Everyone masturbates.

According to a survey conducted by Glamour, over 90% of people engage in self-love, with 36% of participants masturbating up to five times weekly.  

This act should be part of your regular self-care routine, and chances are, it already is. But if you want to see even more benefits from your solo practice, try mindful masturbation. It puts chasing quick orgasms on the backburner in favor of slow, long, drawn-out sessions, and you won't believe the benefits.  

What is mindful masturbation?  

If you're wondering how to make masturbation better, mindful masturbation is the key. Also called meditative masturbation, this act adds the principles of mindfulness to solo play to encourage presence of mind, explorations of pleasure, and a focus on what you enjoy feeling. It’s about engaging in self-pleasure with full awareness of your emotions and your body's sensations (not just what makes you finish). 

Sometimes, you might masturbate with a focus on achieving orgasm quickly, maybe with help from ethical porn, sex toys, or even a shower head. But mindful masturbation encourages focusing on the present moment and paying close attention to your feelings to foster a stronger connection with yourself and your needs, all within a relaxed state. It helps you connect deeply with your sexuality, relieve stress, and learn about what turns you on.  

4 benefits of masturbating mindfully  

Masturbation is healthy, and it has many benefits. Whether you do it twice daily or once a month, here are four significant perks of engaging in mindful self-love:  

1. It helps you learn your body  

Whether you're female, male, or nonbinary, slowing down and experimenting with different touches, pressures, and rhythms during mindful masturbation helps you learn about your unique body. This self-knowledge is empowering and can help you communicate more effectively with partners about what makes you feel good. In turn, this leads to better partnered and solo sex.  

2. It increases sexual confidence  

Mindful self-pleasure is a healthy way to masturbate that strengthens your relationship with your sexuality. Knowing what you enjoy and how to achieve it makes you more confident during sex and more capable of expressing your desires and boundaries. Whether solo or with a partner, mindful masturbation can help create a more assertive and open sexual presence.  

3. It amps up the pleasure 

In some cases, traditional masturbation aims for quick relief and release. In contrast, mindful masturbation helps you savor each moment because orgasm isn't the sole goal. Instead, it’s about exploring your whole body to find pleasure in unexpected places, making each experience uniquely satisfying. 

4. It reduces stress  

Mindful masturbation is an escape from deadlines, demands, and pressures. By focusing entirely on the present moment and the sensations you're experiencing, you create a stress and anxiety-free space. Plus, sexual stimulation releases oxytocin and dopamine, powerful natural stress relievers and mood boosters.  

Mindful masturbation and performance issues 

If you experience issues related to performance anxiety, mindful masturbation can significantly enhance your sexual health and pleasure:  

It reduces judgment  

Mindful masturbation encourages compassion. It's a non-judgmental approach to sexuality that reduces or removes the pressure to perform or reach orgasm. Through mindful masturbation, you create a safe space and mindset that can significantly reduce performance anxiety.  

It helps rewire sexual responses  

A disconnect between mind and body can contribute to sexual anxiety. Mindful masturbation helps bridge this gap by boosting bodily awareness and allowing your brain to associate sexual activity with relaxation and pleasure. It can also help you learn to achieve orgasm in new ways, which can fix issues related to death grip, if you have a penis, and over-reliance on porn.  

It reduces spectatoring 

"Spectatoring" is overly focusing on your arousal, whether that’s an erection or how wet you are, or on your overall performance during sex. This can exacerbate sexual anxiety and contribute to issues like erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation or symptoms of vaginismus. Mindful masturbation helps reduce spectatoring by teaching you to stay present and focused on the sensations you're feeling.  

8 steps to practice mindful masturbation  

Mindful masturbation is just the refresh your self-care routine needs. Here's how to tune into yourself and your body in eight steps:  

1. Wash your hands: Start with clean hands. This simple act is essential not only for hygiene but also as a symbolic gesture of care toward yourself, and it can help transition your mindset from the day's activities to a more sexy and self-focused space. 

2. Set the mood: Create a personal sanctuary by lighting a few candles, playing ambient music, or adjusting the room temperature. This sets the stage to engage all your senses and create a safe and welcoming environment that feels sensual. 

3. Minimize distractions: Give yourself a break from distractions by turning the TV off, shutting your laptop, and putting your phone on "Do Not Disturb." Consciously removing distractions protects your privacy, sets boundaries with technology, and reinforces the value of this time with yourself. 

4. Use a mirror: Masturbating with your hands in front of a mirror provides excellent visual stimulation, but it's also about confrontation and acceptance. Seeing yourself this way can help create a deeper connection and appreciation for your body and a dialogue of self-love and positive affirmations. 

5. Explore your body: When you stick to your usual masturbation routine, so much of your body's sexual pleasure remains unknown. To practice mindful masturbation, use your hands to explore from your scalp down to your toes, which can wake up different erogenous zones and nerve endings and deepen your body awareness. 

6. Stay present: Mindfulness is about being fully present, as challenging as it can be. In the context of masturbation, this means moving slowly, savoring every touch and sensation without rushing towards the climax, and acknowledging distractions without judgment when they arise. 

7. Take the pressure off orgasming: Forget about working toward orgasm. Releasing this pressure opens you up to a broader spectrum of pleasure that isn't confined to climax as an end goal, and this can lead to more relaxed, exploratory sessions. 

8. Experiment: Step out of your comfort zone to try new masturbation techniques, positions, or environments. Every act of experimentation is a chance to learn something new about your sexual desires and responses, and practice makes perfect. 

Enhance masturbation with Quinn 

It doesn’t have to be Masturbation Month for you to try something new. 

The Quinn platform, created by women for everyone, offers a wide range of audio erotica to elevate your self-love sessions. Quinn's ethical erotic content caters to different sexual preferences, and tuning in is a fun way to discover more about your sexuality. 

To access thousands of narrated sex stories, guided masturbation sessions, and playlists, download the Quinn app for iOS or Android.