Tantra is not what you think it is
A story about my journey with Tantra that will break all your assumptions about what this spiritual technology truly is
Coming to Ubud, the spiritual centre of Bali, was a shock — I am not going to lie. Spirituality is so commodified here to the point it repulses me. All the workshops, all the coaches, all the superficiality. And I came here to be one of them and provide seemingly similar offering to what they do. Naturally, my motivation to offer something to the pool decreased. I started comparing, noticing the spiritual ego all around here, feeding my own ego as a consequence of that and further disconnecting from the environment that I came here to learn from. If you wanted a recipe for disaster, this is how it looks like.
And then I met a friend from the Himalayas who pointed out in a couple of sentences the things I was feeling already. The depth is lacking here and hence it is not easy for me to blend in. Not that I gave it a chance anyways… I miss India, where true wisdom resides. Where powerful Tantrikas practice their way to mastery. That’s the environment that pushes me forward. Here it feels like a vacation and so my brain is on vacay as well. And what do you do on vacations? You read…
SATTVA, where I completed my YTT certification, teaches a yog-vedantic system of practices based in Himalayan yoga and Tantras. So I have studied the original Tantra but I did not really know what exactly falls under the system. I started learning about the art and science of Tantra as compiled by contemporary scholars and teachers of world-class universities. I needed answers so I dived into it. Because the Ubudian Tantra felt extremely off. Later I learned that the label that best describes what’s happening here is Modern Western neo-Tantra. And let me tell you, it thrives here — another commodified spirituality that flourishes on people’s horniness. Sorry to break it to you, Ubudians, it is NOT the real Tantra.
What is Tantra?
Tantra is a philosophy, ancient tradition where Yoga as a system has its roots and it experienced its peak in the 6th-9th century in India. Tan in sanskrit means to expand, Tra means a tool. Tantra is henceforth a spiritual technology for human expansion. Transformational tool. Similarly, Mantra (man=mind) is a technology to correct the mind, Yantra (yan= support) is a technology allowing the desired reality to take place when it is meditated upon.
This spiritual technology is comprised of different purification practices that enable a Tantrika, a student of Tantra, to refine their existence on different levels. There are 6 prominent elements of tantric practices — yogic meditations(kriya, breathwork, awareness practices,…), mantras, mandalas, having a Guru, initiation, and ritual worship of the divine. (Can you see genitals stimulation anywhere here? Because I don’t…). Essentially, Tantra is teaching you how to become divine through techniques of ritualized meditation. And when you realize that you are divine, at that point you’ll see divinity in all things and become whole.
To engage in a tantric practice, one is doing it to achieve two goals. The higher goal is spiritual liberation, release from the suffering related to existence in physical form and awakening to true nature of reality — to wholeness of the unified field. The lower goal is to achieve worldly enjoyment and prosperity. If the practice is not targeted at achieving both goals, it is not considered to be a tantric practice.
I’ll probably go depths into Tantra as the entire field is a fascinating object of studies and practice. Tantra is saying the same things as contemporary psychologists and even quantum physics. It is a deeeeeeep science and can only be understood by practicing and applying the wisdom into daily life. Till I reach that point, I will at least spread the word about the difference between the Modern Western Neo-Tantra and Tantra.
Modern Western Neo-Tantra vs. Tantra
Let’s start with similarities though. Both neo-Tantra and Tantra work with sexual energy, kundalini. Kundalini is the creative force of the universe and every person has the potential to unleash its power within the human existence. However, how we understand sexuality is where the two systems differ. Original Śaiva Tantra considers sexuality to be pure creative potential. In human terms, when you’re drawing/painitng/creating a business idea — you’re being sexual. Modern Western neo-Tantra tends to reduce the sexuality to the pleasure we get from the intercourse and prolonging orgasms.
In one lineage of Tantrikas there was ONE scripture that that teaches sensual practices and has what we might call a “sexualized” view of the world, seeing the whole of reality as the harmonious and joyous pulsating union of various sets of complementary opposites. Read the last part of the previous sentence again, this time slowly. You can see where the base for Neo-tantra could come from, right?
There is nothing wrong with Modern Western neo-Tantric practices, just that it feels more like a spiritual brand than a spiritual practice. To borrow the words of Christopher Wallis from the book Tantra illuminated: “While there is such a thing as a Tantrik sexual ritual in the Śaiva tradition, it was taught in only one text out of many hundreds, and it is there called a secret and esoteric doctrine meant for a very few. (It is taught much more prominently in Buddhist Tantra, however.) The Tantrik sexual ritual was primarily a meditative exercise, not a pleasure- maximizing exercise. Those workshops are about spiritualized sexuality (not necessarily a bad thing per se), whereas original Tantra is about a sensual and embodied spirituality (and even then, only in the Kaula schools).”
It is safe to assume that when the word “Tantra” is used in connection with sex and partner work on the New Age and alternative spirituality scene, in almost every case that teacher or workshop has no connection to the original tradition. Don’t get me wrong, I love sex and I am a huge fan of exploring pleasure together with a partner, I am just saddened by the fact that those modern workshops are hijacking the name of sacred teachings to make people more focused on the physical world instead of focusing on transcending their physical bodies. And why saddened? Because focusing on physical pleasures slows down the development of our souls and the rise in collective consciousness. With everything that the world is currently going through, having highly conscious individuals could propel us to the heaven on Earth extremely fast. And instead, the seekers are distracting themselves with pleasure and focus on the limited sense of self. If they all focused on practicing the original Tantra instead to experience the unlimited self, we could be somewhere else as humanity.
