What is Tantra?
by Diana Daffner
"Tantra" refers to a set of teachings from ancient India. Tantra is an ancient Sanskrit word, meaning "to weave or to expand." In tantric sex, we weave and expand our energy with our love partner, for the purpose of opening up to the entire universe. Tantra in its widest meaning describes an approach to living that links the physical universe to the cosmic whole. Sexuality, the most physical and intimate of human interactions, is thus seen a sacred activity, continuously reenacting the original creation of the universe. The First One, separating from Itself to know Itself, embracing Itself to experience Itself.
Tantra proposes that each one of us must undergo within ourselves this total union, a joining of the female and male within us. And when love partners dance the path of Tantra together, the relationship is transformed into a sacred journey to Oneness.
Tantra describes a movement of energy, a welling up within us, of joyous excitation. Unlike forms of meditation that cause us to withdraw from the world of senses, Tantra encourages us to start with the senses, building on their ability to focus us in the present moment.
This energy need not be explicitly sexual; all sensual experience is appreciated as a tool for awakening the energy within us. In the moment that we shift from overt physical pleasure to an internal joy, to a focus on the internal movement of energy, the subtle nature of our being is exposed and Tantra takes place. Nor does Tantra exclude experiences which are not overtly pleasurable; this same internal shift of focus can take place as we experience outward pain, even death.
Tantra occurs only in the present moment; yesterday’s experience has no relevance.
When I smell a rose, I smell it in this moment, not yesterday or tomorrow, but right now, right here. And if I embrace that moment of smelling the rose as the prelude to a spiritual experience, if I invite the rose-smelling into my total being, aware both of the scent and my total bodily response to the scent, aware of the softness of the petals and the rose energy in my heart, then in that moment I am open to the fullness of who I am. This is Tantra.
And if you and I both smell the rose together, and sharing that experience, dissolve our separateness into an infinite Oneness, then together we experience Tantra.
Tantra brings poetry to lovemaking. When my lover caresses my face and our eyes meet and we breathe together and acknowledge our rising passion, sense our hearts joining and our spirits soaring, the energy rising through the power centers of our bodies, this is Tantra.
Some spiritual paths teach us to deny, to say not this, not that; they teach that who we are is not the body, not the mind, not our actions, not our thoughts. Stripped of what we are not, these paths allow us to see the emergence of who we may be. Tantra takes the seemingly opposite approach and teaches us to say YES! to this, YES! to that. I smell the rose and I am that experience, my lover touches me and I am that experience, there is nothing that I am not, I am everything. All experience can be a doorway to who I am, provided I focus on the experience itself, with the intention of energetic awareness.
To learn and benefit deeply from Tantra, we must practice being still, undistracted. When I am smelling the rose, I smell the rose.
To make love in the Tantra way means to be fully present, to allow each moment to be the entire experience. In Tantric lovemaking, there is no goal, no race toward release or orgasm. Instead, there is complete attention to each touch, each breath, each movement of energy.
Every moment in our lives can be shaped by Tantra, can be lived in fullness and acceptance.
However, our minds, our thoughts, are constantly darting here and there. We are consumed with busy-ness, at our jobs, at school, taking care of our children, our home, our parents. Birthday parties. Thanksgiving, Christmas, weddings, funerals. We are bombarded by input from phone, TV, fax, e-mail and junk mail. Bills.
When we finally get away on vacation, often as not we’re busy skiing or snorkeling, eating, shopping, museuming, being transported from place to place.
Stop the World, I Want to Get Off! But first, I need a haircut, car wash, new blouse, shoe repair, show to see, and of course, those bills to pay. Our lives are structured around busy-ness, not around living in the moment.
While we are skiing, or snorkeling, or playing tennis, basketball, or golf, the world does disappear, leaving only the action of the sport. This is the attraction of athletics. It is a natural occurrence.
