What’s Tantra?
Tantra is an ancient spiritual practice that is thousands of years old.
It is an art that has continuously evolved over the centuries, and today, there are many different paths and variations on the teachings of Tantra. At its core, Tantra, like the meaning of the word itself, is about expanding your consciousness to achieve liberation through the art of presence.
What I love about Tantra is that it invites all of the human experience; our ability to hold, harness, and process the full spectrum of human emotions; anger, sadness, love, joy, and fear, as well as our ability to experience intimacy and pleasure. It holds the expression of sexuality and lovemaking in its highest regard, celebrates the gift of sex and intimacy, and recognises sex as the most sacred act of our human experience.
Performative, goal oriented sex can often feel disconnected and unfulfilling. Overtime, for some couples, this style of sex can end up feeling like a chore requiring effort, and many couples tend to arrive at a point where they do it with a desire to get it over and done with.
Tantric Sex on the other hand, is about approaching intimacy with an open heart and learning how to be fully present in your body, mind, heart and spirit. To move beyond surface level interactions, and align your energy with your partner's energy so that your lovemaking can empower and enhance your quality of life.
Tantra about more than just the sexual aspect.
There are 64 Arts of Tantra, such as the Art of music, poetry, martial arts, language, astronomy, philosophy to name a few. One purpose of practicing the Tantric Arts is to bring vibrancy, creativity, and aliveness into your life as opposed to living a dull and limiting existence. Tantric (Sacred Sex) is one of these Arts and can be practiced to a level of mastery.
Harnessing the power of your sexual energy can open the doors to deep spiritual experiences, personal self-actualisation, and healing of conditioning, guilt and shame that no longer serves a purpose in your life. The path of Tantra goes beyond the act of sex, as the pathway to an incredible sex life is through, first and foremost, knowing yourself intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.
How we relate in sex is often a mirror to our lives. How we show up in our most intimate exchanges reflects how we show up in the world. So learning how to hold depth, passion and presence in intimacy creates pathways that ripple out into other areas of our life.
Curious to hear more? Stay tuned for the next posts about Tantra.
