Sexual Healing - Devi Ward gives us a dose of pleasure medicine for better sex.

“Someone telling you to ignore sexual pleasure is like someone saying you’re not supposed to pay attention to your right leg,” writer, sex educator, and certified Tantric healer Devi Ward says to me. “Our cultural conditioning encourages women to ignore pleasure, an essential aspect of ourselves. And it’s like, Why should I ignore my right leg? It helps me stand up! It helps me walk!” she says, laughing.

When it comes to sexual pleasure, women have been seriously wounded in our metaphorical leg. Our male-centric society promotes a widespread ignorance surrounding female orgasm and masturbation. This, combined with the horrendous acceptance of sexual violence against women in our culture, has had us hobbling along our sexual pleasure paths for centuries. Add in a lesbian/bisexual/queer orientation and we might just find ourselves on crutches.

In her book Shake Your Soul-Song! A Woman’s Guide to Self-Empowerment Through the Art of Self-Pleasure, Ward teaches us how to heal ourselves from this crippling sexual trauma through what she calls “cultivating self-pleasure,” a worthy self-exploration, she says, as our limping libidos could be hindering our sex lives (and our orgasms!) without our even noticing it.

 “When I say sexual trauma, I don’t necessarily mean abuse or rape,” Ward explains. “I’ve had sexual trauma from just having sex. As women, we’ll store sexual trauma in our bodies from events such as having sex with someone we don’t want to have sex with, or feeling like we can’t speak up for our sexual needs and wants. Feeling shame from being told that you’re a bad girl for liking sex is a sexual trauma. Growing up in a society that teaches sexual fear and guilt is a sexual trauma. As lesbians, you’re taught there’s something wrong with your sexuality because it’s not normal. That’s a sexual trauma. And chances are, that’s stored in your genital tissue.”

Ward tells me about a woman who complained that every time her girlfriend touched her G-spot, it felt like stroking a piece of cardboard. Vaginal numbness and pain, the inability to reach orgasm, thinking you have no G-spot—these sex-negative symptoms are all too common. Culturally, women are encouraged to ignore these things, or to think they’re “just part of the deal,” to keep our heads down and do what Ward calls “fucking through it.” What if, Ward suggests, these unpleasant sex-negative symptoms are actually physical responses to sexual trauma?

“Trauma imprints in our cellular tissue and we hold it there, whether or not we’re aware of it,” she explains. “Traumatic events are shocks to the nervous system, and they get stuck in our tissues in a holding pattern. When we apply somatic healing techniques such as touch, movement, and breath awareness, it stimulates the cellular tissue to begin releasing this trauma. The human body is designed to heal itself, and pleasure is a mechanism of the body. Pleasure is medicine.”

Through the guidance of her book, Ward tells me, her “cardboard” client is now having regular, ejaculatory G-spot orgasms. But this kind of sexual healing doesn’t just happen overnight and certainly not after a few quick masturbation sessions. Ward explains that though it might feel nice when we simply “get off,” too often we’re merely scratching a sexual itch—focusing on gratification instead of pleasure. “Sexual gratification is more of a reflex,” Ward explains. “We may gratify a physical desire but still be left feeling emotionally empty inside. It doesn’t meet the deeper need, it isn’t regenerative. Pleasure has transformative qualities. It is physically designed to heal us.”

To truly achieve sexual healing, Ward says we must consciously cultivate what she calls the Four Forms of Pleasure—sensual, sexual, spiritual, and emotional—all of which profoundly benefit our physiological health. “When we experience the Four Forms of Pleasure, the natural chemicals that are released, such as serotonin and dopamine [responsible for feelings of euphoria, peace and happiness], make us feel better in every area of our lives. Of all the ways we can get our bodies to release these happy hormones—such as through exercise—the fastest and most powerful way to release these chemistries is through sex. This is a testament to the way the body is designed, to make sex healthy for us, not just physically but emotionally and spiritually as well.”

