Sting blessed\u00a0many people with their first introduction to the term<\/a> in the 1990s.<\/p>\n An interview joke gone awry made people believe the rock star practiced sex with his wife for upwards of seven hours a day. He didn’t, of course, and later clarified what he actually meant.<\/p>\n But the word was already out.<\/p>\n Though as we all know, pop culture doesn’t do the best job with information. Before Sting, tantra had been practiced for thousands and thousands of years.<\/p>\n Tantra\u00a0is also the belief system where tantric sex can trace its roots.<\/p>\n Tantric\u00a0sex was first practiced as a technique in sadhana meditation<\/a>, as a means to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Practitioners sought divine levels of enlightenment through the union and expansion of spiritual energy.<\/p>\n It later reached the Western world through colonialism and continued to spread; despite facing criticism for losing touch with tantra’s original purpose.<\/p>\n Western practitioners and scholars argue against this criticism by claiming Western adaptations are the natural progression of cultural exchange.<\/p>\n Geoffrey Samuel<\/a>, professor of history, archaeology, and religion at Cardiff University, argues for neotantra<\/a> in his book, “Tantric Revisionings, New Understandings of Tibetan Buddhism and Indian Religion.”<\/p>\n “On the contrary, it [tantric sex] took up themes of considerable depth and significance within Western culture, and synthesized them creatively with borrowings from Buddhist and Hindu sources,” Samuel writes.<\/p>\n It’s from this significance and creativity that we derive our current tantric sex practices.<\/p>\n Contrary to “regular\u00a0sex,” orgasm is not the goal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Practitioners sit in each other’s laps, wrap their legs around one another, synchronize their breathing to match their partner’s heartbeat, and gaze deep into each other’s eyes. It’s quite the sight for someone new to the practice.<\/p>\n But that’s the basis of Western tantric sex. The extension and combination of your bodies’ energy into your partners.<\/p>\n Genital intercourse is only a small portion of the experience\u00a0and lasts much longer than traditional sex. Body movement is not emphasized, but instead the movement of energy throughout the physical and emotional space that surrounds yourself and your partner.<\/p>\n Janet W. Hardy<\/a>, the\u00a0author of numerous books on alternative sexualities, shared her experiences surrounding tantra with Salon magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hardy experienced what she describes as, “The deepest ecstasy I\u2019ve ever felt, like orgasm times a hundred, from the tips of my hair to the ends of my toenails.”<\/p>\n The name for her experience is a kundalini awakening<\/a>. An intense spiritual experience that she triggered while sitting eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart, and undulating her hips at her partner Dossie. There was no genital contact.<\/p>\n Are you convinced by tantric sex yet?<\/p>\nTantric Sex Has Ancient Beginnings<\/h2>\n
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The word “tantra” belongs to the Sanskrit language<\/a>, meaning, “to weave together.” It’s a practice comprised of rituals that arose in 5th century\u00a0India\u00a0and would later go on to help lay the foundation of Hinduism and Buddhism.<\/p>\nTanctric Sex Has Limitless Potential<\/h2>\n
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Tantric sex focuses on the journey, not the destination. It’s the difference between a nap on the train to await arrival, and enjoying what the train ride has to offer.<\/p>\n