Pleasure is medicine: Sexual healing

Devi Ward

Devi Ward

BY YANA TALLON-HICKS
Curve

In her book “Shake Your Soul-Song! A Woman’s Guide to Self-Empowerment Through the Art of Self-Pleasure” writer, sex educator, and certified Tantric healer Devi Ward says we to truly achieve sexual healing, we must consciously cultivate what she calls the Four Forms of Pleasure: sensual, sexual, spiritual and emotional. All of these 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.”

“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.”

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