Taking a dose of her own medicine, Ward explains how the power of pleasure continues to heal her personal traumatic experiences. “When I first started the process of consciously using pleasure as medicine, I thought sexual communication meant moaning loudly and moving my hips to try to get partners to hit my clitoris. Now I can have between five and 30 orgasms with myself or my partner. Imagine an orgasm where you hit your pleasure peak for three straight minutes!”

Ejaculatory G-spot orgasms and three-minute climaxes sound pretty great, but healing sexual trauma through pleasure isn’t as simple as popping a daily dose of the Big O. Instead, Ward explains, it’s something we must foster in nonsexual areas of our life first. So, before you jump into the sack, start on the couch. “It’s been a habit for most of my life to endure being uncomfortable, even if it’s just me sitting on the couch with a lumpy cushion in my back. When I started cultivating pleasure in my life, I started asking myself, Why not always be at a 10, so every experience of my life can be exquisite? We deserve for every moment of our lives to be bliss! Know that you deserve to feel pleasure. Our culture teaches us that you’re a bad girl for enjoying pleasure. You have no idea how deeply that affects everything you allow yourself to experience during sex.”

Just like learning to walk again, transforming deep-rooted sexual trauma into pleasurable sex is all about taking baby steps. “You can’t have multiple orgasms if you’re thinking about doing the dishes,” Ward says. “So first, get present in your body. Second, become aware of pleasure in every area of your life. Simply enjoying your cup of coffee in the morning can be a pleasurable experience. Get off Facebook. The more present you are in other life areas, the more present you’ll be in the sexual areas. You can’t have one without the other.” (tantricartsoflove.com) 

Spanking - Bondassage - and other kink teachings

Spanking, whether it’s done with a toy or by hand, is something that a lot of people enjoy for many different reasons. Spanking can feel great. The thrill of doing something naughty can be fun. It might be part of a role play or S&M scene.


Read more: http://bdsmunveiled.blogspot.com/2013/03/spanking.html#ixzz2Rsfs4aux

It can be a long wait for that first spanking. Many submissives are over 30 before they get the courage to act out fantasies they have had since childhood. The reality of spanking can be a bit of a surprise. Firstly, it's every bit as fun as you have been led to believe. Submission is mind-blowingly liberating. Secondly, you may end up looking rather different from the pink-cheeked and politely striped girls on the commercial websites. 

Spanking is first a dichotomy of power. It is this transfer of power, this total surrender that is the hallmark of spanking. Within that concept, there are many levels of submission, and corresponding degrees of physicality. Within the spanking scene, there are two general types of spanking, and several types of spanking relationships to encapsulate them. These two main categories still provide a lot of room for subtle nuances. These main categories are Sensual/Erotic and Disciplinary/Domestic Discipline.
If you are not already in a defined BDSM role and relationship, talk with your partner about what excites them about spanking. If you want to try something naughty, then engaging in role play may give you extra context for that naughtiness. If you’re curious about the sensation, then a role might be irrelevant, plus you might want to be in a position that allows the maximum comfort. You’re much more likely to get what you want when you can talk with your partner about it. 

'Safe, sane and consensual' goes without saying. Constant communication is necessary and so is absolute trust. If you have fragile skin, there is lot more to it that establishing a safe-word, because the sub's tolerance might bear little relation to the marks inflicted. She can't see what's going on behind her, and in any case, if she gets into sub-space, she's not in a place to make sensible decisions of any sort. So there is an extra burden of care on the Dom.
Just before a spanking happens, the Dominant will generally position the submissive in one of several traditional and well known spanking positions. I won’t get into those positions today because there are simply too many. 

