What is edging? Find out more, and discover the best tips and techniques to make orgasms more enjoyable.
When it comes to exploring your sexual pleasure via sex or masturbation, orgasms are a major high point of satisfaction. Edging is a fantastic way to build up pleasure and extend the sensation until when it is right for you.
Whether you are having sex with a partner or riding solo, understanding the orgasm control technique called edging will expose you to a new side of your sexuality and help you become more aware of your sexual responses.
What Is Edging?
Edging is a process or an orgasm control practice that implies delaying orgasm and make it last longer. As the name implies, edging involves getting a person right to the ‘edge’ of orgasm, stopping stimulation, and then building up the pleasure again.
Edging is sometimes referred to as teasing, orgasm denial, or peaking, which in practice means stopping yourself or a sexual partner from riding straight into orgasm for more pleasure.
People practice edging to build up to orgasm, making it more intense, extending sex, and increasing the pleasurable feeling that comes when you finally tip off the edge.
Benefits To Edging
The first and simplest reason to practice edging is that it helps you understand your body, better control your pleasure, and decide how long you want to go before reaching climax.
Orgasm control makes climax more intense and pleasurable for most women, increasing the desire for more orgasm for some other women. For men, edging helps prevent premature ejaculation and increases cum load when they eventually reach orgasm.
Edging can also improve stamina for and increase the time sex lasts. According to research, it takes women an average of 13.25 minutes to reach real orgasm, but it takes men 5.4 minutes during penetrative sex. Edging helps a man improve his stamina so that both parties can be more in sync and enjoy vibrant orgasms.
One thing to bear in mind when edging is that preventing orgasm for too long can have varying effects on people. For some men, it can lead to blue balls, which are a common effect of staying aroused for too long without release.
Edging might also not be helpful for persons who experience anorgasmia (difficulty in reaching orgasm).
Also, bear in mind that too much emphasis on orgasm control or the act of orgasm itself can cause distress and reduce satisfaction during sex and solo play.
8 Tips & Techniques To Try Edging
Whether you want to try edging with a partner or yourself, some techniques work like magic and help you extend orgasm and build up to a powerful climax. These techniques will cover solo, partner play, female, and male edging methods.
#1: Oral Stimulation (Partnered, Both Genders)
Oral stimulation during partnered sex is one way to get your lover on the edge and practice orgasm control.
Choose a foreplay activity that gets them off most. You can get your partner to stimulate your G-spot while flicking or sucking your nipples, or suck on your clitoris while handling your breasts.
Give them physical or vocal signs that you are close so they can stop stimulation or reduce the intensity, watch your body calm down, and resume again.
#2: Start & Stop (Solo, Both Genders)
The start and stop solo method is a male and female solo technique that simply entails stroking the penis or touching the vagina, and then stopping when the sensations build up near climax.
For women, start touching yourself until your vagina gets wet (you can also use a lubricant). Stimulate your clitoris, find your G-spot, or do whatever gets you off. Once you are getting to climax, withdraw your hand or toy, take deep breaths for a while, and begin building up again.
For men, you start by stroking your penis at whatever pace and whatever pattern that turns you on. You can close your eyes or turn off the light and concentrate on getting mentally in the mood.
Continue stroking your penis until you feel like you are about to come, then stop immediately or slow down the intensity. Take a break for a while and then start stimulating your penis again (don’t take too long, so you don’t get off the high completely).
#3: Ballooning (Solo, Men)
Ballooning helps men last longer during sex my controlling the time before orgasms. This technique is particularly helpful for men who experience premature ejaculation.
Locate a sensitive part of your penis and focus on that area. Move your finger in a circular motion over that area gently and consistently. Continue rubbing that area until you are about to come.
Take your hand off—allow your penis to get a little soft before resuming touching or rubbing the area again.
Ballooning aims to avoid premature ejaculation, so you should do this as many times as possible, but make sure you don’t come.
#4: The Squeeze Technique (Partnered Or Solo, Men)
The squeeze technique is a male edging practice that involves stimulating the penis and then squeezing the head of the penis to stop the orgasm. Ideally, men should squeeze the top of the penis for 30 seconds before resuming. However, it is not easy to go that long immediately—you have to build it up through practice.
Start by getting yourself aroused in the best way you know how to. Stimulate your penis until you are at the point of orgasm, and then squeeze your penis head just before you reach orgasm.
Resume stimulation after 30 seconds.
Men can have their partners do this for them, especially if you find it hard to hold back when you are already close to climax. You can also try a blend of the squeeze technique and the start and stop solo technique.
#5: The Distraction or Diversion Technique (Partnered Or Solo, Both Genders)
The diversion edging technique involves taking attention away from the vagina or penis when you are close to orgasm and then focus the touch on other parts of the body. This technique is great for solo and partnered sex.
