The Essence of Tantric Sexuality

Dr. Lara Honos-Webb, host of the Sweet Spot Podcast, interviews Mark Michaels (Swami Umeshanand Saraswati) and Patricia Johnson (Devi Veenanand) authors of Essence of Tantric Sexualit. Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson are a married couple who have been teaching Tantra and Kriya Yoga together since 1999. They seek to combine a traditional, lineage-based approach with the best contemporary, Neo-Tantric methods. Their approach includes breath work, meditation, chanting, and puja (a type of Hindu devotional ritual), and their "initiated Kriya yoga" practices aim to lay a spiritual foundation for bringing the heightened awareness and pleasure of sex into everyday life. Listen to the podcast.

The Practice of Left Hand Tantra: Vama Marga

The term Tantra sometimes creates confusion because Tantra has become associated with sex in the West, but a minimal amount of research reveals that not all Tantric traditions include sex in their practices. The branch of Tantra that does use sexual practices for spiritual development is called vama marga or left hand Tantra, due to the fact that women, who are of lunar influence, negative polarity or the left, play an essential role in this science.

The science of tantra has two main branches, which are known as vama marga and dakshina marga. Vama marga is the left path which combines sexual life with yoga practices in order to explode the dormant energy centres. Dakshina marga is the right path of yoga practices without sexual enactment. Previously, due to the barriers in sexual life, the path most widely followed was dakshina marga. Today, however, these barriers are rapidly being broken, and the path most sought after by the people everywhere is vama marga, which utilizes sexual life for spiritual development.

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The contention of vama marga is that the awakening of kundalini is possible through the interaction between man and woman. The concept behind this follows the same lines as the process of fission and fusion described in modern physics.

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The elements that are brought together in this process of union are known as Shiva and Shakti. Shiva represents purusha and Shakti represents prakriti or energy. Shakti, in different forms, is present in all creation. Both material and spiritual energy are known as Shakti. When the energy moves outwardly, it is material energy, and when it is directed upwards it is spiritual energy. Therefore, when the union between man and woman is practised in the correct way, it has a very positive influence on the development of spiritual awareness. Read more

Introduction to the Advanced Ah Meditation

Dattatreya Siva Baba gave the "Ah" meditation to Wayne Dyer over 10 years ago. This is a revised and advanced version. Datta talks about the transformation of procreative energy to become energy to create anything you want.

Tantra for Singles

Most people are single at some point in their lives, but that doesn't mean that you can't practice Tantra. Janet Kira Lessin explains how to practice Tantric sex without a steady partner.

Many are single by choice. There are many benefits to being single in the dance of life. Dating many allows you to dance many different styles of dances; tango, hip hop, waltz, country line, ballroom. Any one partner may not know how to do all the types of dances you desire, and if you limit yourself to one partner, you won’t get to dance all the dances you want. It’s nearly impossible for one person to fulfill all your needs.

Now you’re ready for a tantric lover. Maybe you’re looking for "the one" and you’re single and can’t seem to find her or him or you’re already involved with a partner who isn’t interested in tantra. If so, you needn’t wait for another lover before you love yourself as your own beloved. Read more

Creating a Personal Altar

Personal space is hard to find these days, as is a sense of peace and comfort. Our homes provide us with a sense of belonging and personal expression, but, sometimes, we need more than that. We want to feel the presence and feeling of peace and comfort that we can only experience in a sacred place. This can be possible by creating a personal altar in your home.

... The depth of meaning of an altar is not established by some unknown mystical force. It can be as light or as serious as the creator wishes. The creation and use of a personal spirit altar is not necessarily sacrilegious or iconological worship. While some may use the altar for worship it is perfectly acceptable to place certain statues or representations of deities or other items to serve as a reminder of some important attributes that the creator wishes to emulate or to invoke particular energies into the creator's life and space.

There are many reasons to create a personal spirit altar. Among them are: Read more

The Science of Sacred Sexuality

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Breathing Together for Nonverbal Communication

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

Women constantly complain that men won't "open up" and share their innermost feelings to them. Has all this complaining changed men? Not much. Could men change? Probably, but, in the meantime, why not try a different way to develop the intimacy we want? Since men won't talk, why not try nonverbal communication?

Using words to convey feelings is something many women do far better than most men. Since birth, women are trained to talk about feelings, to grasp the language of emotion and rapport.

Men are not. Women want men to meet them on their turf of conveying innermost feelings. But many men can’t because they’ve never learned how. Yes, men must learn, and many are, but why should all the learning be on men’s shoulders? Can’t women try to understand, appreciate, and converse in the communication modes men use at the same time men are learning how to express and verbalize their feelings?

Okay to readily achieve this, you both may want to try nonverbal communication. Here’s how:

It s called the breathing together technique: Read more