OneTaste Incorporated, currently operating as The Institute of OM, is a business sponsoring seminars, classes, workshops, lectures, and discussion groups around the practice of "orgasmic meditation" (OM).The term "orgasmic meditation" is trademarked for use in educational services. It was first recorded in commerce in 2005; the USPTO granted trademark to OneTaste's subsidiary Caravan Retreats Incorporated in 2013. the owner is OneTaste successor group Society for Eros Practice and Philosophy. See In June 2025, a federal prosecution convicted OneTaste leaders Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz (also known as Rachel Pelletier) for the crime of forced labor conspiracy for the mistreatment of its employees. In 2026, Daedone was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment, and Cherwitz received 6.5 years.
Nicole Daedone and Robert Kandell founded OneTaste in San Francisco. An open secret of the company was that Reese Jones (of Singularity University) kept the company afloat, providing at least $800,000 from 2007 through 2011. In return, Daedone (Jones's live-in girlfriend) procured the sexual services of OneTaste subordinates for Jones. The company and independent affiliates expanded to multiple cities, including London, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco, selling educational courses and retreats demonstrating the purported benefits of orgasmic meditation.
OneTaste describes orgasmic meditation as an activity in which a participant (usually male) strokes the genital area of a female participant while she concentrates on the resulting physical sensations. OneTaste events demonstrated the technique in front of live audience and employees were instructed to perform and undergo stroking regularly, including from strangers. Over 35,000 people came through the doors of OneTaste for events, classes or to learn the practice of Orgasmic Meditation. Former employees reported enduring stroking under duress including "economic, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse, surveillance, indoctrination and intimidation". In the trial of Daedone and Cherwitz, victims testified to psychological and physiological harms, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
A 2009 New York Times profile was the first national exposure for the company. Daedone received mainstream exposure through publishing a book with Hachette, speaking at a TED Talk and a Goop-sponsored event, as well as an endorsement in The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss As OneTaste grew and received more media attention, the organization was accused of cult-like operations, similar to Lafayette Morehouse, an intentional community of which Daedone was formerly a member. An exposé by Bloomberg News in 2018 led to OneTaste being investigated by the FBI for sex trafficking, prostitution, and violations of labor law.
As controversy mounted, OneTaste closed all of their U.S. locations and stopped hosting in-person classes. A trial in 2025 ended in the convictions of Daedone and Cherwitz. By 2026, the organization was documented holding events (under the names "Eros Platform" and "Team Nicole") to promote orgasmic meditation. Despite their convictions and imprisonment, the organization used the image and likeness of Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz with a combination of social media, virtual reality headsets, computer-generated imagery and large language model text generation.
History
OneTaste began in 2004 and was cofounded in San Francisco by Robert Kandell and Nicole Daedone. Daedone stated that a man introduced her to orgasmic meditation before she started OneTaste. The Daily Telegraph reported that Daedone changed her description of the man upon retelling the origin story, having portrayed him on different occasions as a Buddhist, a monk, and "a cute guy" who said "the best pickup line I'd ever heard". In a history of the OneTaste organization, Ellen Huet identifies the individual as Erwan Davon, a student at Lafayette Morehouse and its offshoot Welcomed Consensus.
OneTaste trademarked the orgasmic meditation (OM) procedure delivered through the company's classes. It originally operated two communal-style "urban retreat" centers, one in San Francisco's Soma District and another in Lower Manhattan. OneTaste then expanded to Los Angeles and London. The company produced media, workshops, weekend retreats, and a coach training program. It owned its own glamping-style retreat center called "The Land" in Philo, California. The space was rented out for events organized by SoulCycle, Louis Vuitton, Samasource, and Giphy. In 2014, OneTaste was listed as an Inc. 5000 fastest growing company.
An open secret of the company was that Daedone's boyfriend Reese Jones (of Singularity University) kept the company afloat. He was documented providing at least $800,000 from 2007 through 2011. In return, Daedone procured the sexual services of OneTaste subordinates (euphemistically called "handlers") for Jones. A statement by Eros Platform, a successor to OneTaste, states that Jones "was instrumental in the establishment of OneTaste Inc.". The statement does not deny that Daedone procured sexual partners for Jones, but says that he provided "a safe and entirely consensual adult environment for personal exploration and development."
According to Huet, Jones's finances cratered in 2012; Daedone subsequently pressured subordinates to find ways to pay Reese back. OneTaste then began its "Coaching Program" of expensive trainings for accreditations. It also began a boiler room operation using hard sell tactics. Rachel Cherwitz was employed to ensure salespersons met quotas. She encouraged staff to keep notes on students, including ways of exerting pressure (such as noting divorces) for further sales. Women staff referred to as "fluffers" were employed to give single men partners to stroke. According to Huet's sources, fluffers were instructed to maintain plausible deniability about tactics running afoul of prostitution laws.