During solo sex, you can take your hands or toys off your clitoris and focus on your breasts, nipples, or thighs. If you are with a partner, they should pay attention to other parts of your body and caress other parts while waiting for you to come off the edge before returning attention to your vagina.
It is the same for men. You can divert focus to the neck, nipples, ears, perineum, or any other erogenous zone particular to you. Only return to stroking the penis after a few moments.
#6: Slow Penetrative Sex (Partnered, Both Genders)
When having penetrative anal or vaginal sex with a partner, both the person with the penis and vagina can practice edging.
Your partner can begin thrusting slowly, build you up to the point of orgasm, and then withdraw from thrusting. The loss of contact will stop both parties from climaxing.
During penetrative sex, ensure to tell your partner when you are close, so he stops thrusting and keeps you from falling off the edge. The same way he can stop thrusting if he feels close.
After taking some time off, begin the process again until both of you decide to orgasm.
If you are not a fan of slow penetrative sex, you can build up at whatever pace you prefer. The primary thing is to stop penetration once you are close to orgasm.
#7: The Tantric Technique (Partnered, Both Genders)
This edging technique is related to the tantric sex that focuses on connection and mindfulness during sex. It originates from ancient Hinduism but is fast becoming widespread.
Tantric sex focuses on prolonging sexual sensations and duration, without orgasm as the primary goal.
Tantric edging involves inhaling deeply when you are on edge, mentally pulling the orgasm from your penis or vagina towards your body’s upper part and ultimately to your head.
During tantric orgasm control, your partner can move their hands from your vagina or penis towards the upper part of your body as you breathe.
Your partner can continue stimulation after taking your break and channeling the orgasmic energy with your mind.
#8: Mix Things Up (Partnered Or Solo, Both Genders)
You can engage in different sexual patterns and positions to bring yourself to climax before practicing orgasm control. You can start with oral sex, go on to vaginal sex, or even anal sex. Explore different patters until you get to the edge, then stop or ease things off.
When taking the first break, you can stop entirely, use the diversion technique or the tantric method. Whatever you do while you are coming off the edge is fine.
When you resume stimulation, you can move to mutual masturbation, penetration, oral sex, solo masturbation, or whatever practice you choose to get to the next high.
Changing positions, sensations, and practice can also help prolong your orgasm as your body experiences varying pressure levels and methods and might take time to adapt and savor each technique.
Women can switch between penetration and solely stimulating the clitoris from one round to the next.
For people looking to explore other creative methods, you can try BDSM, which naturally inclines towards restraining orgasm in the sexual relationship built on control and submission.
It is also advisable to study and understand your body through masturbation. This practice will help you figure out the technique that works best for you, and how long you can go during orgasm control.
Edging With A Vibrator
For females, one of the easiest ways to practice edging is using a clit vibrator. The key to using vibrators is to turn it off right before you orgasm and then turn it on after a while.
Ladies can practice edging using vibrators and enjoy the best climax sensations. Place the vibrator on your clit and crank the speed up as much as you want to. When you feel like you are close to releasing, turn off the vibrator immediately and take a few breaths. Resume with a lower intensity and work your way up the high again and stop, until you want to let go.
A clit stimulating vibrator that comes with easy power buttons is best for either solo play or partner play. You can also have a partner use the vibrator on you and turn it off when you are about to climax.
You can also practice orgasm control using penetrative vibrators. You can try different penetration levels, explore different angles, and use your vibrator at different speeds.
Some smart or biofeedback vibrators even measure your arousal and tension levels during use, tracks your motion, temperature, and vaginal contractions. This vibrator tells you what is happening in your body and helps you better understand your orgasms and control them.
Final Thoughts
Edging is a great way to explore your sexuality and that of your partner. It is an orgasm control practice during sex or masturbation that takes a person to the edge of climax and pulls them back, only to stimulate them again.
For men and women alike, edging is essential to help you enjoy sex for as long as you want to, build up sexual stimulation, and then reach orgasm when you want to.
It is beneficial for men who experience premature ejaculation as it helps them go on for longer before ejaculating. It also helps balance the time between a female’s orgasm and that of her male partner during sex.
Whether or not you are practicing orgasm control alone or with a partner, the stop and start technique, the squeeze technique, ballooning, and the diversion techniques are some ways you can build up to climax and then hold back orgasms for more extended periods.
Women can practice edging using clit stimulating vibrators or penetrating vibrators and explore whatever pace, speed, penetrative levels, and angles work best for them. You can also build up stamina and test how long they can edge before finally tipping into a blast of orgasmic bliss.
If you want to practice edging during partnered sex, it is crucial to make sure your partner is on the same page to avoid conflict or delay pleasure without consent.
Always remember that there is so much pleasure waiting to be discovered by you—open the door to new experiences and enjoy your sexuality more!