The Dominant is normally in a higher position than the submissive so they can restrain and control the submissive when she moves. The control also heightens the satisfaction of a top in a scene like this. The Dominant can apply more strength in the traditional positions. When sitting with a submissive over the lap, the Dominant can swing their arms naturally and apply force on all those spots they plan to hit. When they are standing, he or she can swing their arms and body to get even more power out of the stroke. Of course, it is a matter of comfort as well, since it makes sense that the naughty girl or boy receiving the spanking should be less comfortable than the Dominant. Comfort also contributes to the length of a spanking and that is of course a benefit for the sub too.
The position of the submissive’s butt is very tantalizing in most traditional postures. It makes the activity so much more erotic for the Dominant and helps to ensure accuracy in the spanking. There is nothing quite as appealing as the derriere stretched at an angle ready for that spanking. Safety is also a factor to discuss here. The Dominant is more able to ensure that he or she will not hit too high or too low and the submissive will not be harmed. 

If you’re new to spanking, it’s a good idea to focus your attention on the butt only. There’s a lot you can do on the butt cheeks and the body is usually pretty well-padded there, so you don’t need to worry about causing damage. Plus, when you spank someone’s butt, you can indirectly stimulate their genitals, especially if they’re in a position that allows them to rub against your leg or a piece of furniture. Be careful to avoid hitting the tailbone and never hit on the kidneys.
Many people find that the sensation of spanking varies along a continuum of sting-thud. Stingy sensations tend to be on the surface of the skin, while thudding sensations feel deeper. Different toys and hand positions create different sensations, so you may need to experiment a bit. Also, some people have strong preferences for one style and feel over the other, while some like both kind of sensation. 

You may find that as you get turned on, things start to feel different. Sexual arousal increases our ability to feel strong sensations, so it’s a good idea to start off lightly and ramp up. Combining or alternating spanking with other types of stimulation can be a fun way to increase the pleasure. Or you might want to get turned on before you start spanking. Lots of people like to switch from spanking to gentle caresses or the feeling of a fur or fleece glove. Play around with it and you’ll discover what feels good to you.
Newbie Dominants remember that you can make the spanking even more erotic by varying touches and rhythm, by caressing me and then spanking me you can get me to new heights of pleasure. Your control could be magnified by a little bit of humiliating speak too. Also, reminding your sub to return to position and to maintain that position often helps keep them in line and even more excited.

Read more: http://bdsmunveiled.blogspot.com/2013/03/spanking.html#ixzz2RsgnEOvR

A Goddess

A goddess is a woman who emerges from deep within herself. She is a woman who has honestly explored her darkness and learned to celebrate her light. She is a woman who is able to fall in love with the magnificent possibilities within her. She is a woman who knows of the magic and mysterious places inside her, the sacred places that can nurture her soul and make her whole. She is a woman who radiates light. She is magnetic. She walks into a room and male and female alike feel her presence. She has power and softness at the same time. She has powerful sexual energy that's not dependent on physical looks.

She has a body that she adores and it shows by the way she comfortably lives and moves in it. She cherishes beauty, light and love. She is a mother to all children. She flows with life in effortless grace. She can heal with a look or a touch of the hand. She is fiercely sensual and fearlessly erotic and engages in sex as her way to share with another in touching the divine. She is compassion and wisdom. She is seeker of Truth and cares deeply about something bigger than herself. She is a woman who knows that her purpose in life is to reach higher and rule with love.

She is woman in love with love. She knows that joy is her destiny and embracing it and sharing it with others to heal wounds. She is a woman who has come to know that her partner is as tender, lost, and frightened as she has been at times. She has come to understand the scars of the boy in him and knows that together, love can be the relief, the healing of their wounds. She is a woman who can accept herself as she is. She can accept another as they are. She is able to forgive her mistakes and not feel threatened by another's even when attacked. She is a woman who can ask for help when she needs it or give help when asked. She respects boundaries, hers and others. She can see God in another's eyes. She can see God in her own. She can see God in every life situation. She is woman who takes responsibility for everything she creates in her life. She is a woman who is totally supportive and giving. 

