What Is Tantra? By Helena Malin

Aug 15, 2010 by Susan

I have been a teacher of the Tantric art of conscious loving for over 15 years, and I am still learning more to share with you. I think we can always improve on a good thing and Tantra has shown me that our capacity for pleasure is unlimited! I can’t think of any better frontier to explore! 

What is Tantra? 

Primarily, Tantra is a spiritual path of the heart and consciousness that utilizes the power of pleasure and well-being to help create a more loving, fun-filled juicy, ecstatic life.  

What I mean by ‘spiritual’ is exploration of life where the focus of the journeyer’s attention is upon discovering the world through the relationship to self and others (expanding awareness.)   A spiritual path is an avenue of philosophy, study, attitude and approach, to life and living that facilitates greater awareness and connection to Source (or whatever name you use for God.)    

The Tantric path seeks expanded awareness of the self and the Universe, and our role in the journey we call life experience.   Some might call this the journey toward enlightenment…and it is.  To experience enlightenment is merely to have a more expanded awareness than you had before.  So, in a sense, we are all enlightened, and becoming more so every day.  Tantra sees this exploration as a joyful adventure, encouraging us to question, step out of the box of tradition, and expand our experiences to more fully live as we discover the myriad wonders this world has to offer.  Thus, the pursuit of freedom of expression, as well as experience is an essential element to the Tantric lifestyle. 

In Tantra, we see the heart as the mid-point between our spiritual nature and our physical nature. It is the place where the two merge to become a fully integrated spirit in physical being in this third dimensional reality. Thus, as we express the energy of our truth through the heart’s compassion and knowledge, as a filter for all of our choices and actions, we are sharing the best of what we have to offer to others.   This is the way we learn to trust ourselves enough to rely on our inner truth to guide us. 

Short Definition of Tantra 

Tantra is both a science and an art that originates from ancient knowledge in East India, Tibet, Egypt, and China. It is a spiritual path focusing on the power of our creative life force that we commonly refer to as sexual energy. Tantra offers techniques to enhance arousal and one’s lovemaking skills, as well as one’s entire life, through a deeper understanding and mastery of our life force/libido. 

Tantra is a form of yoga that offers a philosophy and practices showing how to generate, enhance and consciously direct life force energy that can awaken, arouse, enlighten, and heal the self and others. Tantra literally means weaving together the polarities of the male and female forces. Through tantric synergistic union and orgasm, we can generate harmony and balance to all aspects of the human psyche, mind and body. 

Primarily, Tantra is a path of the heart and a path of pleasure. It is about loving the self enough to create a life of deep enjoyment by consciously intending and choosing actions and activities that bring the greatest pleasure and nurturance to the soul. It is also a path of joyous service from whence the giving comes from a cup that is therefore always consciously kept full. 

Through sacred sex, Tantra teaches fine and sophisticated arts of giving and receiving optimum pleasure for the self and partner — thereby achieving transcendence, or union with the divine, through sexual pleasure and extended orgasm. In orgasm we are truly in the moment – in the place of no mind through which we are the most receptive to our natural bliss – aligned with the high frequency of divine energy and enlightenment. 

Tantra teaches that through an in-depth awareness of all aspects of the self, and also through honoring, adoring and worshiping your partner as the embodiment of God/Goddess, one can find and allow the power of that pure love light to shine forth from within to brighten and bring more joy to the world. 

The Path of Pleasure

Tantra suggests that pleasure is the best (and most fun) vehicle to create more of the life that we want.  We all know that our basic nature is to move towards pleasure – away from pain. Tantra asks why are we not making more of our choices based on what gives us pleasure? When we are fully fed, satiated and well-nurtured, we are certainly more pleasant to be around and effective. Have you ever noticed how your patience level diminishes when you have had too little sleep, but your day goes so much better when you have had a blissful, restful night? 

Tantra suggests an enlightened form of selfishness. This is a form of loving the self. We are the only one’s who really know what we want from life and love – and as an adult, we are the only one’s truly responsible for making sure that we get that! In doing so, we have an overflowing bounty of loving energy from which to give to others. We are thus no longer bound in any way by fear of lack in our personal experience and we can give so much more freely with joy! And if we love ourselves well, we also have more centered and clear love to share. 

The Tantric Relationship 

A Tantric relationship is one in which both partners live their lives according to Tantric philosophy: choosing to see, love, and honor each other as the embodiment of Divine expression – invoking the highest spiritual enlightenment in one another, consciously creating their lives and union based on unconditional love, allowing, and receiving. Their choices are based on the highest expressions of loving, pleasure, and freedom, while supporting each other’s spiritual journeys, of exploration and growth and joy as much as they can! 

About The Author:  For more than 15 years, Helena Malin has been a dynamic force in the Los Angeles community as a Life, Relationship & Sex Coach. As a lecturer, author and media personality, she has brought a renewed sense of potential for a better life and world. She has a successful private practice teaching workshops and helping individuals and couples in bettering their lives and relationships through her training in many different counseling and healing modalities. Learn more about Helena at www.LovenLifeTools.com.

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