Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: Book Excerpt

Practice

Developing a daily meditative practice is essential for anyone with a serious interest in Tantra. Meditative techniques have value to the extent that they inform or enrich every moment of daily life, and, from the Tantric perspective, all of one's experiences in life can be gateways to meditative states. Develop a personal practice that blends easily with your lifestyle, and find a balance between following a rigorous schedule and doing what comes naturally. The highest teaching in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra is that there is nothing at all to do. We are already enlightened beings, but we can only return to the natural or sahaja state through diligent practice. "Diligent" may sound effortful and demanding, but consider the Latin root, diligere, which means "to esteem" or "to love." In the absence of a sense of value or love for the practice, you probably will not stay with it for long, reap any significant benefit, or intuit even a hint of what sahaja truly means.

The same principle applies in the realm of Tantric sexuality. There are many techniques that can be employed to heighten and prolong arousal and to develop the capacity to experience full-body orgasm. Some teachers advocate non-ejaculatory sex for men, while others emphasize transmuting sexual energy prior to ejaculation. Ultimately, these techniques are nothing but techniques, and they all have one goal -- if there can be any goal in Tantra -- and that is to lead us back to our natural state, so that we can choose to be fully present in lovemaking and in life. Attaining this state of presence can be very difficult, and it is harder still to sustain it for an extended period. Therefore, in meditation and in sex, techniques provide a much-needed foundation,

Meditative practice will help you participate more consciously in sexual activity, refine your sensory capacity, bolster your awareness of your inner states, and enhance your ability to be present and aware in all aspects of your life. It is up to you to find the form of meditation that suits you and to cultivate the habit. You will discover that your life is enriched as a result.

What Is Meditation?

Meditation is the deliberate performance of a mental or physical act that creates a change in consciousness, According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind-stuff" Different scholars and different Tantric and Yogic schools translate and interpret this axiom in a variety of ways, but the important point, for our purposes, is that in a meditative state the consciousness is altered and a certain calm and stillness of mind ensues.

People often think that in order to meditate, you must rise at dawn, sit silent and motionless, counting breaths or mentally repeating a mantra while keeping your mind free of all chatter. Although such practices are indeed forms of meditation, they can be difficult, if not impossible, for many people. Preconceptions about what it means to meditate can lead people to repeated failure when they find they cannot sit still or cannot focus for protracted periods. It may take months, years, or even a lifetime to develop the ability to meditate effectively in this way, and we suspect that some people are simply unsuited for such inactive forms of meditation, although steady practice can be productive for most of us. According to the classical texts, Tantra is appropriate for active people, those with a heroic temperament. With this understanding and with the pragmatism characteristic of Tantra, the practitioners of old devised a wide variety of meditative techniques suitable for those with more active natures.

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If you think you cannot meditate, you probably haven't found a suitable form of meditation, or you may actually engage in some form of meditative practice without defining it as such. Whatever the case, it is important to find methods that work for you, something that can only be accomplished through trial and error.

The more you practice, the more skillful you will become. At first, two minutes of seated meditation can seem like an eternity, but with time, patience, and experimention with other forms of meditation, even this technique may become much easier. Tratak is a classical form of meditation in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, so you have already been building a foundation.

Experiment with the practices in this book. Find the ones that are enjoyable and fun for you. Approach meditation with a sense of playfulness and flexibility. As you become more skillful, you will discover that you can use different techniques to respond to different life circumstances and external conditions. For example, you may find that guided relaxation practices are effective during stressful periods, and that Tratak is beneficial when you need to enhance your ability to focus.

There may be times when you feel the urge to stop doing a practice merely because it is difficult, but this feeling alone should not make you give up. If the practice causes significant physical discomfort, is emotionally upsetting, is consistently boring, or if you think it is not fruitful, discontinue it and try something new. Exercise judgment, and focus on the practices that work for you. The guidance of a skillful teacher can be very helpful when these problems arise, but so can your own self-knowledge.

The above is an excerpt from the book Tantra for Erotic Empowerment The Key to Enriching Your Sexual Life
By Mark A. Michaels & Patricia Johnson
Published by Publisher; October 2006;$12.00US; 978-1-57675-383-5 Copyright © 2008 Mark A. Michaels & Patricia Johnson

Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson (New York) are the authors of the award-winning book The Essence of Tantric Sexuality. A devoted married couple, they have been teaching Tantra together since 1999 and are senior students of Dr. John Mumford (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati), who has named them his lineage holders for the Americas and Europe.

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