Love and Fear
Various spiritual teachings, such as A Course in Miracles, say that there are only two fundamental emotions: love and fear. For the body, this is true....
Today our biggest long-term stressors are emotional and mental, not physical. In effect, we are a "new" scientific experiment. We face threats in the form of potential job loss, the pressure of commuting in heavy traffic, a barrage of fear-producing media, relationship disharmony within a marriage, etc. Even though these are not physical threats, our body has only one, automatic response: more cortisol. Cortisol is very hard on the body, so all these threats indirectly become physical threats. Fortunately, we have a built-in mechanism for countering stress...
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Have A Laugh at the Gender Gap
At his son's recent wedding, President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan remembered his own wedding with his wife Wu 30 years ago. He said they had taken just six wedding photos.
"But like every couple, there are fights and quarrels in married life. Every time when there was a fight, a picture was torn, and so now there are no more [wedding] pictures left," said the President, who got a round of chuckles from the audience when he noted, "Now I realize why young couples like to take so many sets of wedding pictures nowadays."
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Letters from the Trenches
Many of us hunger for this, but haven't been outwardly exposed to this information, (in fact have been very purposefully steered away from it.) I have thought and been told all my life that I am damaged sexually because I don't respond to orgasmic intercourse. For my whole life I have had no inclination to engage in standard sex but did because I tried to be normal. I now opt for celibacy over the old ways. Maybe I will not get to realize the dormant potential curled up within me that true union would awaken. My body is quiet knowing I will not settle for less than true union.
I am speaking to many people about "Peace Between the Sheets". Several have taken it to heart and are beginning to practice the exchanges with lovely results. So my idea is to film people of different ages and backgrounds, who are willing to journey into this way of making love, as they progress through the process, through the ups and downs, the joys and setbacks, and to be as honest as possible. I would also love to document lovers actually engaging in some of the Exchanges. L.R.
PEACE BETWEEN THE SHEETS News
Join Marnia for a candid, engaging talk highlighting how recent neuroscience discoveries dovetail with ancient prescriptions for sacred sexuality. Learn how evolutionary biology has hard-wired men and women for passion followed by indifference, hostility, or cravings for new partners. Discover why the ancient Taoists and others recommended a less-passionate, but more heart-centered, approach to love making, and why this simple shift has major implications for mankind's ability to move toward the spiritual ideal of overcoming dual perception. There will be time for questions and answers. Marnia will be speaking at the Network for a New Culture Summer Camp in Oregon on Thursday afternoon, August 18, 2005.
New Male Contraceptive?...
Male contraception is going to become simpler, cheaper and safer by November when a revolutionary technique invented at IIT Kharagpur hits the market. A single injection, estimated to cost Rs 120, will be enough to make a man infertile for more than 10 years, unlike the currently available pills that need to be taken every day.
By lowering the dose, the period of contraception can be shortened. Also, the effects of the new drug, now into its third and final phase of clinical trials, can be reversed at any time with another injection.
"The contraceptive has no side-effects," said Dr Sujoy K. Guha, professor of biomedical engineering, IIT-K, who led the team that developed the technique, named reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance or Risug. "It doesn’t affect the user’s libido, performance or sperm count."
Risug has already been patented in India, the US and many other countries. The Mumbai-based Glenmark Laboratories Ltd has procured the right to manufacture and market the drug. "We expect to do that by mid-November," said Rajesh Jhingan, vice-president, business development, GLL.
Risug uses two chemicals - styrene maleic anhydride and dimethyl sulphoxide - which are injected into each side of the vas deferens, the tube that transports semen from the testes to the penis.
"Within an hour, the drugs produce an electrical charge that nullifies the electrical charge of the spermatozoa, preventing it from penetrating the ovum," Dr Guha said.
Men can leave the hospital immediately after an injection and resume their normal sex lives within a week.
The technique was developed over 25 years in collaboration with All India Institute of Medical Sciences and with support from the ministry of health and family planning.
* Safe, sure and simple
Risug is hassle-free compared with condoms or pills and easier than withdrawal and abstinence. It’s reversible unlike vasectomy
* It’s more user-friendly than a rival being made in Australia that uses an implant, to be replaced every 4 months, as well as a three-monthly injection, and which needs to be supplemented with extra doses of testosterone. It takes months to reverse the contraception.
