POPULAR TANTRA: A Pair of Examples

Taken from 'Meditation' Magazine.
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Divine Sexuality 
by David A. Ramsdale, M.A.

While it is true that Tantra does embrace sexual energy as a vehicle for
raising consciousness, that is only the beginning of the Tantric
journey.  Rather than fixating on its historical association with
eroticism, Tantra is better defined as the art of transcending the
socialized veneer to experience one's primal identity.

Just as Tibetan Buddhists today describe the absolute consciousness,
with its openness and infinite ability to nourish, as feminine, so did
the ancient Tantra turn to the metaphors of the Goddess and the Mother
for its symbols of the authentic Self.

The implication of this is that one attains by becoming a lover, not a
fighter.  To fight with one's self, to struggle with and try to suppress
the content of one's own mind, is basic to our culture.  We become so
familiar with fighting that it eventually seems natural.  We then
graduate to expecting and co-creating conflict on the outside with each
other.


Life is a Touching Experience

The Tantric fascination with the Mother has another, more concrete, 
basis.  In tribal and agrarian societies where Tantra originated
thousands  of years ago, the child stayed close to the mother.  If she
was not being held or carried with her genetic mother, she was in
physical contact with another female member of the tribe, a grandmother
perhaps (remember the Native American papoose?).  Studies of tribes that
have maintained this practice until today show an impressive lack of
violence.

To enter the physical dimension is such a great shock that enormous care
must be given to the being in the womb and to the infant.  It is fear
and isolation, the result of the usual break in contact, that creates
most of our personal and social problems.  We adults have plenty of
catching up to do.  We need tactile contact in order to remain sane, not
just in the form of making love, but as massage, hugging, cuddling and
tender caresses.

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                           SEX IS NATURE'S LSD

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We tend to forget that when Tantra first became available thousands of
years ago, its students were people raised in a non-violent,
body-positive, mother-dominated society.  So it is important for us to
make an effort to set aside our Judeo-Christian, sex-negative 'head' and
instead try to look at Tantra through entirely fresh eyes, through eyes
that looked out in awe upon Nature in Her untouched glory, not at Her
waning twilight.  The 'Mother' was then felt to be, not the biological
person, but the source of life itself, the great nurturer - and
destroyer.

If we can accept this point of view at least on a trial basis, then
perhaps  we can arrive a little closer to the spirit of Tantra.  If you
and your partner are about to make love, for instance, this means
jettisoning much of the  socio-cultural flotsam that fills your skull
and replacing it with this more 'primitive' view.  Our sexual 'head' is
all the thoughts about sex that we have acquired.  In Zen, we would say
chop off the head and then act.

Jeff and Marie used my Just Touch technique to accomplish this.  Moving
very slowly, they focused their attention totally on just the sensations
they were feeling at the point of contact between their eager bodies. 
As Jeff explained it to me, "I was totally in the now, yet an eternity
of ecstasy seemed to stretch out before me.  When you explore your
sensual communion without thought, boredom goes out the window no matter
how long you've been lovers."


Goddess and God

Now that we have adjusted our views of Tantra, we can look at another
great innovation from Tantra, the god-goddess model.  In addition to our
alienation from the Mother and from Nature, we are burdened by a dearth
of paradigms for spiritual marriage.

The love of Romeo and Juliet was true, but it ended in tragedy.  In
contrast the Radha and Krishna of India are depicted as sporting in
eternal, erotic dalliance.  Enjoying a heaven on Earth, they celebrate
each other with undivided devotion.

When one's partner is regarded as a goddess or god, this accomplishes a 
major positive adjustment in attitude.  It facilitates surrender,
engenders appreciation and encourages respect.  For example, I regard my
wife as an emanation of a certain Hindu goddess.  To me, it is a literal
fact.

To view each other as goddess and god is an intermediate step.  From an
absolute standpoint, no description is adequate.  But to positively and
consistently regard the other as Other, as god or goddess and not human
per se, is to set the stage for a heaven on Earth.  The typical angst
about the partner is diluted.  Perhaps they are a fallen goddess or god,
but their root, their identity, is divine.  And this much is closer to
the truth.  So to regard each other as goddess and god is a skillful,
exciting concept that leaves lots of room for spontaneity and creativity
while assuring a nourishing emotional tone.


Whole-Body Ecstasy

Tantra works with the sex-emotion axis in our psyches.  The full
flowering of the Tantric way is colorful, ecstatic, artistic, musical,
joyful, a celebration in, of and with every sense.  Though just as
complete a path as the one practiced by its austere cousins, the monks
and nuns, Tantra explodes the colors, tones, shapes and energies of
feeling.  And feeling cannot be separated from sexuality, from sensual
expression, from, in the broader sense, the energy of life.

Tantra does not want to suppress at all.  For this reason, it is very
good for our society.  It is an antidote.  We are victims of our own
monsters, of our suppressed energies that have been reborn in twisted
form.  Violence, for example, is just a pathological form of our need to
touch and be touched.  The forces of life cannot be denied.  That much
is certain.

