WTH is Tantra?
Reflections on day 87/90 days of Pleasure
This is another question that I get asked a lot. If you’ve been following along, I recently attended Urban Tantra training for facilitators with Barbara Carrellas and much of my studies & daily practices this year have been based on or full on Tantric practices. So what the hell is it?
The word Tantra in modern day carries a lot of associations in Western cultures, almost always associating it with intercourse. The basic difference between original Tantra (seen in Indian cultures as early as 600 AD) and Neotantra (a Westernized version) is that the original version focused on sensual embodied spirituality and Neotantra focuses on spiritualized sexuality (paraphrased excerpt from Tantra Illuminated by Christopher D. Wallis).
It’s not a religion and it does not solely focus on intercourse. So what is it? Here’s how I describe the Tantric principles I learned from my teachers:
Tantra recognizes that we are energetic beings (Chakras are part of this study)
Erotic energy is our life force energy
We have the ability to generate, amplify, and move energy in the body (think sensations & orgasms)
Tantra gives us tools to do this through ritual, breathwork, movement, and touch.
Neotantra describes these practices as sacred sexuality and a container to explore deeper intimacy with self and in partnership.
What has this meant for me and my work? My work is focused on the body and our relationship to it.
Tantra for me has been a way to experience a deeper listening to my body (our bodies have ALL kinds of reactions that we may or may not be attuned to).
It has given me tools to move energy when I feel stuck or agitated or want to move through heavy emotions.
It has been a delicious way to explore pleasure and what I call orgasmic activation, in other words it generates oxytocin and dopamine, quite simply it makes me happy.
It’s a beautiful way to connect more deeply to self and in partnership
At a high level Tantra has changed my life. I absolutely loved everything that I learned from Barbara in Urban Tantra training. Her work is so simple and playful, with heaps of experimentation, curiosity & playfulness and as Barbara says “The soup is so much richer when everyone can bring all of themselves into the room.”
For me it has been a journey of erotic wholeness, a deep tender exploration of self and a daily practice that keeps me grounded and happy. I weave so many of my Tantra practices into my 1:1 work and in Pleasure Playground. My work is ever evolving and rn I’m really interested in a Tantra-informed erotic movement practice, or what I am loosely calling an erotic journey to self. This is the foundational element I am bringing to the next round of Pleasure Playground in October.
