Belle Lauralei is a Sensual Priestess, Stylist and Pleasure Domina and Burlesque Performer and Guide intent on helping others invite more eroticism into their lives. She has spent a decade working with women helping them to unearth their Divine Feminine essence and has recently turned her focus towards offerings for men in the hope of helping to bring them back to a sense of worthiness within themselves. Her main priority is to bring men and women together in a more loving and harmonious state with an increased sense of deserving of pleasure and respect for each other.
Tell us more about being a sensualist.
I offer a variety of sensual experiences for both Men and Women to enjoy and learn from. As a Sensual Priestess I guide individuals, couples and groups within the sensual and erotic arts, hosting Salons that help guests to cultivate and incorporate pleasure in all of its many guises into their every day and intimate lives. Having worked as a Personal Stylist for many years, I assist women in creating a unique sense of style that expresses who they are as individuals and that represents who they are as sensual beings.
I am now also focusing on working with men also. It suddenly came into my consciousness in recent months that working with the Masculine is incredibly important as well. I believe that there has been a lot of dis-harmony and disconnect between Men and Women. Men are just as deserving if not even more in need of a Feminine touch to help them to unfold as individuals worthy of being upheld and appreciated. I help regulate them back to a sense of purpose and empowerment by reconnecting them to themselves as well as to the Feminine.
I studied within Tantra, Conscious Kind and Sacred Sexuality as well as Sexual Psychotherapy and began to weave this into my work around Personal Styling and within the Women’s Circles that I hosted. I wanted to help bring women home to who they really were as Women rather than just mothers, wives, employers and employees.
How did you get into this world?
I began my work as a Sensualist with women initially because I had this feeling that there were so many women out there who had lost a huge sense of themselves and of who they were, I wanted more than anything to help women to relearn who they were, own it and be able to enjoy and express who they were again.
There is such joy to be found in being able to really show your true self to the world. I began weaving in the theme of sensuality within my styling, one to one and group work as I felt so strongly that a knowledge of who we are as sexual and sensual beings is at the root of being able to stand in our power and our own pleasure and, being able to truly express who we are as individuals.
I feel that life led me into this journey of sensual discovery because I had always been aware of the power of it, I had always been aware of my own sensual energy and sexual self. I studied within Tantra, Conscious Kind and Sacred Sexuality as well as Sexual Psychotherapy and began to weave this into my work around Personal Styling and within the Women’s Circles that I hosted. I wanted to help bring women home to who they really were as Women rather than just mothers, wives, employers and employees.
We are living in quite confusing times whereby using the art of dress or seduction as a woman is often seen as a weakness and, it absolutely is not! I think that many women have forgotten how to enjoy being women, really getting to know their bodies and be proud of them.We are instead, too determined to keep up in competing in the game with men.
How many people on average do you think are in touch with their Sexual Self?
Not enough unfortunately. I still see so much repression and shame surrounding our own sexual powers. Fortunately, we are at a stage where we are starting to be much more open and there’s a real sexual wellness movement taking place. I think that one of the main reasons why we are disconnected from our sexual self is because we are living too much in a mind led word, one led by fast paced technology with so many pressures and over stimulation.
We try to do it all instead of sitting back and resting, realigning our minds, bodies and spirits. We are always trying to achieve something. We don’t prioritise our sexual wellness and we don’t see our more sensual essence as a superpower. I do feel that we have denied ourselves our Feminine sensuality.
We are living in quite confusing times whereby using the art of dress or seduction as a woman is often seen as a weakness and, it absolutely is not! I think that many women have forgotten how to enjoy being women, really getting to know their bodies and be proud of them. We are instead, too determined to keep up in competing in the game with men.
Centuries ago, connecting to the sexual self was so upheld as one of the most important ways of being. There were women called Sacred Prostitutes and Sensual Priestesses and I honestly feel that this was possibly work that I was involved in within a previous life and I believe that it is my purpose of being here within this lifetime as well.
What was your journey to sexual liberation?
I can honestly say that I never had a block with regards to who I as a sexual being. I believe that from what I remember, I was very aware of my own sexuality from a very young age.
Centuries ago, connecting to the sexual self was so upheld as one of the most important ways of being. There were women called Sacred Prostitutes and Sensual Priestesses and I honestly feel that this was possibly work that I was involved in within a previous life and I believe that it is my purpose of being here within this lifetime as well. It is still so needed, probably more now than ever. So, that is why I call the work that I do Sensual Priestess work.
What does it mean to be a Sensual Priestess?
A Priestess is a Feminine being who facilitates and guides the growth of another individual by way of beautiful practices and embodies that sensual energy herself. Priestesses were worshipped and were seen to be leaders that were important within society. I think that if we can embrace our feminine powers again, we do not need to act and live like men.
In my pleasure dominant work, I deal with men and it is quite different from that of what a dominatrix is known to offer. Pleasure dominant work is to immerse the male in sacred, safe and sensual practices that allow them to surrender- just like they do with a classic dominatrix but here they surrender to pleasures of a less painful nature.
