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Forget pole dancing, mindfulness meditation classes are your ticket to better sex!

Two recently published studies show increased arousal and sexual desire following meditation classes among women of all ages.

In 2011, the Journal of  Gynecologic Oncology published a study of women, aged 31 to 64, who had experienced distressing sexual concerns following gynecologic cancer. Half of the subjects participated in three, 90-minute sessions of mindfulness training, while the other half abstained from any training. The group that received training saw significant improvements in all areas of sexual responsiveness, including increased perception of arousal when viewing an erotic film.

Another study, published last year in Psychosomatic Medicine, tested the effects of meditation on sexual perceptions among college students. Like the previously mentioned study, the subjects were divided into two groups – those who participated in 12 weeks of meditation classes and those who did not. The most significant outcomes were observed in the female students. Compared to the female subjects that did not participate in training, those in the meditation group reported increased physical responses to viewing sexually stimulating images. Researchers hypothesize that young women negatively evaluate their own sexual performance and often fail to be in touch with their bodily responses to stimuli, but with meditation these characteristics were weakened.