Of Penis Rings, Nude Yoga, and the Ancient Sexual Custom of Palang in Pre-Hispanic Cebu

Update: HNY has already closed shop with the lead yogi Aaron Starr focusing his energies on Blue Osa, a yoga retreat and spa in Costa Rica. I've since then written 3 articles from what I learned by engaging in yoga:

Men and Yoga

The health benefits of yoga for men

A guide on how and where to get yoga instructor certification in New York

Read about what got into my mind in one of those times when I showed up at the former HNY's studio in Chelsea below:

Last night's nude yoga session ( see Hot Nude Yoga ) led to a brief chat that gave me the opportunity to quench my curiosity over the penis rings that hang on the genital region of one of the participants. The metal rings would glisten in the space where Luke, the name of the said participant, has him making his stretches on his yoga mat. As all of us participants would work on the stretches and (challenging, whew!) poses being coached to us ably by our teacher, Hollis, in one session, I took note of Luke's penis rings. Upon seeing them, my mind wandered somewhere. But with the bodily stretches being worked on, plus the lessons being learned during the nude yoga sessions (which by then, I must have been doing for at least a month now), I had some coaching on to get my mind focused and be clearly aware of everything in and out of my being as I worked on my body poses.

Last night, as we were putting on our clothes after the sweaty but very invigorating session, Luke and I talked about things related on penis rings. He was open and honest about his answers to my curious queries, as I gamely pointed to those rings. These queries included, of course, among others, if he has, in effect, two holes in his penis. He confirmed he now has two, and he even has another ring somewhere close to the anal opening, the region in between the penis and the rectum. I told myself "these are pleasure regions." I didn't really dwell much on the benefits those rings would bring him, sexually. It was, pretty, obvious - as to why would someone undergo the pain of attaching these rings just for the mere idea of having them on.

I read somewhere in a history book, to be exact, that men who lived before Magellan (among the world's greatest, pioneering, fearless navigators) came to the Philippines had penis rings. They're not exactly penis rings but more on what is called "palang" or genital stretching, which is done using some found objects.

Quoted below are those descriptions about "palang" and sexual customs that made use of these bodily-attached objects ["Over the Edge of the World" by Laurence Bergreen]:

"The males, large and small, have their penis pieced from one side to the other near the head, with a gold or tin bolt as large as a goose quill," Pigafetta observed, scarcely believing his eyes. "In both ends of the same bolt, some have what resembles a spur, with points upon the ends; others are like the head of a cart nail. I very often asked many, both old and young, to see their penis, because I could not credit it." Fascinated by the devices, Pigafetta studied them closely. "In the middle of the bold is a hole, through which they urinate. The bolt and spurs always hold firm."

"Pigafetta naturally wondered how the women of the island tolerated palang during sexual intercourse. Surely the bolts injured or hurt them. Not at all, the Cebuan men told him. "Their women wish it so, and said that if they did otherwise, they would not communication with them." And they proceeded to explain precisely how palang, in their experience, actually enhanced sexual gratification for both men and women. In the process, Pigafetta received a graphic lesson in the art of love, Cebuan style. "When the men wish to have communication with their women, the latter themselves take the penis not in the regular way and commence very gently to introduced it (into the vagina), with the spur on top first, and then the other part. When it is inside, it takes its regular position; and thus the penis always stays inside until it gets soft, for otherwise they could not pull it out."

Palang was not confined to men. Women also used it, starting in infancy. "All of the women from six years and upward have their vaginas gradually opened because of the men's penises," he learned. Having sexual intercourse with palang prolonged the act; the bolts and spurs discouraged sudden movements; and it was believed to intensify the pleasurable sensations experienced by both sexes. One of the most difficult things for the Europeans to understand was that palang was intended to enhance female pleasure by stimulating a variety of sensations in the vagina. Intercourse using palang lasted as long as a day, or even more, as the two lovers remained locked in an embrace of passion."

[Pigafetta's clinical description contained enough detail to suggest taht he observed the islanders having intercourse, and he came away both excited and dismayed by what he saw. "Those people make use of that device because they are of a weak nature," he decided equating weakness with pleasure-loving. He went on to explain that "they have as many wives as they wish, but one of them is the principal wife. Both the practice of palng, with its emphasis on increasing pleasure, and polygamy, which Pigafetta associated with it, ran counter to Catholic teachings. For all these reasons, Pigafetta found palang disconcerting and, to prove his point, he insisted, "All the women loved us very much more than thie rown men," presumably because the unadorned Europeans lacked the cumbersome accessories."]

Of course, those bolts used by pre-hispanic Filipinos (Cebuans, or those from Cebu island, to be more specific) were in many ways different from what Luke wears in his genital region. But I'm confident they serve almost the same purposes. He told me he had to use metal rings, as they're safer. And yes, they're, indeed, helpful in enhancing sexual pleasure. I told him about the Cebuans whose story was first cited by Pigafetta over 300 years ago. He expressed his surprise over the fact.

Well, I was curious to ask more but we had to go home that night. As mentioned, I told him, I recall reading somewhere (as quoted above) about the use of rings, or something like those objects being attached to the genital region, which could have been probably recorded first in Western written history by Pigafetta who noted down those sexual customs he observed from the natives, when Magellan's ships and crew landed in Limasawa in the Philippines on a Good Friday in 1521.