'll never tell. 🙂

Teeder

Haha! if only they knew!