by Diana Daffner, published August 2013 in Natural Awakenings
Love & Intimacy: Nutrition
for the Soul
As conscious beings, we are mindful about what we eat. We
pay attention to the nutritional value of our food intake. We seek to increase
what we think is good for us and diminish consumption of unhealthy commodities.
Love, too, perhaps even more than our diet, can provide
healthy nutrition for both our bodies and our souls, even to the point of our
survival from disease. Dean Ornish, M.D, , founder of the Preventive Medicine
Research Institute, says “I am not aware of any other factor in medicine that
has a greater impact on our survival than the healing power of love and
intimacy. Not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not
drugs, not surgery."
As with food, bringing mindfulness and attention to our
intake of love can affect how beneficial it is for us. How do we do that? As
with food, it is important to select well. Without knowledge, amply provided by
magazines such as this, we might make poor choices. Of course, we need to apply
our knowledge intelligently. When I
was young, I must have somehow learned that too much salt was not good to eat.
I distinctly remember feeding potato chips to my dog, but first licking off the
salt because I knew it would not be
healthy for her!
Selecting a love partner involves more than knowledge and the
necessary rational application. Lovers are drawn toward each other by many inexplicable
forces – perhaps including karma, pheromones, astrological intervention and who
knows what else. Once we are in the relationship, we must continue to be smart
about how to give and receive love in the most nutritional way possible.
Eye Contact
It is said that eyes are the windows to the soul. A recent Yale study actually supports the idea that our sense of our true essence is indeed located in or near the eyes. Intimacy can be thought of as “into-me-see.” Allowing our beloved to see into our eyes is perhaps the most direct path to cultivating the nutritionally intimate aspect of love.
It is said that eyes are the windows to the soul. A recent Yale study actually supports the idea that our sense of our true essence is indeed located in or near the eyes. Intimacy can be thought of as “into-me-see.” Allowing our beloved to see into our eyes is perhaps the most direct path to cultivating the nutritionally intimate aspect of love.
Although it is considered romantic, couples often do not
make strong eye contact, even when making love. Instead, we usually close our
eyes! Closing the eyes may put us more in touch with what we are feeling in our
body. However it is the eye contact that puts us more in touch with our
partner. It is the eye contact that provides the opening to our soul.
In the movie Avatar, the phrase “I see you” is used to acknowledge a deep resonance and respect for
one another at that soul level. In the novel “The Amaranth Bloom,” author
Deborah June Goemans describes a South African ritual of soulful story telling
called kukummi. “It starts with Ma
saying, “I see you,” she writes.
