Great sex isn't about technique or buff bodies.

Intense physical sensation, orgasm, lust and chemistry also don't have much to do with it.

Instead, a new study, says great sex is more about connection and focus.

Sex therapist and University of Ottawa psychologist Peggy Kleinplatz, the lead author of the report, interviewed three groups who reported that they had "great sex."

The largest group was couples over the age of 60 who had been in relationships for 25 years or longer.

The second group was people from sexual minorities, such as gay men or bisexual women, and the third was professional sex therapists.

The study found that great sex involves the following eight components:

• Being present
• Connection
• Deep sexual and erotic intimacy
• Extraordinary communication
• Interpersonal risk taking and exploration
• Authenticity
• Vulnerability
• Transcendence

Of all the components, "being present, focused and embodied" was cited the most by participants.

"The sense of being utterly alive with intensely focused attention and being "totally absorbed in the moment" seems to be a crucial feature of optimal sexuality," says the report.

The study listed the following two components as "minor" because only a minority of participants touched on them:

• Intense physical sensation and orgasm
• Lust, desire, chemistry, attraction

"The majority (both male and female) believed that orgasm was neither necessary nor sufficient for great sex but was commonly experienced," says the study.

On the role of lust, desire, chemistry and attraction, the study said "some identified the desire and attraction they felt for their partners and the strong mutual lust or chemistry within the relationship as common elements across their greatest experiences."

Kleinplatz says the study should give both clinicians and the general public cause for optimism.

"These findings could encourage comfort with self, personal and interpersonal exploration, revelation and acceptance," says the report.

"Optimal sexual experience may involve those moments of deep connection in which both lovers are psychologically and sexually accessible, engaged and responsive to whatever lies deep within."

Researchers hope the study will help "put a dent" in media myths, where great sex is portrayed as a mix of young, buff bodies, spontaneity and masterful sexual technique.

They also hope it will help clinicians who "may be very effective at ameliorating sexual dysfunctions but have much to learn about promoting optimal sexuality."

The study, which appears in the new edition of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, is titled "The Components Of Optimal Sexuality: A Portrait Of "Great Sex."