Jana Hocking, a sex and dating columnist for the Mail Online, recently shared an intriguing experience from her visit to an orgasm retreat.
Unlike typical retreats that focus on personal growth, healing, or relaxation, this one offered something quite different.
Speaking on the Just Between Us podcast, Jana explained that she attended the Back to Body Sex Retreat in Joshua Tree National Park as part of her columnist assignment. The retreat is dedicated to helping women deepen their connection to their own sexual satisfaction.
Jana mentioned that the full retreat experience costs $15,000, which left the podcast hosts impressed, but she also noted there are weekend options available for under $1,000.
“I expected it to be full of extroverts putting on a show for each other, but it was nothing like that,” Jana shared during the podcast.
Many attendees were going through divorces and realized they’d never truly experienced a proper orgasm, wanting to make up for lost time. Others were healing from trauma and trying to relearn how to enjoy sex—a revelation Jana described as quite heartbreaking.
She explained that the retreat’s purpose was to help women focus on their own sexual needs. The experience began with everyone sharing why they were there, which surprisingly was the most low-key moment of the whole retreat.
The retreat, hosted by the founder Pamela Madsen and her team, moved into tantric meditation.
“We had to hold our vulvas and rock back and forth, either naked or in our underwear, and speak to our vulva and tell it what we wanted, who we wanted to be and what our goals were,” Jana said.
“My goal was to take back ownership of my sexuality because I realized I was performing — I can do a Meg Ryan orgasm like the best of them — but am I having a real orgasm? Am I putting my needs first?”
One session involved Madsen receiving half an hour of foreplay from a male assistant, culminating in orgasm in front of the attendees.
“It just went on so long I got bored,” Jana said, and added that during another tutorial, a urologist offered a hands-on demonstration of female anatomy, using Madsen as the model.
“We all stood around as the urologist kind of pointed at her private parts,” she said. “This is your labia, this is your clit.”
Jana acknowledged that she was the only participant who didn’t experience orgasm during the retreat, but she now feels more confident and better prepared to achieve climax on her own terms.