She is a Goddess"...♥"

Loving - by OSHO

If you are a man of aesthetic sensibility, your love chamber should be a sacred place, because it is in that love chamber that life is born. It should have beautiful flowers, incense, fragrance; you should enter into it with deep respect. And love should not be just an abrupt thing -- grab the woman. This hit-and-run affair is not love. Love should have a preface of beautiful music, of dancing together, of meditating together.

And love should not be a mind thing -- that you are continuously thinking of how to make love and then go to sleep. Love should be a deeper involvement of your whole being, and it should not be projected by the mind, but should come out spontaneously. Beautiful music, fragrance, you are dancing hand in hand, you have again become small children playing with flowers... If spontaneously love happens in this sacred atmosphere it will have a different quality.

Osho

talk about sex & fall into love

I wanna talk about sex. I want to shout our shame so loud that we lose our voices and collapse into each other's arms in uncontrollable laughter. I want to stop wasting life comparing our bodies to each other. I want sex for joyful exploration without a goal. I want the "size does matter" debate to end. I want to look out from your eyes and cry your tears and never, ever, ever try to change you.

to fall into love and desire and compassion and understanding - simple fundamentals needed for a true relationship - acceptance without judgements - to share tears of laughter tears of sadness - to express love so deep you cannot breathe or voice the words to your beloved - but to stare into each other's eyes , tears flowing from pure joy, hands quivering with excitement - as you look at your beloved and the universe melts and you are one in that moment and nothing else exists or matters - and sex becomes that united bond where nothing else exists except for the two of you as one - be blessed be loved be one

"Dear Lover" - David Deida

"You can feel his presence opening you. His gaze penetrates into your heart's hidden love. He offers you a concentrated invasion of divine presence. Love's masculine presence enters you more deeply than you could open yourself."
From "Dear Lover," by David Deida

Quote from Anais Nin - so hot, that woman deeply felt her essence 

“Often, though, the passivity of the woman's role weighs on me, suffocates me. Rather than wait for his pleasure, I would like to take it, to run wild. Is it that which pushes me into lesbianism? It terrifies me. Do women act thus? Does June go to Henry when she wants him? Does she mount him? Does she wait for him? He guides my inexperienced hands. It is like a forest fire, to be with him. New places of my body are aroused and burnt. He is incendiary. I leave him in an unquenchable fever.” 

Anaïs Nin, Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love"--The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin

To love the Yoni - to worship the Goddess

What does it mean to love yoni? So many new students of mine have no real idea of Goddess Worship. Does this frustrate me? Yes !!! Am I angry? Well no not any more. When I offer conscious cuddling to my new Guests most of the men who visit me the first time naturally wish to migrate directly to my nipples and wish to stay there indefinitely. I allow this now without being too upset but I allow them to milk my nipples and I have grown more patient with this practice for those men who truly have no understanding. They finally say to me "Are you enjoying this because I am". I then pause and I say that just like any other part of the Goddess body the nipples can become numbed out or desensitized to touch if one spends too much time there. Then the pause and realize they have spent too much time there for their own satisfaction and I assure them that true goddess healing and yoni worship is about revering and honoring of the female energies. Many new students just assume that what gives them such pleasure might not bring the goddess pleasure. Yoni worship and yoni empowerment can be gratifying not only for the receiving goddess but should be energizing to the giver. There is a powerful energy that emerges from a yoni that is being loved with fervor. We honor the yoni not by need or want of our own needs but because we wish to shower her with good intentions and positive sounds and touch. The most important way to heal the yoni is by fully breathing into your own heart chakra so that your heart is alive, awake and deeply activated. There is so much soothing energy that comes from your heart chakra. There is a vital and healing energy that also comes from a fully awakened Lingham and you can activate your heart by breathing deeply into your lungs as well as awaken your Shiva energy by pulsing your penis with PC muscle exercises as you touch your partner's yoni. There is a back and forth circular flow of Shiva and Shakti energies that is healing for the male and female. The medicine of the fully awakened yoni flower is powerful medicine that you as a powerful male can enjoy if you tune into the soft sensations that yield under your careful but powerful touch. You can move more mountains with a yin and soft touch because water touch can softly chip away at the Earth piece by piece. If you remember the Softer touches yield the most intense orgasm or pleasure arousal then you can close your eyes and just let your finger pads be more sensate. The key to healing the yoni is just to be sensitive, aware and positive. Even your thoughts can influence the power of the growing and awakening yoni flower.. be conscious, be adoring, be loving and be patient and you will feed the energy back and forth from your heart center to your lover's yoni with grace, simplicity and deep respect ❦

