Another side of this self-awareness issue is that many people find that sexual activity in general and physical orgasm and ejaculation in particular, while serving as a type of stress release, can be de-energizing, resulting in an overall energy loss. For this reason, and for many specific purposes, some (actors, musicians, many athletes, and other performers) will refrain from sex before their performance event. Others, like artists and writers, find that temporary sexual abstinence builds energy in such a way that it can be rechanneled into other creative expressions. Celibates in religious community speak of sublimation" of sexual energy, which means that this powerful life force is not physically expressed but used to expand the heart, turning the person more dynamically toward the very source of love. And, from the East (particularly China and India) we learn about sexual energy management (particularly the conservation of ejaculation) that is claimed to enhance health and longevity.*

The idea here is that you learn about your energy and become an explorer in the domain of sexual energy and its effects in your body.

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*Friday, N., My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies, revised edition (Pocket Books, 1998) and Men in Love (Dell, 1998).

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