A movement amongst men has been reinvigorated in the past few years. As many have awoken to the reality that indulging in sex with no regard for the loss of energy and moral degradation has far-reaching consequences. Several groups have been formed around this idea. Groups such as the Semen Retention subreddit, the Nofap community, and many more. Yes, I get it, it may sound weird if this is your first encounter. It sounded weird to me for quite some time, until I decided to give it a try, and it was one of the best decisions of my early twenties.
Though each man finds himself practising semen retention/ sexual transmutation for different reasons. Some come to it as aspiring Brahmacharis, and others hope for an edge to ensure their success in life. Though some practitioners have taken to demonising women in their quest to liberate themselves from their weakness in sex. I do not believe women are evil, nor do I think that they should be vilified. Sex is an activity that takes two people to partake in, so it is silly to place the blame on women while the source of a man’s weakness originates from himself. We all carry some blame for the perversion of sex we see today, as we keep indulging in activities such as watching porn or seeking sexual partners for nothing other than our own gratification. Regardless of the harm that it spreads.
It is our responsibility to begin to set things right. In my recent research for a second edition of The Celibate Soul, I found a little gem on the topic of sexual continence, a book titled The Coiled Serpent. In this book, the author states that we’ve inherited our ancestor’s weaknesses towards sex, and the excessive sexual lifestyles they lived have given birth to generation after generation of men who are pretty much slaves to this impulse. And unlike animals, our intelligence and free will, rather than liberate us from our lower instincts, have led us to succumb to their influence and nurture their normalisation for the sake of sense pleasures. To change that, what the author suggests is a general shift in consciousness and habits which will end up changing the status quo for the better. But each individual must begin reversing the damage and teaching one’s children to approach sex with caution. Perhaps educating them on the energetic drain it represents and how it weakens us in every way. But before we can teach, we must learn.
When you’ve been living in the current norm, of porn and constant sexual release, it seems that the low level of energy we experience under those circumstances is normal. It’s become our baseline. Just as one gets accustomed to any other form of an unhealthy lifestyle. Symptoms that one may notice when the habit of sexual indulgence is firmly rooted are:
- Back pain and discomfort along the spine
- Frequent low energy
- Mental cloudiness
- Low motivation
- Physical lethargy and weakness
- Pain and numbness in the testicles
- Restless sleep
- Constant Fatigue
- Lack of vision in life
- Docility and lack of aggression (towards pursuits, not mere brute violence)
- A weak spirit unable to perceive higher truths
As you may have deduced this pretty much robs you of your drive, and though not all men are impacted in the same way. Thus you must be aware of how each sexual interaction affects you. Perhaps you have much sexual energy and can handle a larger number of indulgences without inhibiting your drive for life and higher pursuits. But it becomes clear once the path of continence and retention is taken that retaining will always trump whatever temporary pleasure or high that sex can ever provide. It all depends on how it is done, of course, some approaches to retention may actually lead nowhere and we will get into that in this series of articles on the topic.
For those who haven’t tried sexual retention, perhaps a little primer on the benefits will help motivate you to give it a try. The benefits have been documented at length in other sources, like Swami Sivananda’s Practice of Brahmacharya. Among many others here are some of the benefits he mentions, and that I have experienced too:
- Mental clarity
- Stronger magnetism and powers of attraction
- Better sleep quality
- Higher and increasing energy levels
- Calmness and relaxation
- Great motivation and eagerness for life
- Clearer vision for the future
- Aggressiveness or pro-activity towards one’s goals and dreams
- Faster Recovery rates during sickness or injury
- Higher tolerance for obstacles and turbulence in life
- The ability to strive for greater spiritual development
- The ability to grasp and retain spiritual truths
I know, these may seem too good to be true but these are not novel ideas. I used to be sceptical too, under the prevalent paradigm, one in which our lack of understanding of sexual energy seems to be reinforced by a zeitgeist of promiscuity. Proponents of the ejaculate-everyday-and-binge-on porn lifestyle would have us believe that this is desirable, healthy and normal. I won’t waste time trying to convince anyone that porn is a vile product of a diseased society, as current studies are starting to corroborate that it is indeed unhealthy, desensitising and leads to many ills, addictions and perversions.
