Sex in Ayurveda
Sex and Health
Although we are not taught this in school, the ability to perform in the bedroom and having a strong sexual appetite are signs of good health. Simultaneously, sex promotes good health as well as longevity. In Ayurveda, one of the main causes of aging is "dryness", as reflected by dehydration, lack of fluidity, and lack of healthy secretions in and out of the body.
Sex is a gift we have to stay young by promoting liquidity, fluidity, mobility and healthy secretions. So it is advisable not to endure a "dry spell" for too long. Pent-up sexual energy needs to be released. But, we should also keep in mind that like all other things in life, sex is to be enjoyed in moderation and not overused or misused. There is a time and place for it. There are limits.
When is a good time to have sex according to Ayurveda?
An eminent Ayurvedic doctor, Dr. Suhas Kshirsgar, says the following on sex:
Ayurveda believes that nighttime is the ideal time for sex, rather than the morning and daytime. It also encourages more sex during the colder months of the year rather than during the hotter months, when there’s a greater loss of energy and fluids from the body. Few books on health today dare to talk about sex, which is often relegated to books dedicated solely to the subject. But I bring this up because I want you to keep in mind the value that an active sex life brings to your life, and your ability to achieve and maintain an ideal weight. Just as we need water, food, and oxygen to live, so do we need to practice one of the greatest creative forces through which we can express and share our love. - Tip No. 20 in the 'seminal' book, The Hot Belly Diet
Is it bad to have morning sex?
It depends. Let us consider the effect of sex on the doshas. If the sex is vigorous, that is, it involves a lot of physical movement, then the sex is equivalent to physical exercise, which increases vata (the air principle) in the body. This may be a good thing, as Ayurveda encourages us to exercise in the morning, between 6 am and 10 am, in order to weaken the grip of kapha (the water principle). Too much kapha can result in tiredness, laziness, and lethargy, and so it is best to exercise or have rigorous sex in the morning, in order to counteract kapha. This may run counter to conventional lines of thought in Ayurveda (as reflected above in Dr. Suhas's commentary), but at the end of the day, we must use our mind in such a way so as to deploy energy in a way that benefits us and enables us to take advantage of (a) nature's rhythms and cycles and (b) our inherent capacity, strength and urge to perform.
For men, it may be particularly enabling to have sex around 5:00 am or 5:00 pm, for the simple reason that vata is at its peak at those points in the day. Vata increases the flow of blood to the penis and, therefore, a man's erection is likely to be strongest during the time of vata, i.e. between 2:00 am and 6:00 am in the morning and between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm in the late afternoon. This is consistent also with modern medical research, which has shown that cardiovascular strength peaks around 5:00 pm, and so this is the best hour for cardio exercise. For a woman that expects her man to perform well during sex, it helps to understand how vata works and accordingly initiate sex at the right hour.
Although we are not taught this in school, the ability to perform in the bedroom and having a strong sexual appetite are signs of good health. Simultaneously, sex promotes good health as well as longevity. In Ayurveda, one of the main causes of aging is "dryness", as reflected by dehydration, lack of fluidity, and lack of healthy secretions in and out of the body.
Sex is a gift we have to stay young by promoting liquidity, fluidity, mobility and healthy secretions. So it is advisable not to endure a "dry spell" for too long. Pent-up sexual energy needs to be released. But, we should also keep in mind that like all other things in life, sex is to be enjoyed in moderation and not overused or misused. There is a time and place for it. There are limits.
When is a good time to have sex according to Ayurveda?
An eminent Ayurvedic doctor, Dr. Suhas Kshirsgar, says the following on sex:
Ayurveda believes that nighttime is the ideal time for sex, rather than the morning and daytime. It also encourages more sex during the colder months of the year rather than during the hotter months, when there’s a greater loss of energy and fluids from the body. Few books on health today dare to talk about sex, which is often relegated to books dedicated solely to the subject. But I bring this up because I want you to keep in mind the value that an active sex life brings to your life, and your ability to achieve and maintain an ideal weight. Just as we need water, food, and oxygen to live, so do we need to practice one of the greatest creative forces through which we can express and share our love. - Tip No. 20 in the 'seminal' book, The Hot Belly Diet
Is it bad to have morning sex?
It depends. Let us consider the effect of sex on the doshas. If the sex is vigorous, that is, it involves a lot of physical movement, then the sex is equivalent to physical exercise, which increases vata (the air principle) in the body. This may be a good thing, as Ayurveda encourages us to exercise in the morning, between 6 am and 10 am, in order to weaken the grip of kapha (the water principle). Too much kapha can result in tiredness, laziness, and lethargy, and so it is best to exercise or have rigorous sex in the morning, in order to counteract kapha. This may run counter to conventional lines of thought in Ayurveda (as reflected above in Dr. Suhas's commentary), but at the end of the day, we must use our mind in such a way so as to deploy energy in a way that benefits us and enables us to take advantage of (a) nature's rhythms and cycles and (b) our inherent capacity, strength and urge to perform.
For men, it may be particularly enabling to have sex around 5:00 am or 5:00 pm, for the simple reason that vata is at its peak at those points in the day. Vata increases the flow of blood to the penis and, therefore, a man's erection is likely to be strongest during the time of vata, i.e. between 2:00 am and 6:00 am in the morning and between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm in the late afternoon. This is consistent also with modern medical research, which has shown that cardiovascular strength peaks around 5:00 pm, and so this is the best hour for cardio exercise. For a woman that expects her man to perform well during sex, it helps to understand how vata works and accordingly initiate sex at the right hour.
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