While the Kama Sutra is way more than just a sexual guidebook, it’s important to note that it was really the first erotic text of its kind. “Kama means desire, and Kama Deva is the god of love and desire. The Kama Sutra is a 4th century Hindu text written in Sanskrit. It is the first erotic treatise in the world,” says Ruth Vanita, PhD, a professor of South and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Montana. “The Kama Sutra is divided into several chapters. It gives advice to people on how to enjoy the pleasures of life, including sex.” Vanita explains that the text also encourages people to engage in 64 different forms of art—like cooking, music, and even flower arrangement—to experience pleasure beyond the bedroom. Yoga: Tantric yoga is a form of yoga that focuses on uniting the body, mind, and spirit. It often includes breathwork, meditation, and physical postures. Sengupta, J. (2006). Refractions of Desire, Feminist Perspectives in the Novels of Toni Morrison, Michèle Roberts, and Anita Desai. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p.21. ISBN 978-81-269-0629-1. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016 . Retrieved 7 December 2014.

Remove stress from the bedroom: Making your sexual space as low-stress as possible will be the key to improving your romantic setting, she adds. "Remove technology like laptops, phones, and the television from your bedroom. Try to take any distractions away so you can focus on each other." Kumkum Roy (2000). Janaki Nair and Mary John (ed.). A Question of Silence: The Sexual Economies of Modern India. Zed Books. p.52. ISBN 978-1-85649-892-0. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 . Retrieved 5 December 2018. Minke de Vos teaches Tantra and Taoist Arts to women all over the world. This book mixes theory with a plethora of exercises and practices to get you understanding your feminine energy. The book covers all stages of life from puberty and youth through womanhood, pregnancy and to menopause. The book is based on the Taoist Traditions of the Yellow Emperor and the three female advisers who taught him all about the art of sexual energy and practice. The practices honour our natural feminine energy: to be receptive, soft, sensitive, intuitive and creative, and to use these qualities as a powerful tool to manifest our destiny. Minke teaches how to channel our natural sexual energy and to heal deep-rooted emotions, so that we are no longer controlled by our feelings and these don’t interfere in our sexual lives. John Keay (2010). India: A History: from the Earliest Civilisations to the Boom of the Twenty-first Century. Grove Press. pp.81–103. ISBN 978-0-8021-9550-0. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015 . Retrieved 10 December 2014. a b c d Vatsyayana; SC Upadhyaya (transl) (1965). Kama sutra of Vatsyayana Complete translation from the original Sanskrit. DB Taraporevala (Orig publication year: 1961). pp.69, 141–156. OCLC 150688197.Preparations for kama, sixty four arts for a better quality of life, how girls can learn and train in these arts, their lifelong benefits and contribution to better kama A powerful critique of how the present-day study of society is entangled with histories of colonial, caste supremacist, and communalist knowledge production. Indian Sex Life is sure to become a classic in the fields of gender and sexuality studies and South Asian history."—Jessica Hinchy, Journal of the History of Sexuality Rocher, Ludo (1985). "The Kāmasūtra: Vātsyāyana's Attitude toward Dharma and Dharmaśāstra". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 105 (3): 521–529. doi: 10.2307/601526. JSTOR 601526. So, if the Kama Sutra isn’t just the sexual playbook many sources in Western culture have touted it to be, then what exactly is it—and what can it teach us about sexuality, sensuality, and more? Below, experts explain what the ancient text is really all about. What is the Kama Sutra?

Second, tantra is not for everyone. If you’re not comfortable with your body or with the idea of exploring your sexuality, then tantra may not be right for you.This is one all about the science surrounding female sexuality and pleasure," says Julia Kotziamani, a sex and relationship coach and educator who specializes in helping women reconnect with their sexuality. Human nature, tendencies of men, tendencies of women, why women lose interest and start looking elsewhere, avoiding adultery, pursuing adultery, finding women interested in extramarital sex Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965). The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary (fourth revised & enlargeded.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 81-208-0567-4.

Wendy Doniger (2016). Redeeming the Kamasutra. Oxford University Press. pp.155–157. ISBN 978-0-19-049928-0. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019 . Retrieved 20 November 2018. Okay, real talk: If you’ve ever wondered how the eff women enjoy cowgirl sex, been curious about how to incorporate sex toys into your usual routine, and/or liked the idea of exploring a new relationship dynamic in the bedroom (hi, bondage!), the answers you’re looking for are probably all chilling in a book. Seriously. Coltrane, Scott (1998). Gender and families. Rowman & Littlefield. p.36. ISBN 9780803990364. Archived from the original on 30 April 2016 . Retrieved 15 November 2015. Jyoti Puri, who has published a review and feminist critique of the text, states that the " Kamasutra is frequently appropriated as indisputable evidence of a non-Western and tolerant, indeed celebratory, view of sexuality" and for "the belief that the Kamasutra provides a transparent glimpse into the positive, even exalted, view of sexuality". [115] However, according to Puri, this is a colonial and anticolonial modernist interpretation of the text. These narratives neither resonate with nor provide the "politics of gender, race, nationality and class" in ancient India published by other historians and that may have been prevalent then. [116] Many of the stories challenge traditional gender roles and explore the complexities of human relationships.Across human cultures, states Michel Foucault, "the truth of sex" has been produced and shared by two processes. One method has been ars erotica texts, while the other has been the scientia sexualis literature. The first are typically of the hidden variety and shared by one person to another, between friends or from a master to a student, focusing on the emotions and experience, sans physiology. These bury many of the truths about sex and human sexual nature. [64] [65] The second are empirical studies of the type found in biology, physiology and medical texts, focusing on the physiology and objective observations, sans emotions. [64] [65] The Kamasutra belongs to both camps, states Doniger. It discusses, in its distilled form, the physiology, the emotions and the experience while citing and quoting prior Sanskrit scholarship on the nature of kama. [65] Hence the tide paved the way to modern erotica anthologies like Electric Feathers: The Tranquebar Collection of Erotic Love Stories and the The Zubaan Anthology of Women's Erotica. Wendy Doniger (2016). Redeeming the Kamasutra. Oxford University Press. p.27. ISBN 978-0-19-049928-0. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019 . Retrieved 20 November 2018.