What is ‘Yoni Mapping Therapy – The Bliss Method’?

‘Yoni Mapping Therapy – The Bliss Method’ is a pelvic wellness modality for women developed by Bonnie Bliss, offered only by women.

It is a gentle and respectful ‘guided tour’ of your most mysterious region – the incredible female pelvis. 

In 2017, we held a 6 month long, 500 hour practitioner training for a group of 25 practitioners from all over the world, who are now fully trained in The Bliss Method of Yoni Mapping Therapy.

‘Yoni Mapping Therapy – The Bliss Method’ is registered with the International Institute of Complementary Therapists (IICT) and certified Yoni Mapping Therapists have successfully completed a rigorous and intensive training course and abide by an ethical Code of Conduct.

More about the background story and where the modality came from in THIS article.

’Yoni’ is the Sanskrit word for vagina, meaning ‘sacred space’. The vagina is indeed a sacred space, it is literally the place from which human life is birthed!

Yet many of us don’t exactly love and honour our vaginas. When we aren’t judging our vulva for how it measures up to the airbrushed and photoshopped standards we see in porn, we might be either pushing for a quick pleasure peak or allowing ourselves to be penetrated without feeling totally ready.

Yoni Mapping Therapy gives you an opportunity to discover the potential of your Yoni, and to come to a place of wholeness, love, respect and honouring for yourself – getting to know yourself on a deeper level.

It is a holistic modality that embraces all aspects of the self: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and sexual. 

Even though we sometimes work quite specifically, there’s nothing we are trying to change or fix, no place to get to, and no pushing or forcing. Yoni Mapping sessions are about being present with whatever is arising, without judging it or labelling it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. We’re just exploring and learning about YOUR unique body and pelvic space.

All of you is welcome and accepted – whatever that looks like!

What happens in a Yoni Mapping Therapy session?

Initial Yoni Mapping Therapy sessions are always 3 hours long and are a combination of:

• Coaching and initial consultation – we sit down and have an informal chat about what’s going on for you. There’s space to share ANYTHING that feels important – all of you is welcome! We’ll ask you to fill in a detailed intake form with your history.
• Education related to pelvic wellness, sexuality, pleasure anatomy etc – we support you to fill relevant gaps.
• Home-Play – We give you specific practices to take home to deepen your connection with your body and your pelvis.
• Nurturing whole body massage – relaxing bodywork to soften into receiving and being nurtured.
• Therapeutic abdominal & pelvic massage – releasing tension and congestion in the belly and pelvis, bringing more blood flow, relaxation and sensitivity.

• Gentle external and internal vaginal massage and mapping

  If you feel comfortable to proceed (consent is a big part of this work!)  We work gently externally and internally to release tension and restore blood flow, sensitivity and awareness.

  You are oriented to your internal pelvic landscape – we are in communication the whole time, following physical sensation and emotions that arise as different areas are touched and massaged.

  We navigate through your Yoni, exploring areas of numbness, restriction, disconnection and muscle tension. Together, we literally create a map of your innermost world – discovering what feels tight, what feels relaxed, what feels good, where certain emotions might arise, how your internal pelvic sensitivity is, and more.

  Afterwards, most women feel more aliveness and sensation in the pelvis, a deeper connection with their body and newfound sense of respect for their vagina. Every session is completely different because every woman is unique.

What are the benefits of this modality?

There are some common themes that women choose to explore in sessions that Yoni Mapping Therapy may address.

Note: we cannot promise that we can resolve any medical condition, and Yoni Mapping Therapy does not in any way claim to replace appropriate medical support or mental health care. Yoni Mapping Therapy is not a trauma healing modality and is not suitable for someone in an active state of trauma.

Maybe there’s something physical you’d like to work with?

• Relaxing pelvic tension and helping to relieve pain
• Restoring awareness to areas of numbness internally
• Supporting muscle engagement and balance
• Reconnecting to your body after an operation in the pelvic / abdominal area

What if it’s more of an emotional thing?

• Having a respectful experience of your body after sexual trauma from past experiences of abuse / violation
• Addressing shame or guilt in relation to sex / your vagina
• Desiring to feel more connected to the Yoni / pelvis
• Moving towards healing emotionally from an operation / abortion / miscarriage
•  Receiving nurturing touch without a specific goal
• Creating space for old emotions related to past experiences to be felt

Or maybe you’d like to go deeper with self-care and self-nurturing?

• Exploring another level of self-care and self-nurturing
• Learning specific practices for pelvic wellness
• Creating a more loving connection with your Yoni
• Feeling clearer in your body awareness and boundaries

Or you just want to learn some stuff in an experiential way?

• Getting to know your way around this part of your body
• Just feeling curious to learn more and discover different parts of your body
• Having an embodied experience of all the sensations in your pelvic space

Maybe it’s about S-E-X?

• Navigating ways to address painful or uncomfortable sex
• Moving through libido challenges
• Opening to different ways to explore pleasure with a partner
• Releasing old habits of self pleasuring that might not be serving you (ie. Relying on a vibrator to reach orgasm every time)
• Finding out what’s possible in terms of pleasure beyond the clitoris
• You’re wanting to feel more confident in the bedroom

Maybe you’re transitioning into a certain life phase?

• Support in the transition to menopause
• Support in your fertility journey
• Ending a long term relationship and rediscovering your body again

Have you recently had a baby?