Diana Grossman

Massage and Energy Work

Lovers - by RUMI

“Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.”
- Rumi -

Sexuality

"Sexuality is the source of well-being and happiness, offering access to the divine consciousness. As long as it is involving love and mutual respect, a sexualrelationship allows us to come out of ourselves in a state of complete abandon and total communion with each other. This is a truly mysterious experience, that purifies and revitalizes our being at all levels, from the physical one to the subtlest." Anne Givaudan

Come Let's speak - by RUMI

COME LET'S SPEAK
of our souls
let's even hide from
our ears and eyes

like a rose garden
always keep a smile,
like imagination
talk without a sound,

like the spirit
reigning the world
telling the secrets
uttering no word.

Let's get away from
all the clever humans
who put words in our mouth,
let's only say what our hearts desire.

Even our hands and feet
sense every inner move,
let's keep silence
but make our hearts move.

The mystery of destiny
knows the life of
speck after speck of dust...
Let's tell our story as a particle of dust. ♥
~ Rumi

Dear Lover - David Deida

"You can feel his presence opening you. His gaze penetrates into your heart's hidden love. He offers you a concentrated invasion of divine presence. Love's masculine presence enters you more deeply than you could open yourself."
From "Dear Lover" 

by David Deida

Babylon Speaks of woman

BABYLON SPEAKS:

"The feet of a woman are the hands of her intimacy. Her legas are the pillars to her sanctuary.

The two-fold gate has to be unlocked from within and without. The arch is the triangle of her water and the symbol of her power.
The womb must be explored or her garden will not bloom.

The breast are the king and queen of her palace. They need many greetings and words of worship.

Her hands are the feet of her intimacy; handle them with tenderness. The neck is the hidden sanctuary, it you must always purify with your tongue, and consecrate with your breath.

This is the temple of the Gods. You know now how best to pray."

<>

~~The Codex of Love~~

Total orgasm - Mantak Chia

A total orgasm of the body and mind might be described as a showering of nectar from the head, running down your insides like a springtime shower.

Mantak Chia

Rhythm of love

When a man loves a woman, 
Let him turn his thoughts to the rhythm of her body 
And she will free the beast within him from the 
Darkness of his forest.
- Casey S. Leasure (The Awakened Woman)

Embracing love and connection

In sleep, goosebumps serenade my skin and your whispers gild the frames of each thought pressing through my lungs. In this dream, I have finally beheld your eyes. I finally know you beyond the brush of your fingertips, the sweet tendrils of silk that is your hair cascading against my neck, knotting with my own. This is slow. Each facet of these moments do not yet cluster until we evaluate their contents and measure the acidity of the other's venom. In your lap, I draw invisible patterns across your forearm, as you teeter very slowly. I calm to the thudding rain. As once, it was steady as your pulse, now pushing alongside its passion with a fever I haven't known. With the traces I paint across your flesh, I find I am contagious with these goosebumps because they leap to hug you, too. Your lovely voice molds into the melody of the wind, in perfection, it carries along these walls to consume the cold dark of night. That lovely voice is indeed more comforting than the drowsy chills and blindness of nocturne.

~ Memory

 — with Yasuyuki Kawagoshi.

