I share these observations in case someone else might learn something new or useful from them. Am only a beginner, but think I've got a pretty advanced read on what's going on "down there" (and in our heads too) during these amazing experiences.
So, my previous entry mentioned finally learning how to (basically but undeniably) come on Saturday afternoon/day six. Saturday night (i.e., after many hours of intervening sleep), I learned how to "work it."
Had seven orgasms, five of which kept topping the previous as the most outstanding of my life. Fascinating to have read "each orgasm will have a different character" in the documentation, but then to really experience it for oneself. Frankly, orgasm has not been so [I]interesting[/I] to me for a very long time – the last couple of years (with my FleshLight) have been preoccupied with brinkmanship and plateaus. But the lessons and muscle memory of that previous study is paying off now in a couple of significant ways.
First, a "love of brinksmanship" delivers radical new rewards in this hands-off context. With "hands-on brinking," there's always the constant struggle not to tip over the line, but with the Aneros(es), it's really [I]easy[/I] not to release. Thus, my earlier orgasms of Sat night were "as soon as possible," but eventually learned that there's no rush. Or rather, a tremendously [I]longer[/I] rush! One of them surprised me by feeling like minutes of coming, until finally a slight dip in sensation, and [I]then[/I] the enormous release.
But second, all that "study" with the FleshLight taught me to differentiate between the two different sensations of orgasm, and how to separate them in practice. I would call those sensations "whooshing" and "pumping." "Whooshing" is the overwhelming flow of ecstasy being released (like electric current throughout ourselves), and "pumping" is our natural and rewarding instinct to "give it all we've got" for whooshing to its greatest extent and achieving closure.
That is, in a normal wet orgasm, whooshing is the sensation of finally "letting" the spew release, and pumping is the pleasure of vigorously helping it along. Passive vs. active. But we're conditioned to "get active" to make the most of the passive, because once the spew is expended, we're virtually done. But it seems to me that the whoosh itself is the magical and transcendent experience of orgasm (whereas the pump is more animal and primal).
With the FleshLight and brinking practice, had learned how to just enjoy about half of the whoosh, so that with more spew in reserve, I could keep going. (I.e., muscle control for restraining the pump and containing the spew midway is the key to doing that.) Could usually enjoy three or four "half-whooshes" (in two or three hours) before a final pumping climax. (Though, of course, the spew of that final climax was quite diminished, but "finally" pumping is quite satisfying for its own sake.)
Of course, all our rules change with these dry orgasms. Pumping our daylights out now [I]doesn't[/I] mean we won't be able to pump all over again shortly thereafter. So Saturday night was whooshing and pumping it with a blissful new abandon. But [I]Sunday[/I] night took things to the next amazing level, when I learned how to separate them again. And unlike brinking with the FleshLight/hands-on, could now "fully whoosh" without worrying about maintaining a reserve. (In fact, could willfully whoosh out every last imaginary drop, and then just easily let the auto-motions start building me toward the next one.)
Sunday was an insane marathon. Had planned on four hours but went on for nine, fascinated to see how far and long it could go. (Fortunately, am on vacation for the whole month.) Can't even count the number of orgasms – 15, 18? Kept queuing up new solo girl vids from my collection and "having my way with them." (Previously, had been into hardcore vid, but am really enjoying the sensuality and good eye contact of the better solo vids now.) For the first couple vids, whooshed and pumped normally, building on the lessons of Saturday. But eventually, found my way to just letting the ecstasy whoosh without pumping any of my own energy into it. (In the English language, we call this sensation "bliss." 😉 Thus, earlier, I'd have about two full pumping whooshes per vid, but later, would have four or five whooshes per vid, with a single pumping conclusion. And, of course, when the whoosh hasn't been formally completed by pumping it out, it simply becomes the backstory of pleasure that builds to the next one.
Also worth noting: the pump doesn't [I]have[/I] to be a conclusion. A couple of times, was able to pump fully, but then maintain the pressure on the sweet spot (rather than release it) and pump all over again shortly thereafter. For my own sake as a beginner with all this, am glad my muscle control seems often adequate for my orgasmic ambitions. Keeping pressure on the sweet spot becomes almost a mental switch that one can keep flipped to "on." If the muscle control is good, one can simply decide [I]not[/I] to flip the switch off. It's harder if one has pumped completely to "exhaustion," but one can learn to pump enthusiastically to just short of that point, and it's certainly no less satisfying. All the ecstasy of the whoosh becomes a very encouraging context to just keep feeling great.
But I suppose I should state it plainly: I think my own orgasmic goal is to achieve the most possible whooshing time, whereas pumping feels incredibly awesome (especially in this hands-off context) but is much less of a priority for me. Other men may prioritize differently – "pumping our daylights out" is certainly a defining sexual experience of being a man (and also of tapping into our inner animal). So I'm hardly selling it short!
So, to sum up, orgasm actually marries different sensations, and it's useful to become conscious of them differently to maximize our pleasure. And rather than only two as I've seemed to describe above, our medium adds a third that's very important.
1) "Whooshing" is the euphoria of pleasure releasing to shoot through us, regardless of any muscular effort to assist it,
2) "Pumping" is the pleasure of using muscular effort to assist it/get the most out of it, and
3) The Aneros introduces the decision, right at the end, to allow ourselves to relax our pleasure pressure or not. We DO associate this "freedom to relax" with orgasm, but if we splinter it out as a switch in our mind, it becomes a decision rather than arbitrary or mandatory.
So last night, was able to step up from "pumping whooshes followed by relaxation" to "sequential whooshes eventually wrapped up with pumps, with a conscious [I]decision[/I] about relaxation." In one case, started wooshing, pumped it through fully, kept the pressure on, kept wooshing, and then then pumped it all through again (about a minute after the first).
Also had three near-misses on the fabled super-O, and finally actually had one, I think, but this entry's gone on quite long enough already! And the super-O seems to be a substantially different science, of course.
Oh, but as a side note, think I've almost lost interest in hands-on orgasms? The last two nights haven't finished up with them, but simply gone to bed feeling quite satisfied already (while my ass kept heavenly quivering). It's amazing how these internally-driven orgasms are just a whole different order of magnitude, and "wet release" would almost seem anti-climatic. Am I alone in this?