Good Clean Lovin’ and the Tantric Experience
Personal intimacy products are finally coming out of the closet, or more correctly, out of the sleazy adult shop — and into the realm of the conscious consumer. Product manufacturer Good Clean Love has re-formulated and re-packaged their line of personal lubricants to be more earth friendly, as well as 100% vegan. Now you can feel good about feeling good. Check out their extensive line of classy love products at www.goodcleanlove.com. You can order a sampler of their Almost Naked lubricants for only $1. (more…)
There are lots of sexual stimulation products on the market for both men and women, but there’s nothing quite like Magic Power Coffee. Where most non-pharmaceutical products are herbal mixtures that come in capsules (featuring yohimbe, catuaba, horny goat weed, and other herbs), Magic Power Coffee takes the power of stimulating herbs and mixes it with coffee. The result is a stimulating combination that touches both men and women on many levels, physically and psychologically. After all, there’s nothing like sharing a warm cup of coffee with your beloved for heightening romance. Now there’s no doubt about the romance!
The Hendricks duo, Gay and Katie, offer up their big tip to maintaining a great relationship using what they call, “Verbal Valentines.” This is a cute name for something you can every day without lifting a finger or completing a “honey-do.” All you do is think of something you value and appreciate about your loved one and then verbalize it to them when they are receptive (that is, not while they are in the middle of solving the world’s problems or paying the bills). The Hendricks claim their method has been key to their relationship going well and strong for 29 years and counting. They provide examples and elaborate on the instructions, so read all about the Hendricks’ Verbal Valentines technique at 
Aimgrrrl of Seattle shared on her blog the 15 things she does with her spouse that keeps their relationship good and healthy despite being imperfect like the rest of us. From minding your “I love yous,” “thank yous” and apologies to respecting each other, and working as a team, Aimgrrrl has some nice tips. My favorites include “Choose your battles,” “Make time for one another,” and “Demonstrate your love in the little things.”
Found on Integral Options Café, John Welwood’s outstanding article, “Relationship as a Crucible” begins by admitting this universal truth: Everyone has a hard time with intimate relationships and most of us would like ours to be healthy and satisfying. Welwood says one of the hardest parts is maintaining love over time.
Here’s a cool thing in the light of recent events, Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks’ article written about Michele and Barack Obama’s relationship and how it’s a hidden benefit for us all. See it all here on 
In “What’s Holding You Back from Love, Passion and Connection?” Susie and Otto Collins, married relationship coaches, share their discovery of “the theory of constraints” which they found out about from — of all places — a business conference. They said that when you can’t get what you want out of your relationship, something is holding you back that needs to be discovered and eliminated. This, in turn, brings you closer to what you want! Sounds great! Their four steps include:
The blog Life Optimizer has a great article about how seemingly one-dimensional self-improvements can often go much deeper than initially intended. JoLynn Braley explains in “How Personal Growth Can Uncover a Toxic Relationship” that when you consciously choose to work on self improvement, you will not just improve your own life but you will also benefit the whole world. “Every bit you do to raise your own consciousness contributes to the level of global consciousness.”
In “8 Ways to Affair-Proof Your Marriage,” author Therese J. Borchard gives us advice on preventing what happens to many married monogamous couples which usually winds up fatally jeopardizing their relationship’s future. As common sense as it may seem, actively avoiding situations that could lead to temptations is a good prevention of regrettable events! Ms. Borchard gives us specific tips she has personally gathered on how to make her and our marriages absolutely affair-proof. Nurturing safe friendships makes the list and Ms. Borchard counts this as the most important affair-prevention exercise in her life. Your partner will have interests that you will not enjoy nearly as much as they do, and vice versa. Having buddies to enjoy these activities with takes the pressure off the relationship for things it can’t necessarily easily feed. 
