When most people in America hear the word “Tantra” they think of Kama Sutra, sexual positions and toys, and general freakiness. It’s like the sensual side of pornography in the popular imagination. I am a Tantra practitioner. However, that doesn’t mean that I am a sex therapist or sex surrogate or anything of the sort.
Tantra is a Sanskrit (Indian) word that literally means “system or doctrine” and comes from the root words tanoti “stretch, extend, expand” and trayati “liberation”. The originators of the Indian system of Tantra saw it as a systematic way of expanding the consciousness toward liberation. However, Tantra was not solely developed by the people of India. Every people on earth since the beginning of humanity have had a system of Tantra, under different names, and sometimes not bothering to give it a name at all.
Tantra is based on a recognition that everything is energy, including and especially human beings. By coming up with intentional ways of manipulating/managing the energy within ourselves, we increase our ability to manage the energy around us and thus create a reality for our lives in the way that we choose. Most of tantric practice is about doing things like yoga, chanting mantras, doing breathing exercises, and eating a healthy diet. The sexual things that are associated with Tantra will not yield results for you if you aren’t doing these other things that appear to not be sexual at all. In truth, Tantra is more something that you “become” than it is something that you “do”. Once you “become” Tantra then everything you do becomes orgasmic, especially your sex. As my Tantra teacher, Master Yao Nyamekye Morris says, “Tantra is about becoming the highest and best version of yourself.”
My intention in creating this blog is to give commentary about my experiences doing Tantra energy work and the implications of this work for the world that we live in. In the Grand Trine Tantra system created by Master Yao, we use tantric energy projection as a healing modality, similar to massage or acupuncture. This energy projection works with the client laying on a massage table or bed. The practitioner sends their energy into the energy body of the client, allowing the client’s energy to flow more freely than normal, pushing through blockages in their energy channels.
That last paragraph presented multiple concepts that many people have never heard of before. What exactly is this “energy”? How do you send it to another person? What is an energy body? What are energy channels and how do they get blockages? All of these concepts will be explained fully in subsequent blog entries. For now, can I just say trust me? LOL…The main point that I want to make at this time is that when we experience pain in life, whether emotional or physical, it often gets stored in our bodies, causing these blockages. And the body/spirit seeks to find ways to not experience that pain anymore. This is the root of what psychologists call “defense mechanisms” and it causes our personalities to change. The vast majority of us are not living the way we were born to live because we are attempting to adjust to this cruel world that we live in.
Tantra seeks to help us live according to the blueprint for our lives contained in our DNA. The process of healing these past pains and returning to our natural selves calls attention to the sources of our pains. It forces us to look at the things in society that cause us to develop these defense mechanisms. It indicts all of the institutions that are supposed to serve our best interests and in fact do just the opposite. And by all I mean all. Our families, schools, religions, and governments have all contributed to our not living the highest and best versions of our lives. But as we see the causes of our pains we also gain insight into solutions for those problems. This is what we’re going to be talking about, ways that we can change ourselves and change society so that we move from lives based on fear and scarcity to lives based on love and abundance. Complete constructive change.
Ride with me…
Complete Constructive Change 