Then there are the ethical implications on how it affects society, with many cases coming to light of kidnapped teenagers being forced to have sex in porn movies. Movements such as the TraffickingHub are labouring to de-normalise porn and protect young minds against its destructive effects and exploitation. But the root of the problem starts at home, we’ve nurtured a desire that the industry exploits expertly, and so long as that is the case such businesses as prostitution and pornography will thrive.
In The Coiled Serpent, the author Cornelis Johannes Van Vliet likens a man’s ejaculation to a woman’s period. And most men will admit that they do exhibit many similar side-effects to a period after ejaculation. The only difference is that women can’t control when a period occurs. Though the book is old and I did not agree with certain views of the author, much of what he states on the issue of continence, I have found to be true through my own practice and experiments. Which I have documented in a second edition of The Celibate Soul slated to be released soon.
For instance, I believe we can all agree that after the sudden thrill of an ejaculation, we tend to feel weak for hours, or even days after the incident. Thus constantly ejaculating, and releasing sexual energy leaves us weaker with each occurrence. I believe that the body’s homeostatic abilities tend to conceal the damage, especially when we are young. We heal a little faster as children than we would in our twenties or later on so the negative impacts aren’t as noticeable in our youth but they do begin to become so as we age.
In all my research, be it in the Practice of Brahmacharya by Swami Sivananda, the Coiled Serpent or through hundreds of testimonies, I have come to understand that sexual energy is really just energy, albeit one that has taken on the hues of the activity for which we have come to identify it. Once we begin to realise this, it becomes a matter of energy preservation and redirection and not a debate on sexual repression or other excuses we tend to offer to avoid the reality that sex may not be much of a necessity beyond procreation. It is an indulgence that we can go without, and it is often the undoing of many a man.
Most men develop a relationship akin to addiction toward sex. And this is hardly arguable, a mere test in which one tries to refrain from the activity for a month or so will prove this. Most will give in within a day or so, and once the sexual tension reaches a peak it is a rare individual that will be able to transmute and transcend the desire.
I attempted such experiments while writing my book on the topic, The Celibate Soul, and in the process of those trials and errors, I found that there was much truth to the benefits several Gurus and occultists spoke about in books that I discovered on the topic. Strangely, none of those benefits seemed to be spoken about by many scientific sources, although I did find a few from the early 20th century here, and some from the 21st correlating continence with longevity. The consensus seemed to be back then that excessive indulgence of the sex urge, led to a weakening of all aspects of a man, or woman.
During these years of researching the topic, I would find myself justifying my lack of restraint with the same old, “It’s only natural” line and “It’s really good for you, I don’t want that prostate cancer to take a hold of me”.
Yet, whenever I abstained I found myself enjoying the control, the mental clarity, the drive, energy, and the general well-being that came along with the practice. I also found that the first month was not the month to look forward to, as many sources claimed. It was in fact the most turbulent month, as the energy was quite difficult to handle. The second and third months are best, by then I believe that the sexual energy sort of stabilises and becomes easier to exploit in one’s goals, artistic and creative pursuits.
The reason for this, I can only speculate on, but I suspect it is similar to the physical endurance an athlete develops over time by building a body that can handle the strain. Thus by refraining from wasting one’s energy, the body learns to handle and normalise growing levels. I believe the body’s nervous system adapts to these raising levels of energy. There are similar explanations in occult material which I discovered. For instance in [state source here]. The idea is also found in other spiritual sources, in which the process of transmutation is described as the energy flowing upward through the spine towards the mind. The more of it finds its way there, the more such benefits can be exploited for mental and spiritual development according to those sources. However, the idea is that this energy, can express itself in any avenue we choose, it is mainly creative energy, which can manifest as sexual, mental, and physical energy depending on which of these we invest it towards.
In The Way of The Superior Man, the author David Deida makes a great point that energy should not be left in either genitals or the brain. In one’s genitals if left untamed we find that the urge to have sex continually grows until we succumb to its pull. If left in the brain we begin to fantasise about having sex and we are plagued by uncontrollable thoughts until we eventually succumb to its pull one way or another. He suggests that this energy should instead be circulated throughout the body using one’s breath and visualisation. I found that this was indeed effective though accompanying it with activities that help exploit a part of the energy, such as exercising, mantra recitations, creative pursuits or meditation. Not only do these help train the energy to focus on other directions but it becomes exceptionally useful in accelerating progress in every direction. Though the author of The Way of The Superior Man wrote the book for couples who wish to keep the male-female polarisation alive in their relationships alive, I believe that his views can still serve a man/woman wishing to exploit this energy without necessarily being in a relationship.
