The word “tan” means expansion, and “tra” – liberation. Therefore, the word Tantra can be translated as liberation through expansion. It sounds lofty and philosophical, but does it really work? How to apply Tantra in everyday life?

Many people associate Tantra with yoga, Kamasutra or with Hindu rituals of sex without climaxing for hours. Tantra offers much, much more. By studying Tantra, you can indeed learn how to prolong intercourse and achieve multiple orgasms, but also how to make fiery love and achieve ecstasy, closeness and unity with the partner you dream about. It is an ancient path of development, a treasure trove of knowledge about life, psychology, sexuality and spirituality. However, it is not a religion. There are no gods there or doctrines you are to believe in. Tantra gives you the tools to experience. You can take from it as much as you are ready for. You can learn, how to meditate, how to activate the kundalini energy, how to relax, how to practice sacred sex, how to orgasm, use orgasmic energy to fulfil your dreams, achieve liberation and even enlightenment.

What does Tantra offer us, contemporary people of the 21st century?

1. More freedom

The ancient tantric practitioners preached freedom. They encouraged the rejection of social scripts, to live in your sacred space. Social rules and regulations, by which we learn to live, create invisible prisons that keep us “in line”, away from our true passion.

When we lack freedom, we become depressed. Our soul is unable to realize our potential. We cannot grow or experience the world to develop our uniqueness. We are told to adopt someone else’s views and pretend that this is how we feel and think.

If we do this long enough, something deep within us loses hope and becomes engulfed with despair and depression. And when that happens, we cannot express the joy and share our gifts with the world.

Tantra says: “Be free!! Trust yourself!! Trust the power of your spirit!! The only way to be 100% alive is to be yourself!”

2. Emotional intelligence and even more freedom

First of all, in Sanskrit, the language of Tantra, there is no separate word for mind and heart. And for that Tantra should get the Nobel Prize. The whole division of intelligence into IQ or EQ would be obsolete, the perpetual struggle between mind and emotions would be obsolete. And take note that this knowledge is more than 5 thousand years old…

Let’s take a moment to think about what’s going on here… Tantra says that emotional states and thoughts are often intertwined in our subconscious mind, creating thought patterns. When we are carried away by an emotion, it is almost always based on our thoughts about ourselves. If these thoughts are positive and good – we are in a good mood; if they are critical, judging and blaming, we feel down, we suffer, we get depressed.

According to Tantra, all states of mind, emotions and moods are energy, Shakti vibration, manifestation of the Goddess/Power of life and nature. That is why tantric practitioners experiencing anger, fear, desire, jealousy, guilt or shame know that what they are feeling it is a vibration of energy; that all energy is a manifestation of the Goddess, so they bow to their own emotions with humble gratitude, asking: “Thank you for appearing in this form. What should I learn from this?” If we consider certain emotions “bad” or “negative”, we will want to get rid of them in order to quickly get into positive vibrations. Our culture offers a lot of tricks so that we can quickly cut ourselves off from these emotions and feel better for a moment – TV, Internet, Facebook, alcohol and other stimulants.

But these emotions did come up. Not without a reason. And according to Tantra., they carry some energy with them. To suppress emotions, we have to use even more energy, and then we have so little left that we actually are only able to just stare at the TV or numb ourself with alcohol.

The ancient teachings of Tantra show us, how to use the energy of “negative” emotions.

When we stop condemning ourselves for a given feeling, stop suppressing or running away from it and start to accept ourselves, we can listen to our inner self and ask with genuine curiosity: “Why is this happening to me?” What is my lesson in this?”. Energy hidden in a given emotion will naturally reveal its beneficial properties, directing us to a deeper experience of our authentic nature.

So, let’s drop the term “negative emotions” completely as it usually means “emotions, which we should not feel.” There is no such thing on the path of Tantra. There are no better or worse states. It is what it is. Tantric practitioners experience both – and this gives them freedom.

3. Safety

Paradoxically, nowadays we live in constant fear. We are afraid of failure, success, loneliness, crowds, obesity, cancer, that we are not attractive enough, we are afraid of making mistakes, losing our job, overworking… etc., etc. Not to mention religious and political fears.

When we are afraid, nothing works out in our lives because we are in a state of perpetual vigilance. There is no time to sit down, feel, think or meditate. There is no way to properly react to a given situation because our system is overloaded.

Tantra teaches us that we are divine beings. Not in a religious sense. We are more than our bodies. The Energy of Being flows through us and through everything around us, all the time. If we allow ourselves a moment of breath from the haste of everyday life, we can feel it, and fears disappear. We cease to be separated, we notice ourselves and the world around us, full of interesting phenomena.

During tantric meditation, both sexual and non-sexual, we experience it with greatest intensity. We experience that “something” that is beyond words, that is beyond our daily experiences. It is so tangible and so profound that it cannot be forgotten, we want it more, we want to fill our life with it. A life without fear, guilt and shame, a life full of joy, love, passion and harmony.

