Article By: What is tantraThe immediate association that most people hear when they hear the word “tantra” is sex, or more: sex that lasts hours without release.
The person who is largely responsible for this image of Tantra is the singer Sting, who sometime in the early 90s said something about seven hours of tantric sex. Since then he has managed to repeat his claim that his words have been taken out of context, but in most of the Western world, Tantra is still seen as synonymous with endless sexual activity.
In fact, sex is only a small part of the Tantric teachings, and Tantra touches all aspects of life. So even if you are interested in exploring sexuality and pleasure, you will be surprised to discover how Tantric practice can help you make the most of your life, from inner feelings of peace, fulfillment, and self-love to relationships of any kind, parenting, career and more.
What is tantra?
Tantra is the practice of a way of life. It contains tools and wisdom in all aspects of life. Tantra is the gateway to transformation on all levels including sexuality. As such, it differs from other paths of development and theories that move between the disregard and the creation of feelings of guilt regarding the expression of sexuality as part of the expression of life energy. Tantra provides a space for healing sexuality and relationships.
Healing from guilt, shame and fear that has been shown through the generations. Release from concealment, distrust, fear of rejection, fear of abandonment, confusion, worthlessness, and deepening awareness, freeing prejudices, and confusion about the world of sexuality. The uniqueness of Tantra is that it deals with all levels of life, from man’s relationship with himself, through his relationship with his environment, with others, with nature, and with his relationship with the entire world. Tantra reveals and reminds one of the tremendous potential inherent in him.
This path leads the man to a deep and healing world.
Tantra has many different gates:
The Healing Gate.
Heart Gate.
The Gate of Sexuality.
The gate of relations and intimacy.
The Gate of Meditation and Consciousness.
Realization Gate
The Gate of Pleasure.
Tantra teaches presence, awareness, listening, sensitivity, pleasure, sincerity, clarity, courage, power, and creates a change at all levels: body, mind, consciousness.
The foundation of Tantra
* The holistic approach:
Tantra sees a person in all its layers and components and the connection and interaction between them. Emotional energy affects mental energy. Sexual energy influences the presence energy and more.
Accordingly, Tantra processes also combine work through the body such as breathing, touch and movement, And through the soul such as deep emotional expression, healing pains and traumas, and through the mind such as meditation, conversation, communication, limiting beliefs and creating reality.
* Acceptance of all:
Like Kabbalah in Judaism, Tantra works to accept reality as it is.
Acceptance of the reality of man’s life, including the acceptance of feelings and thoughts as they are. Alongside the acceptance, Tantra allows for an examination and redefining of boundaries. Through the examination of the space that enables the person to recognize and identify his personal and internal boundaries, to strengthen their external expression ability and thereby increase the sense of freedom and security in relationships.
To increase the emotional container In Tantra, you practice relaxation and allow for a broader and more intense range of emotions. The result of such an ongoing and profound practice will increase our ability to overwhelm and deal with suppressed feelings, ours and those around us.
*Unification from separation:
Tantra creates precise energy separation and identification between different types of energy and consciousness (upper, undercurrent, male, female, shadow).
By learning the characteristics of each energy and internalizing it in an experiential way, it is possible to create a connection between them for mutual fertilization and cooperation in order to realize the personal vision.
*listening:
Through Tantra we learn to listen in depth to what the body seeks. We practice the ability to listen to the silence under our thoughts and connect to the inner guidance.
Types of Tantra
Tantra has many approaches and streams and is not a religion. It does not impose a set of rules and conditions for implementation. Tantra offers the walker on her way only what suits his rhythm, expression and the special combination of different types of Tantra.
Tantra is usually divided into three main streams:
White Tantra-
Contactless Tantra. The practice of meditations and exchange of energies through breathing, communication through glances, mantras and more. Can be accompanied by ceremonies to represent key principles such as masculinity and femininity.
Red Tantra –
Tantra that combines emotional work with touch and includes work with genitals. It focuses on the connection and in-depth work with the male and female energy within us, in the transformation of the war between them into dance and renewed acquaintance. In red tantra, we will combine sexual energy with the energy of the heart and presence in the body.
Black Tantra –
Contains the red Tantra and white Tantra and adds shadow work with the rejected, abandoned, worthless parts and those that are often judged. Black Tantra can contain work with constellations and trans-positional rituals.
Additional terms
Tantra practice –
Tantra is first and foremost a personal practice of each with oneself which is to recognize everything that is within. The exercises themselves will include breathing, meditating and moving the sexual energy to other uses. By Tantra, exercises improve presence, create a center of intensity and reduce identification with thoughts. Among the exercises you can find: self-love practice, exercises to expand pleasure, exercises and empowering sensory experience.
Tantra Yoga –
Expansion of the world of Tantra through the practice of asanas and yogic exercises. In the encounter between the two worlds, the exercises give attention to the release of stuck energies, including sexual energy. Tantra Yoga includes specific body exercises, meditations, and mantras.
Tantra Healing –
This is the type of session that works at all levels of the person. There is an overlap between him and the world of sexual sexual healing. Session includes: removing emotional and physical armor, full body massage and opening energy paths.
