TANTRA
authentic tantra™
Authentic Tantra™ is a trauma-informed holistic healing modality rooted in Tibetan Tantra’s 5 elements.
Authentic Tantra® also incorporates philosophies and practices from somatic sexology and Taoist sexual practices in order to unite one’s sexuality and spirituality. Authentic Tantra® practices and philosophies aim to enhance pleasure in the lives of practitioners, suggesting that both pleasure and sex are healing and medicinal for oneself and others.
Authentic Tantra™ is currently the only government accredited school for Tantra in the world.
Tibetan Tantric practices have been successfully used by practitioners for thousands of years. However, as an indigenous sect of Tantra that includes practices from the Bön tradition, Tibetan Tantra hasn’t branched out or expanded beyond its original teachings for a very long time. On the other hand, Authentic Tantra® not only includes Tibetan Tantra in its modality, but it also incorporates Taoist sexual practices, Nonviolent Communication, and current scientific research on trauma, sex, and mindfulness.
Tibetan Tantra and Authentic Tantra® practices are related in which they have similar goals and motivations including purifying one’s thought, speech, and behavior to align with the highest good for oneself and others, in addition the use of the 5 elements for healing and balancing both the energy body and the physical body.
The Four Pillars of Authentic Tantra™ are Meditation, Movement, Connection, and Pleasure.
Each Authentic Tantra™ practice relates to one or more of the pillars. Meditation practices help individuals cultivate awareness and focus on the present moment by using one’s breath and imagination to anchor into the here and now by slowing down and giving the mind something to direct its attention on.
Movement helps circulate and disperse energy throughout the body, so that all areas of the body are nourished with fresh blood and oxygen, enhancing vitality and life throughout one’s entire being. Movement also helps the practitioner process or “digest” excess energy that may cause one to feel anxious or uneasy after engaging in a powerful meditation or an emotionally charged connection or pleasure practice.
Connection practices encourage individuals to become aware of and identify their feelings, needs, and bodily sensations. The goal of connection practices is to understand oneself so an individual can ultimately have compassion for themselves instead of shame, guilt, or confusion. Connection practices focus on the present moment, so that the practitioner can be inspired to make choices that align with their highest good and what brings them pleasure without feeling lost, misguided, or unworthy.
Pleasure practices are about regularly cultivating and enhancing pleasure, specifically in one’s body, by using breath, touch, and awareness. Pleasure practices not only feel good, but they help dissolve pain, dysfunction, within the physical body by allowing the body’s pleasure chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin to flood the body and be experienced as medicine.
When all four pillars are used in conjunction with one another, they allow the practitioner to deepen, expand, and enhance their ability to experience pleasure and live in the present moment, fully connected to their bodies instead of trapped inside their mind. When certain practices or tools bring up intense feelings and/or sensations of shame, guilt, pain, remorse, anger, or numbness, the other practices help the practitioner stay present with their discomfort and process their painful emotions or sensations so they can be released, not stored within the body. While many of these practices may conjure up painful emotions and/or sensations, these very same practices are the balm needed to heal what arises.