You can change your life in just seven minutes a day . . . A soft message for a hard time, The Promise of Love, Sex, and Intimacy is a simple yet profound solution to the cause of all human discontent: the lack of intimacy, especially sexual intimacy. Even amidst the plethora of techniques now available for so-called enlightenment—from meditation and visualization to intensive prayer retreats or obsessive exercise regimens— the need for intimacy has been left unsatisfied. Requiring just seven minutes a day, the practice taught in this book—called “Your Seven-Minute Wonder”—answers that need by opening the body and psyche to gratifying levels of personal and sexual intimacy. It is the practical means that allows you to tangibly realize your ideals and inherent perfection. Renowned teacher Mark Whitwell, who has spent a lifetime studying the secrets of life with the great masters, has seen through to the heart of their understanding, and created a simple way for readers to acquire it for themselves. “Your Seven-Minute Wonder” is a physical practice— a combination of healthful breathing sustained by synchronistic body movement. Its purpose is to be uplifting and totally functional: a dynamic interflow of “inspiration” or inhalation (receptivity), with the “expression” or exhalation (strength). This in-and-out breathing cycle, which Mark carefully delineates, activates the deep male-female polarity within each of us, regardless of gender. The practice is effortless for everyone, and practitioners report that their well-being, vitality, sexuality, self-awareness, and true desires are awakened immediately and dramatically. It restores health and dignity, and sex becomes utterly relevant to a graceful life. Further, as you become receptive to your breath—the basis of all human function—you become responsive to money, power, and collaboration of all sorts. The Promise of Love, Sex, and Intimacy is a wise, powerful, and easy-to-follow roadmap to a practice that can be life-changing: one that promises to open you up to an entirely new level of human understanding.

Love, sex, and marriage are changing faster than ever before in human history. The current tidal wave of social changes will continue into the next century, and we will have to adapt our sexual values and relationships to these accelerating changes. These 22 honest, authentic stories tell of the unconventional paths pioneering church leaders and spiritually-aware women and men have taken in their quest to link their sexuality with their spiritual needs. Some might see in these unorthodox explorations only tales of promiscuous couplings. But these are not stories of wild thrill-seekers. These are tales told from the core of their being about their deeply felt need for genuine, responsible love and intimacy within a spiritual context. Their journeys do not promise paradise or instant happiness, as popular magazines do with recipes for lifelong marital bliss and fiery passion. These sojourners have much to teach us, even when we decide that this or that path is not for us. Their individual paths are not nearly as important as the simple message of God and Eros being inseparable that underlies journey. God and Eros can come together in many different relationships. And they must come together if we want to nourish and fulfill the divine spark at the core of our being. These women and men challenge our assumptions and our willingness to adapt to our radically changing world.

Case studies offer insight into how to make relationships work. Each chapter contains such exercises as breathing exercises, making a timeline of the relationship, and thoughts to ponder.

Is ______ok in the bedroom? If I’m single, how far is too far? How do I get past my shame? Whether you are married or single, having great sex or no sex, your sexuality is inseparable from your spirituality. Sadly, most churches are silent on the subject. Dr. Juli Slattery is breaking the silence. In 25 Questions You're Afraid to Ask about Love, Sex, and Intimacy, she tackles the most common and critical questions women ask her about sexuality, like: What if I don’t like sex? Can I be single and sexual? Is masturbation a sin? How do I make time to make love? What if I want sex more than my husband does? Candid, wise, and practically minded, Dr. Slattery addresses matters like sexual abuse, pornography, betrayal in marriage, intimacy in the bedroom, singleness, and more, calling women to think biblically about all areas of their sexuality. Find answers to your questions, liberation from your fears, and freedom to explore God's good gifts of love, sex, and intimacy.