Massage - Healing - special offers

Do not forget the April specials now running at Shakti Gardens - all therapies with Don discounted till end of April - Full Body massage was R500 now R400 - 

- Tantric Healing was R600 now R500 - 

- sessions at least 90 minutes long and include Hot Stone Therapy and Chakra Balancing -

call Don - 082 961 5454

e-mail - info@shaktigardens.com

Massage therapy

Massage Therapy
What You Knead to Know

Many people associate massage with vacations or spas and consider them something of a luxury. But research is beginning to suggest this ancient form of hands-on healing may be more than an indulgence—may help improve your health.

Massage therapists use their fingers, hands, forearms and elbows to manipulate the muscles and other soft tissues of the body. Variations in focus and technique lead to different types of massage, including Swedish, deep tissue and sports massage.

In Swedish massage, the focus is general and the therapist may use long strokes, kneading, deep circular movements, vibration and tapping. With a deep tissue massage, the focus is more targeted, as therapists work on specific areas of concern or pain. These areas may have muscle “knots” or places of tissue restriction.

Some common reasons for getting a massage are to relieve pain, heal sports injuries, reduce stress, relax, ease anxiety or depression, and aid general wellness. Unfortunately, scientific evidence on massage therapy is limited. Researchers are actively trying to understand exactly how massage works, how much is best, and how it might help with specific health conditions. Some positive benefits have been reported.

“Massage therapy has been noted to relax the nervous system by slowing heart rate and blood pressure. Stress and pain hormones are also decreased by massage, reducing pain and enhancing immune function,” says Dr. Tiffany Field, who heads a touch research institute at the University of Miami Medical School. Much of her NIH-funded research focuses on the importance of massage for pregnant women and infants. Some of her studies suggest that massage may improve weight gain and immune system function in preterm infants.

A study published earlier this year looked at how massage affects muscles at the molecular level. The findings suggest that kneading eases sore muscles after exercise by turning off genes associated with inflammation and turning on genes that help muscles heal.

A recent NIH-supported study found that an hour-long “dose” of Swedish massage therapy once a week was optimal for knee pain from osteoarthritis, especially when practical matters like time, labor and convenience were considered. Other research suggests that massage therapy is effective in reducing and managing chronic low-back pain, which affects millions of Americans.

If you’re considering massage therapy for a specific medical condition, talk with your health care provider. Never use massage to replace your regular medical care or as a reason to postpone seeing a health care professional.

Every therapist and every massage is unique. If you decide to try massage therapy, work with different therapists until you find one that meets your needs. One of the best ways to get a great massage is to communicate with your therapist. Most will check in with you during your session for feedback, but—if not—speak up! 

Massage Specials

Do not forget the April specials now running at Shakti Gardens - all therapies with Don discounted till end of April - Full Body massage was R500 now R400 - Tantric Healing was R600 now R500 - sessions at least 90 minutes long and include Hot Stone Therapy and Chakra Balancing

Call Don - 082 961 5454
or e-mail - info@shaktigardens.com

Availability - weekdays or evenings and certain times on weekends

Dear Shakti

Dear Shakti: Let pleasure infuse your day—whether or not you have a partner, whether or not you’re having hot tantric sex or even want to. Because pleasure is your birthright. It’s up to you to let it in. Flirt with life a little more, relax your belly, let your hips move, and drop those hunched-up shoulders. Give your heart and spirit permission to sing.

~ Lisa Schrader

Awaken Chakras, Kundalini and Shakti within

When a man awakens the divine feminine within himself, he falls in love with her. She brings him the most beautiful feelings he had ever experienced. It becomes his mission in life to become closer to her, to feel her more. He gains respect for all women, and sees all women as divine. The divine feminine changes a man so completely that all he wants to do is worship her.

