Although semen retention has several benefits, it can be a dangerous practice if not done correctly. This dangerous side of semen retention was responsible for my relapse.
On the 18th month of my first semen retention streak, I lost my job as my writing clients started relying on ChatGPT for writing services. This caused frustration since I never expected that something bad could happen while retaining my seed.
I then adopted a negative attitude towards semen retention and believed it was useless. I started watching porn and fantasizing about sex while avoiding ejaculation. After about four weeks, I started peeing 30 to 40 times a day. I wondered what was happening to me, and I had to research this health problem on the internet.
I came to understand that this health issue occurred because I was retaining semen while stimulating sexual arousal. I realized that retaining semen while constantly thinking about sex or watching porn results in the buildup of sexual tension within the reproductive system. This tension increases sensitivity in the pelvic area, resulting in an overactive bladder or an enlarged prostate, which are the main causes of frequent urination.
I therefore relapsed by having sex to release the tension, and to my surprise, the health problem disappeared. I then became certain that avoiding ejaculation while stimulating arousal results in health problems.
In his book, Semen Retention: Continence and Its Creative Power, Swami Jagadiswarananda exposes how semen retention can be dangerous. He writes, “It is a fact that sex suppressed in outward action but indulged in other ways may lead to disorders of the system and brain troubles. This is the root of the medical theory which discourages sexual abstinence”.
Swami Jagadiswarananda confirms that sexual indulgence in the mind while practicing continence is a primary cause of health problems associated with semen retention. He claims that this side-effect cannot occur when there is true spiritual effort of abstinence that involves Brahmachari in thought, word, and deed.
My experience and such information on semen retention tempt me to agree with the popular idea that semen retention is dangerous because it can cause prostate cancer and other prostate problems. I am now certain that such health issues occur as a result of entertaining sexual thoughts and images in your mind while not releasing the sexual tension through masturbation or sexual activity.
If you make the body aroused and tensed every day through sexual thoughts and images, and you do not release this tension, there will have to be a health effect.
I think this is what happens physiologically.
When you watch porn or entertain sexual fantasies while avoiding ejaculation, your body enters a sustained arousal state. Blood flow increases to the pelvic region, the prostate gland begins secreting fluid in preparation for ejaculation, the seminal vesicles fill with fluid, the pelvic floor muscles contract repeatedly, and the entire reproductive system attains a constant state of readiness.
Prostatic congestion then happens as the prostate fills with secretions that are never expelled. This congestion can cause inflammation, pressure, and swelling, mimicking or triggering prostatitis. You might then experience frequent urination as a symptom of prostate inflammation pressing against the bladder and urethra. The inflammation also results in a painful and itchy feeling during urination that is similar to that experienced when one contracts a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
By the way, I also felt this painful and itchy feeling when I retained but still allowed sexual thoughts and images in my mind. I took over-the-counter medications that treat Stds, but the pain didn’t go away. It only went away after I had sex.
After this experience, I then thought that maybe this health situation could eventually cause prostate cancer because its symptoms are similar to those of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer urinary symptoms also involve frequent, urgent urination and pain or an itchy burning sensation during urination or ejaculation. I then panicked, and I even avoided semen retention altogether.
But later, the effects of frequent sexual activity on my mind and the need to experience the benefits of semen retention, such as mental stillness and the ability to deeply focus on my work, forced me to take temporary semen retention vows. I now practice semen retention temporarily, but when I do so, I practice purity in thought by not allowing sexual thoughts and images to take root in my mind. I catch these thoughts when they enter my mind and I replace them with other thoughts.
This approach has helped me realize why the ancients encouraged purity in thought. It causes what psychologists call ‘the flow state’, which is mainly defined as the complete immersion and super focus in an activity, resulting in a sense of timelessness, loss of self-consciousness, intense presence, and high productivity.
Most importantly, this approach prevents the prostate health problems that are often associated with semen retention.
Therefore, to answer the question, is semen retention dangerous? I would say that it is dangerous and unhealthy to abstain from ejaculation if you abstain while still entertaining sexual thoughts and images, but it is healthy to abstain from ejaculation if you combine abstinence with purity in mind, where you don’t allow sexual thoughts and images in your mind.