Robert Kandell sold his stake in the company for $1.5 million in 2014. Daedone sold her ownership of OneTaste to three participants for $12 million in 2017. The company stated that it received $12 million in revenue during the same year.
Bloomberg Businessweek published an exposé of the company in June 2018. According to the report, OneTaste offered orgasmic meditation courses for $499 to $16,000, as well as a $60,000 annual subscription that included access to all courses. In October 2018, OneTaste closed all of their U.S. locations and stopped hosting in-person classes. By 2022, OneTaste had rebranded itself as The Institute of OM.
OneTaste opened a New York facility in autumn 2024, where the company provided orgasmic meditation lessons. In 2025, OneTaste also offered lessons through their Eros Platform website, and CEO Anjuli Ayer announced their intent to adopt a franchise-based business model.
"Orgasmic Meditation" OneTaste marketed educational events (including "seminars, classes, lectures and discussion groups") centered on "orgasmic meditation" (OM). In these events, a clothed and usually male "stroker" stimulates a female "strokee" by softly fingering the upper-left section of her clitoris for a timed 15 minutes. Prior to physical contact, the stroker describes the appearance of the strokee's vulva to her and puts on a lubricated glove.
Origins Daedone's former associates concede that "orgasmic meditation" was derived from "deliberate orgasm" (DO),The term "deliberate orgasm" is trademarked for use in "audio, visual, and multi-media recordings featuring music, adult entertainment and information in the field of human sexuality". It was registered in 2009, but its first recorded use in commerce was 1996. the trademark owner is The Welcomed Consensus, in the name of Wendy Testerman. See a similar activity marketed by the Welcomed Consensus in videos. Daedone was previously a member of the group. Several women have attested to abusive practices by Welcomed Consensus and its leaders, including Daedone during her tenure.
Promotion The company markets OM as a mindfulness practice in which both participants focus their attention on the sensation with the stated goal of developing "connective resonance" between themselves.
OneTaste materials are contradictory about the nature of OM: on the one hand, claiming it "shouldn't be considered a sex act" while encouraging the partners to use vulgar terms for the genitalia (e.g., "pussy" and "cock") to arouse the participants. OneTaste euphemistically called stroking and other forms of sexual contact "research", and referred to pairings (including assigned pairings of strangers) as "research partners".
According to testimony and evidence heard at the criminal trial of Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste's promotion of "orgasmic meditation" went the extent of it making it a compulsory activity by employees, particularly those in OneTaste communal homes. Victims reported that "Daedone and Cherwitz insisted that employees engage in these sex acts even if they found them disgusting; those who resisted were punished with negative employment consequences, shunning, sexual abuse and threats of physical violence, among other things."
Related practices OneTaste also promoted "male OMing", which involves a woman performing a 15-minute handjob on a man. According to criminal court case records "men willing to pay for certain courses, typically taught by Daedone, Cherwitz, or other OneTaste leaders, could expect to have their penises stroked or their prostates massaged, or otherwise engage in OM, often by female OneTaste workers."
Controversies Several journalists have compared OneTaste to a cult and pyramid scheme.
Testimonials about orgasmic meditation benefits
A 2013 article in The Tyee used quotes from Pooja Lakshmin, a Stanford University-educated psychiatrist and resident of a OneTaste communal house, attesting to medical studies on the benefits of orgasmic meditation. Lakshmin has since said that her medical background was used to give an air of legitimacy to the group while she was kept ignorant of the inner workings of OneTaste. She left after two years with the group and publicly repudiated her statements of support for the group, which she calls a cult.
Accusations of coercive control Ellen Huet, gathering accounts of OneTaste's history, found Nicole Daedone and members of the organization as embracing the label of "cult" through its early years. She insisted on banning the term in OneTaste circles once members began living communally (first in a OneTaste center and then out of a converted warehouse in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood). In these communal spaces, residents were encouraged by Daedone to stroke one another and have communal sex with other residents and with prospective recruits.
In a 2009 New York Times interview, Daedone insisted she does not aspire to guru status, while acknowledging that "there's a high potential for this to be a cult." The Times noted "Daedone, is a polarizing personality, whom admirers venerate as a sex diva, although some former members say she has cult like powers over her followers... Much of the community's tone revolves around Ms. Daedone, a woman of considerable charm, although detractors regard her as a master manipulator."
Following the New York Times article, accusations of OneTaste as cultlike ran in several media, including GoodTimes Weekly, Vice, Salon.com and Playboy.
Business model and practices Several media profiles have highlighted OneTaste's questionable business practices.