Author: Colin Richards

Example of the application of Psychosensual Massage for men with sexual performance issues

Erectile Dysfunction

For many men, the image of self is inevitably linked to a perception of masculinity which in turn involves functioning and performing well sexually.  Things can go wrong at any point of the 3 stages of producing and maintaining an erection and can be as a result of either physiological or psychological influences, or often, a combination of both.

First Stage: Sexual arousal, getting sexually stimulated from our thoughts and senses.

Second Stage Erection: The brain communicates the sexual arousal to the body which increases the blood flow to the penis.

Third Stage Erection: Blood vessels that supply the penis relax allowing an increased blood supply to flow into the shafts that produce the erection.

Physiological causes can be due to a variety of conditions such as:

 Cardiovascular diseases, Diabetes, Disease of the Nervous System, Aging, Medications, Smoking, Alcoholism, Hormone Imbalance, and can be treated with medical support.  However in most cases, the condition can also be influenced by psychological processes and in many cases be the prime reason for intermittent erectile dysfunction.  Generally, if involuntary erection occurs during the night, or on waking in the morning but does not occur or is lost during conscious sex (with another or even during masturbation), then other emotional based influences will be the source.

How Can a Psychosensual Massage Help?
The environment of the massage room and the openness of the masseur immediately changes the modus operandi and creates a supportive caring situation where the focus on performance is removed and where the receiver can concentrate on what he is feeling rather than what he is doing.  As the massage unfolds, the body becomes further relaxed, with the sensual strokes of the massage encouraging arousal to take place.  With anxiety levels low and the body rested, attention on “self” erection will generally occur.  However, throughout the massage, the masseur will incorporate certain movements that may mildly raise anxiety thus effecting the erection.  By observing and reading these minute changes of the dynamic, the masseur can often interpret the psychological triggers that flick the arousal switch giving an indication as to what emotion is influencing the erection process.  At the same time, with the attention on himself, the receiver is also able to become aware of the moments when erection is effected either positively or negatively.  Discussion following the massage often reveals a core emotion/reaction that is at the root of the anxiety, enabling further counselling to target better the influencing dynamic and its source.

Premature Ejaculation

What is premature ejaculation?
Definitions of premature ejaculation have ranged from “coming within six thrusts” to “coming within two minutes” and even “coming before your partner”.  The last one can be particularly misleading if you have a partner who likes to take up to an hour to reach orgasm.
A simpler definition is that if you come before you want to and you feel you’re not able to control it, then you’re suffering from premature ejaculation (or PE for short).

Bear in mind that most men will come sooner than they’d like on some occasions, particularly if under stress or in situations of very high excitement.  Generally, if you are unable to control when you come more than 50 per cent of the time, then it becomes a problem.

Some men may only suffer from PE when they’re having sex.  Some feel they come too quickly whatever the stimulation with a partner.  Others feel they have little control even when they’re masturbating alone.  Men with PE aren’t able to recognise what therapists call the “point of inevitability”.  This is a sensation that occurs just a few moments before ejaculation.  Men who don’t suffer from PE are able to recognise this sensation and either stop or change stimulation until the urgency has subsided.  Very occasionally, premature ejaculation results from a physical condition such as a urinary tract or prostate infection.  Recent research suggests that some men may have a physiological predisposition in the nervous system to ejaculate quickly.  But for most men, ejaculation will often be quicker in times of stress or ill health.

How Can a Psychosensual Massage Help?


By providing a calm supportive environment the stress and excitement levels often contributing to PE are lessened considerably.  Additionally, by talking through the issues before the massage, anxiety of performance is reduced, so even prior to the arousal the receiver is more calm and relaxed, and thus able to be more aware of his own arousal process.  Generally men with PE aren’t able to recognise what therapists call the “point of inevitability”.  This is a sensation that occurs just a few moments before ejaculation.  Men who don’t suffer from PE are able to recognise this sensation and either stop or change stimulation until the urgency has subsided.

By incorporating with the massage various physical and psychological techniques, the receiver can recognise his own arousal ladder and the speed with at which he climbs to orgasm.  Once recognised, he can then apply these techniques when in an intimate situation with a partner.  Better communication between himself and the partner of his ascent to arousal will also reduce anxiety and also enable the partner to assist with these techniques.