As the divine feminine raises through the chakra system in man, she alters him in a way that he no longer lusts after women. He loves them, from the heart not the head. She also breaks his addiction to masturbation once she is past the second chakra. Then enables him to find so much more pleasure in intimacy even with just himself, than any ejaculatory orgasm can ever give him. If he meets a woman, the feminine energy only increases his passion for her. He wants to truly make her happy, and will honour her like he honours the divine feminine within him. He feels from the heart, and reaches her heart because of that. He gains her trust and will do what's necessary to allow her to trust him completely. The divine feminine changes a man so much that he would rather remain single than to get laid. To remain abstinent rather than waste his energy on his own. She builds inside him, bringing abundant happiness to his life. He feels complete with the divine feminine alive within him. He is balanced, he is joyful. So if you want to understand how a man perceives the divine feminine, realize that he feels the feminine within himself. The kundalini, the shakti, is with him, loving him with her grace and perfection.

~Mark Harrison~ 

The Womb

"The womb is a multidimensional matrix of creation; she births art and communities and projects and gardens and worlds, as well as physical babies. Whatever seed she takes in, she nourishes and brings to life. Too many women avoid diving into the richness of the Mother cycle because they don't or won't or can't have their own children....
Men - real men, not boys - are magnetically attracted to women with open, activated, generative wombs. But not only (or even) for babies! Men have a soul purpose, a mission in this life. They intuitively know that their work will be so much more successful with the love of a wombyn juicing and partnering with them.
When a man finally taps into and accepts his passion/purpose/mission, he'll lose interest in maidens with their sweet pussies, and start seeking a wombyn of substance and depth. As women turn on their own womb power, they will attract turned-on men who are ready to penetrate life and make a difference in the world. Maidens and boys are left to play out their more youthful concerns...
In this culture, the genders are deadlocked. Neither maidens nor boys want to grow up, because they see so few models of functioning adulthood. Paradoxically, a turned-on man can make a maiden want to shift to mother. And a turned-on wombyn can give a boy reason to step up into manhood. It's a giant game of chicken. Who'll blink first?" - David Cates

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152241728446758&set=a.111094751757.103783.657346757&type=1&theater

Goddess of the Forest

"The ācāryas explain that Śrī Kṛṣṇa wanted to decorate Rādhārāṇī's hair with the forest flowers He had collected. Therefore They sat down together facing the same direction, with Rādhārāṇī between Kṛṣṇa's knees, and Kṛṣṇa proceeded to arrange Her hair with flowers and make a flower crown for Her, coronating Her as the goddess of the forest. Thus the romantic young boy and girl played and joked together in Vṛndāvana."

(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.30.33)

LOVE

I merged so completely with Love, and was so fused, that I became Love ... and Love became me.

~ Rumi

Sacred Breast

Sacred Breast

Equal are your breasts

of parallel fullness, filled

by the light of life. 

~Pablo Neruda

Lifting the Veil

   

Lifting The Veil

Will you hold me in my pain, my fear, my vulnerability, distortions and anger?

Hold me, not fix me, nor judge me,without concern for making anything better, easier.

Embrace me, devoid of your ego, devoid of all concerns that you are not being enough, doing enough, loving enough.

Will you shield me, from myself… from my desire to stay contained,my veil, for you to love me in the perfection I feel you seek?

Will you gaze into my eyes so deeply, so openly that you feel the tremble of my wounds as I reveal them,exposing my darkness from a depth yet to see light?

Will you meet me…

Will you kiss my lips with raw purity,without fear, without repulsion, without altering yourself in any wayto be the man you think I need you to be?

And will you stay…

Will you trust yourself to know the immensity and depth of your beautiful soul, touched by the unyielding love and gratitude I feel for you in this beautifully sacred moment?

By Janine Marie.

Song Pick of the Day: Stay Open

                                           http://open.spotify.com/track/3JsA2sWDNR9oQogGAzqqtH

Normal Sex?