A practical step‑by‑step methodology for nurturing and sustaining our intimate relationships through first focusing on self, extending to partners, and the world We can apply the law of attraction, love languages, and every hack in the world. We can do all the yoga, spa days, workshops, and retreats we can make time for. But without an underpinning of intimacy, our experience of ourselves is soft and dreamy and lacks the kind of specificity necessary to truly know ourselves through and through. With intimacy as the foundational principle of our existence, we can build a life based on what we truly need, not what have been told we need, think we need, or what we think we should need. No matter who you are and who you like to have sex with, my intention is to arm you with a new toolkit and consciousness for cultivating the deeply connected relationships you desire and the life you deserve. Zoe Kors draws on her experience as an intimacy coach, workshop leader and sex and relationships writer, sharing her powerful--and practical--step‑by‑step methodology for nurturing and sustaining our intimate relationships over time. It addresses the essential truth that is almost universally missed in discussions of sex and intimacy: We can meet each other only to the extent that we can meet ourselves. Kors guides the reader on a five‑part journey through nine areas of opportunity for deepening intimacy with themselves, their partner, and their world, inviting them to embrace emotional, physical, and energetic self‑mastery, which is required to skillfully relate with others. Voice-driven, accessible--with the right amount of tough love--Radical Intimacy rewrites the rules (and The Rules) by: Introducing the concept of "Energetic Intimacy" as a real thing. I talk about concepts like presence and energy, in a way that is accessible and makes sense to the mainstream market (not woo-woo!) Defining and busting "The Attachment Myth"--my term for the rampant and erroneous belief that women emotionally attach to their sexual partners--rewriting the common narrative, giving women freedom and agency to own their embodied sexuality without guilt or shame. Shifting the vocabulary around sex and intimacy to feel real, organic, and unapologetic by speaking with ease and confidence about sex and sexuality--no euphemisms, no air quotes, no beating around the bush (so to speak). Telling the truth that sex is not effortless. Great sex is cultivated over time through practice. Evangelizing intimacy as an ongoing and life-altering practice that happens not just between two people, but on an individual level first. Dismantling porn-culture's stronghold on the misperception of women's bodies and sexuality so that we may respect, revere, and fall love with women (and ourselves) for the magical and varied creatures we are.

Lose weight. Act confident. Play hard to get. This approach to dating doesn’t lead to love, it leads to insecurity and loneliness. In Deeper Dating, psychotherapist Ken Page offers a new path to finding meaningful and lasting relationships. Learn how to attract people who love you for who you really are, become more self-assured and emotionally available, and lose your taste for relationships that diminish your self-esteem. With exercises, practical tools, and inspiring stories, Deeper Dating will guide you on a journey to find the love—and personal fulfillment—you long for.

Blends memoir and legal cases to show how contracts can create family relationships Most people think of love and contracts as strange bedfellows, or even opposites. In Love’s Promises, however, law professor Martha Ertman shows that far from cold and calculating, contracts shape and sustain families. Blending memoir and law, Ertman delves into the legal cases, anecdotes, and history of family law to show that love comes in different packages, each shaped by different contracts and mini-contracts she calls “deals.” Family law should and often does recognize that variety because legal rules, like relationships, aren’t one size fits all. The most common form of family—which Ertman calls “Plan A”—come into being through different kinds of agreements than the more uncommon families that she dubs “Plan B.” Recognizing the contractual core of all families shows that Plan B is neither unnatural nor unworthy of legal recognition, just different. After telling her own moving and often irreverent story about becoming part of a Plan B family of two moms and a dad raising a child, Ertman shows that all kinds of people—straight and gay, married and single, related by adoption or by genetics—use contracts to shape their relationships. As couples navigate marriage, reproductive technologies, adoption, and cohabitation, they encounter contracts. Sometimes hidden and other times openly acknowledged, these contracts ensure that the people they think of as “family” are legally recognized as family in the eyes of the law. Family exchanges can be substantial, like vows of fidelity, or small, like “I cook and you clean.” But regardless of scope, the agreements shape the emotional, social, and financial terrain of family relationships. Seeing the instrumental role contracts will help readers better understand how contracts and deals work in their own families as well as those around them. Both insightful and paradigm-shifting, Love’s Promises lets readers in on the power of contracts and deals to support love in its many forms and to honor the different ways that our nearest and dearest contribute to our daily lives.