Inability to Orgasm


A common sexual complaint among men is the inability to orgasm.  There’s a wide range of possible explanations.  Physiological causes generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Hypothyroidism: The thyroid gland does not produce enough hormone.
• Hypogonadism: Testicles do not produce enough testosterone.
• Neurological problems: Strokes, multiple sclerosis, and diabetic neuropathy, can limit your ability to orgasm.
• Physical injuries: Spinal cord injuries and other major wounds can have an effect.
• Prostate problems: These include infections or surgery affecting the prostate or other pelvic organs.

How Can a Psychosensual Massage Help

?

Psychological reasons may also be part or in some cases the main reason: These may include depression, anxiety, or a panic disorder of some kind and massage can be used an effective way to lessen these.  By putting the sufferer in a rested state and reducing the anxiety around the need to perform allows arousal to build without fearful interference.  The caring intimate nature of the massage builds trust and with this trust the “triggers” that are required to release the orgasm can function better.  However it may take several sessions for total relaxation to take place so a series of appointments over a few weeks can be more effective.

If you have any questions for Colin related to this subject or on any other sexual performance related issues, Colin will be delighted to answer them.  He can be contacted at colin@intimacymatters.co.uk

Skin – the biggest sensory & sexual organ in the body

How is it possible that touch can be one of most effective means to influence the structures and functions of body and mind?  The answer lies in the skin.  The skin is the largest sensory organ of the body, arising in a human embryo from the same ectodermic cell layers as the nervous system.  In the evolution of the senses, touch is earliest to develop.

Skin statistics – 19 sq ft of pleasure

In an adult male, there are 19 square feet of skin which contains 5 million sensory cells and represents 12 % of total body weight.  Skin is softer in the summer – the pores are wider and there is greater lubrication.  In winter it’s more compact and firm, the pores are closer together and hair sheds less.  A piece of skin the size of a 5p has: more than 3 million cells, 100-340 sweat glands, 50 nerve endings and three feet of blood vessels.  
Skin contains hundreds of thousands of sensory receptors, which are triggered by skin stimuli.  Skin, so closely tied to the nervous system, sends messages to our brain via the spinal cord – heart rate and blood pressure react.  Appropriate touches can prompt the brain to produce endorphins, the body’s natural pain suppressors, which are considered more powerful than morphine.  This is why massage can help ease pain.

The Benefits of having a Sensual or Psychosensual Massage

Make time

For many of us life, is “all about the other” and not ourselves.  We have been persuaded that to care for ourselves is self indulgent even selfish, that to ensure our position within society, we must look after everyone else’s needs first and only when we believe that they are satisfied can we care for ourselves – but does this ever happen?  If we are all caring for the other, then can we ever be satisfied ourselves?  Instead of living our lives 95% for others, we should aim for at least 60/40 and taking a regular massage is well invested time, closing the door on the rest of the world and focussing on the SELF.

Safe relaxing non judgemental environment



The quiet relaxed environment of the massage room and a warm friendly manner of the masseur gives a feeling of safety that will reduce sub-conscious psychological warning systems, (often linked to childhood conditioning) and as we  begin to relax, the levels of anxiety decrease, encouraging our bodies to relax.

Openness and understanding

Giving a clear description of the massage process and explaining its level of sensuality will continue to reduce the anxiety.  Understanding our motivation for wanting the massage, being able to be honest and open with the masseur about our fantasies, fears and needs without feeling judged, all goes to helping us feel able to let go and receive.

A journey from tension and stress through arousal and orgasm to ultimate relaxation

Both a sensual massage or a  psychosensual massage should be given slowly and seductively, with the masseur taking the client on a 4 part journey from the state of tension they often arrive in through relaxation and arousal to the orgasmic high and eventual fulfilment.  Each phase of the massage has its particular focus and motivation.  The main difference with the latter from the former is that the Psychosensual Massage is given with a focus  on working with and during the massage, observing  any sexual performance or sexual intimacy issues, and given by a therapist who has had additional training in psychosexual work.  The sensual massage is generally taken by men or women, or couples who are simply looking to relax and rejuvenate and possibly explore sensual intimate touch in a total and complete way, given by a masseur who has been trained in both therapeutic massage and sensual massage techniques.