Esensual Dark Tantra (Facebook)
Historically, “normal sex” has always been about defining and imposing boundaries. Various sexual activities, thoughts, and ideas were demonized, even criminalized. Most people really did fear, condemn, and stay away from whatever forms of eroticism they learned were abnormal. The adventurous—Oscar Wilde, Marquis de Sade, Margaret Sanger, Hester Prynne—were punished.

http://sexualintelligence.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/the-end-of-normal-sex/The End Of Normal Sex

The Religious Right’s been warning us for decades. A Supreme Court justice warned us in Lawrence v Texas. Various institutions have been warning us for centuries—about the sexual, and therefore social, impact of Boccaccio and Chaucer and of women on the theatrical stage, of mixed-gender schools, cheap mass “literature,” talking movies, and of legalizing “rubbers.”

Today they’re warning us about the increasing social acceptance of same-gender sex, non-monogamy, and S/M.

And they’re right. We’re approaching the end of normal sex.

Socially-defined “normal sex,” in contrast to socially-defined “abnormal sex.” With a clear bright line between them.

Historically, “normal sex” has always been about defining and imposing boundaries. Various sexual activities, thoughts, and ideas were demonized, even criminalized. Most people really did fear, condemn, and stay away from whatever forms of eroticism they learned were abnormal. The adventurous—Oscar Wilde, Marquis de Sade, Margaret Sanger, Hester Prynne—were punished.

Much of this was about controlling procreation. Some of it was about ignorance toward female pleasure, and hostility toward female enthusiasm. Some of it was about dividing the body into clean and dirty areas, hence clean and dirty activities. Some of it was about managing virginity, which was valuable family property.

Beyond all this, a key reason religion and repressive government have always wanted to control sexuality is because it’s a place where people can experience profound autonomy. Since the beginning of time, even the poorest, least intelligent, least attractive people have been able to feel powerful during sex. Even when you have absolutely no power over the important circumstances of your life, you can, if not instructed against it, still do and imagine whatever you want in bed. What powerful social institution would NOT want to control this bottomless well of personal power?

Therapists find that when people become empowered around their sexuality, they often keep growing: “If I can be uninhibited in bed, where else can I express myself? If I can make up my own rules in bed, why not in my relationship, my family, my community, or even with my God?”

So defining and patrolling normal sex is an important political tool. Every religion and every government knows that.

And although politically our country is deep into a 21st century Dark Ages—abortion virtually criminalized, sex offender registries now used as throwaway gulags, pornography relentlessly demonized as causing violence and addiction—in bed, fortunately, Americans are increasingly out of control. Utah homemakers reading 50 Shades of Grey. Men and women waxing pubic hair. Everyone under 40 trying anal sex at least once. Straight college students self-identifying as queer. From Wal-Marts to Amazon, vibrators unbuckling the Bible Belt.

So is this, in fact, the end of the world?

Depending on what your world’s based on, the answer is yes. Those who say that “morality” is about restricting sexual expression rather than living by a humanistic code of ethics are clearly on the wrong side of history. Virtually all Americans have sex by age 21, and they’re not going back. Most people who have genital sex have oral sex, and over a third have tried (or still do) anal sex. Virtually all American Catholics use “artificial” birth control. And this is clearly a Golden Age for both sex toys and swing clubs in every one of our 50 states.

Oh sure, millions of today’s politically conservative young people loudly demand that politicians continue to criminalize alternative sexualities, but many of them privately do those very things. The really religious ones (often home-schooled) talk about virginity until marriage, the unreliability of condoms, the horrors of commercial sex, masturbation as infidelity, and strict heterosexuality in thought, deed, and fantasy.

Until, of course, they get drunk, those blissful few hours when they love strip clubs, premarital blowjobs, and watching girls make out with girls.

They’ll support a narrow, punitive vision of normal sex once again when they sober up. But for the rest of us, no matter how ordinary our sex lives are, the days of normal sex are just about over.

And it’s about time.