Sex is Nature's LSD.  At the cellular level, we sense that an ecstasy of
the whole body is possible.  When it is ignored, this spontaneous urge
for ecstasy expresses as materialistic accumulating, body weight
problems, failing relationships, sex difficulties, superficial cravings.
Tantra not only says you deserve ecstasy, the source of ecstasy lies
within you, not just as sex but in a whole-body release that ultimately
takes the form of melting into oneness.


Tantric Orgasm

Sex is the beginning, but it is not the end.  When I started with
Tantra, sex meant having intercourse with a partner.  Now, sex means a
feeling experience of the unified compassionate energy of the cosmos.  I
now view orgasm as a meditation and have learned how to achieve an
orgasmic state quickly and easily without genital stimulation. 
Therefore, I have acquired a valuable degree of autonomy from my
physical lover, and turn more and more to the great feminine ocean of
beneficent energy as my ever-present Beloved.

Perhaps you are interest in this, so I will tell you how to do it.  In a
sitting position, take a few deep breaths.  Focus in the sexual region.
Recall a very pleasurable orgasmic or other erotic experience.  Now
relive this experience in your mind, attempting to feel it again in your
body as if it is happening right now.  As you do this, continue to
breathe more deeply than usual.  Roll your eyes up and put your
attention at the center or top of your head.  Encourage a feeling of
yearning for intimacy and ecstasy.  Yield.  Surrender.  Melt.  It may
help to sway side to side slightly or otherwise to loosen up the pelvis
and back to that energy can flow freely.  Eventually you will be able to
have a mild orgasm most any time you like.

The application of this techinique to partner practice is
straightforward. Obviously, you don't have to remember an erotic
experience - you are having one!  As the energy builds up, send it to
your partner.  Benefits may include a new comfort with sexual issues,
better meditations, an improved relationship or attracting a new Tantric
partner.


Follow Your Bliss

This is Tantra - taste it, feel it, live it, be it.  The successful,
spiritual life feels good, and when you feel good, you are good to other
people, too. To place a respectful twist on a familiar Bible phrase,
'What you do unto yourself you will do unto others.'  There's no need to
wait.  Go ahead.  Feel good now.  You deserve it.  Feeling good is a
sign that cosmic intelligence is at work in your life.

There is much more to Tantra than this, but I think this is a good
introduction.  In institutional Tantra, as with the Buddhists, there are
many rules and special meditations and traditions to be honored.  But
the spirit is still the same, which encourages us to do what is truly
close to our hearts.  The late mythologist Joseph Campbell, when asked
to summarize his message, replied 'Follow your bliss.'  Do what excites
you, he elaborated, what makes you feel good.

We cannot leave meditation, the practice of being awake and aware, out
of this for it is the cornerstone.  But all too often we forget that
meditation is about joy.  Mindfulness, prayer, devotion, stillness,
pilgrimage, respecting the teacher, these are all part of Tantra too.
The heart of Tantra, though, is spontaneous and free, and no system will
ever capture it.  What is spontaneous is true.

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David A. Ramsdale, M.A., is coauthor of _Sexual Energy Ecstasy_, the new
video 'Tantra Love' and 6 audio tapes on Tantra.  He currently gives
workshops through The Learning Annex in San Diego, CA.  For more
information, call Peak Skill Publishing at (619) 222-0004 or The
Learning Annex at (619) 544-9700.

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What is Tantra?
By Charles and Caroline Muir

Ancient Tantra is a spiritual system in which sexual love is a
sacrament. Modern Tantra has been developed based on tantric
philosophical concepts and techniques that are applicable to modern
lifestyles.  It is a system that can elevate a couple's relationship to
the level of art.  We refer to it as 'The Art of Conscious Loving.'

Tantra teaches important tools for today's couples who are searching for
a significantly different way of relating to each other and, as a by-
product, to heal the wounds of their past sexual traumas.  Tantra
asserts that negative imprints from sexual preconceptions and past
experiences make their home in the region of the second chakra, the
sexual center in the area of the genitals.

The first step toward healing our sexual scars is to shine the light of
our consciousness on our second chakras, so we can see what is creating
the block, fear, coldness, anger or just plain craziness.  Imagine the
second chakra as a doorway into a room filled with your personal sexual
belongings.  You must enter this rom with a lantern held high against
the darkness.  You must walk through the room, past everything in it, in
order to overcome your personal obstacles.  Each time you enter with the
light, you will eradicate a little bit of the darkness.

Western therapies require the individual to enter this room of 
preconceptions and past experiences alone.  One the other hand, Tantric 
Yoga exhorts the couple to make the journey together utilizing the 
techniques that Tantra teaches.  Their combined strength makes for an 
easier opening of those doors within themselves, thus helping them 
balance and heal each other.

In combination, the couple can nullify deficiencies by teaching one
another the secrets of their separate strengths.  They can use the art,
science, and ritual of Tantric lovemaking to achieve a powerful, healing
union.  This yoga can replace dark memories with a bright present,
create a new understanding of the meaning of sex and sexuality and
partnership, and banish jealousy, possessiveness, and other ghosts of
the past in the face of the absolute self-assurance the Tantric couple
gains in the practice of the art.

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Charles and Caroline Muir are the authors of _Tantra: The Art of
Conscious Loving_ and hold seminars in Hawaii, California and Colarado. 
For more information, call (808) 572-8364.