Do you remember your first kiss? I bet you do! I was recently reading about decoding the kiss and that got me to start researching this lovely act of kindness. Kissing is a ritual of passion and friendship and in times before people could write even a seal to a contract as binding as one we write today. There is definitely an art to kissing and like so many things that are good for you there are added benefits to doing it, and doing it often!
Kissing dates back to 1500 BC from India’s Vedic Sanskrit texts and is steeped in the Hindu religion. It is in the 3rd Century A.D. that we have actual methodology in the Vatsyayana Kamasutra, with descriptions of how to please one’s lover. In the Old Testament we have approximately 12 centuries before the birth of Christ, there are many references to kissing. You will recall the deceptive kiss from Jacob to his father, and in the Song of Solomon the comparison of kissing to being better than wine. It can be intoxicating as we all are aware.
The Romans had a wildly accepting kissing culture amongst men and women. There was a classification of kissing amongst them. Osculum: Cheek kissing, Basium: Lip Kissing and Savolium: Deep kissing. Mouth to mouth was the norm and often the way a person was kissed was telling of their place in society. We see this even today as we kiss the Queen or the Pope’s hands out of respect and desire to be as close as possible to the source of power, goodness and Godliness.
My own first kiss was at Beaver Dam swim club after a swim meet the summer of 1983. I remember the thrill of a tingling that ran from my neck to the tips of my fingers. I was 13 years old and my sister actually took a picture of me getting my first kiss which turned out to be a really bad idea when the film got developed and my step mother got that stack of prints! I remember being in the back seat of the car with both my grandmothers as she tossed the stack of prints to me to look at. Saying not a word and awaiting my reaction. I was needless to say without words to defend and years later it is a funny memory.
When it comes to benefits of kissing I was shocked at just how many there are! Did you know that kissing puts 29 facial muscles into motion? This small and intoxicating exercise apparently can even be used to loose weight! You burn about 6.4 calories a minute. It is not surprising that emotions surrounding this ritual would be different between men and women. For example, women rank kissing as more important in all kinds of romantic relationships than men do whereas men consider it to be less important the longer their relationship is. Probably the best news for those of us that I could find was the added benefits of stress reduction and even the ability a kiss has in lowering cholesterol! Who knew?
I love kissing and in writing this I discovered through personal observation that I do kiss a lot. I found myself paying attention to my behavior more and realized that I kiss every baby in my studio both when I greet them and even their parents as well. I kiss my children and my cats and I kiss my husband all day long! Whatever the benefits are in kissing it is more than just the act of putting two mouths together! With all my kissing maybe I can look forward to less Botox, lower cholesterol and a long and happy life!
Kiss those you love!
