SEXUAL VITALITY
by Brigitte Mars
Sexual energy is extra energy. Low libido may be Nature's way of conserving vitality and a message that intimacy in the relationship needs improvement. Nutritional deficiencies, stress and exhaustion can decrease the urge to merge.
In Oriental medicine the Kidneys govern sexual vitality and are depleted through overuse of coffee, alcohol, saturated fats, overwork and exposure to cold weather. Build health and sexual vitality will be enhanced. When two people pursue good health together that can be a step in improving a joyous sexual life.
Aphrodisiacs, named after Aphrodite, goddess of love, can work in many ways. Suggestive shapes and textures of foods and herbs such as banana or chili pepper may simply turn one's thoughts to love. A substance may be so nourishing, deficiencies are corrected and lust aroused. Some may stimulate or even irritate the genito-urinary tract, such as asparagus, thus drawing attention to the lower regions. A substance may provide an abundance of energy or affect the mind in a relaxing manner.
Many foods nourishing to sexuality contain the spark of life and have their own reproductive capability. In other words they could grow if planted. Good examples are raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds and almonds, all of which contain life force that could grow into large plants given the right conditions. They are also rich in vitamin E and zinc.
Chocolate contains a chemical called phenylethylamine which is produced by the brain when in love. Most chocolates are high in fat and sugar, but a bit of quality organic naturally sweetened chocolate is available through natural food stores.
For centuries people have sought the healing benefits of herbs to incite passion. They can be used in the form of tea, tincture or capsules. Before using herbs, clear up emotional conflicts that may be affecting sexuality and develop a healthier diet.
Many of the herbs used to enhance libido are warming and improve circulation to all parts of the body, including the genitals. Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum, C. cassia ), is an example and has been used in love potions since medieval times. It is mildly stimulating. Another culinary treasure is Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), once banned by the Puritans because of its sexually stimulating qualities. The word vanilla is actually derived from Latin, meaning "little vagina" and plants of this Orchid family have very suggestive anatomically correct flowers.
Since the brain is the ultimate sex organ, Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba ) is an herb to consider. It relaxes blood vessels so that nutrients can be better delivered throughout the body, especially the brain. By improving vascular insufficiency it can improve blood flow to the genitals. Ginkgo is also considered a kidney tonic and a rejuvenative. Ginseng (Panax ginseng ) improves fatigue, increases stamina and strengthens the adrenal glands. Oatstraw ( Avena sativa ) is warming, nutritive and relaxing. It has long been regarded as a tonic to improve sexual ability, increase libido, aid erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. Oatstraw nourishes the nervous system and makes tactile sensations more pleasurable for both men and women.
South and Central America seems to abound with libido enhancing plants. Damiana (Turnera aphrodisiaca, T. diffusa ) is used in Central America for frigidity, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation and testicular atrophy. It helps sexual problems related to anxiety and increases nerve sensitivity. Maca (Lepidium peruvianum Chacón, L. meyenii ), which grows at a high altitude in the Andes Mountains, is an energy enhancer, nutritive and rejuvenative that increases pituitary function, encouraging the body's natural hormonal production. It also helps improve vaginal lubrication. Muira puama (Ptychopetalum olacoides, P. uncinatum ) is referred to in South America as "potency wood" It improves virility and improves sexual debility. It is considered a tonic for the central nervous system as well as an aphrodisiac.
Two herbs widely used in oriental medicine include Schizandra and tribulis. Schizandra (Schisandra chinensis ) increases staying power in men and is a kidney tonic for both men and women improving general weakness, depression and sexual debility. It is also suggested as an herb to help heal trauma from sexual abuse. Tribulis terrestris (same Latin name, though also known as Caltrop and Horny Goat Weed) is used for erectile dysfunction and low sperm count. It is a kidney tonic, rejuvenative and aphrodisiac.
Learn to prepare meals with more spice including not only cinnamon and vanilla but cardamom, cloves, garlic, ginger all of which are warming and aphrodisiac.
You can create your own tonic brew by grinding any combination of the herbs listed above into a powder in the blender. Place them in a clean glass jar and cover with vodka or apple cider vinegar adding an extra inch or two so that the herbs are totally submerged. Shake the bottle daily, then strain the herbs. After a month, use a clean muslin cloth to squeeze the alcohol out of the herbs. Compost the herbs and bottle the remaining herb infused liquid. Add one third part honey to the mixture. Shake well and enjoy a shot glassful with your beloved before bed. Make a toast to love!
Supplementation can also improve libido. Vitamin A is needed for the production of sex hormones and strengthens the mucus membranes. Vitamin E improves the body's utilization of oxygen, improves erection and vaginal circulation. Zinc is needed for both sperm motility and vaginal lubrication. Lecithin occurs naturally in the sexual fluids of both men and women.
Kegel exercises are done by simply tightening and relaxing the muscles that control the flow of urine. These are done in series for example twenty one Kegels, three times daily. Kegels should be done by both sexes for many reasons. They can enhance the orgasmic capability of women and give men more control over ejaculating too quickly. Kegels help to strengthen the muscles that hold the bladder and can help keep senior citizens from having to wear diapers later in life which is not too sexy.
