Like all good things in life, creating and maintaining intimacy in relationships takes time, effort, and practice. Depending on your own experience with intimacy, and your connection with your partner, creating intimacy can be either incredibly fun, incredibly stressful, or somewhere in between. The intention behind this article, “Six Ways to Increase Intimacy in Your Relationship”, is to help couples in any season of a relationship connect, reconnect, or strengthen an already existing bond. Studies show that a couple’s ability to remain connected and intimate with one another plays a substantial role in each partner’s happiness and fulfillment, as well as the success and happiness they feel as a couple. In the times we are in, with stress and challenge occurring almost everywhere we look, at The Relationship Therapy Center, we believe it is essential to do all we can to remain as connected and successful in our intimate relationships as possible. We hope this helps.
Six Tips for Increasing Intimacy in Your Relationship
Take care of yourself.
It may seem counterintuitive, but turning the focus on yourself is a great way to increase intimacy in your relationship. When someone takes the time to eat well, workout, and pursue their own interests and passions, their self-confidence will increase. And when someone’s self-confidence increases, when they feel good about themselves, they are more likely to want to be intimate with a partner.
Learn each other’s love language.
According to author Gary Chapman, there are five main ways to communicate love and many times we speak a different love language than our partner. A free online quiz will tell you which love language each of you speak and enable you to be intentional about expressing love to your partner in the way that feels best to them. When two people become intentional about speaking their partner’s love language, a relationship can transform.
Use the Gottman Card Decks App.
Doctors John and Julie Gottman are the world’s leading experts on couples and relationships and creators of the Art and Science of Love workshops. After decades of clinical experience and study on couples and relationships, the Gottmans have used their knowledge to create an app designed specifically for couples in relationships. By taking time to explore the app regularly with your partner you will be inviting intimacy in in a very real way.
Talk about your fantasies and desires.
Every now and then, spend an evening with your partner opening up to one another about your sexual desires. Even without ever acting them out (unless you want to), the freedom to express yourself and your sexuality can be a gateway to intimacy. You never know what doors you will open.
Shake things up. Do something together that neither of you has ever done before.
Take a dance class, go skydiving, learn to scuba dive. Bonus points if the experience spikes your adrenaline levels. Stepping outside our routines and having new and exciting experiences with our partners is a fantastic way to connect.
Get a life. Both of you.
Stop spending every waking moment together. If you’ve forgotten who you were or what you liked before the relationship, that’s a sure sign it’s time to remember. Start pursuing your own interests, making your own friends, and quit being available to your partner every second of every day. The more you live your own life, the more interesting you will become. And vice versa. Nothing is more attractive than someone living their best life.
The above list is in no way complete. There are many things that make a relationship intimate and successful.
And although intimacy will look different for each of us, most humans do share the desire to feel close and connected to their significant other. If you and your partner feel you are struggling to connect in any way, our therapists at The Relationship Therapy Center can help. We offer individual counseling, couples counseling, marriage counseling, and sex therapy at each of our two locations, as well as online. Contact us today to learn more.
Begin Sex Therapy in Roseville, CA or Fair Oaks, CA:
You deserve to enjoy a fulfilling, intimate relationship. Hopefully, you can use these helpful tips to rekindling a bond with your partner. Our caring therapists would also love to support you in reconnecting with your partner. We provide support from our Roseville, CA-based therapy practice. To start sex therapy, please follow these simple steps:
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Contact the Relationship Therapy Center and schedule a free 20-minute phone consultation to learn more about sex therapy
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Meet with one of our talented therapists
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Start feeling more connected with your partner!
Other Services offered at The Relationship Therapy Center in California
In addition to sex therapy, Our Sacramento area counseling clinics located in Roseville and Fair Oaks, CA are pleased to offer a variety of mental health services. Our couples services include: Couples Counseling, Counseling after infidelity, sex therapy, co-parent counseling, family therapy, divorce counseling, intensive couples retreats, and premarital counseling. Our individual therapy services include anxiety treatment, therapy for children, teen therapy, depression treatment, codependency counseling and individual relationship counseling. Our therapists offer online counseling in California to treat a variety of mental health concerns. Please reach out to our Sacramento area therapy office to learn more about the many ways we can help you or your loved ones.
Sex therapy can be beneficial, with the right therapist. Our compassionate therapists are trained to walk you through the process and help you find healing and peace. Please contact our therapy office to learn more about the many ways we can help you and your loved ones heal, grow, and love healthy.