Tantra

1. Tantra: The Path of Sacred Union and Wholeness

Tantra is about merging. It is about uniting. It is about making love.

Tantra as integration. Tantra is a spiritual path that weaves together seemingly opposite aspects of life, including sexuality and spirituality, masculine and feminine, and light and dark. It seeks to create wholeness and healing by uniting these polarities. The core principles of Tantra include:

• Everything is sacred
• Desire can be a path to the Divine
• Use polarity to attain unity
• Sublimate sexual energy
• Transfiguration (seeing the Divine in everything)

Historical context. Originating in India, Tantra has evolved through various lineages and cultures, including Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Taoism. Modern Neo-Tantra, popularized by teachers like Osho, combines traditional practices with contemporary therapeutic approaches.

2. Opening the Heart: The Foundation of Tantric Practice

Self-love is not about narcissistic self-adoration, as this would only create more ego-self, and thus separation from others and an attitude of 'I am better than you'. Self-love is actually about having compassion for the wounds that we carry, and holding those wounds in a space of love to support their healing.

Cultivating self-love. Opening the heart is a crucial first step in Tantric practice. This involves developing self-compassion, listening to one's deepest longings, and creating a safe space for vulnerability. Practices to open the heart include:

• Atisha's Heart Meditation for self-love
• Listening to your heart exercise
• Choosing supportive friends, lovers, and communities

Healing through love. An open heart acts as an alchemist, transforming pain into love. This process requires courage to face both personal and collective suffering, ultimately dissolving the illusion of separation and connecting us to all of life.

3. Healing Sexual Conditioning and Awakening Energy

Tantra transforms your sexual conditioning back into your sexual nature.

Overcoming shame. Tantric sexual healing involves releasing negative conditioning and shame around sexuality. This process includes:

• Investigating and understanding sexual messages received throughout life
• Practicing self-pleasuring meditation to reconnect with natural sexual energy
• Using sound, movement, and breath to awaken and move sexual energy

Awakening life force. By healing sexual conditioning, we activate our primal life-force energy, known as kundalini. This awakening enhances creativity, vitality, and overall aliveness, allowing us to access our full potential.

4. The Five Elements: Balancing and Activating Chakras

Nature is understood to be the ultimate source of life-force energy, or Para-Shakti.

Elemental wisdom. Tantra works with the five elements of nature (earth, water, fire, air, and ether) to activate and balance the chakras. Each element corresponds to a specific chakra and aspect of life:

• Earth: Root chakra, stability, grounding
• Water: Sacral chakra, sexuality, emotions
• Fire: Solar plexus chakra, power, transformation
• Air: Heart chakra, love, connection
• Ether: Throat chakra, expression, creativity

Chakra activation. Practices to activate and balance the chakras include:

• Connecting with nature
• Element-specific meditations and visualizations
• Yoga asanas and breathwork
• Tantric massage incorporating the five elements

5. Tantric Orgasm: Uniting Sex, Love, and Spirit

Tantric orgasm is a choice to let life really flow through you.

Beyond physical pleasure. Tantric orgasm is not just about sexual technique but a full-body, spiritual experience. It involves:

• Cultivating presence and awareness during sexual experiences
• Learning to move sexual energy throughout the body
• Uniting sex, love, and spirit for a transcendent experience

Practices for expansion. To develop Tantric orgasm:

• Practice self-pleasuring meditation to retrain energy pathways
• Learn to build and circulate sexual energy without immediate release
• Cultivate full-body awareness and sensitivity

6. Conscious Relationships: Choosing Love Over Ego

It isn't the form of the relationship that's important but the intention and the underlying principles that hold it in place.

Soul-centered relating. Conscious relationships in Tantra are about committing to love itself, rather than to specific outcomes or forms. This involves:

• Choosing to respond from love rather than ego-based patterns
• Practicing transfiguration (seeing the divine in your partner)
• Developing communication skills and emotional intelligence

Tools for harmony. Tantric relationship practices include:

• Setting shared intentions for the relationship
• True listening and conscious communication
• Energy-raising practices like wrestling and dance
• Belly-to-belly embodied intimacy exercise

7. Tantric Tools for Personal and Relational Transformation

We cannot make love happen, but we can create the space in which love flourishes.

Personal practices. Tantric tools for individual growth include:

• Meditation and breathwork
• Energy movement practices (e.g., dance, shaking)
• Self-reflection exercises
• Forgiveness and prayer

Relational techniques. Tools for enhancing relationships:

• Conscious communication skills
• Energy-raising practices with a partner
• Regular intimacy rituals
• Conflict resolution techniques rooted in love and presence

Integrating Tantra. By consistently applying these tools and principles, practitioners can transform their personal lives and relationships, moving towards greater wholeness, love, and spiritual connection.

Last updated: August 9, 2024