4. Deep relationships

In the era of modern communication, smartphones, computers and the Internet, most people feel very lonely. We are lonely because we lack a partner, we feel lonely in the crowd, sometimes even more lonely in our relationships.

By applying the tantric approach to our relationships, we meet at the level of the soul. We see beauty and non-beauty, joy and sadness, accepting shadow as well as light, because we know that both are part of our being, and there is room for everything in our heart. We look at ourselves, see the miracle of existence, every day in a different way.

We can also look at ourselves and our imperfections with compassion and respect for our journey. It allows us to be more open to our partners, because we are no longer so afraid of their judgement when “they really see us for what we are”. And when we open up, it will be also easier for them to do so. We feel connected to our wholeheartedness. We love and we feel loved.

5. Different dimension of sex

I’m not using the word “better” here, although the tantric approach offers a wide range of techniques and tools to make sex better than you have ever dreamed of. There is more to it than that. It’s about the sanctification of sex. In our culture, religion (not only ours), sex is considered “bad” or “dirty” or “something we do, but it’s better not to talk about it.” This approach immediately condemns us to failure and confusion. On the one hand, we feel that it is something beautiful, yet, “love” leads to “dirty sex” in the end…

And sex is a life force, the most natural and common activity (or set of activities) on Earth. Do we have anything against flowers? – and these are the sexual organs of plants, we all admire them, indeed, even altars are decorated with them … (I wonder if consciously ?;))))

The sex drive is our life force, which is blazing in the lower abdomen at the sight of a loved one, it is the same energy that drives everything to life, it is the fuel for all our passions, creativity, our joy and our desire to live and experience this wonderful world.

Can a rose be forbidden to bloom? And yet our culture, through religion, social norms and laws, has been trying to control the uncontrollable since the dawn of time. By surrendering to this, we kill our joy and will to live. Something in us dies (or degenerates into something really dirty, evil and dangerous when it’s repressed).

Tantra says that this life force is important, that there is nothing to be afraid of, quite the contrary – we should enjoy it and express it freely. Tantra says that sex is sacred, that the connection that arises between lovers is a great force, alchemy, that orgasm takes us into other dimensions. And that is why we find many techniques, exercises and meditations in Tantra transforming “ordinary” lovemaking into a plenitude of bliss and ecstasy. We connect with our partner at the level of the body, heart and spirit. We become what poets and mystics from all over the world talk about – one body, unity… Whoever has tasted tantric sex does not want to go back to the old ways any more.

6. Abundance

Civilization provides us with an abundance, that even kings could never dream of – hot running water, exotic food, travel to the most remote corners of the world. In developed countries, almost every average family can afford it. And yet we live in constant fear for the future, in constant fear of scarcity. Even very rich people, millionaires and movie stars feel it. Scarcity mindset. That there won’t be enough for us. That we are not deserving…

Nowadays, many books on becoming wealthy written by financial gurus talk about one thing – “change your beliefs, and you will change your life…”. The old tantric texts speak of “vikalpas” (stories, thoughts and beliefs, etched into our mind), and for thousands of years Tantra has offered many powerful solutions, techniques, exercises and meditations to help you understand and change your beliefs and achieve abundance. Vikalpas, in most cases, are programs from our family, religion, school, television, etc. Without being aware of them, we act as we are told by them, experiencing fear, lack, and poverty.

Apparently, it’s nothing new, after all, everyone talks about it these days. But let’s just look at the “date of issue” of the source information, and we will notice that all self-help materials, including the famous movie “The Secret”, are works of the 20th century. They are based on ancient knowledge, but make it very shallow and, unfortunately, do not reveal the “true secret”. Superficial techniques and tricks do not give the readers real abundance – they only make money for the authors. Why? Because it is secret knowledge. And the practice is not easy. But it is achievable. Described in the tantric scriptures.

Everything is based on awareness and energy. Thanks to awareness, we notice the programs (beliefs) installed. Money, abundance, creativity are all aspects of energy. Tantra teaches, how to experience it and how to care for it. We experience it with the whole body, and by combining our energy with the energy of our partner in the light of consciousness, we create alchemy, magic, literally creating reality and everything we want in life. Tantric practices and meditations help and teach HOW to write new programs (vikalpas) that erase old beliefs and stories that don’t serve us, but are imposed on us by family, society, religion and other sources.

7. A better version of yourself

The new programs (vikalpas) proposed by the Tantra mystics create a completely different self-image: “There is divine intelligence in me that created the whole universe, by getting in touch with it, I know everything I need to know, to live abundantly and happily”.

“You are the manifestation of divine energy”, “All the wisdom you will ever need is already in you, just break the chains of social and earthly conditioning, and you will be free “,”You are eternal … There is nothing to be afraid of”, “your body is sacred, sex is sacred…”

Imagine a world where we all think and live this way…

Author: Freya Wolna https://www.facebook.com/freya.tantraway

The text uses the knowledge from “Tantra Illuminated: The Philosophy, History, and Practice of a Timeless Tradition: Wallis, Christopher D. Mattamayura Pres