Sex advice written by a Buddhist monk in the 1930s might just help improve your love life.
Gendun Chopel, the Tibetan Buddhist monk and author of The Passion Book: A Tibetan Guide to Love and Sex, wrote a collection of sensual poems that also serves as an explicit guide to sex.
Chopel rediscovered his sexuality after a long bout of celibacy, Donald S. Lopez Jr., the monk’s biographer explains. “Gendun Chopel became a Buddhist monk when he was in his early teens but gave up his vows, including the vow of celibacy, when he was in his early 30s,” Lopez said. “As a result, The Passion Book is filled with the exuberance of someone discovering the long-forbidden joys of lovemaking for the first time.”
One of the main themes in the book involves being mentally focused and present in everything you do. “Mindfulness allows us to tune into sexual sensations with more intensity during arousal,” said Lori Brotto, the executive director of the Women’s Health Research Institute. “People may choose to pay attention to points of contact between their body and their partner’s. They can open their eyes and take note of visual sensations. They can tune into their own heart rate as they become aroused. And they can ‘catch’ the mind when it becomes distracted in thoughts and guide it back to their body and breath.”
If you wanted to incorporate mindfulness in the bedroom, you can start outside of the bedroom, Brotto advised. Practice breathing, listening and focusing on your senses. Build up a muscle memory for mindfulness through your everyday activities will translate to your sexual activity. “Mind-knowing sex is the key to mind-blowing sex. Rewarding and fulfilling sex is simply not possible without mindfulness,” she said.
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