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Have you ever
wondered what
those Gauguin's models were up to on their nights off?
Slow Love: A
Polynesian Pillow Book teaches
that just as you see more of Nature when you are quiet—you discover
more of your own sexual-emotional depths when you become more still.
You will unfold a more pacific, unifying approach to passion.
The author
takes you away on a journey into a more natural appreciation
of the sense of touch. Slow love is about traditional romantic customs
in the South Sea islands, where wisdom about loving was handed down
from one generation to the next. In these cultures, the body was
considered natural and touching a way of bringing two hearts into
unity.
After all,
when you think about it, all the pillow books, bride's
books, and sex manuals in existence—except for Slow Love: A Polynesian
Pillow Book—are the products of cultures that
wear a lot of clothing. However, in ancient Polynesian cultures, as in
many other cultures near the tropics, not so much clothing was needed
traditionally.
From birth,
children rested in direct loving contact with naked skin of
nearly-nude bodies, both day and night. Immersed in this sea of naked
skin, these children developed a sense of the vast universe of touching
that was more subtly nuanced and communicative than did infants living
in more fully clothed cultures. For peoples in nearly nude cultures,
the sight of or contact with a nude body—through lifelong habit—was not automatically an occasion
for sexual arousal, but a merely a natural return to the familiar,
full-body, and heartfelt warmth of physical intimacy. In such societies
the nude body was no more considered nude than was a "nude" dolphin or
a "nude" mango. Human bodies were considered beautiful, natural and
full of spiritual power. The wisdom of sex teaching about deeply
relaxing and peaceful realms of physical union was passed down orally.
James N.
Powell’s writings on Polynesian lovemaking have been warmly
embraced in Japan, where they sparked the Polynesian sex vogue.
Inspired by Powell’s writings, Hiroyuki Itsuki, Japan's über
author and Buddhist thinker, penned two volumes on South Seas
sensuality. Also, Kunio Kitamura, Head of Japan’s Family Planning
Association, enthusiastically promotes Powell’s thoughts on
Polynesian-style passion as a way for couples to deepen sexual
sensitivity and fulfillment. He writes: “Polynesian sex...involves
taking a long time...and...allows energy in the form of weak
electromagnetic waves—similar to the concept of ki—to flow, building up
to create large waves that encompass the entire body and bring enormous
pleasure and happiness.” Mr. Kitamura's job, after all, is to make
Japanese couples happier in the boudoir.
Slow Love: A
Polynesian Pillow Book is beautiful designed by Renee Michaels,
who also created covers for some other Powell titles: Postmodernism for
Beginners and Eastern Philosophy for
Beginners. It features stunning cover art by Berlin denizen
Daniela Schütt Pozzo, who illustrates for The New Yorker, Maxim, Neon, Das Magazin, and
her own zine, >>Sensual<<.
Interior art is by Paul Gauguin, and the Hawai'i-influenced chapter
heads art is by award-winning illustrator Caren Loebel-Fried.
Chapter titles include:
Notes from Bed
Tokyo in Heat
Recumbent Travels
On Being Naked
On Doing Nothing
On Touching
The Secret Valley
The Silence of the Hummingbird
Weaving Together
Polynesian Passion--Your Experience
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