But how do we make time for a momentary tantric relationship with a flower, let alone an hour with our lover? How do we say Yes! to each moment, when the next moment is already here and then gone?
We need to do even more than make time to smell the roses. We need to learn how to let the scent permeate into our belly, deepening our breath and opening our heart to the expansiveness of spiritual experience.
Athletic pursuits require practice and training. They are designed to take place in a zone outside of daily living. Tantra provides us a way of living daily in that zone.
An Intimacy Retreat is a great way of starting on the Tantric path with your lover!
The Truth About Tantra
In spite of all the media hype, when I ask people if they know about Tantra, very few reply with a committed YES! A sophisticated woman, sitting in a restaurant with her husband and another couple, told me, "Oh, I know all about tantrum sex - it's my husband insisting 'I want it, I want it, I want it!"
And even those who have heard the word seem afraid to acknowledge it - we aren't going to talk about SEX are we? Well, Tantra is and isn't about sex. I suppose that's like saying that serving of escargots is and isn't about snails.
At one level, Tantric sex is gourmet lovemaking. It's sex slowed-down, more focused, with more opportunity for a woman's pleasure (which means more pleasure all around, guys!). At another level, it's not about copulation at all. It's about qi (chi, prana), the vital force, the energy of life that runs through our bodies, spirals through our chakras. Tantra is a spiritual path that embraces the physical universe as a manifestation of the divine. Each individual first finds that divinity within, and then shares with his or her partner the sacred awareness of authentic presence.
Tantra involves learning to sense, recognize and respect the flow of sexual energy, to open to that energy, to receive it and deliberately nurture its upward movement as it is transformed into an experience of blissful oneness. It's not just about "lasting longer" but about taking the time to enjoy a cosmic journey.
We all have ecstatic moments when separation magically dissolves, releasing us from our limited perception of who we are. Such moments take place spontaneously, for example when an exquisite environment moves us deeply. Or when we first fall in love. Tantra helps us to consciously create and sustain a dynamic shift into that longed-for state of union.
For a couple melting together in an ocean of pure love, Tantra removes the need to ask, 'was it good for you?'
Have you had your Tantra today?
Lovemaking can be fun and adventurous, filled with active exploration of body parts and lively and intense reactions. Excitement and curiosity, tension and release, foreplay, afterplay and endless play.
However, for many of us, lovemaking is fraught with emotional tension, rejection, frustration and fear. How can this be? How can an activity seemingly so natural and enjoyable, be so challenging and difficult to embrace?
While sex for the purpose of procreation is indeed natural to our species, and lovemaking in the hormonal rapture of a new romance may be instinctively passionate, we do not seem to have an inborn ability to appreciate ongoing sex with the same partner for years on end as a joyful and irresistable encounter.
Tantra, an ancient pathway to spiritual enlightenment, offers a new paradigm that is part solution to this seeming problem of waning sexual drive and part awesome journey into an unexpected reality.
When two people move together into a sacred loving space, according to Native American teacher, Sun Bear,
'Everything outside of that space fades in importance,
time takes on a different dimension,
Emotions flow more freely,
The bodies of participants become filled with the energy of life,
And this energy reaches out and blesses the creation around them.
All is made new
Everything becomes sacred.'
Couples who do Tantra gift themselves daily with a ceremonial taste of the divine. Their lovemaking is transformed from an "under the sheets" effort driven by sexual urgency to a soul-satisfying, meditative and purposeful pilgrimage to the temple within. Gazing into one another's eyes, they awaken the highest aspect of themselves and truly know one another to be filled with spirit.Although this level of intimacy may not come naturally, the pathway can be easily learned. And the experience itself is immediately recognizable as an empowering, healthy and blissful coming home. Have you had your Tantra today?
Intimacy Retreats Schedule
Read MORE from Diana: Sign up for our Newsletter!
