How To Turn Yourself On

This month we celebrate National Masturbation Month. While society has traditionally stigmatized female masturbation, it's incredibly valuable and is an important form of self-love. And, masturbation has a plethora of psychological and physical health benefits. As Dr. Lauren Streicher, an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University and author of Sex Rx: Hormones Health And Your Best Sex Ever, tells Bustle, masturbation can do wonders for your well-being: It can help you sleep, ease body aches, relieve stress, and orgasms release the endorphins oxytocin and dopamine, which helps induce a natural high. Emotionally, Masturbation puts you in a mental space that is conducive to the optimal flowing of your sexual energy. Staying in touch with your sexual energy can benefit you as you engage in sexual play.

I view masturbation as the time of my day when I can tune out the rest of the world and become physically and emotionally in touch with my emotions and energy. It's a form of physical meditation, and I take the time to ensure that I am in a space that will foster my most pleasurable and mindful experience.

My masturbation time is when I allow myself to truly let go, and I always end it feeling emotionally, spiritually, and physically renewed.

I have my own routine for getting myself in the mood for my special me time —I light my favorite apple cinnamon candle, I dim my lights, I silence my phone, I switch on my playlist, and I cuddle up with my wand vibrator and my blanket. I close my eyes, tease my body, and allow myself to think back, without any inhibition or shame, on my hottest sexual encounters. I think of the sizzling hot sex I had the week before, or my fantasy sexual experience. My masturbation time is when I allow myself to truly let go, and I always end it feeling emotionally, spiritually, and physically renewed.

In the spirit of National Masturbation Month, here are some ways that you can turn yourself on before you masturbate, because the importance of getting intimate with yourself is so important.