Great Sex, Naturally by Laurie Steelsmith Read Free Book Online

Ashtanga yoga
Light weight lifting
Heavy weight lifting
Walking
Running
Gentle stationary bicycling
Mountain biking
Day hiking without a pack
Mountain climbing
Low-impact aerobics
High-impact aerobics
Slow hula dance
Tahitian dance
Aikido
Kickboxing
Swimming in a lake or pool
Ocean swimming
Low-intensity cross-country skiing
Downhill skiing
Slow ballroom dancing
Fast dancing
Tai chi
Karate
Surfing in small waves
Surfing in big waves
Badminton
Tennis
Canoeing in a slow-moving river
Ocean kayaking
    Exercise and Your Pelvis: The Libido Link
    Your pelvis is your center of gravity, and it’s central to your sexuality. In Chinese medicine, your pelvis is a powerful part of your anatomy—the pivotal area through which all your chi flows from meridians throughout your body. Yet many women feel “blocked,” physically or psychologically, from this part of their bodies. They may have freedom of movement and normal sensation in other areas, but because of chronic pelvic pain, sexual issues, or past trauma—or perhaps as a result of growing up in an environment that didn’t encourage healthy awareness of their bodies and their sexuality—they remain unconscious of the full range of pelvic sensation they’re capable of.
    In order to have healthy sex, you need to be comfortable with your body and intimately familiar with your pelvis and sexual organs. One of the best ways to physically and psychologically “reconnect” with your pelvis is through exercises and activities that strengthen and relax your pelvic muscles. This allows you to become more aware of your entire pelvic region and more familiar with sensations in those muscles. It can help you release tensions you may be unconsciously holding in your pelvis, and it may help you discover muscles that you don’t know you have. By incorporating the following forms of exercise and movement into your life, you can improve the health of your entire body and your pelvis in particular:
    — Dance. When the energy of music fills your being and moves your body, no form of exercise is more joyful. And by celebrating your body with dance, you can do more than enhance your health and get in touch with your pelvis; you can dance your way to better sex.
    Dance has been practiced by women all over the world since the beginnings of recorded history. In myriad forms of cultural expression, from African dance to the tango, it often involves powerful pelvic muscle movements that can help you maintain core muscle conditioning, increase your pelvic strength, and tone muscles that contract around your vagina.
    With so many forms of dance, you can choose whatever fits your personality. One of the best for enhancing your pelvic health is belly dancing. By some accounts, it was taught to young women in ancient Arab tribes for strengthening their pelvic muscles in preparation for childbirth, as well as to ease its effects (although it appears to have originated as entertainment or for erotic purposes). Belly dancing not only tones and strengthens your pelvic muscles, it can also enhance your libido, build your “mind-hip coordination,” develop and flatten your stomach muscles, increase circulation throughout your pelvic region, give you a cardiovascular workout, improve your posture, and help prevent osteoporosis.
    Another form of dance particularly good for your pelvic health is hula. The graceful, swaying hip motions of Hawaiian hula can increase your pelvic strength and coordination, maintain your pelvic-muscle vitality, and bring chi to your pelvic region. An added attraction is that you can do hula at any age; some of Hawaii’s most proficient hula dancers are older women.
    You don’t need a traditional dance form to enjoy the benefits of this activity. Anytime you feel creative, you can invent your own form of dance right at home: turn on your favorite music, let yourself go, and dance to enhance!
    — Pilates. When you join the ranks of the Pilates bodies, you’re usually instructed, even