Holistic sex educator Jenny Keane on achieving sexual wellness

Holistic sex educator and tantra yoga teacher Jenny Keane is on a mission to ignite a sexual revolution in Ireland. We caught up with the Dublin woman to find out more.

When social media influencer Roz Purcell first asked her 519k Instagram followers to send her their most shocking secrets, she never could have expected the onslaught of messages that resulted.

From secret affairs and embarrassing bodily mishaps to hidden pregnancies and unrequited crushes, a deluge of tantalising stories flooded the former Miss Universe Ireland's Instagram feed.

Aside from the scandalous confessions and cringe-worthy anecdotes, one common secret began to emerge from Purcell's followers: a seemingly endless list of women admitting they had never been able to achieve an orgasm - either alone or with their partner.

Not only had these women been faking for months or even years, but they also seemed to have completely given up on finding a way out of their secret displeasure.

In response to these confessions, Purcell shared a list of sex educators on Instagram, one of whom was Jenny Keane.

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As well as being a holistic sex educator, Jenny's background lies in the study of the body. She is a tantric yoga teacher, sexological bodyworker, and is qualified in somatic experiencing - a type of trauma-based movement therapy that looks at the connection of mind and body.

"This is the kind of work that doesn't end, there's always something to do," Jenny tells me over the phone.

Having suffered stress-induced insomnia in her early 20s, the Dublin woman turned to holistic practices for relief. Where medicine had failed, yoga had delivered. From there, her interest in the relationship between mind and body was sparked, leading her to an eye-opening journey of self-discovery.

Focusing on her yoni (a Sanskrit word that has been interpreted to literally mean the womb), Keane began to realise just how little she really knew about her reproductive organs and her painful periods.

"I realised I was so disconnected from my yoni," she says. "I felt so disconnected from my body, I didn't know how my body functioned, I didn't know the basics of my menstrual cycle, I didn't know about the hormones in my body."

Melding the holistic with the atomistic, Jenny was determined to build a career pairing her belief in the "magic in the world" and "energetics in yoga" with science-based medical findings.

Speaking on that journey, she noted that despite having received sex education and having learned about her periods in school, her base knowledge of her body and its functions was found wanting.

Now a sex educator, she says the concept of sexuality and sex needs to be broadened in Ireland: "I really believe that your sexuality is inextricably linked to who you are and how you show up in the world," she explains.

"It influences the way you interact with every single person that shows up in your life. When we are disconnected from that sexual and sensual part of ourselves, we limit how we show up in the world, connect to others and experience ourselves."

"Sex only takes up one percent of our sexuality," she adds. "We're born into a sensate experience. Before we can speak or use language to express ourselves, we use physical sensations. We use body sense to guide us to what makes us feel safe, what fulfils us, to experience the world. What we see, taste and touch."

"In terms of the work that I do, yes, I teach anatomy and physiology but I also give people an embodied experience of their sexuality."

So, when it comes to the women confessing lackluster sex lives on Instagram, what can be done to turn things around?

"Studies will say that 80% of women have faked orgasms so there's a huge proportion of women who experience this and it's for so many reasons," she explains.

"We fake orgasms to try and please our partner or to end sex early, oftentimes it's because we think it's not going to happen and the expectation creates pressure. We fake orgasms out of a fear of feeling inadequate or avoiding negative emotions associated with sex like shame, or we do it to turn a partner on, or increase our sense of please - like fake it until you make it - or to appear more orgasmic and fun."

"We have a lot of these programmes that run around this idea of performance, essentially. My workshops are always about helping people to make that shift from performance to enjoyment, from shame to comfort, from numb to feeling alive."

"It's vulnerable to be in this space and to even be considering these things," acknowledges Jenny. "I want to create an incredibly safe space for people to turn up and be themselves. In my programmes, I teach people in terms of holding space and how to listen."

From our conversation it's clear that there is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to a person's relationship with their body, however, Jenny believes the a journey of self-discovery begins with two things: education and patience.

"Education gives your sexuality context," she explains. "In terms of what your beliefs are, the developmental stages of your sexuality, how your body functions, where your body parts are and how to access them. That's the foundation so seeking good quality and correct sex education is really important, especially in this age of misinformation."

"Second to that, learning how to make that shift from performance to pleasure really begins with, what I would call, slow sex. Slow sex really begins with a choice to make intimacy, whether solo or in partnership. It's a conscious decision rather than an accidental encounter. It means making non-goal orientated time that allows space for experience.

"It's about learning how to be in a state of being rather than a state of doing. Space to play, discover, connect - without expectation."

"Being skilled in any area of your life takes practice and takes time," she adds, "it takes failing and making mistakes. Learning how to engage with our sexuality and becoming sexually skilled is no different."

To find out more about Jenny Keane and her workshops, you can visit her website here.

Holistic sex educator Jenny Keane on achieving sexual wellness

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