A pro cuddling “shop” has opened in Portland, Oregon. Yes, it’s a place where you can have a cuddle buddy, professional cuddler Samantha Hess, for a fee.

We all love a good cuddle buddy, but a cuddling shop brings both quaint and creepy implications.

On the one hand, yes, we could all use a good cuddle. Hess says she’s getting 10,000 cuddle buddy email requests a week, an indicator of our overwhelming need for connection. For a $60 hour-long cuddle, customers get hair strokes, handholding and their choice of cuddle positions. It’s not sexual—at least not for Hess—who says the idea came to her “during a low point in her life,” the Independent reports.

“I was at a place where I thought paying someone to hug me and not have ulterior motives sounded like a great idea,” she added. “I decided why can’t this be a thing that we can easily and safely reach for?”

Customers have said a cuddle session with Hess has given them “a new outlook on life.” That’s a pretty big statement for a cuddle.

But perhaps Hess’s success is revealing something deeper about our cultural loneliness.

We spend more time than ever before “connecting” with each other online, until our necks are strained from scrolling through Facebook and Instagram feeds on our phones. We text constantly, but yet we’re lonely—sometimes even if we’re in relationships. It’s almost as if knowing there are so many people we’re connected to but not connecting with creates a deeper sense of loneliness.

Salon explores the popular internet thread “i am lonely will anyone speak to me” that went so viral it ranked at the top of Google’s search for “I am lonely” and has its own Wikipedia page. It has become “a decade-long anthem to the phenomenon of loneliness in the Internet age,” reports Salon. “[It’s] a poignant record of a certain type of Catch-22 loneliness: the isolation of people who turn to the Internet to make them feel less alone.”

People are lonely, and as more jobs become home-based, it’s likely more people will experience these confounding feelings of being hyper-connected, yet totally isolated.

Whether or not we should pay for nonsexual intimacy delivers a whole new set of questions about what risks and benefits there are. Oxytocin, the chemical associated with love, is released through physical contact—a deep hug will do it. Does this rush of chemicals have the potential to put professional huggers at risk of unwanted sexual advances or threats? It’s certainly likely to happen.

And just like paying for sex doesn’t deliver much more than the mechanics, could paying for cuddles bring about even more loneliness and despair after the session ends? What does going home to an empty apartment do to an oxytocin rush?

Or, if we made cuddling purchases as common as buying a cup of coffee, could we bust through our loneliness epidemic and help usher in a kinder, more compassionate culture where we solve our problems by getting into our pajamas and giving strangers hugs? If we take away the perception that we’re all “strangers”, hugging and cuddling with anyone could have health implications beyond our imagination.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Related on EcoSalon

Alan Watts Reminds Us What We Should Really Be Thankful For [Video]

Online Dating is Full of Love… and Some Creepy Hate

Yoga Love: How Mindfulness Teaches Generosity

Image: mattcameasarat

The post The Professional Cuddle Buddy: Would You Pay to Snuggle? appeared first on EcoSalon.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Peppermint Peppermint contains menthol, which acts as a stimulant. For women, this is a good thing. As one source writes, “The scent [of peppermint] acts to stimulate the physical senses and if applied on the skin produces a cooling and exciting sensation which makes the erogenous zones in women more receptive to sexual pleasure.” Sexy has never been so cool.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Cornstarch Planet Green reports that painting your naked body with corn starch is super erotic. (Who knew?) They note that, “Just the initial sensation of cornstarch dropping on the skin mimics the sensation of liquid silk.”

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Cinnamon Cinnamon has been known to increase sex drive over time. It can lower high blood sugar which “restricts the blood flow to the penis.” This can’t help but be a good thing for sex. Just be sure to only add a dash or two – large amounts of cinnamon may be toxic.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Ginseng Ginseng has been a popular aphrodisiac in China for centuries. Some claim it can boost sex drive and increase libido. It can also improve blood flow.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Exercise
Even moderate exercise will get the blood flowing to all the necessary parts. And as experts note, it will make you feel better about yourself, which is always a good thing for promoting sex.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Avocados Not only do avocados have a sensuous texture, they contain Vitamin E. As one source reports, Vitamin E can heighten your orgasm.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Alcohol (In Moderation) Discovery Health reports that “by reducing anxiety and stress one drink can help get you in the mood for sex.” But if you get drunk? You’re heading more for sleepy time.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Ginkgo Biloba This is thought to increase blood flow to the sexual organs. Even better? It can enhance orgasms.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Chocolate As Planet Green points out, chocolate is “believed to be a natural source of phenyl ethylamine (PEA), the same feel-good chemical that the body naturally produces during those first moments of falling in love.”

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• »

Saw Palmetto This is said to “nourish” the prostate gland and enhance the production of testosterone. Who knew palm trees could be so sassy?

Images: andre5, jylcat, fstorr, cteteris, trasel, mikebaird, threelayercake, picsbypop, mccheek, scubadive67, homeredwarprice

The post 10 Aphrodisiacs for a Cold Winter’s Night appeared first on EcoSalon.