Unlocking Libido Secrets: Ayurvedic Insights on Balancing Sexual Drive + Consciousness
In our highly sexually orientated culture, any decrease or weakening of the sexual drive is seen with suspicion. Lack of interest in sex, however, can be a sign of development in consciousness and the awakening of detachment. This can be a sign of good health.
It’s natural for your sexual drive to differ from person to person, from unique constitution to unique constitution or dosha, and for our libido to decrease with age.
Toxin build up can also affect libido, as ama, or toxins, affect libido by irritating the nerves. On the flip side, in one who is free from ama the sexual drive is balanced and satisfaction comes easily. And did you know that making love stimulates and activates all five pranas, or energies, within you?
Sex relieves tension and stress through a natural activation of the pranas, which in turn causes the body to expel toxins from the tissues. ~ Atreya Smith
When we look after our shukra, or vital essence, and engage in sex within our own capacity then there is nothing healthier! Sexual intimacy with a partner whom we love can be the greatest aphrodisiac to actually enhance your libido. Sex without love depletes vitality and deranges the emotions, causing many problems.
Abstinence from sex can also cause disease if the energy is merely suppressed as the energy can stagnate and weaken. This is why it’s often important to follow a lifestyle which includes some form of yoga, pranayama and prayer to transmute sexual energy so that it is still being channelled in a healthy way.
Factors That Reduce Libido
Stressful living, infrequent or too much exercise, plus instability of all kinds affect libido because of the action on Vata, or the mind. Moving house? Changing job? Not sure where you’re going in life? Had an unresolved conflict with your partner, or a friend (seemingly totally unrelated!) - will all affect your libido.
It is your mind which can either balance or imbalance our internal energies (doshas), and therefore your hormones which relate to libido. Mental and physical tensions can build when couples live together and one person is interested in sex, and the other isn’t. This can lead to imbalance and disharmony with your doshas, which can affect libido.
Guilt, shame and obsessive compulsion about sex causes waaay more problems than sex itself, solves. It’s when sexual desire becomes a dominant force, obscuring your own higher purpose - your place in this world and connection to something higher than yourself - that your potential to suffer emotionally increases.
Factors That Increase Libido
Increased sex drive can also occur due to the awakening of the subtle energies of the mind through spiritual practise, by stimulating the lower chakras that in turn can increase both the sexual drive and mental creativity.
It’s no wonder that we want to enjoy sex during our prime years, as in ayurveda it’s understood that through regular sex, our subtle channels, or nadis, are kept open and clear throughout the body through the engagement in sex with our partner.
The good news is that almost all of the factors which affect libido during the Pitta years of life between the age of 25 - 55 are the same factors which support overall health, vitality and immunity! There is a special section of ayurveda dedicated to aphrodisiacs, called Vajikarana. Interestingly though, it deals with overall health & sexual health as a whole - not only on herbs or medicines which increase libido, as we would usually think of when we talk about aphrodisiacs. All of the ayurvedic tonics and herbs which work on sexual health actually have a special affinity and an ability to enhance libido. Herbs frequently used are Shatavari, Ashwaghanda and Kumari, or Aloe Vera.
To a great extent, looking after your shukra is one of the best ways to water the seed for enhancing your libido. Shukra is the final transformation of what we eat and drink, resulting in our reproductive fluids, or shukra. This means that diet can play a huge role in nourishing your overall sexual energy, and also your libido. As already mentioned however, the mental-emotional component is far more important and influential than anything else, which is also why there may me many subtle aspects to address. since your libido is multi-dimensional result of your multi-dimensional being - your mind, body, emotions and spirit.
One factor that can help to increase libido is to enhance a deeper emotional bond between you and your partner. This can also be an experience where the intimacy is prolonged with less of a focus on orgasm - for both partners. Women generally need more time to warm up, and if the man can facilitate this and the mood, both partners can create the time and space to appreciate each other, intimately. It doesn’t matter any technique - it’s about creating a spacious and open mind through positive emotional bonding and help to harmonise your energies.
Reference: Practical Ayurveda, Atreya
Summary
There is obviously a lot more that can be said on this relationship between ayurveda, health and libido, however there is no exact recipe for sexual energy! As we have explored, there are a lot of factors which contribute, such as age, state of health or level of toxins in your system, emotional & mental well-being, as well as the dynamics of your relationship, and stress.
If you’d like to enhance your vitality with ayurveda, book an Ayurveda Consultation to start the journey to vibrant sexual health for longevity. Together, we can explore the factors which may be affecting your libido and utilise ayurvedic herbs and supplements to support your sexual energy.