The youtuber @NakulaDas made a post using these pictures, and it explains the reasoning behind semen retention very clearly! Retention is not suppression. It is simply redirection of energy. Most people actually know this deep down, but may not be concious of it. Where things get messed up is when semen retention gets mixed together with porn addiction, constant sexual stimulation, and half porn content on social media. Because then the reasoning starts to look like this: “I want to practice semen retention because it is good for my energy.” BUT what you need to understand is that semen retention is an ADVANCED stage. You cannot get there until you deal with the addictions first. And most people who try to quit addictions are doing it from a place like this: Conscious: “I want to quit because it is bad for me.” Subconscious: “I still want it.” So what ends up happening is that when the urge appears, you consciously try to suppress it with willpower. You try to fight it, push it down, ignore or escape from it. But that creates the forbidden fruit effect. The more you try to suppress something you subconciously still want, the more powerful it becomes in your mind. And this is why a lot of people suffer when doing the practice! Because their entire approach is built on suppression. So instead of energy being redirected into work, training, building things, creating things, the mind is constantly in a battle. And when you are constantly fighting something inside your own mind, that is not mastery. That is just suppression.