The first time I offered a teleclass for people wanting to do The Work on Sexuality (the next one starts on Mondays 10/21 by the way) I had lots of tentative but hopeful emails.
People asked questions like “Will it really be OK to share my judgments with perfect strangers?” or “What will we be discussing exactly?” or “I want to work on this with my husband…but it feels too private to talk about”.
Doing The Work on any judgment is difficult. Add sexual contact to the mix and its even harder.
But I’ve heard incredible work, right up on stage with hundreds of people in the audience, from courageous inquirers who sat with Byron Katie and looked at their troubling beliefs about sexual expression.
If you’re like me, you may have been raised in a family and culture in which we don’t talk about anything having to do with sex, except maybe in whispers with someone you really trust.
I don’t know about you….but not being able to even say a word that had to do with sex was pretty stressful….since it seemed like a lot of people might bethinking about it.
I love having every life situation be available for investigation with inquiry.
Even that moment when you were wondering, feeling, imagining, fantastizing something frightening or something pleasant.
The interesting thing about sexuality is that it really isn’t that different from any other topic when it comes to inquiring into the moment that brings on stress.
It’s a wonderful venue for asking questions about attraction, rejection, saying yes, saying no, noticing what you desire or find repulsive….
….the very same kinds of questions we experience every day when it comes to pleasure, desire, needing, wanting, love, food, money, friendship, work, hunger, thirst.
A thought comes along, then an impulse to do something, get something.
If it’s all beautiful and peaceful and loving, then you know it. It all feels good, and kind.
But sometimes those impulses or thoughts feel like commands or orders.
I MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, NOW.
The first step is to bring to mind a situation that felt worrisome, annoying, where you felt mixed up or nervous, bad about your attraction or someone else’s attraction….that’s the stressful situation.
I have one in mind.
While this situation is not uncommon and it appears to be alive since humans existed….it is nevertheless a source of great judgment and angst.
I felt attraction towards someone while being clearly and solidly in a committed relationship with someone else.
It was like I was committing a sin deserving of crushing punishment.
Why couldn’t I just be happy with my primary partner?
I thought all kinds of terrible, frightening thoughts:
- if my partner knew I was attracted to someone else, he would be sad, disappointed, rejected
- if this came out into the open, my life would change for the worse
- this means I’m not monogamous, or happy
- this means I’m sick, out of control, stupid, ignorant and could ruin my life based on physical attraction which means nothing in the long run
- if my friends knew about this, they would lump me together with the “wrong” people like those affair-having people
- people who act on their physical desires are not wise
Oh boy. Lots of very shaming thoughts.
Very good for inquiry.
Is it true that feeling physical attraction for another human MEANS that you’re unwise, being risky, hurting someone, sick, stupid, ignorant, creating disappointment, or wrong?
I mean, did I make that feeling of attraction arise?
This is really wonderful to consider.
I often thought that if I had a difficult feeling then I needed to fix it. Or act on it.
Do something. Satisfy it, change it, eliminate it.
How do I react when I believe that I shouldn’t be attracted to someone, or that other people shouldn’t be attracted to whomever they are actually attracted to?
I protest. I feel fear. It feels like secrets are on the loose. My attractions, other peoples’ attractions…all dangerous. They could pop up at any moment, unexpectedly! Yikes!
How do I react when I believe that attraction needs to be controlled, that its wild and unruly and damaging is that I suppress it, keep it to myself….or I get afraid of it arising in other people?
They’ll go crazy if they get attracted…to other people or to me! It will be like Romeo and Juliet, destructive, sad, horrible, too much, painful.
People kill themselves over this stuff.
So who would I be if I didn’t believe the thoughts that having a feeling of attraction means I’m wrong, or anyone else is wrong?
Without the feeling that it needs to be satisfied, or acted on, or deleted, or fixed?
What if its just there, a feeling of great pleasure, washing through the mind, flowing through the body?
Without the thought that there’s anything wrong with having a feeling of attraction, I notice there is no need for secrets, no need to keep it locked down.
I’m enjoying myself. No need to act.
I notice attraction comes and goes and is never static.
I notice attraction has no concern for what the mind things it “should” feel attraction for.
Without the thought that feeling attraction is bad, I feel free. My heart feels joyful.
And I notice beyond all identity, I have no idea what I am, because there is an alive attraction for so many beautiful people of all ages, sizes, genders.
When I turn the thought around I find how true it is that an attraction I feel is good, and right.
And so is that other person’s attraction, whether directed towards me or directed towards someone else.
Good that all the waves of appreciation, attraction, pleasure are flying through the universe.
- if my partner knew I was attracted to someone else, he would be happy, encouraged, interested
- if this came out into the open, my life would change for the best
- this doesn’t mean I’m not monogamous, or happy
- this means I’m healthy, in control, brilliant, wise and could expand my life based on physical attraction
- if my friends knew about this, they’d have their opinions
- when I act on my physical desire, it is not wise
“You’re having sex with him in your mind and thinking how terrible [or how good] that is. You tell the story, over and over, of what it’s like having sex with your husband. That story is what’s repelling you, not your husband. Sex without a story has never repelled anyone. It just is what it is. You’re having sex or you’re not. It’s our thoughts about sex that repel us.” ~ Byron Katie
Not having a nervous reaction about a feeling of sexual attraction, not going into fantasies or hallucinations, not using thoughts to repel or attract myself, or make myself wrong or right?
Oh, how lovely. How peaceful. How exciting!
What if you are OK, just the way you are, with your attraction, wondering, curiosity, watching, noticing, being, allowing?
What if you can trust who you are at the core?
“Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier. Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing. Throw away industry and profit and there won’t be any thieves. If these aren’t enough, just stay at the center of the circle and let all things take their course.” ~ Tao Te Ching #19
The teleclass our Wonderful Sexuality begins Monday, Oct. 21st and I am taking registrations for both 8 am and 5:15 pm Pacific time. Maybe only one of those times will be when the class actually meets, so write and let me know which one you’d prefer.
Much love, Grace