The Art of Sexual Ecstasy: The Path of Sacred Sexuality for Western Lovers

Rating:
Summary: Great for couples, not so for singles.
Review: author of DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF: A PERSONAL APPROACH TO DREAM INTERPRETATION and DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE

THE ART OF SEXUAL ECSTASY is a beautiful book, tastefully illustrated with well-written text. Teaches you how to add intimacy to your lovemaking while honoring sexual satisfaction and mutual respect. It will improve your communication with your partner and offers new ways to revitalize your intimate time, including creating a sacred space.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantasy Book for Frustrated Suburban Housewives
Review: I've given this book as a shower gift or wedding present many times, and the couples always get me aside and tell me how grateful they were for the book. The Art of Sexual Ecstasy is beautifully and elegantly written that you never have that embarrased feeling when sharing it becuase it reads nearly like peotry. The illustrations are lovely and tasteful, and the spiritual aspects are insighful and rich. I found the book to be personally inspirering as well. Thanks :-)

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful wedding gift.
Review: I've given this book as a shower gift or wedding present many times, and the couples always get me aside and tell me how grateful they were for the book. The Art of Sexual Ecstasy is beautifully and elegantly written that you never have that embarrased feeling when sharing it becuase it reads nearly like peotry. The illustrations are lovely and tasteful, and the spiritual aspects are insighful and rich. I found the book to be personally inspirering as well. Thanks :-)

Rating:
Summary: A Fantasy Book for Frustrated Suburban Housewives
Review: One hopes this book signals the end of the trend of glorifying the orgasm as the pinnacle of human existence and or some esoteric mystical experience.

Yet, bored housewives will forever find something to be dissatisfied with, and this book will give them a lifetime's worth of anxiety about what they are supposedly missing.

And if, by some chance, they cant find some young stud to go the distance of the four hour orgasm, due to boredom or stamina or whatever, then look up 'ol Bhagavan Das, he could use the work.

Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Guide To Enhancing Sexual Intimacy
Review: This book can solve a lot of problems. Couples with failing relationships typically communicate little, have few common activities, and have poor or no sex. Learning Tantra is a fun activity that teaches couples to communicate and trust. Furthermore, Tantra gives couples a common activity that makes them feel special. They develop intimacy that their friends do not have.

Tantra encourages fitness. No one need be musclebound to enjoy Tantra, but fitness makes Tantra more pleasurable. At the same time some Tantric exercises are quite physically undemanding. Unfit individuals can enjoy Tantra also.

The book is well-written and well-illustrated, and discusses many of Ms. Anand's experiences. It discusses Tantric sexual techniques, but does not discuss Tantric history and mythology in detail.

Ms. Anand's book first asks the reader to examine their own sexuality in terms of Tantric principles. Two chapters discuss opening lines of communication and trust between partners, and developing skills for enhancing intimacy.

The chapter "Opening The Inner Flute" is necessarily technical. This chapter discusses the Tantric and Taoist principle of the "chakras" (energy centers) which permit "mental orgasm". Mental orgasm is non-ejaculatory, encompasses the entire body, and is superior to a genital orgasm. The chapter includes exercises to help partners begin to experience their chakras.

Ms. Anand next discusses "self-pleasuring" (foreplay) as a technique for breaking through individual sexual inhibitions and for building a couple's sexual intimacy and trust. Another chapter discusses role-playing games that allow couples to communicate in a non-threatening manner. The book does *not* mention using safewords, an omission that might cause discomfort while couples are learning Tantric positions.

The remainder of the book progressively develops Tantric sexual techniques and positions that individuals and couples can experience and enjoy. These sections are clearly written and illustrated, and offer suggestions to accommodate different body shapes, weight, and other comfort concerns.

The book's Appendix discusses Safe Sex. This well-written discussion suggests different techniques for new partners and for long-term partners, a sensitive and sensible approach.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but be honest about whether this is appropos
Review: This is a very interesting book to read. However, be aware that this is not a typical western sex-ed book. It is written from a 'foreign' background, and that is very apparant. The book is big and there is a lot there, not like many sex-ed books. There are scores of exercises. But honestly ask yourself (and your partner) if you are willing or desirous of trying a truly different method. If it's not something you WANT to try, then you might not end up liking this book at all, and so will just be out the purchase price, with no sexual benefits.

So ask yourself whether you want to try a new type of sexual practice, paradigm, or ontology. If you do, then this is an excellent book. If you don't, then it is too truly foreign for you to enjoy or benefit from.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but be honest about whether this is appropos
Review: This is a very interesting book to read. However, be aware that this is not a typical western sex-ed book. It is written from a 'foreign' background, and that is very apparant. The book is big and there is a lot there, not like many sex-ed books. There are scores of exercises. But honestly ask yourself (and your partner) if you are willing or desirous of trying a truly different method. If it's not something you WANT to try, then you might not end up liking this book at all, and so will just be out the purchase price, with no sexual benefits.

So ask yourself whether you want to try a new type of sexual practice, paradigm, or ontology. If you do, then this is an excellent book. If you don't, then it is too truly foreign for you to enjoy or benefit from.