When we live a life where sex is the main pursuit, and indulging and satisfying that pursuit is our main activity we find that those attributes are strengthened and our attachment and need for sex grows ever deeper, until a point where the negative consequences catch up to us and we can no longer satisfy the need physically. As Paramahansa Yogananda states, “Ever fed never satisfied, never fed ever satisfied”. Contrary to popular belief restraining from sex carries pleasures, benefits and satisfaction that an entire lifetime of sexual indulgence may never match.
Sex for the mere sake of ejaculating is the poorest use of this energy. For one, there is no point where it can truly be satisfied, one will always feel a void in oneself, and trying to fill it with sex is a Sisyphean pursuit. Yet when this energy is put towards greater fulfilment, its investment yields far greater gains. In his most well-known work, Think & Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says the following about the transmutation of this energy towards higher pursuits.
The emotion of sex brings into being a state of mind. Because of ignorance on the subject, this state of mind is generally associated with the physical, and because of improper influences, to which most people have been subjected, in acquiring knowledge of sex, things essentially physical have highly biased the mind. The emotion of sex has back of it the possibility of three constructive potentialities, they are:
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
1. The pereptuation of manking.
2. The Maintenance of health, (as a therapeutic agency, it has no equal).
3. The transformation of mediocrity into genius through transmutation.
In my experience this is true, as I’ve found many spiritual ideas that are being commercialised in our zeitgeist some truths, which are lost in attempts to make these ideas sexier, or more appealing to the general public. I speak of things like the Law of Attraction which can work but requires other elements which are not taught. For instance, nowhere in such books are the ideas of sexual transmutation taught, so men find themselves visualising desires and dreams while they hold little attractive energy in themselves. The secret isn’t what we’ve been told that one can simply visualise and act in a void, the secret is control over our own energy. Then everything we do holds a powerful charge, the law of attraction and all else begin to hold water. It adds an increase to the results of all our efforts a hundredfold. The mere mental clarity it brings will pay off in every aspect of a person’s life.
Of course, this path is not for everyone, some may be able to become monks and foresake the weaknesses of the flesh, so to speak, yet most of us are not ready for such a final though noble commitment. Yet, simply limiting the habit of sexual indulgence to a minimum will yield benefits. I’ll be honest with you, two weeks will not maximise the potential of this practice, but it will get you started, and rather than reading a million books on the topic, and turning this into a mental gymnastics exercise, it will offer you real life experience. Those who can go months without ejaculating, or engaging in few if any sexual experience, mental or physical, will benefit from this practise far more. In my experience, few things can speed up success in all spheres of life like sexual continence.
For material pursuits, I propose the following experiment which any able-bodied and healthy person could undertake:
- Set a goal, I’ve outlined steps in this article to help you achieve just that.
- Refrain from sex or ejaculation through any means until your objectives or milestones are met.
- Eat healthy food and exercise to keep your body in shape.
- Meditate daily 1-3 times, and try out the Sylva method or the gateway technique.
- Consider making it a lifestyle, and if you feel indulging in sex is absolutely necessary, read up on karezza (it’s better than nothing)
That sounds pretty simple, right? Well, it won’t be as easy in practice, but you’ll notice almost immediate progress in all your efforts. Let’s dispense with the persuasion and simply give it a try, a sincere try. Within 3 months, serious energetic momentum should begin building up. In these next twelve weeks, you will need to remain positive and keep acting towards the realisation of your goals, while cultivating your internal energies.
I know it’s not easy wrapping one’s head around the idea of sexual continence, especially in our times. Yet the rewards will far outweigh the apparent sacrifice you’ll be making. Contrary to what you may assume, you will not lose your libido, you’ll be taming it and transmuting it into energy that will serve you far more in your life than a five-second joy look-alike. In case you may feel a little lonely or confused, I’ve worked on two little aids for you, the first is the second edition of The Celibate Soul, which is packed with information on the topic of celibacy and sexual transmutation, everything you need to get the full picture, and mental preparation to give it a try.
Touré, Writer 