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So - What do sexuality,
polarity therapy and healing have in common? The immediate misconception is that our sexuality
(sexual behavior, sexual thoughts, internal visual images, sexual partner preference and choice,
body-concept, arousal pattern, level of desire, etc.) can be separated from who we are, how we
think and what is going on physiologically in our body.
The second misconception is
that healing happens piecemeal, that we can "heal" or change one body part or one aspect of our
mind-body-spirit without affecting every other part. Our body is a hologram, every part affects
and reflects every other part.
The third misconception is that
healing equals perfection (perfect health, perfect relationship, perfect finances, a perfect
life). Our body is a metaphor, a physical representation of our thoughts, actions and responses,
revealing to us what we need to pay attention to, change or learn.
I remember hearing about AIDS
patients, on their deathbed, claiming that they were "healing." They were not healing their
physical bodies because they were dying. Yet they were healing something - perhaps their
relationships, perhaps their accepting the love that was always there, perhaps realizing their
own loving potential, or perhaps healing or letting go of their sense of control and superiority
as a mere mortal being.
Touch Heals.
Touch is the first sense to
develop and one of the last to fade. Touch triggers the release of endorphins, hormones that
help to suppress pain and make us feel good. In fact, there is one gene in our body,
ornithisnecoborulase, that is only turned on through touch.
Numerous studies about the
healing effects of massage, conducted by the Touch Research Institute in Miami, Florida and
other locations, by psychologist Tiffany Field, Ph.D. and her colleagues, indicate that touch
lowers stress hormones and increases levels of serotonin, which is just what many
anti-depression drugs do.
Massaging touch (15 minutes, 3
times per week, for 5 weeks) has been shown to relieve and manage pain, improve circulation and
breathing, lower heart rate and blood pressure, decrease anxiety and stress, enhance
flexibility, relaxation, energy, and body awareness, elevate mood, and even improve performance
of mathematical calculations.
Studies at The Upledger
Craniosacral Institute in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, have indicated that craniosacral therapy
can help clients to heal from post traumatic stress disorder, autism, migraines, and many other
physical and psychological ailments.
Sexuality Heals.
In 1994, the 14th World
Congress of Sexology adopted The Declaration of Sexual Rights, which declared: "Sexual pleasure,
including autoeroticism, is a source of physical, psychological, intellectual and spiritual
well-being." (WAS, 1994. The Health Benefits of Sexual Expression, White Paper. April 2003.
Published by Katharine Dexter McCormick Library, Planned Parenthood Foundation of American).
Regular sexual activity has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress, increase fitness and brain
stimulation, lower blood pressure, relieve pain, improve sleep, enhance immunity, increase
longevity, and promote peak spiritual experiences.
Normal sexual response depends
on the interplay of sensual stimulation (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) and vascular and
neuromuscular activities, precipitated and mediated by hormones and neurotransmitters. Sexual
attraction, desire, arousal, orgasm and tendency toward bonding result from a delicate and
fragile combination of events.
Sexual desire is a
mental-emotional-sensational event which may operate separately from our natural sexual
functioning. In other words, our body may be able to perform sexually without our feeling desire
or we may feel sexual desire without becoming
physiologically
aroused.
The significant hormones in the sexual response cycle
are:
Attraction, Sexual Desire and
Tendency Toward Bonding
• DHEA -
androgen precursor to testosterone, estrogen and pheromones which stimulates limbic arousal in
men and women
• Dopamine
- located in the mesolimbic "pleasure center," presumed to enhance sexual response, bonding and
monogamy
•
Vasopressin - a peptide hormone, released in the brain during sexual response, increases pair
bonding and aggression by males toward other males
Arousal
• Estrogen
- keeps vaginal ph lower, increases number of lactobacillus (good bacteria, and increases blood
flow but increased estrogen can decrease sexual desire
•
Progesterone - balances estrogen so that oxytocin can be high but may also
inhibit testosterone
•
Testosterone - androgen, a threshold level is needed for sexual arousal
• Choline -
precursor of neurotransmitter acetylcholine, essential for memory, muscle control and
cardiovascular health, it transfers the sexual arousal messages to the genital arteries and
releases nitrous oxide (necessary for
penile erection and clitoral
swelling
•
Epinephrine and Norepinephrine - stress hormones, increase during sexual activity
Orgasm and Post-Orgasm Tendency
Toward Bonding
• PEA -
amphetamine-like stimulant whose levels spike at orgasm and ovulation and mediate feelings of
romance and love
• Oxytocin
- the cuddle hormone, spikes at orgasm leading to post orgasm inertia facilitating attraction,
touch sensation and bonding
*Note - Effect increased by
estrogen and yohimbine and decreased by alcohol
•
Prolaction - released after orgasm to give the body a rest, it inhibits appetite as well as
sexual desire, arousal and orgasm,
•
Serotonins - creates relaxing, dreamy, after-sex glow and sleeping better
*Note - serotonin can inhibit
release of dopamine, decreasing sexual response
Drugs that increase serotonin
are associated with anorgasmia and delayed ejaculation
•
Endorphins - feel good hormones, relieve pain, stimulate immune system
Healthy sexual functioning
involves adequate neural signals from the central nervous system and an optimum balance within
the autonomic nervous system, fluctuating between the stress response (activation of the
sympathetic nervous system) and the relaxation response (activation of the parasympathetic
nervous system).
Sexual arousal (vaginal
lubrication and penile erection) is a neuro-vascular event mediated by the autonomic nervous
system. Adequate central nervous system stimulation triggers the male erection reflex at spinal
cord segments S2, S3, and S4. Adequate parasympathetic stimulation triggers the relaxation of
smooth muscles and blood flow within the penis as well as female vaginal tissue engorgement and
lubrication.
Orgasm and ejaculation are
neuromuscular events. They require adequate central nervous system stimulation to trigger the
male ejaculation reflex at multiple spinal cord levels, receptors in the skin of the penis,
firing of the pudendal nerve causing compression of the penile urethra and rhythmic smooth
muscle contractions and vascular constriction as well as female orgasmic response, a similar but
more diffuse response that may be mediated by the vagus nerve.
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