The Sensual Massage Phases

• Stage 1: Sensual Therapeutic phase
• Stage 2: Gentle Arousal phase
• Stage 3: Sensual Arousal phase
• Stage 4: Erotic and Orgasmic phase

Sensual Therapeutic Phase



The Sensual Therapeutic phase lasts about 20 minutes and is focused on the shoulders and back of the upper body.  The aim is to encourage the client into a further relaxed state.  With the use of light touch, feathers and soft caring touches combined with more traditional deep tissue muscle work, causing the client to further to “let go”.  The combination of soft strokes with stronger deeper massage generates a confidence within the client and a genuine feeling of being cared for.  This is followed by gentle teasing of the more intimate areas of the body making  the skins sensory preceptors to send signals to the brain, the brain responds by stimulating the body’s para-sympathetic nervous system (relax and rest mode) and the massage progresses into the Gentle Arousal Phase.

Gentle Arousal phase



By now the client is usually well on the sensual journey, still aware of what is taking place but beginning to “drift away”, losing themselves to the sensations of the massage.  Further exploration into the intimate crevices of the body namely the neck, armpits, groin and pelvic areas are all stimulated.  Arousal begins to increase usually causing erection (men) and lubrication (women), accompanied by deeper breathing and some involuntary movements of the body.  The skin becomes more sensitive as body contact between the masseur and client increases.  And the brain begins to drifts in and out of awareness.

The Sensual Arousal phase

During this phase direct contact with the genitals takes place, in the male the penis (now erect) and scrotum.  In women, the outer lips of the vagina and areas around the groin and anus are lightly touched and massaged.  Careful notice is taken not to take the client to orgasm but to hold them at a high level of arousal then falling back to relaxation and back again to high arousal, this is done several times.  During this phase in the massage the client is encouraged to be self focussed enjoying the stimulation and to not worry about their “performance” or the “other”, however for some, physical contact with the masseur preferred and since when an “intimate connection” is made, arousal can increase considerably.

Orgasm to Relaxation



The male sexual response cycle consists of excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution.  The first 3 phases of this massage cover the first two elements of this cycle.  During this phase of the massage, the body and mind becomes paradoxically, both deeply relaxed and highly aroused, this contradictory state causes the bodies’ nervous system to oscillate between its sympathetic and para-sympathetic modes as the mind focuses on the sensations of the final ascent to orgasm.  At the pinnacle of orgasm, control is given over to the primal response of orgasm and in men (ejaculation) the muscles tense, the breathing increases, often the client becomes more verbal emitting pleasurable moans.  Orgasms are usually a combination of peripheral (genital or extra-genital) stimulation and a mental “letting go.”  Neurologically speaking, it is accepted that the pathways
 for ejaculation and orgasm are under a tonic inhibitory influence, and that the release of this inhibition is cerebrally influenced.  Without this release, the normal
 orgasmic and ejaculatory reflexes cannot be expressed. With the final orgasmic rush comes a massive release of energy, triggering the immediate after effect of relaxation when the male body, immediately following ejaculation, falls back into the deep state of resolution.  The body relaxes, and encouraged by stroking of the head and scalp, the body quickly falls in to “rest, relax and re-cooperate mode”.  With the drifting into a deep state of subconsciousness, and even light sleep.

To be continued…

If you have any questions for Colin related to this subject or on any other sexual performance related issues, Colin will be delighted to answer them.  He can be contacted at colin@intimacymatters.co.uk

Touch of the ancients

For centuries and in many early cultures, massage was an accepted and common healing treatment.  As early as the 3rd century BC Chinese Taoist Priests to the 1st cent BC Indian Tantra Gurus, to the Greeks, and later the Romans, even to the more remote tribes on Pacific islands, massage with oils (often given infused with herbs and flowers) was an integral part of maintaining a healthy life.  It was seen to help recovery from an ailment, calm the body and mind after a hectic day of battle, politics or sport, as a treatment for better skin condition and of course within Tao and Tantra philosophies, used to enhance the understanding and sensual communication between lovers.  But most importantly, these ancients held no distinction between sensual or non sensual, believing that “if it felt good then it must be good” and that the sensual process which ultimately creates life is sacred and quite natural, and should be embraced and not feared.

