Why do I feel guilty about wanting physical intimacy and pleasure?

Guilt about desire is inherited. It comes from families, religions, cultures—voices that told you your body was dangerous, shameful, or something to control rather than inhabit. Mirabai inherited that too. Her family called her reckless. Society called her worse. But she kept choosing her devotion, her body, her love anyway. The guilt you feel isn't actually about desire itself. It's about internalized judgment. Someone once told you—directly or indirectly—that wanting was wrong. And you believed them because you were small, or because everyone around you believed it too. Here's what matters: pleasure is information. It tells you what feels alive in you. Guilt that keeps you from your own aliveness is someone else's voice, not your truth. Start by naming the specific guilt. "I feel guilty because..." Complete that sentence. Is it about betraying a family belief? Disappointing someone? Being "too much"? Once you name it, you can ask: Is this actually my value, or someone else's? Does this belief serve me or diminish me? Mirabai's freedom came from asking that same question. It's not about abandoning all restraint. It's about choosing restraint consciously, from your own wisdom, not from inherited shame. That's the work. Start there.