Consciousness verses Conditioning

Many people think of sex when they hear the word Tantra. In truth, sex is one aspect of a very powerful and complete spiritual path called Tantra. Yes, we do use our sexual energy to elevate our consciousness. We learn how to pull that energy up into our bodies and higher chakras for rejuvenation and transformation. One can be partnered or single, sexually active or celibate and still be living as a Tantrika.

Most people live their lives in confusion and at the mercy of their sexual desires. When we enter adolescence, everything we have been taught before about relating, love, intimacy and sexuality comes to the surface. And whatever choice we make – to act it out and hurt and abuse ourselves and others, or to act it in and alienate ourselves from ourselves and others…for most of us this is a time of deep turmoil.

Tantra teaches us to undo all these things. To return to the natural inside. To start listening again to our body and senses. To open up to the natural state of sensuality that flows inside us, and to give way to its expression in whatever feels good and right to us.

I call the healing that takes place though Tantra practice “organic healing” because we heal ourselves at the cellular level. This healing happens when we have learned how to bring in a strong state of Witnessing – to watch ourselves with a detached and non-judgmental interest. As conditioning and judgments drop away, our mind relaxes and in time our consciousness once again becomes the master of our life. We don’t force the mind to loosen its grip, we make friends with our mind. We remember to trust and follow our inner guidance. We awaken to new levels of creativity and love and begin living in our heart.

Tantra is not something you do, it is a way of being. Tantra means to weave together…a Tantric life is feeling our connection to existence on all dimensions with honor and reverence for ourselves and others, the earth and all her creatures. We call this “Living in Namaste”. Namaste: The Divine in Me Honors the Divine in You. There is a place where all beauty dwells, and when you are in that place in your heart, and I am in that place in my heart…we are in the same place.

As a Tantra teacher I’m often asked why particular classes and workshops aren’t done in the nude.

I say to all of you: It is far easier to drop our clothes than to drop our masks. Sex is only a part of Tantra, we do use our most powerful energy, the energy that creates life, to accelerate our path to higher consciousness and transcend desire. There’s no other way to truly transform our sexual nature without accepting and embracing it as natural and sacred. So many humans try to deny their true nature, and as we know, that only creates more separateness and pain.
How can we truly love ourselves if we haven’t accepted every bit of who we are? Why be in a body…on this Earth…?

Tantra can be a difficult path, it takes a warrior to surrender. My experience with Tantra practice has been a journey into my heart and I find that I’m delving into extreme self-honesty. It’s absolutely liberating! Walking through my taboos, judgments and fears has taken amazing strength and a willingness to surrender. My grip continues to loosen and I find that it’s all about trust. I don’t feel stuck the way I used to, of course I have many miles to go but I have no more effective and efficient and beautiful way to keep going than my practice. My sadhana doesn’t end at my altar each morning…it continues into my day, evening, night and dreams. I cannot deny who I am and I can’t stop listening to my heart. Every uncomfortable moment is an opportunity to drop my mind and fall into my heart…to trust, trust in the flow of divinity.

Sex is not my spiritual path. My spiritual path is about unwinding my conditioning and transcending my karma and getting back to my authentic, divine essence. I am a Tantrika.

NAMASTE.

Olivia xo