Massage remained common through the first millennium then gradually, particularly in Western Cultures due to religious doctrine, the emergence of science as the only accepted healing treatment, and then the later puritanical Victorian values and right up to the present day “can’t touch” culture, touch became demonised and viewed mostly in a sexual context, unless given within relationship.  This meant that for the last few hundred years right up to the late 20th century, if you were not in a functioning intimate partnership, the only means of receiving touch was either medicinal treatment (such as rubbing a remedy balm in to the chest for colds) or in polarity as a sexual service given by escorts and prostitutes, making the word massage a euphemism for sexual favours.

Touch in 21st century – The stigma of touch

Many of us are fortunate to be in a loving intimate relationship with a partner, where sensual touch is given to each other often as a prelude to sex or just to show the love for one another.  However, for those not in a relationship or for those whose relationship has become non intimate and physically distant, intimate touch can be illusive, with the only means of finding it by seeking “a treatment”.  Some simply go to the hairdresser or the beautician, some visit the sports or therapeutic masseur or other body therapies that are now available, and for some, the choice is a furtive sexual liaison that allows them to touch and be touched even for just a short moment. But the touch in these situations is mostly given conditionally and without feeling.  The therapist will painstakingly remain clinical to avoid any impression of intimacy, the hairdresser will remain chatty lest that lovely feeling of having the scalp massaged is misunderstood and the brief sexual encounter will remain mechanical for fear that any intimacy shown may imply the desire for relationship.  
Many societies in the modern West are “touch-starved”.  We actively discourage the kind of affection that is expressed naturally in other cultures.  It’s socially unacceptable to touch.  There is an unwritten rule that says the less you know someone, the further away you must be.  Think about being on a train.  When another passenger gets on, the last place they will choose to sit is next to an occupied seat.  Only when there is no other option, will they actually sit next to someone else.

All too often, when we hear about touch, it is in the context of pornography, even abuse and violence.  We go out of the way to ignore or deny the need for a caring touch, and because our bodies remain imprinted with that basic needs, we live with the consequences: reduced well being, fear, depression, insecurity, abusiveness, mental illnesses.  The high levels of publicity given to sexual abuse over recent years have been a great deterrent for healthy touching.  We’re afraid of touching because our actions might be misinterpreted – hence children are deprived of appropriate touch at a very early age.  Our response has been analogous to that of the person who having eaten some bad food, decides that the best course of action in the future is not to eat at all, rather than ensuring that what is eaten is healthy.  
So too it is with touch.  There’s the rotten variety, which will make us ill, but there’s also the nourishing, wholesome kind, which is the staff of life itself.  Please, let’s not allow the existence of harmful touch to lead us to deprivation.



How important is touch?



The words that spring to mind are – crucial, critical and vital.  Literally vital, as without appropriate touch, people cannot grow and develop.  Touch is powerful
.  “The greatest sense in our body is our touch sense.  It’s probably the chief sense in processes of sleeping and waking; it gives us our knowledge of depth or thickness and form; we feel, we love and hate, are touchy and are touched, through … our skin” 
(J Lionel Tayler “The Stages of Human Life” 1921) 
Touch is instinct.  When a baby cries, the instinct is to pick up, rock, pat and soothe.  When you bang your elbow, its instinctive to grab it and rub it.  Touch is an unthinking part of our everyday language, we say – rub up the wrong way, out of touch/lost their grip, thick skinned or thin skinned, the personal touch when something is exactly right.  We’ve “put a finger on it” maybe most telling of all, when someone’s moving away, we say “keep in touch”, even when what we mean is write or phone.
  Dictionary definition of “Touch” is “the action or an act of feeling something with the hand etc.”
  The operative word is “feeling”.  Though touch is not in itself an emotion, its sensory elements induce those feelings we describe as emotions.  A comforting hand on the shoulder of someone who is distressed produces a very different emotional reaction to an apprehending touch on the shoulder of a miscreant.  The touch of someone’s hand, the closeness of an embrace, and the connection of personal contact signify caring and comforting.  Feelings of security, safety, and easiness are amplified.  Touching builds closeness, fosters communication, and nurtures intimacy.  Touching gives a person a sense of being cared about and cared for.  Being touched or held makes a person psychologically feel worthy and physically feel soothed.

