Kissing 101

Can you actually learn to become a good kisser? Apparently Cherie Byrd -- psychotherapist and instructor at Seattle, Washington's Kissing School (www.kissingschool.com) thinks so. Cherie -- who has over 35 years of experience dealing with men, women and their kisses in addition to a lot of other Tantric ins and outs -- has been instructing couples (and singles) on the finer points of puckering up since 1998 and in the process has "graduated" well over 600 couples.

Now, I'd like to think I'm a good kisser: I've been kissing my wife (and vice-versa) for nearly a quarter-century and she's yet to turn the other cheek on me and that very thing is one of the points that Cherie teaches in her class. You know what I'm talking about: while leaning in towards your significant other -- and just as your momentum zeroes you in on your partner's lips -- she oh-so-casually turns her head and the next thing you know you're licking a cheek bone.

Fortunately, memories like that are pretty much the stuff of my fun-and-fancy-free youth, and it's just as well because Cherie is the first to tell her students that "...kissing is much more than just moving your mouth. Kissing should be a way two people connect with their souls, their hearts and their bodies..." Granted my wife doesn't have an orgasm every time I kiss her good-morning, but she doesn't yawn in my face either.

Kisses do not come cheap at the Kissing School. A typical session that lasts an entire day costs $335.00 for couples. Private sessions with a partner run $425.00, and just in case you want to enroll in the Kissing School but lack that certain someone to share a smooch with, don't worry. For the low, low price of $525.00, the Kissing School will provide a "surrogate" kissing partner to help you develop a pair of lips even Casanova would be envious of.

I can see where someone might wrinkle their nose at the tuition costs -- such that they are -- but I ask you, can you put a price tag on the price of a good kiss? One that will last a lifetime? I think not.