Transcendent Sex

Jenna and her husband Mike had sex last Saturday morning. Nothing remarkable about that, but something happened to Jenna that she??d never experienced before. —Something clicked and I completely lost my sense of self,?? she says. —It's hard to explain. It was as though I was transported outside my body and I lost myself, but simultaneously discovered something far bigger. I didn't have any sense of —me?? at all. Afterwards, I remember lying in Mike's arms, tears running down my cheeks, suffused with a feeling of love for him and for everything. I don't think I??ve ever had such an intense emotional experience, and it left me feeling incredibly centred, positive and strong.?? Spiritual experience Although Jenna finds it hard to describe what happened to her, psychologist Dr Jenny Wade, author of Transcendent Sex , has little doubt that this was a spiritual, even sacred, experience. During sex, our physical state can be altered in much the same way as it is during meditation. Relaxed arousal, sensory deprivation and repetitive sounds and motions can bring about a trance-like state. Our emotional responses are heightened and our perspective changes, often giving us the impression that we have been lifted out of the everyday. Although for some this is unsettling, spiritual sex can have positive benefits. —Afterwards, some people view their bodies and sex as a sacred thing,?? says Wade. —Some people become more aware of their own potential, feel affirmed, and can experience healing or recovery from abusive situations.?? Change in attitudes Despite its potential for profound change, the idea of merging sex and spirituality might seem more than a little strange to many of us. We tend to snigger at anyone or anything that suggests we take sex too seriously, let alone explore the potential for sex to be mind-altering. —In the West we diminish sex. We are only looking for —hot'sex and orgasms. But understanding that sex can help us access altered states allows us to start seeing it as a sacred, rather than profane, activity,?? says Wade. Throughout history, our attitudes to sex have changed as culture has changed, and while we might be experiencing a —pornification?? of society, with the focus on performance, technique and instant gratification, the potential of sex to be a sacred act has long been acknowledged. The most famous version is tantra, which emerged from Asia in about 1400BC. —Tantra is based on the belief that

we can access the divine through sexual ecstasy,?? says Kris Deva North from the London Tao Centre and co-author of A Touch Of Sex: Shiatsu Secrets For Love (available from healing-tao.co.uk ). Other societies, such as the Aboriginal Australians and Persians, practised their own versions of tantra says Deva North, but early forms of Christianity and Islam were also suffused with sexual symbolism and, in the Kabbalic tradition, which developed in the medieval period, sex was also seen as a spiritual event, representing the merging of the male and female elements of God within the cosmos. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams , has suggested that we can access —the body??s grace?? through sex. Desire, he argued, is just as significant a justification for sex as procreation. —To be formed in our humanity by the loving delight of another,?? he said, —is an experience whose contours we can identify most clearly and hopefully if we have also learned or are learning about being the object of the causeless loving delight of God.?? Putting sex in this spiritual context can help us address our own inhibitions or discomfort, many of which stem from the underlying belief that sex is dirty or wrong. Petra, a 42-year-old teacher, and her husband David made a conscious decision to take a more spiritual approach to their sex life. —I used to think of having sex as a slightly naughty, self-indulgent activity and felta little ashamed of it,?? says Petra. But now her attitude has changed. —We treat sex as sacred and revere each other, opening our minds to the presence of a higher power. I haven't experienced a spectacular enlightenment, but I??ve had several fleeting yet mystical moments. Making love is now an important part of my spiritual journey.?? Some of us may have already experienced —altered states?? during sex — we just didn't know it at the time. —It might be a feeling of being so merged with your partner you lose your ego boundaries, so you can't determine who is doing what to whom,?? says Wade. Indeed, the Greek root of the word ecstasy is ekstasis, meaning —to stand outside??, so in spiritual and sexual ecstasy we are taken outside of our self and beyond our ego. THE END :] hope this article opened your mind to something extra ordinary in your sexual life and you now see sex in a more good way than before. Enjoy :]

#NB
If lack of inhibition helps us have transcendent sex, what else can we do to maximise our experience? —Just make it your intention to have sex with spirituality,?? says Deva North. —Bring full focus and attention to the feelings inside yourself and acknowledge your belief in a higher being. Go through your sexual practice with full focus so that you are living in the moment. At the point of orgasm give your mind to the divine, whatever you perceive the divine to be.