What is touch?

Touch is contact, a relationship with that which lies outside our own periphery.  It tells us we’re not alone.  As infants, it’s primarily through touch that we explore and make sense of the world; the loving touch of our carers is essential to growth.  The cuddling and stroking received in infancy helps build a healthy self image and nurtures the feeling of being accepted and loved.  Psychologists have demonstrated that our perception of how much and how we are touched relates to how we value ourselves, it’s the essential nourishment for self-esteem.  
Touch is much more than a physical interaction.  It has to do with the acknowledgement of our shared humanness and mutual recognition of the inherent vulnerability and intense wish for contact that is present in each of us.  When we feel loved as a result of an abundance of appropriate touch and affection in our lives, we have an inbuilt sense of safety and inner stability that does not depend upon how other people respond to us.  We wake up feeling loved, and go to sleep feeling loved – no matter what slings and arrows get hurled at us in any given day.

Touch deprivation – what happens if we’re not touched?

The 13th century historian Salimbene described an experiment made by the German Emperor Frederick II, who wanted to know what language children would speak if raised without hearing any words at all.  Babies were taken from their mothers and raised in isolation.  The result was that they all died.  Salimbene wrote in 1248, “They could not live without petting.”  Nor can anyone else.  Untouched adults may not die physically, but life will not be experienced to the fullest.  
Touch deprivation is also harmful because it severely affects sleep, which is necessary for the conservation of energy.  In all studies on separations of very young children from their mothers, sleep was always affected.  The time children required to fall asleep was longer, and night waking was more frequent.  
In several studies, a suppressed immune response was noted following the separation of monkeys from their mothers.  Less antibody production and less natural killer cell activities resulted.  After reunion with their mothers, immune function returned to normal.  Studies on touch deprivation among pre-school children who were separated from their mothers also noted more frequent illnesses, particularly upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea and constipation.
  This is the same for adults.  
26 adults with migraine headaches randomly assigned to a massage therapy group, received twice-weekly 30-minute massages for 5 consecutive weeks; they reported fewer distress symptoms, less pain, more headache free days, fewer sleep disturbances, taking fewer analgesics and also increased serotonin levels.

Why do we love to be touched? Is it Primal?

The need for intimate touch is primal; for millennia man, maybe even before he had the powers of speech, more than likely used touch as a form of group communication.  By nature we are a tribal species, we need each other to survive, for the first 10 or so years of our lives we are extremely vulnerable we need others to protect us, feed and care for us and it is through touch which we are reassured that we belong to the group, that we are safe.  It identifies our place in the group hierarchy.

Natures example, the Bonobo monkey shares 98% of our genetic make-up and is regarded as the closest primate to the human being, and sex and intimate touch is the key to the social life of the Bonobo.  For them it is is a major part of their group dynamic, therefore it is not so difficult to believe that the natural state of the human being is very similar.  As studied by Frans B.M.de Wall and reported in March 1995 issue of the Scientific American.  “The diversity of erotic contacts in bonobos includes sporadic oral sex, massage of another individual’s genitals and intense tongue-kissing. Lest this leave the impression of a pathologically oversexed species, I must add, based on hundreds of hours of watching bonobos, that their sexual activity is rather casual and relaxed. It appears to be a completely natural part of their group life. Like people, bonobos engage in sex only occasionally, not continuously”. Bonobo Sex and Society by Frans B. M. de Waal, [read more]

To be continued…

If you have any questions for Colin related to this subject or on any other sexual performance related issues, Colin will be delighted to answer them.  He can be contacted at colin@intimacymatters.co.uk