Sex Positive Week at Esalen
A Bro Robinson story
By Bro Robinson
I don't think such a week was ever intentionally planned, and is certainly not promoted (officially) at least. But I happen to know that it is a thing because I was there for one and know what went down.
Now days, I hear it happens every year -- at least once a year. Usually twice, sometimes more often. It helps to be an Esalen insider for these. I'm not sure what that means, as I am certainly not one but I know keep hearing stories. If you go to Esalen, you certainly hear them. I think it keeps the mystique alive and the people signing up for more workshops. Cha ching! They do go by an alternative name, I am told: Orgy Week.
With its naked hot tubs and naked swimming pool, and the famous extra sensual Esalen massage, it's a pretty sex positive place anyway. No one can deny that.
But that week I was there in the fall of 1999 there was a kind of convergence and synergy of sexual energy from the workshops offered that which created a vibe with a certain extra sexual punch that went way beyond the usual.
The workshops that I remember were:
Esalen Massage, The Long Stroke
which emphasized the sensual elements of Esalen massage. This is standard fare for Esalen and what I had signed up for.
Draping, as per usual, is minimal. A single modest sized towel, strategically placed, -- or not -- provides cover -- or not. Did the towel slip off when I twisted you for a low back stretch? Oopsies. No matter. Wink.
We'll all be naked anyway when we head off to the baths. Did you want your tushy massaged? The towel needs to come off for that, usually shoved down between your legs but not necessarily. Nudity abounds, as well as a super sensual atmosphere.
Then there was the Tantric Sex workshop for couples which added a lot of heat. Couples were encouraged to be adventuresome and trade partners, which they eagerly did. All of the couples that I met at the baths were absolutely freakin' gorgeous, very playful and totally uninhibited. I got so many invitations, I had to turn most all of them down.
New that week at Esalen was the WATSU massage workshop which was held at the swimming pool in front of the main building.
Bathing suits were touted as an option for the shy, but as per the usual custom at the pool, everyone who attended decided on the spot that they wanted to do it naked, and so they did. If anyone attending might have preferred to wear a swim suit, naked peer pressure prevailed. The intimate stretches of WATSU were all the more so.
One crucial element added to the sexual fever of everyone. Normally at Esalen the cabins are separated by gender. As I understand it, because the Tantric Couples workshop was so large and an usual number of couples had signed up for other workshops wires supposedly got crossed and somehow there was no separation by gender in any of the cabins that week. Or, maybe it was planned that way. In any case, that is what happened.
Quite a number of cabins were quickly and spontaneously declared "nudist cabins". Word spread like wild fire and by the evening of the first day, all of them were. As far as I have been able to surmise, no one objected to this. If being naked is good at the baths, it is even better if your roommates were naked too, usually 4 bunk beds to a small cabin.
In my cabin were a couple attending the Tantric Sex workshop and a woman who signed up for the nude yoga one. None of the three people gave me the option to wear a stitch, and so I didn't. It was nonnegotiable.
All four of us were totally nude the entire time. Not surprisingly, me and the other fellow were erect most of the time, much to the delight of the women.
Repeat that scenario for all the other cabins and you get a sense of it.
The morning of my first day at Sex Positive Week at Esalen started early. The couple who had eagerly informed me Sunday night that they were enrolled in the tantric sex workshop and who I discovered later were my cabin mates, awakened me with their rutting and groaning just before dawn.
Because they were in the bunk directly across from me I had a full on view of their performance, which left nothing to the imagination even in the gray light.
I think the wife appreciated my lecherous wanks, as I watched them. But I quickly got bored of that as it was clear I was only a spectator to their sporting.
I decided to check out the baths and merely donning my light robe and flip flops, headed out to the newly rebuilt cliff side baths.
I arrived to an empty bath house and showered alone then walked out to the hot tubs which were also empty of anyone. A lone young woman was cleaning a tub she had just drained. She looked up and smiled. As per baths custom, she was naked, so I thought nothing of it.
"I guess I'm a bit early for the baths."
"Yeah, maybe a tad. She leaned on the long brush she was using and looked me up and down. "I was supposed to have a helper this morning but she wasn't feeling well. I'm thinking maybe you could stop gawking and give me a hand?"
"Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to be staring." The woman looked quite ravishing I thought. "Sure. I could help you. What do I do?" I tried to act business like and not like I was naked, which I was.
"You can rinse with the hose, after I get the tub brushed with this disinfectant." She pointed to the hose streaming water across the deck.
"Okay. Sounds easy."
"I really wasn't expecting anyone which is why I'm working naked. But I guess since these are the baths..."
"Right. Who wears anything at the baths?"
She grinned. "And it is sex positive week...so..."
"Wait. Sex positive week? What's that?"
She stopped and leaned on her brush again, brows furrowed. "You didn't know? We have these a couple of times a year." She looked me up and down as though I were a prospective candidate.
"I guess that explains all the questions I got asked when I signed up for the long stroke massage class. But once they confirmed I had been to Esalen several times before they seemed okay with it."
She laughed. "It's not something that gets advertised." She started brushing and dipping, brushing and dipping, really putting some effort into it and I found myself mesmerized by the way her pendant breasts bobbed with each brush stroke.
I think she felt I was watching her. She paused again and looked up and then down -- at it. "So, you single?"
She was staring right at my manhood when she asked and it was giving me tingles. "Totally unattached! Free as a bird."