Common Ground: Sexual Healing

February 2007 | From the Editor

Sexual Healing

San Francisco is the sexual epicenter for the country; no doubt a laboratory of horny scientist-acolytes jumping into the party pool head-first to meditate and trial-and-error their way to bliss otherwise unknown to Des Moines, Tuscaloosa or for that matter, Boston.

Don’t look now but you’re holding onto our “Sex Issue.” It’s not an annual event in our pages the way it is in some magazines, but rather a theme linked loosely to this particular Valentine’s Day — that Hallmark holiday that has become so important to the fairer sex that iconoclastic, pop-culture-cynical men who would ignore it on principle would do so at their own peril. Yes, there are easier battles to fight, gentlemen: Let’s not underestimate the enemy, Hallmark, which has got you over a barrel. I mean, since when is not taking your S.O. out to dinner the best way to make a point? You need a PR firm to spin that one with your honey. But the politics of the “holiday” aside, really, why not write about the “second chakra” of our culture beat?

Progressive politics, noncorporate culture, progressive, or at least alternative, sex… it’s all interconnected — as sex, some say, is to the spiritual.

A Mecca for seekers and fellow travelers, San Francisco is the sexual epicenter for the country; no doubt a laboratory of horny scientist-acolytes jumping into the party pool head-first to meditate and trial-and-error their way to bliss otherwise unknown to Des Moines, Tuscaloosa or for that matter, Boston.

In this issue, we report on some of the latest findings from these intrepid and uninhibited souls fighting the good fight in the trenches or playing chicken in the shallow end, or whatever less tortured metaphor you prefer.

One of our features is a talk with Sparkle Bottom and J-Rad: members of Kinky Salon, an e-collective of “hedonists” inspired by Burning Man who throw sex parties in the Mission once or twice a month that re-create the feel and rules of the playa. Sparkle Bottom, who I had the pleasure of meeting one night by random chance at Bobby’s Owl Tree (R.I.P. Bobby, we miss you), struck me as incredibly engaging, totally sharp-witted, socially comfortable, and supremely relaxed, confident and open. And she had a giant cowboy hat that made opening conversation a breeze. It made me wonder later, when I learned more about her lifestyle with Kinky Salon, if that was the type of person drawn to polyamory, or if that was the type of transformation available to people who end up spending enough time in Burning Man cuddle puddles and exploring threesomes with their boyfriend at costume parties.

Another feature is an interview with the founder of One Taste and the director of its Urban Monk Program. Urban Monk is a six-week course the “Urban Retreat Center” offers at its Folsom Street address where participants learn orgasmic meditation (yes, there is climax), overcome intimacy fears and learn technical skills at “stroke clinics” all in a group setting with other would-be “Monks” doing their own class participation simultaneously. The training is held, in part, upstairs at the One Taste center where the famous Naked Yoga happens. Nicole and Beth were very patient with us as we tried to understand their curriculum and motivations for offering it, and also their insights about the sensuality of spirituality in general.

And there’s also a feature on Tantra that we hope demystifies and illuminates.

Personally, polyamory and group sensual therapy are probably not my speed, but they sure are interesting! And putting this issue together has reinforced what I already knew from previous issues of this magazine: that this town is full of fascinating people brave enough to be themselves or demanding enough to challenge themselves, either for self-improvement or for more altruistic reasons, like saving the planet or helping others.

— Todd Spencer

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