Everything in Tantra is about energy. We live in a body that is filled with energy, and when we connect with a partner, we’re connecting energetically. And so, learning about Tantra is learning about our own bodies as vessels or containers of energy, and how to share that energy with your partner without getting mixed up or clouded by the physicality of it.
Sometimes we get caught up in sex as the mechanics of it, and the anatomical parts have to fit just so. And “am I doing this right?” “Am I doing this long enough?” or “Is she…?” All of those questions that we get trapped into in the body realm somehow dissolve in the Tantric experience.
But we’re focusing not so much on the body itself, but on the body as a vehicle for expressing your energies. Tantra uses two specific terms that I’m going to illustrate by showing you two sacred representations of them.
The first one is called “Lingam” in Sanskrit and this is from the ancient Indian tradition. This is a sacred object; this is a personally sacred object of mine. This lingam will be here with us throughout our journey and our workshop to send that Male energy out in pure, clear light waves. The other one we call the “Yoni.” And it even has a beautiful clitoris, because as women we know that the center of our sexual universe is called the “Pearl.” And so the Yoni will be here as a sacred object to help guide us, to bring in that Divine Feminine energy.
Sometimes when we talk about words or terms in Sanskrit that relate to Tantra, we talk about the Lord Shiva, coming through the lingam or the Male energy, and we talk about the Divine Shakti as the Feminine principle and the Female energies. And so, maybe, when you get to practice later on, you can even call each other Lord Shiva, Lady Shakti. Whatever you feel like, if that makes you feel more connected to the essence of this teaching.
There are other words that I want to share with you, because it relates to some of the principles and the philosophy of Tantra as well.
Some of you may know that the inside first third of the vagina toward the top of the body is the G-Spot or the G-Region, and by putting a lot of pressure in a “come-hither” motion with your fingers, or by using a sacred wand, or any kind of way even with the penis, the lingam itself, in a “rocking horse” motion, you can
activate the G-Spot, or the “Goddess Region.” By doing that, some women actually do emit fluids, and sometimes we call that “female ejaculation…” In this tradition, we call it “Amrita.”
Amrita is regarded in the Tantric journey as sacred fluid and the Amrita can be consumed by the partner – drunk, as “Nectar of the Divine,” and that nectar, that juice, is purported to be rejuvenating and to reverse the effects of aging. Other terms that might be important for you to be aware of: we referred to it earlier in that there is a very important aspect of our attitude, and that is to create a sacred temple, a sacred space.
In this setting in our workshop, we’ve created a sacred space, where we’ve lit sacred candles with objects that represent the Divine. We have flowers that are a way of adornment and decorating from Nature. We have beautiful things around that evoke that sense of awakening and bringing that Divine energy forth.
Our own body is a sacred temple, so that attitude is part of what allows us to go on a Tantric journey and to change the way we vibrate ourselves about our own body. We have to get into a mindset that opens us up for quieting down.
Tantra is a quieter pathway to sex than some other forms of sexual expression, and, for some people, Tantra is a way of life, it’s not just a sexual exchange.
It’s a way of being, 24/7, and as I’ve said before, Tantra does not necessarily have to be about sex, it can be done with your clothes on. You could be having a Tantric experience right now, holding hands, uniting, even though you’re not facing each other, if you did I’ll bet your energies would be merging, and I sense that you’d be connecting on many levels, particularly at the heart level, because there’s so much love in this room today, and the more we open that up, the more love we’re all going to feel. It’s magical, isn’t it?
So the mind is the gateway. We begin by setting our intention of what we wish to accomplish together. And it’s not about having a lasting orgasm, or a deeper, more intense orgasm; it’s about unity; it’s about “where do we want to go with this?” And maybe it’s about healing the world. Maybe it’s about world peace, maybe it’s about being greater, more loving parents.
Through this Tantric sexual experience – it can be anything. And so the mind is a key component to how we ready and open ourselves to the Tantric journey.
It also is the place where meditation takes place, and just as in the beginning of our journey together, we set a ritual tone, we could have closed our eyes, and focused inward, and followed our breaths, and we would have been in a quiet, silent place that would have been meditative. And I encourage all of you to bring more of that into your daily practices. Meditation, sitting quietly, sitting still.
“Still” – that key word is part of how you open yourself up for this divine pathway, and more bliss in everything – I promise you. You can use your mind as well to focus on something that evokes the sacred, so for example, maybe you have a wedding photo next to your bed, and at night, before you crawl into bed together, you take the time to meditate together, to do a ritual, and you look at that photo and you say: “I remember how much we love each other,” because there is that symbol.
The mind-body connection is always available to us. Sometimes we forget that we have that, but everything is related to the mind-body connection as humans. And so, the more that we can unite our awareness, our consciousness, our perception with our physical experience in a body, the deeper and richer our human experience becomes.
So I want us to all experience how to use our minds to understand and connect with our bodies on the inside and begin to understand about Tantra as energy.