PROGRAM INFO
REGISTRATION INFO
CONTACT INFO:
Email
Call 941-349-6804 (Florida, 9am-9pm)
by Diana Daffner
"Tantra" refers to a set of teachings from ancient India. Tantra is an ancient Sanskrit word, meaning "to weave or to expand." In tantric sex, we weave and expand our energy with our love partner, for the purpose of opening up to the entire universe. Tantra in its widest meaning describes an approach to living that links the physical universe to the cosmic whole. Sexuality, the most physical and intimate of human interactions, is thus seen a sacred activity, continuously reenacting the original creation of the universe. The First One, separating from Itself to know Itself, embracing Itself to experience Itself.
Tantra proposes that each one of us must undergo within ourselves this total union, a joining of the female and male within us. And when love partners dance the path of Tantra together, the relationship is transformed into a sacred journey to Oneness.
Tantra describes a movement of energy, a welling up within us, of joyous excitation. Unlike forms of meditation that cause us to withdraw from the world of senses, Tantra encourages us to start with the senses, building on their ability to focus us in the present moment.
This energy need not be explicitly sexual; all sensual experience is appreciated as a tool for awakening the energy within us. In the moment that we shift from overt physical pleasure to an internal joy, to a focus on the internal movement of energy, the subtle nature of our being is exposed and Tantra takes place. Nor does Tantra exclude experiences which are not overtly pleasurable; this same internal shift of focus can take place as we experience outward pain, even death.
Tantra occurs only in the present moment; yesterday’s experience has no relevance.
When I smell a rose, I smell it in this moment, not yesterday or tomorrow, but right now, right here. And if I embrace that moment of smelling the rose as the prelude to a spiritual experience, if I invite the rose-smelling into my total being, aware both of the scent and my total bodily response to the scent, aware of the softness of the petals and the rose energy in my heart, then in that moment I am open to the fullness of who I am. This is Tantra.
And if you and I both smell the rose together, and sharing that experience, dissolve our separateness into an infinite Oneness, then together we experience Tantra.
Tantra brings poetry to lovemaking. When my lover caresses my face and our eyes meet and we breathe together and acknowledge our rising passion, sense our hearts joining and our spirits soaring, the energy rising through the power centers of our bodies, this is Tantra.
Some spiritual paths teach us to deny, to say not this, not that; they teach that who we are is not the body, not the mind, not our actions, not our thoughts. Stripped of what we are not, these paths allow us to see the emergence of who we may be. Tantra takes the seemingly opposite approach and teaches us to say YES! to this, YES! to that. I smell the rose and I am that experience, my lover touches me and I am that experience, there is nothing that I am not, I am everything. All experience can be a doorway to who I am, provided I focus on the experience itself, with the intention of energetic awareness.
To learn and benefit deeply from Tantra, we must practice being still, undistracted. When I am smelling the rose, I smell the rose.
To make love in the Tantra way means to be fully present, to allow each moment to be the entire experience. In Tantric lovemaking, there is no goal, no race toward release or orgasm. Instead, there is complete attention to each touch, each breath, each movement of energy.
Every moment in our lives can be shaped by Tantra, can be lived in fullness and acceptance.
However, our minds, our thoughts, are constantly darting here and there. We are consumed with busy-ness, at our jobs, at school, taking care of our children, our home, our parents. Birthday parties. Thanksgiving, Christmas, weddings, funerals. We are bombarded by input from phone, TV, fax, e-mail and junk mail. Bills.
When we finally get away on vacation, often as not we’re busy skiing or snorkeling, eating, shopping, museuming, being transported from place to place.
Stop the World, I Want to Get Off! But first, I need a haircut, car wash, new blouse, shoe repair, show to see, and of course, those bills to pay. Our lives are structured around busy-ness, not around living in the moment.
While we are skiing, or snorkeling, or playing tennis, basketball, or golf, the world does disappear, leaving only the action of the sport. This is the attraction of athletics. It is a natural occurrence.