Back to the current world, where essentially everybody is craving love, a state of consciousness that we are made for even when we do not admit to ourselves. Love is a state where we feel whole, no matter if there is a partner on our side or not. Are those neo-tantric workshops teaching that? Why are we then surprised that the current Tinder-driven connections fall apart and feel empty? Because people do not seek wholeness in themselves and instead look for somebody else to fill the void. And also because there is no essence unless the world beyond the physical is explored. And those neo-Tantric workshops that places like Ubud are full of do not contribute to that, rather the opposite.
On one hand, I feel tempted to join the neo-tantric workshops, because who doesn’t like a good orgasm that makes you forget how to human. That one moment where you are transcending the boundaries of your physical body and just melt into the omnipresent field of intense energy, forgetting your name and getting lost in time-space continuum. The time when you meet the God and become one with it. But to chase the orgasms is not the only way to realize your divinity. There are other ways, and that is what the original Tantra teaches us. Not to rely on the sexual practice to temporarily expand your awareness to the void from which everything emerges. But to train your nervous system through a ritualized meditation to keep you in that state of consciousness sustainably throughout your day.
My life as a Tantrika
I am practicing the original Tantra and it is not always pleasurable like the neo-tantric workshops promise. Because when you unravel the hidden creative potential, everything that is not aligned must go. It takes work, it takes effort to go beyond the prison of the mind and to liberate oneself from the self-imposed limitations. Tantric practices highlight everything that was hidden in the deep layers of the psyche. The traumas, the self-destructive tendencies, the attachments. It can get nasty and challenging to deal with but the nervous system is also nourished and regulated through those practices, so you can actually handle cleaning up the mess very efficiently. It gives you the power to refine your intellect and train your body-mind complex to handle whatever is thrown at it.
I cannot and will not stop talking about the power of the real Tantra. The benefits of the practices I’ve been initiated to are endless but can be summarized easily — they make me human better. They challenge me, put me through different states of consciousness and make me work with my ego that plants different self-limiting thoughts in my mind. The kriyas strip away everything that needs to go and give me energy to navigate through life creatively (in tantric sense — sexually). And when I feel light enough, free of all the unpleasant stories I entertained in my mind, I get a glimpse of the divinity and true freedom. The feeling of being unlimited, being one with the whole, capable of more than being a good human. Wholeness of the fulfilled I am that I am. No genitals stimulation necessary.
Tantra and neo-Tantra can work together
Those glimpses I experience when practicing Tantra are a promise of wonderland which we can all occupy when we let go of the reductionist world-view. The true paradise to live in — happy and loving people roaming around, exploring their creativity (a.k.a. sexuality) and rebuilding the Earth to a beautiful AND pleasurable place to live in. I believe that practicing Tantra can get us there, we just need to let go of the idea that we need another person to reach the wholeness. We don’t. It all starts with me for me. It all starts with you for you. Everybody in their own lane until we become whole on our own. And then, just then, the neo-Tantric workshops will make sense.
Two divine beings merging into one for the pleasure of true spiritual experience that cannot be described by words and can only be felt… Sacred sex as a meditative practice to expand our sense of selves and make our nervous systems handle the high frequency associated with both orgasms (little deaths, the dates with God) and the states of consciousness labeled as love and enlightenment. And those states are a good platform to live your life from. Because when you radiate love and can handle the high octave frequency of existence, life itself becomes one big never-ending orgasm.
This is the thing with humans, we like to skip the steps to be on the peak. That's where we omit the power of Tantra and skip directly to neo-Tantra without bothering to explore its roots. We all know that without the steady roots, the tree cannot grow tall and old. One windstorm and the trees are on the ground. Let's build the roots first before we eat the fruit. Let's all practice Tantra and become wholesome human beings before exchanging the creative force with another individuals for the mere pleasure that has no long-term benefits. Let's think long-term and invest our time into spiritual technology that will make us come (pun intended) to a realization that life is one big playground to be enjoyed fully with every breath we take.
Explore the roots, invest to them, watch your life change into a sexy game where you can fully express your creative potential. Tap into your omnipotence and become fully alive. Not by sleeping around but by the opposite, awakening to your highest potential. Don’t sleep on your power, learn to direct it the way the true liberated souls do. Expand. Create. Become fully alive.
There are many ways to get to the state of expanded awareness o the point of merging with the unified field, and Tantra is one of them. If you'd like to be initiated to the practices and get real-life benefits, reach out through my Instagram @TheSimona or book a short discovery call to see whether my guidance is for you https://linktr.ee/thesimona
I offer 1:1 sessions where we discuss the limitations you experience in your life and then I'll initiate you to a personal Sadhana, a Tantric technique designed specifically to help you transcend that limitation. If you need more support and an accountability partner, a 21 days Sadhana container is for you. And in case you'd like an ongoing support, private classes and spiritual counsel, my mentorship program is the right option for you.
