What is tantric sex? How do you practice it?

Tantric sex is a whole new way of being in sexual connection that allows you to access deeper levels of feeling, sensation, and energy, and ultimately a greater part of who you truly are. This path is simple yet profound: it's about wholeheartedly celebrating the sacredness of our bodies and desires while bringing a quality of mindful awareness to the shared expression of pleasure. It can help you release shame, trauma, and blockages related to sex, unleashing the transformative power of your erotic energy and leading you to some of the most profound orgasms imaginable. Through this holistic approach, sensuality also becomes a doorway to being, to the divine, and to a more intimate experience of the present moment.

What is Tantric Sex?

Tantric sex is a sexual practice that is part of the ancient spiritual path known as Tantra. Tantra (pronounced tahn-tra, with an 'ahh' sound in the first syllable) is a Sanskrit term that translates to "weaving." It refers to weaving together or uniting the masculine and feminine forces within each of us, heaven and earth, the human body with the transcendent, collapsing polarities. The goal of Tantra is to discover an ecstatic union with all life beyond the separate sense of self. Sacred or Tantric sex – an aspect of Tantra – is considered a gateway to this transcendent truth, once we learn how to harness it.

The simplest explanation of Tantric intimacy is that it's about bringing the fire of your sexual energy, passion, and desires into alignment with your heart, your mind, and a sense of goodness in your life. When these forces balance and harmonize, the sparks of interpersonal magic truly begin to fly, and sex becomes something healing, empowering, transcendent, and profoundly beautiful.

I'm talking about the kind of love that feels truly connected, aligned, incredibly powerful, and filled with the utmost respect and devotion between you and your partner. This type of intimacy evokes your highest self and leaves you overflowing with love. Time slows down, your intuition expands, and you might find yourself in almost psychedelic realms of orgasmic possibilities you may never have heard of or only imagined.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

What happens during Tantric sex.

Tantric sex involves a wide range of erotic activities, not all of which involve the same type of penetration and physical stimulation of erogenous zones that most people associate with sex. A typical Tantra session involves the subtle realms of sex, including slow embraces, gentle caresses, presence in the body, and focusing on the movement of energy between partners' bodies.

Sometimes, during Tantric sex, you barely move, and the focus is on the meditative and devotional dimension. If you relax and go slowly, or if you increase and decrease the action, you can make love for hours, and the pleasure never stops growing. People with penises can also explore practices such as "edging" (approaching orgasm and pulling back), which allows them to last longer and retain more pleasure before tipping into orgasm.

That said, any sexual energy can be Tantric when practiced with awareness. Tantric sex can delve into raw, intense, and primal spaces, where the body's instinctive intelligence takes over and you are blind to pleasure. Domination and submission can also be Tantric.

Breathing is also a central element of Tantric sex; people can use their breath and awareness to circulate sexual energy throughout their entire body, thereby awakening their capacity to experience full-body pleasure (rather than pleasure localized specifically in the genitals).

The purpose of Tantric sex.

There can be a whole range of goals and expectations around sex that push us to be in a certain way, as well as routines and habits that keep us in a sexual rut. Tantra is about throwing all that out the window and starting fresh with a beginner's mind, redefining sex by making it more intimate, connected, and playful than a race to orgasm or a checkbox. When you let go of goals like "making someone orgasm" or achieving something specific, there is literally infinite space for discovery and such a range of possibilities.

And whatever orgasm you currently experience, you can safely assume there's much more to experience through Tantric sex – more powerful orgasms, longer-lasting orgasms, non-ejaculatory orgasms, and multiple orgasms for men, many types of orgasms for women, deep states of surrender, visionary states, and states of oneness with your partner and life itself.

Sacred sexuality can also be an integral part of the path to awakening and personal evolution. Various spiritual masters have admitted that orgasm is an experience that gives us a glimpse into divinity, as there is a merging of the ordinary self in these moments of communion.

The benefits of Tantric sex.

• Getting more of what you want in sex
• Releasing sexual blockages and shame
• Finding healing from sexual trauma
• Awakening your sexual energy to flow freely through your body
• Accessing your fullest pleasure and desire
• Attuning to subtle energy
• Discovering full and/or multiple orgasms
• For people with penises, delaying orgasm or experiencing non-ejaculatory orgasms
• Experiencing a new level of heart connection with your partner, a deep sense of intimacy and loving presence
• Longer lovemaking sessions, relaxation, and a quality of space
• Improved communication and communion
• Holistic mind-body connection—with yourself and your partner.

There are many myths about Tantra that can make people feel it's not for them. But I feel inspired to teach Tantra because I believe most people have a large part of their power and truth locked up in their sexuality, right alongside all the cultural conditioning and trauma most of us carry. When people are aligned in their sexuality, when their sexual "life force" energy is fully activated within them and connected to their heart and mind, they can become the most flourishing, unstoppable, and inspired versions of themselves to go and actualize their purpose in the world.