Table of Contents
PRAISE FOR LORI BRYANT-WOOLRIDGE AND THE POWER OF WOW
Woolridge comes on like Judith Krantz with a social conscience.
Publishers Weekly
Busyness and routine can drown or drain your sensuality and turn your WOW into a whimper. Lori Bryant-Woolridges The Power of WOW helps you examine your preferences and habits, and offers refreshing, practical alternatives. The book will add ginger to your day with its upbeat tone and irreverent advice. It is self-help with flair. Read it and do it!
Dr. Linda Clever, Author of The Fatigue Prescription
Many women experience an attrition of their WOW factor simply due to the busyness of their daily lives. After long days of work, family obligations, socializing and all that makes for the life of a modern woman, how much WOW can you have left? Turns out, a LOT, with Lori Bryant-Woolridges wise tutelage in her fantastic book. I recommend The Power of WOW as a mustread self-care manual for every woman.
Nina Lesowitz, Coauthor of Living Life as a Thank You
Whether due to loss, divorce, breakup or those last ten pounds, at some point in her life, every woman in the world feels like shes lost her mojoher innate ability to not just appear sexy, but feel that way as well. Lori Bryant-Woolridge goes beyond the typical light a candle and put on some lingerie approach to regaining sexiness and sensuality. She shows women how to find the sexy within, bring it back and keep it! Strap into your finest footwear, spend some time with Lori and get ready to meet the woman you are meant to be.
Carole Brody Fleet, Award-winning author
of Widows Wear Stilettos
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my lovely daughter, Eva Gabrielle, who is the true embodiment of sensuous beauty; and to Mother Nature, that divine goddess who makes everything she puts on look perfectly sexy and breathtakingly beautiful.
Removing the veil from something that already exists is different from me trying to teach others the secret of how to live a better life.
PAULO COELHO
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Have you ever had a dream that seems to take forever to materialize, but when it finally does, you know the timing is exactly right? Writing and publishing The Power of WOW is one such dream for me. This is the most important and personal book Ive written to date, and I cant tell you how thrilled, grateful, and awed I am that it is finally in your hands.
You would not be reading this if not for the hard work and dedication of the amazing women who have enrolled in Stiletto U and helped tweak it and mold it into the effective set of lessons it has become. Their successes bolstered my confidence in the Stiletto University program as they proved that they were indeed becoming the confident, sensual women they wanted to be by using it. Thank you, ladies! I love you madly!
Thanks also to the publishers and staff of Viva Editions, particularly the lovely and talented Brenda Knight. Thank you for believing not only in my message, but in my ability to deliver it. Thank you, thank you, Sara Camilli. You are phenomenal and I am so happy and grateful to have you in my corner.
And last, Id like to thank you for picking up this book and trusting me to help you unleash the incredible femme you are meant to be. Enjoy your journey, and please do stop, smell, and savor the flowers along the way!
Lori
INTRODUCTION: 9 WEEKS TO WOW
I want to be less self-conscious and more comfortable in my own skin.
After finding out about his affair, my self-esteem has been shattered. I want my sexy back, not for him, but for me.
I wish I could be more aggressive when it comes to sex, but I dont want to seem loose.
At forty-two, I want to truly enjoy sex with my mate.
Between kids and work, I dont have the time or energy to be sexy.
I want to feel sexy and confident in all aspects of my life, not just the bedroom.
I seem to be projecting the wrong something, because Im still manless.
Im tired of being alone.
Sound all too familiar? Kind of like the conversations you and your girlfriends have been having for years? Since youre reading this, Im guessing youre feeling somewhat lacking in the sensuality/sex/romance departments of your life and youre looking for a remedy.
Well, happily, youre in the right place. And kudos to you for even picking up this book, because admitting to yourself that youre not on top of your game in the womanly wiles department takes courage. Im mean, were supposed to know all this stuff, right? How to be sensual and alluring and dynamite in and out of bed.
Like her.
You know who Im talking about. Ms. Thing. Youre sitting in a bar minding your own business, thinking youre looking cute and hoping someone else is going to think so too. And then here she comes. She sashays confidently into the room oblivious to the fact that all eyes, including yours, are on her. Shes wearing the perfect little black dress (the one youve been searching for but always see on some other woman) and strutting over to the bar in a way that makes every body part sway with come-hither appeal. Its a walk that brings men to her side and sends women into private places to practice. You feel both jealousy and admiration toward this diva. Talk about paling by comparison. Suddenly, you dont feel so cute. And of course, she sits down right next to you and instead of ordering the cocktail du jour like every other girl in the room asks for some drink youve never heard of.
On closer inspection, you see that shes more striking than beautiful. More sensuous than sexy. Of course, within minutes, some Chris Rock-looking guy is elbowing you out of the way to get to her. You watch her handle the admirer, graciously accepting his compliments with a youre-sosweet-but-this-is-never-going-to-happen smile and sending him back to his friends thinking hes Denzel Washington. You realize then that the key to her irresistible charm is confidence. This is a woman who is totally at ease with herself. A woman to study and emulate, not envy.
She has the power. That indefinable wow that seems to inhabit a lucky few and evade the rest of us. But you want it too. But where did she get it? And where do you start?
The truth is, most of us dont know what were doing, and from the beginning our sex lives have been Pretend until you win propositions.
Think about it: Who taught you to be a healthy, sensual, confident sexual being? Who showed you how to feel good in your own body today, in the here and now, not tomorrow, when youve lost 10 pounds or the promises made by your cellulite cream are kept? If youre like the majority of American women, regardless of age, race, religion, or marital status, the answer is no one. And yet, do you know any woman who at one time or another didnt wish she was sexier? Or felt more confident in her ability to attract and entice a lover? Or had the courage to match her sensual thoughts with sexual actions?
Society has done a pretty good job teaching women how to be good at what we
