Our Winter 2021/22 issue has gone to print. Tantric visionary Dawn Cartwright shares her insights into finding union within yourself, your beloved and life itself — dive on in for a sneak peek!
Perfect Union
Freeing The Sexual Centre
by Dawn Cartwright
The experience of oneness in sex is the goal of almost every lover. It is an experience, effervescent with pulsation, that connects us to ourselves, each other and everything around us.
Wilhelm Reich, a revolutionary Viennese psychiatrist who transformed psychoanalysis in the 1920s and 30s, described this pulsation in his character analysis work. According to Reichian therapist, Sean Haldane, “Wilhelm Reich identified pulsation as the basic life function, experienced most intensely in orgasm.” Pulsation is our natural state, the state of living tension-free.
Reich identified seven segments of the human body where tensions, once released, give way to full body ecstasy and the return of this pulsation. Reich called these tensions “armouring.” They are an adaptation created in the body to shield the individual from the painful juxtaposition of one’s natural state and societal expectation. The release of these tensions frees the individual, bringing them back to themselves and back into synchrony with the omniscient pulsation that unites us all.
The first segment identified by Reich is the ocular segment. Armouring around the eyes makes it difficult for us to truly “see” one another. Our perceptions become fixed – we see the world not as it is, but as we have grown to see it through our own projections. Our sexual energy is limited because we’ve lost our ability to love in real time – we are stuck in the past. When this armouring dissolves, our eyes are full of light, and our interactions, warm and sensing. We “see” ourselves and “see” others as they truly are.
The second segment is the oral segment. Armouring around the lips and mouth make it challenging for us to receive the physical and emotional nourishment that is possible in sexual activity. We are “tight-lipped” and our jaw is compressed, making sexual pleasure nearly impossible. We feel angry and defiant, unconsciously daring others to come close; suspicious of their motives. When our oral segment is open, we feel nourished – not only in sex, but in our very existence.
The third segment of armouring is the cervical segment, the throat. This segment is important in the expression of our feelings. When we are armoured in the cervical segment, we hold back our true emotions, skate on the surface of intimacy and find ourselves unable to communicate in ways that create closeness. We are unable to effectively communicate our feelings and desires. When the cervical segment is open, we express our sexual desires with ease. We find pleasure in communicating intimately.
“When we have released our armouring, we are in perfect union — within ourselves, with our beloved, and with life itself.”
According to this model, tensions are released and pulsation restored, one segment after the other, from the head to the pelvis. The next segment is the thoracic segment, the area surrounding the heart. When this segment is armoured, there is tightness in our way of being. We hold back physical affection and withhold our longing. It is difficult for our partners to sense when or how to approach us. When our thoracic segment is open, we feel the melting feelings of intimacy. We reach out for warmth and affection.
Below the thoracic segment is the diaphragmatic segment. This segment separates the upper part of the body from the lower part of the body and the pelvis. It is the gateway between love and sex. It is the solar plexus region, responsible for our vitality and breath. When we are armoured in this segment, our breathing is constricted and there can be a feeling of “we’re great friends, but there’s no spark” or “we have great chemistry, but no real love.” When this segment is open, love and sex become a unified experience.
The next segment, the abdominal segment, aligns with the enteric nervous system, the “gut brain.” Armouring in this segment inhibits our connection to our intuitive intelligence. Tension here can put us in a perpetual state of “fight or flight,” causing intense anxiety in intimate situations. Individuals who experience great amounts of armouring in this segment may feel overwhelmed in situations where physical closeness is imminent. When this segment is tension-free, we trust our intuition, live from our parasympathetic nervous system, and intimacy is restorative.
The last segment, the pelvic segment, is the powerhouse that enlivens every other segment of the body. When this segment is armoured, vulnerability is absent. There is a lack of pleasure and satisfaction in the sexual experience. When the pelvic segment is open and flowing, sex is fulfilling. Our bodies pulse with ecstatic energy. According to Reichian therapist, Dr. Patricia Frisch, “This permits the pelvis to move naturally, and waves of energy or streaming can be felt throughout the body causing a pleasurable, expansive sensation.”
When we have released the armouring we’ve created to protect ourselves from the pressures of the world we live in, we are in perfect union – within ourselves, with our beloved, and with life itself.
Dawn Cartwright is a NeoTantra visionary, sacred writer, world traveler, and innovator in authentic lovemaking and NeoTantra fusion.
Learn more about Dawn and her work here: Dawn Cartwright
