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Actress, activist, and Flow Space Advisor Alysia Reiner is offering an intimate glimpse into her approach to mental health, sharing her sexy hack on how she recharges. While moderating a Flow Space book event celebrating Dr. Karen Tang, the 53-year-old actress shared that when it comes to taking care of her mental health, she takes a daily ten minute break to do one of two things.
“One of the things that I started doing during the pandemic that I’ve kept is that around five o’clock every day, I check out from my family and I go upstairs for 10 minutes. Half the time I meditate and half the time I masturbate,” Reiner said. “I have that 10 minutes and I check in with myself.”
“The Orange Is The New Black” star went on to say, “It’s about 50/50, but they both work to make me a better mom for the rest of the day.” Reiner, who has been open about taking care of her sexual health, emphasized the importance of prioritizing your mental health.
“When COVID happened, we were together all the time. That’s when I started doing this because I was like ‘I need 10 minutes by myself where none of you are… and they love it,” Reiner says. “I’m a totally different person when it comes down to it and it’s only 10 minutes. It’s like a little bit of meditation and a little bit of masturbation. I’m such a better human.”
Dr. Tang, who is a board-certified gynecologist and author of It’s Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told), seconded Reiner’s approach, adding that so often when discussing sexual health or reproduction, doctors tend to only focus on the bad stuff instead of the good. She explained that Reiner was the one who initially helped her flip the switch on that narrative.
“Let’s seek the good stuff and have a pleasurable and fulfilling sex life,” Dr. Tang says. “So it was this revolution where I’m like, ‘Oh my god, Alicia Reiner taught me that you can’t just talk about bad stuff.’ But I always tell people when they come into my office, who are kind of having issues with their sex like, ‘make it about the pleasure.’’’
If someone is having an issue with achieving an orgasm with a partner, Dr. Tang suggests taking away the pressure of being with a partner and just focusing on yourself. Whether that’s masturbation or using toys, or watching videos, Dr. Tang says to prioritize whatever brings you pleasure and focus on that first.
“I’m not a sex therapist, but I always tell people it’s about you,” Dr. Tang says. “There’s no right answer.”