My First Yoni Massage…
I first discovered the power of Yoni massage in Copenhagen when I began training in this field. I was invited to receive a Tantric Massage with Yoni Massage so I could really feel what it was like to learn to give this kind of bodywork.
So one sunny afternoon, awash with nervous jitters, I found myself on the doorstep of a fancy apartment on Nyhavn canal. Nyhavn is THE postcard picture strip of Copenhagen – a pretty cobblestoned canal with lots of brightly coloured houses all in a row.
I was ushered into a sitting room for a chat with Inga, my massage therapist. She listened to me patiently, explained what would happen in the session and assured me I’d be safe and supported. Then she led me into a room with a giant 4 poster bed, invited me to lay down and offered me an experience I’ll never forget.
I have no idea what she was doing, but from the very beginning I just melted. I was in total ecstasy – feeling all kinds of incredible sensations I’d never felt before. Feeling my body in a completely new way – THIS is MY BODY?
At the same time, the sensations went beyond the body somehow… It was almost cosmic. it felt like I was expanding into the universe and simultaneously dissolving into nothing. I was profoundly relaxed. It was a deeply sensual experience, but not exactly sexual, even though I’m **pretty sure** she gave me a Yoni Massage as part of the session.
I walked out of there on a cloud, my body tingling from head to toe – feeling gloriously alive.
I was HIGH for days afterwards (in a good way!)
I was also surprised. In awe. A bit confused.
How come no-one told me about this?
Why didn’t I know that my body could feel SO good!?
Why wasn’t I taught that my Yoni could help me access such beautiful states of expansion?
I started practicing Tantric bodywork and immersed myself in learning Yoni Massage. Soon, I discovered that this experience wasn’t just something that happened for me, but a pretty common thing for many people discovering this work.
After practice sessions, I’d ask people how they felt – regularly receiving responses like:
“I have no words. Just wow!”
“I feel like I just met myself for the first time.”
“I’ve never felt anything like this before – I didn’t even know this was possible!”
Of course every experience was different – sometimes it was also challenging, confronting or deeply emotional.
Often it wasn’t a sense of sexual pleasure, but more just really beautiful feelings in that area – deeper sensitivity. More connection. More awareness. A relaxation and a softening. More love for this part of the body.
I knew I’d come across something special.
So I dived right in even further… I immersed myself in further studies, learning Tantric bodywork and practicing as much Yoni Massage as possible.
I started signing up for almost any related courses I could get my hands on. I studied Taoist sexual massage, Gestalt Psychotherapy, Somatic Sexology and ‘Spiritual Sexual Shamanism’ (whatever that even is! 😉 )
I read books and did exchange sessions with LOTS of other professional pelvic bodyworkers and therapists. I started exploring with some new methods that felt really amazing.
I wanted to create a session that could feel really empowering – where women were supported and educated to discover themselves on a deeper level.
I wanted a highly specific kind of session that was part coaching and education, part bodywork. Not necessarily a spiritual thing or even a sexual thing. More of a therapy modality than a ‘Tantric’ experience. Something grounded that all women could relate to, without any of the fluff.
A Guided Tour of your Vagina – Yes!
Thus ‘Yoni Mapping Therapy – The Bliss Method’ was born.
Since then, I’ve trained in a heap of other related areas – urogenital osteopathic bodywork, Holistic Pelvic Care TM, muscle corrective therapy for the pelvis, pelvic bodywork for birth preparation and after birth care, Taoist abdominal genital therapeutic bodywork, pelvic anatomy and more…
I’ve tweaked and grown this modality continuously while offering it over the last 5 years, and finally in 2017, I trained a group of 25 practitioners as ‘Yoni Mapping Therapists’ (with support from an amazing team of facilitators and assistants)
These practitioners are trained to offer a very specifically structured 3 hour session for women involving:
* Coaching / Education / Listening
* Whole Body Warm Up Massage
* Therapeutic Pelvic Bodywork
* External and Internal Pelvic Massage and Mapping
* Integration / Grounding
(in essence – there’s much more to it obviously!)
What Techniques are Involved?
The approaches, practices and techniques that our trained ‘Yoni Mapping Therapists’ use in their sessions are a wide range and blend, informed by their own journey and experience, and their 6 month intensive training course which was inspired by all the amazing guest teachers, as well as my studies & experience in:
* Gestalt Psychotherapy
* Yogic philosophy
* Meditation and heart connection
* Embodiment practices
* Compassionate Listening
* Tantric bodywork
* Yoni Massage
* Somatic Sexology
* Karsei Nei Tsang (Taoist abdominal genital therapeutic bodywork)
* Taoist vaginal mapping techniques
* Trauma awareness
* Boundaries and Consent
* Birth preparation pelvic bodywork
* Many other styles of pelvic release bodywork
I’m deeply grateful to all my many teachers over the years. I’ve learned internal bodywork practices and techniques from almost 20 different practitioners and trainers.
I’m noticing that even though I’ve done lots of incredible training, much of what I currently do in my sessions has come through direct experience – from doing thousands of sessions – both in training / practice and for clients.
I learned lots of techniques and tools from many different teachers, schools and traditions, but (as our practitioners are discovering), the real magic happens in the sessions, in the moment.
I’m still learning more every day that I do this, every session teaches me something incredible about this work and about women.
What’s in a Name? (If there’s any confusion!)
I have registered the modality name ‘Yoni Mapping Therapy’- as the name for what I and my practitioners offer. I’ve added ‘the Bliss Method’, so it’s super clear that what we’re offering is the specific method that I’ve developed.
I don’t OWN the term ‘Yoni Mapping’. No-one does.
A few other practitioners use it to refer to something they could offer in a session, or use similar names for their service (which may be a potentially similar yet different service to the service my practitioners offer – or it may be completely different!)
There are many other practitioners around the world who offer a kind of session where there is a ‘mapping’ of the vagina – many of them work intuitively, some have created their own thing, some have trained in Joseph Kramer’s Somatic Sexology, which when I did it, in 2013, was supportive on my journey and taught me a particular style of genital mapping.
Some other practitioners probably work in a similar way to the practitioners I’ve trained, others do very short sessions going straight towards the internal work, some offer ‘yoni massage’ with a focus on sexuality, for others it’s a deep therapeutic tool for pelvic release work. We are all different.
It’s all very confusing, isn’t it!
Which is why, when I get requests for people asking me to recommend a practitioner in their local area, I hesitate to recommend someone that I don’t know personally.
Obviously this work is delicate and not to be taken lightly.
But I’m grateful to now have access this tribe of amazing practitioners who I know personally and who I’ve witnessed offering sessions in our training.
I’ve trained them specifically to be able to handle all kinds of situations, to have a wide understanding of the pelvic realms and to be able to clearly and safely navigate a woman through her inner world – holding space for any emotions or sensations that may arise.
If you’re interested to explore this work, do read about it here and check the practitioner list to see if there’s a practitioner near you!
xx Bonnie
(Beautiful Uterus artwork used with written permission from the artist, Trisha Thompson Adams)