But how do we make time for a momentary tantric relationship with a flower, let alone an hour with our lover? How do we say Yes! to each moment, when the next moment is already here and then gone?
We need to do even more than make time to smell the roses. We need to learn how to let the scent permeate into our belly, deepening our breath and opening our heart to the expansiveness of spiritual experience.
Athletic pursuits require practice and training. They are designed to take place in a zone outside of daily living. Tantra provides us a way of living daily in that zone.
An Intimacy Retreat is a great way of starting on the Tantric path with your lover!
The Truth About Tantra
In spite of all the media hype, when I ask people if they know about Tantra, very few reply with a committed YES! A sophisticated woman, sitting in a restaurant with her husband and another couple, told me, "Oh, I know all about tantrum sex - it's my husband insisting 'I want it, I want it, I want it!"
And even those who have heard the word seem afraid to acknowledge it - we aren't going to talk about SEX are we? Well, Tantra is and isn't about sex. I suppose that's like saying that serving of escargots is and isn't about snails.
At one level, Tantric sex is gourmet lovemaking. It's sex slowed-down, more focused, with more opportunity for a woman's pleasure (which means more pleasure all around, guys!). At another level, it's not about copulation at all. It's about qi (chi, prana), the vital force, the energy of life that runs through our bodies, spirals through our chakras. Tantra is a spiritual path that embraces the physical universe as a manifestation of the divine. Each individual first finds that divinity within, and then shares with his or her partner the sacred awareness of authentic presence.
Tantra involves learning to sense, recognize and respect the flow of sexual energy, to open to that energy, to receive it and deliberately nurture its upward movement as it is transformed into an experience of blissful oneness. It's not just about "lasting longer" but about taking the time to enjoy a cosmic journey.
We all have ecstatic moments when separation magically dissolves, releasing us from our limited perception of who we are. Such moments take place spontaneously, for example when an exquisite environment moves us deeply. Or when we first fall in love. Tantra helps us to consciously create and sustain a dynamic shift into that longed-for state of union.
For a couple melting together in an ocean of pure love, Tantra removes the need to ask, 'was it good for you?'
Have you had your Tantra today?
Lovemaking can be fun and adventurous, filled with active exploration of body parts and lively and intense reactions. Excitement and curiosity, tension and release, foreplay, afterplay and endless play.
However, for many of us, lovemaking is fraught with emotional tension, rejection, frustration and fear. How can this be? How can an activity seemingly so natural and enjoyable, be so challenging and difficult to embrace?
While sex for the purpose of procreation is indeed natural to our species, and lovemaking in the hormonal rapture of a new romance may be instinctively passionate, we do not seem to have an inborn ability to appreciate ongoing sex with the same partner for years on end as a joyful and irresistable encounter.
Tantra, an ancient pathway to spiritual enlightenment, offers a new paradigm that is part solution to this seeming problem of waning sexual drive and part awesome journey into an unexpected reality.
When two people move together into a sacred loving space, according to Native American teacher, Sun Bear,
'Everything outside of that space fades in importance,
time takes on a different dimension,
Emotions flow more freely,
The bodies of participants become filled with the energy of life,
And this energy reaches out and blesses the creation around them.
All is made new
Everything becomes sacred.'
Couples who do Tantra gift themselves daily with a ceremonial taste of the divine. Their lovemaking is transformed from an "under the sheets" effort driven by sexual urgency to a soul-satisfying, meditative and purposeful pilgrimage to the temple within. Gazing into one another's eyes, they awaken the highest aspect of themselves and truly know one another to be filled with spirit.Although this level of intimacy may not come naturally, the pathway can be easily learned. And the experience itself is immediately recognizable as an empowering, healthy and blissful coming home. Have you had your Tantra today?
Intimacy Retreats Schedule
Read MORE from Diana: Sign up for our Newsletter!
PROGRAM INFO
REGISTRATION INFO
CONTACT INFO:
Call 941-349-6804 (Florida, 9am-9pm)