Too often couple have only leftover time for sex - 11:30 at night when they are exhausted or 8:00 in the morning when having to be somewhere in an hour. Consider creating sacred time to be with your beloved. Find a time when the kids are visiting someone else or send them to a sitter for a few hours. Turn down the volume on the phone and let voice mail take care of things. Make your bedroom more sensuous with soft fabrics, supporting pillows and candles. Enter you sacred space with a clean body without time restraints. Engage in massage as foreplay to help you relax and stimulate all the meridians of energy throughout the body. Don't rush. Remember to breathe together. Make love more slowly. Enjoy "after play" by lying together to rest, enjoy a sweet nap or exchange feelings of love. "Harmony in the bedroom contributes to world peace." Anonymous
www.BRIGITTEMARS.com
Honor your belly!! Discover
your treasure with in with Lisa Sarasohn
The
Woman's Belly Book:
Finding Your True Center for More Energy, Confidence,
and Pleasure
Within
by Lisa Sarasohn 2005
144 pages, 20 illustrations lay-flat perfect binding,
-- "This warm and friendly book is filled
with womb wisdom, belly laughs, gut feelings, and pelvic
power. It is--as subtitled--a guide to buried treasure.
I recommend it highly." --
Susun Weed ~
This book retails for $15.95 plus shipping
Order via mail:
PO Box 64 Woodstock NY 12498 or online at www.wisewomanbookshop.com
Honoring
Your Belly DVD Video
This fun and instructional DVD video with Lisa Sarasohn
is much more than a set of conventional stomach exercises.
This dynamic sequence of belly-energizing moves draws from
the wisdom of yoga and other healing arts. Use this 35-minute
DVD video to learn these moves, enacting a rite for reconsecrating
our womanhood and animating ancient symbols of the Sacred
Feminine. Price: $29.95 plus shipping
"This warm and friendly book is filled with womb wisdom,
belly laughs, gut feelings, and pelvic power. It is--as subtitled--a
guide to buried treasure. I recommend it highly."
--Susun Weed
Read a review
Price: $29.95
Order Honoring
Your Belly DVD Video in our Bookshop
Online Course by Lisa Sarasohn
Initiation 2012:
Awakening Your Sacred Center, Part I
Mentor: Lisa Sarasohn
The year 2012 heralds a revolution in human consciousness. The signs suggest that the Sacred Feminine will be informing, and reorganizing, every aspect of human experience. As we embody the Sacred Feminine, we’ll be equipped to participate in — and shape — this evolution of human awareness with wisdom and grace.
This course is the first part of an ongoing process through which you embody the Sacred Feminine by energizing your body’s center with breath, image, story, and movement.
As a first step, this course focuses on befriending your body’s center and learning yoga-based movement and breathing exercises that will form the core of your practice. (Even if developing a movement practice isn’t for you at this time, you’ll still find a process that engages and rewards your participation.)
Price: $49.95
Sign up for Awakening Your Sacred Center, Part I
About the Mentor, Lisa Sarasohn
This workshop flows from my quest for the Sacred Feminine blended with my experience practicing and teaching yoga.
I’ve been a Kripalu Yoga instructor since 1979. I’ve also trained as a yoga and bodywork therapist.
From 1981 to 1988, I served on staff at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, MA. During this time, I led yoga classes for thousands of guests, conducted a practice in bodywork th erapy, designed workshops on many aspects of holistic health, and trained yoga teachers and bodyworkers.
In the course of my continuing yoga studies, I learned how cultures around the world have valued the body’s center as sacred. Delving deeper into this subject revealed connections between the body’s center and qualities of the soul, the extent of women’s power in family and society, and the degree of a culture’s reverence for Sacred Feminine.
Women's Anatomy of Arousal:
Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure
by Sheri Winston
266 pages.
Chock-full of information, illustrations, erotic art, games and exercises, a guided tour, wholistic sexuality, orgasmic abundance ...
The clitoris is just the tip of the volcano. Women have a largely unknown network of structures responsible for arousal and orgasm that even most medical professionals don’t know about. ... This fun, sexy, empowering guide combines lost knowledge with ancient and modern sexuality information to illuminate every woman’s secret paths to fabulous, orgasmically abundant sex.
Price: $19.95
OrderWomen's Anatomy of Arousal in our Bookshop
Making Love: An Herbal Guide to Sexual Health.
Sex is an integral part of our lives, yet so many people suffer from lack of sexual fulfillment due to physiological and psychological problems...
MP3 digital download - Matthew Wood - 7th International Herb Symposium 2005. Run time 1:25:03.
A study of the excess and deficiency of estrogen, progesterone, and androgen, the patterns of imbalance they create, their relationship to wider hormonal imbalances, and the herbs that treat them, with a salute to the heritage gift of great women’s remedies received from the Native peoples of America.
Class for Everyone: (1.5 hr): In this informative and fun workshop, Ed covers herbal sexual tonics for men and women, aphrodisiacs, sexual stimulants, eroto-enhancers, and the treatment of erotomania, impotence, frigidity, and other such maladies.
MP3 digital download - David Winston. 8th International Herb Symposium 2007. Run time 1:37:21.
