Research Shows Meditation Can Positively Change Your Brain

Research shows that meditation really can positively change your brain, and it only takes a month.

Scientists studying the Chinese mindfulness meditation known as integrative body-mind training (IBMT) say they've confirmed and expanded their findings on changes in structural efficiency of white matter in the brain that can be related to positive behavioral changes in subjects practicing the technique regularly for a month.

In a paper appearing this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists Yi-Yuan Tang and Michael Posner report improved mood changes coincided with increased axonal density -- more brain-signaling connections -- and an expansion of myelin, the protective fatty tissue that surrounds the axons, in the brain's anterior cingulate region. Read more

How Much Does the Human Soul Weigh?

Can the human soul be weighed? Jerry Conser is running experiments to try to find out.

For at least 100 years, the more oddball branches of science have struggled to answer this metaphysical head-scratcher: How much does the human soul weigh?

In 1907, a Massachusetts doctor named Duncan MacDougall settled on the figure of 21 grams – the average weight loss experienced by six terminal tuberculosis patients he strapped to a scale at the moment of death. Read more

Sex Is a Skill, Like Riding a Bicycle

Though sex may be natural, it is also a skill, says Susan Miranda.

I have been doing sexuality education workshops since 1989. In one particular workshop, I focused on the idea of sex being a skill. One participant reacted very strongly against that idea. It was as though sex and sexuality could not possibly be anything other than natural or innate. I’ve been thinking about this reaction for some time now and reflecting on it in light of my experiences with learning a couple of skills as an adult.

One of the things I am most proud of is learning how to swim in my 30s. As a child living on a family farm, I heard stories of children being thrown off a boat by their siblings and told to swim—which they did. To the storytellers, my siblings, that was proof that swimming was natural. I was only grateful they didn’t throw me in the water. Instead, I was taught, mostly by my mother, to be afraid that if I attempted to learn to swim, I would drown. Read more

5 Simple Tips to Improve Your Relationship

Men's Fitness reveals five easy ways for men to improve their relationships and their sex lives with their partners.

Reinstate Date Night

Whether you’ve been together a year or a couple of decades, it’s easy to fall into a rut. Bring back the romance from when you first got together. Commit to spending one night a week as a couple, outside the house. Even if you’re just having dinner or going on a long drive, you’ll be amazed how much your relationship benefits simply from the added one-on-one communication time it brings.
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Male Ejaculation Is NOT the Most Ecstatic Moment

Male ejaculation is not the most ecstatic moment in sex, says sex educator Victor Gold. The interval just before the point of no return can be prolonged and savored for maximum pleasure.

Though it may come as a surprise to many men, the brief intoxicating rush of pleasure experienced during male ejaculation is far from the most blissful moment available to men in sex. Our pleasure potential is much greater than that. However, for a man to reach truly ecstatic states in sex requires that he spend lengthy periods (a half hour, or an hour, or more) of sexual activity in high states of arousal, but without a genital discharge. Accomplished male lovers, those who have mastered the art of seminal retention, know that male ejaculation is a vastly overrated source of sexual pleasure. They understand that calling ejaculation the “climax” of pleasure is really just a bad habit left over from early programming. Read more

The Deep Spot Orgasm Technique

The G-spot is famous for giving women powerful orgasms, but Svetlana Ivanova says the vagina has another spot that can be stimulated to trigger orgasm called the deep spot.

A lot has been written about the G-spot, which is an area within a woman’s vagina that, when stimulated, can bring intense pleasure. (See my post What’s So Great about a G-Spot Orgasm?) There is another pleasure area within the vagina that is less well-known called the deep spot. The deep spot is deeper in the vagina than the G-spot and unlike the G-spot, is smooth. According to Gray’s Anatomy, this area is called the cavity of the cervix and is situated about three and a quarter inches (eight centimeters) deep. Read more

Erotic Massage: How to Create a Relaxing Environment

One of the keys for female orgasm is being relaxed. That's why erotic massage can prepare a woman for amazing orgasms. However, she won't be able to relax if the room you're in isn't right. Gabrielle Moore reveals how to set up the perfect area.

Erotic massage preps your girl for amazing orgasms – but she won’t be able to relax if the room you’re in isn’t right. Find out how to set up the perfect area.

Before you begin your erotic massage, it is very important that you prepare the room or location in which you will be performing the massage on your partner. Your ultimate goal will be to create a soothing and relaxing environment that encourages both romance and release of stress, anxiety, and inhibition.

The first and most important thing you will want to do when preparing for the massage is to schedule the massage during a time when you and your lady have will have a couple of hours of alone time together. You don’t even have to tell her what you’re up to. Just tell her you have a surprise for her a couple of days in advance, get your massage supplies ready, and be willing and able to perform when the time arrives. Read more

Maithuna Ritual: Tantric Sexual Union

Maithuna is a Sanskrit term used in Tantra, which is most often translated as sexual union within a ritual. Maithuna refers to the coming together of god and goddess with the acknowledgement that everything is sacred, from food to acts of lovemaking. It uses physical unification for the purpose of creating spiritual unification.

Since Maithuna is practiced as a spiritual ceremony, there is an acknowledgement and honoring of a divine being. However, in Tantra, this deity is acknowledged and honored in your partner, rather than as an intellectual concept or spiritual ideal. Tantra encourages lovers to see the divinity in each other.