Tell us about your work as a Pleasure Domina.
Alongside the priestesses there were the sacred prostitutes. This is more akin to my pleasure dominant work. The sacred prostitutes looked to elevate somebody’s energy to move them forward to a higher way of life. To be initiated into the temple of the sacred prostitutes was to really move along in life and meet the higher self, such was the importance that was put on sexuality.
In my pleasure dominant work, I deal with men and it is quite different from that of what a dominatrix is known to offer. Pleasure dominant work is to immerse the male in sacred, safe and sensual practices that allow them to surrender- just like they do with a classic dominatrix but here they surrender to pleasures of a less painful nature.
Although I can always involve a little bit of that- there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a little bit of pleasurable pain. My work is all about helping a man to come home to himself as a softer masculine figure. We all know what a dominatrix does but where are the offerings whereby a man can just surrender and indulge in beautiful ritualistic ceremonies that return him to his softer side?
Quite often my male clients feel that they’ve always been the giver. They’ve always been acting from the goal of pleasing the woman because they feel that is their place. To be able to be immersed in my Paradise Found Sensual Immersions they can allow themselves pleasure for once and to really feel that sense of self worth that they deserve as well.
Who is your typical client?
Very often my clients have been in relationships whereby they weren’t with somebody who was in touch with their sexual, sensual feminine self so they’ve had a disconnect from the feminine for a long time.
Quite often my male clients feel that they’ve always been the giver. They’ve always been acting from the goal of pleasing the woman because they feel that is their place. To be able to be immersed in my Paradise Found Sensual Immersions they can allow themselves pleasure for once and to really feel that sense of self worth that they deserve as well. Sometimes men are so battered. They deserve nurturing as well. I think I realised that is what I was wanting to do from the beginning – to bring the masculine and feminine together in harmony again.
What’s your favourite thing about Tantra?
To me, Tantra is so much more than just the act of genital intercourse, which so many people focus on. Tantric beliefs are a way of life and an energy that is running through your body. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, it is that sexual life force running through you. All living things are connected, because we all come from the act of sex- that is the sexual energy we all possess. So that is how Tantra is about more than genital sex to me. It’s in the air, it’s the way that we interact with each other and we accept and embrace and love our sexual energy.
The wonderful thing about burlesque is that you as an individual can create exactly what you want your performance to be. You can choose your own music, your own alter-ego, a different name for yourself, your own style, your own way of moving and performing. No one chooses these things for you.
Talk to us about burlesque.
The wonderful thing about burlesque is that you as an individual can create exactly what you want your performance to be. You can choose your own music, your own alter-ego, a different name for yourself, your own style, your own way of moving and performing. No one chooses these things for you.
Burlesque is an industry which is so welcoming to everyone- whatever shape, whatever age, whatever experience you have. This is so important for the feminine, as we are intrinsically inherently creative beings. We are creators of life. After seeing burlesque, many women want to know how to get that power- that power to take it all off.
I remember when I had my first burlesque class, and we got to the moment where we had to take our corset off and reveal our breasts. And everyone in that moment squealed with delight, because we realised that nobody was judging us, nobody was looking at the shape or size of our breasts and thinking that they weren’t right, or not perfect. It was so freeing- every woman deserves to feel that.
Who are your sensual influences?
A modern day influence is Betony Vernon the erotic jewellery designer and sexual philanthropist. I often read many books about so many women, often from the early 20th century, who were revolutionary for their time, and often scandalous for the way that they lived or the art that they made. Anaïs Nin for example, the way she loved and lived was amazing, she didn’t care about what anyone thought! Her books touch a place that nothing else does, they’re so gently feminine yet absolutely filthy.
We live in a visual society where we can access any sort of sexual image we want, and these images are not often feminine-led. Erotic literature is so powerful for the feminine because we are imaginary creatures rather than visual. The beauty of it is that we can visualise what we read in the way that we want to turn ourselves on.
I love that Sensuali is platform that promotes sex workers and sexuality and all of the different modalities of sexual healing and art forms in such a safe way. I don’t think that that’s been around before. It’s hard to find a platform that is open to all forms of sensual exploration.
What topics should we be taught in sex education?
Pleasure. How to give and receive pleasure. Everybody is taught the anatomical version of sex but what about pleasure? I think that’s why it takes so long for women to even realise when they’re not getting pleasure from sex because they’re not even told that they have a right to receive it to begin with. And guiding the boys on how to pleasure a woman is also really important I think.
What do you think about Sensuali so far?
I love that Sensuali is platform that promotes sex workers and sexuality and all of the different modalities of sexual healing and art forms in such a safe way. I don’t think that that’s been around before. It’s hard to find a platform that is open to all forms of sensual exploration. I think it’s wonderful.
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Iso
Iso is a writer and filmmaker based in East London. She is passionate about all things erotic and leads a sexy, shame-free life in hope that she can inspire others to do the same. Originally from a Northern seaside town, she is naturally drawn to the best things in life: candyfloss, trashy karaoke bars and heart-shaped sunglasses.