• Reconnecting to the vagina and pelvis when things feel different after birth
• Feeling held and acknowledged in your birth experience
• Making friends with your vagina again if the birth didn’t go as planned
• Supporting emotional and physical healing after a difficult birth

Or maybe you’re pregnant?

• Preparing your body for birth physically – relaxing, creating space
• Working specifically with internal areas that will support birth 
• Learning tools to take home for preparing your pelvis for birth
• Letting go of old emotional tension / stories before birth

How do women feel after a Yoni Mapping Therapy session?

Every session is different, as every woman is different.

However, after receiving Yoni Mapping, clients often have similar things to say:

“I feel like all women need to experience this!”

“I was so nervous before but it felt so natural and normal…”

“I had no idea all that was inside of me, that it’s all part of me… ”

“I feel so connected to my body!”

“I’m feeling all these sensations that I’ve never felt before.”

“OMG… Can you teach this to my partner!?”

“It’s like my vagina and I are friends now.”

Having said that, it’s important not to have expectations of a session and be open to see what arises for you personally. Everyone has their own unique experience – and it’s also normal to feel a little emotional or tender afterwards – we often have so many past experiences that affect our relationship with our pelvic area.

How much does Yoni Mapping Therapy Cost?

Initial Yoni Mapping sessions are always 3 hours long (sometimes a little more). The cost will vary from practitioner to practitioner and country to country. Please check the price on the booking page of each practitioner under the Find a Therapist tab.

Things to be aware of related to pricing:

Each practitioner is legally obliged to set their own price based on what they feel is appropriate for this service and their particular situation. Keep in mind that the session protocol is the same and all therapists have received the same training in Yoni Mapping Therapy, although some therapists also have other compatible areas of expertise.

This modality is highly specialised and the training was extensive and therefore costly. It takes a practitioner about 5 hours total to facilitate a session as there are many things to take care of both before and after the session itself. Most practitioners are only able to offer a few sessions a week – this work is not something we could do “full time” as it is so time consuming and involved – so please be aware of this when looking at prices.

A fair price would be a similar amount to 3 hours of high quality bodywork in your local area.

Yoni Mapping  Journey – Package of 3 Sessions

It’s powerful to work with Yoni Mapping over a few sessions –  a fascinating journey for for both client and practitioner.

In order to encourage clients to return and continue their exploration, many practitioners will happily offer you a 3 session package price for upfront purchase either before or after your first session. Ask your practitioner for details about this option.

Frequently Asked Questions…

Why is this type of therapy necessary? Does it really need to be internal?

There many benefits of internal therapeutic pelvic massage – which is now becoming more popular in many different fields. Osteopaths, physiotherapists and pelvic floor specialists often do internal massage for pelvic health and alignment.

Just as with general massage, there are many benefits of receiving internal massage:

• Access to ligaments that can only be touched from the inside
• Release of muscle tension that traditional external massage cannot get to
• Relaxing of pelvic floor muscles allowing effective engagement

In our culture, many women are disconnected from their whole pelvic region – mostly due to trauma of some kind, and/or shame.

Trauma, often expressed in the body as tension and experienced by a woman as pain or numbness, can arise from something as simple as having sex without being aroused enough, to something as complex as a difficult birth or sexual abuse/violation.

Underneath the glossy, modern sexual landscape we live in, many of us struggle to understand ourselves as sexual beings. It is rare to meet a woman who truly KNOWS her vagina well.

Massaging and mapping internally allows a woman to meet her yoni. To discover her own creative power source, this part that has often only been experienced as problematic or bothersome (periods), or ‘for’ the purpose of another’s pleasure, or for procreation.

We don’t receive adequate education about our own basic anatomy and sexuality. In fact, we are often given the wrong information – which leaves us confused and unclear.

That’s why having an experienced practitioner gently guide you through an area that may be wildly unfamiliar can be a total revelation.

Internal mapping can give a woman the capacity to answer questions like:

Where do I disconnect from feeling?

Where is there pain and numbness?

Is that area still tender from the operation?

What areas feel nice?

What feels relaxing and peaceful?

How is my pelvic floor?

Is there much tension in there?

What does my cervix feel like?

Where is my A-spot anyway?

Because Yoni Mapping sessions involve whole body massage, it can give a woman the felt experience that her Yoni is connected to the rest of her body – which often things a deep sense of wholeness.

A session also creates the space for a woman to simply receive. Nothing is expected of her, she doesn’t need to perform in any way, she can just relax and discover herself. It sounds so simple, but it’s something few women have ever experienced.

After receiving this kind of session, women often come away with a sense of clarity about what they want in their lives – and what is no longer acceptable.

This could mean being more discerning about who we allow to enter our bodies.

Or desiring to treat our bodies better.

Choosing to have longer foreplay because it feels amazing.

Or taking more time to self-pleasure and explore with curiosity.

Carving out more time for self care practices.

Or taking the leap with that big project.

It’s an empowering embodied experience that can help you feel who you are on a deeper level. It’s about coming home to yourself.

Please note: ‘Yoni Mapping Therapy – The Bliss Method’ is not a business or legal entity, it is a modality for women’s pelvic wellness. All practitioners of this modality work independently and have received a high standard of training and education. This website is intended as a hub of information about ‘Yoni Mapping Therapy’, pelvic wellness and other topics related to women, our bodies, our sexuality, empowered birth and more. Any resources, content, practices, approaches or exercises given are intended as inspiration only and do not constitute advice of a medical or psychological nature.