In “Married Life of a Rebel Life,” a section of the blog Oliva’s Beauty and Madness, Olivia reveals that she once thought she didn’t believe in love but has come to realize that her definition of it simply differed from what she had been fed about from outside sources. Instead of associating love with infatuation, giddiness and chills, Olivia believes it to be more like conscientiousness in action when dealing with your partner and that it can also be those certain compromises in life. Here’s one of the examples from her list of observations on true love in action: “…It’s when a person who’s used to having things done her way suddenly pauses to think about what the other person might think….” For Olivia’s complete list, go to her blog at 
Unless you are an anthropologist or an historian, you may not be aware of all the strange origins of many wedding rituals we commonly take part in today. In Bizarre Origins of Wedding Traditions found on CNN.com, Jenn Thompson takes a look at some of these traditions. Love it or hate it, the garter toss and grab seems to be done at nearly every wedding. If you find it to be at least just a little bit creepy, the origins of this tradition may strike you as even creepier. For higher echelons of society (royalty for example) the marriage ceremony would be immediately followed with the consummation that used to require witnesses (to secure lineages). Often before the act, guests would grab at the bride’s garments for pieces as souvenirs (and perhaps to speed things along). The best part is that you are free to keep, delete or add rituals to your own ceremony should you desire. Keep any traditions that have meaning for you and don’t feel an ounce of guilt for letting others fall by the wayside. Realize you also have the power and freedom to create new ones if you wish! To read the original story, go to 
Robert Denton is an experienced therapist who specializes in coaching people for stress and burnout and shares an interesting story on his blog — a story he feels is a recurring one that can cause much suffering and affect both personal and professional lives. When stress of any sort mounts to enormous levels, it can can definitely lead to burnout. Among your treatment choices is to take action and change your environment. But Many equate leaving the relationship with running away from the situation.
Many people allow the two most important areas of their lives to drift to the very bottom of one’s “life list,” as life coach Nicola Ries Taggart puts it. These two essentials are: the time to nurture one’s self, and the time to nurture one’s love relationship. Have you been neglecting either or both of these? One easy way to tell is if you feel a lack of connection where it was once strong between the two of you, or if you are feeling oppressively distant from the one you are closest to.
Susie and Otto Collins, who are a couple and are both relationship coaches, answer a reader’s question about jealousy and address the subject. They explain that jealousy is most often acted out due to holding on to things that have happened to you in the past while in other relationships. This holding-on can be very unconscious and repetitive: those of us doing this are expecting the same things to happen in our present love relationship as did in past ones. One of the best ways to combat this is to consciously separate your past experiences from your present ones. This can take a little reminding, but it will really help if you question your thoughts about the past when they come up from now on.
This article held my attention; it has really intense and interesting anecdotes to illustrate the points made. Avoid the Traps of Unconscious Loving suggests that if your relationship is going poorly, it would be a good idea to think about the legacy-based reasons that may lie at the heart of what’s going wrong. The stories drawn on by Gay and Katie Hendricks to illustrate how co-dependencies can begin and then continue to manifest throughout one’s life unconsciously, affecting relationships sometimes for the worst, are vivid and can serve as inspiration and hope for getting to the roots of our own patterns. Although a caveat might be that if you are not ready to handle such discoveries with mature and constructive actions, it may in fact just lead to more places to spread blame, which will NOT solve anything and only exacerbate problems. Owning up to your own issues is essential to improving your relationship. See the article at 
Unfortunately, sometimes relationships evolve into a split up. As I’m sure you know, anyone who is going through a major split up may not have the most positive outlook on the situation. In this interview, writer Debbie Ford explores the positive side of the death of a relationship. She begins with the aptly named Spiritual Divorce, which refers to using this time as an opportunity to grow and learn, including learing to view it as a gain instead of as a loss.
Ever give much thought to lighting when it comes to the bedroom atmosphere? It’s a quick and effective way to control the ambiance in your lair, especially if you aren’t up for changing all the other things in the room (like the walls, the furniture, etc.). As you might have guessed, there are plenty of great creative lighting ideas on the Web and I’d like to share a few with you.
Leo at ZenHabits shares that his second marriage is benefiting from lessons learned from mistakes made during his first marriage. Gleaning from that he has put together a thoughtful list entitled, The Seven Deadly Sins of a Relationship. After pointing out what he feels should be done in order to feed a happy relationship, he goes into the Deadly Sins that should be avoided, beginning with Resentment. Leo says since it is a poison which can grow to mythic proportions, you absolutely need to sever it early on. His solutions include, breathing and let it go while accepting your loved one, imperfections and all. If you really can’t let it go, communicate with your loved one -– preferably in a gentle, non-confrontational manner and negotiate a solution with them that works for, not just one, but for both of you. Have the courage to talk with your loved one about problems before allowing them to blow up into much bigger ones. All the things on Leo’s list have the potential to bust up your relationship, so communication is definitely key. His complete list of do’s and don’ts can be found at 
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