A Refuge for Your Pleasure
The word refugia comes from the Latin word, refuge, or hideaway.
In ecological terms, it is a location – perhaps the only one – in which a species has managed to continue to survive even though the surrounding areas are not hospitable. There are places in the world – for example, the mountains in central Africa that refuge the mountain gorillas – that are the only place these species continue to exist.
Though not a species, pleasure is very much in need of refuge. In a society that focuses on quick and intense hits of pleasure that are not nutrient-dense – junk food, social media likes – learning to experience deeply nourishing, embodied, and connecting pleasure, the kind that reminds us of our place in the World and our belonging, is a radical act.
This kind of pleasure takes time. It is not instant. It requires that we set down our phones and settle into a moment without our attention divided. It asks that we tune into and notice the sensations – all of the sensations – in our bodies; welcoming and getting curious about them all.
This kind of pleasure demands that we be embodied and embedded, immersed in community that supports us in doing this and that models and shows us the way.
Our hope is that our upcoming online weekend intensive, Decolonize Your Orgasm, is a refugia for pleasure. For the steady, slow, earth-rumbling pleasure, the lighting strike pleasure, and the quiet, almost imperceptible babbling brooks of pleasure.
