If you’ve ever thought that you might need to shake up your sex life a bit, then you might have wondered whether exploring something like Tantra could be the answer.

Let’s take a look at what it’s all about.

Is Tantra just a way for gay guys to spice up their sex life a bit?

Tantric practices definitely will add a new flavour to anyone’s sex life, irrespective if you’re in a relationship or not.

It depends a bit on the teacher that you’re working with – some will take more of a healing and wellness perspective, while others will focus more on unlocking the power of your orgasm and exploring your potential for pleasure.

Especially within the gay community, we carry a lot of guilt, shame and fears, which restrict self-expression. These emotions are stored deep within our being and influence how we interact with ourselves and the people around us. Our mental health and emotional well-being are huge factors in our overall health.

Tantra works predominantly with breath, sound, and sensory awareness to release stored trauma and blockages, to free up stagnant energy, which can promote a great sense of joy, healing and well-being.

Is Tantra right for everyone?

The path of Tantra is a path for those who are looking for a deeper connection to themselves and their partners. Tantra is considered a sacred practice that enables you to combine sexuality with spirituality, leading to personal growth, joy and fulfilment in life.

Tantra invites you to be brave enough to become aware of your emotional wounds so they can be healed and transformed.

In ancient cultures, sex and sexuality was a key component of sacred rituals. Sex was often used as a gateway into a space of bliss, liberation and ecstasy. The doorway to this experience is your heart and your body, not your mind.

Tantra can help us become more aware of our body and more in touch with our body. We use breathing techniques – our breath – to tap into our spiritual energy.

Anyone can experience Tantra, but you have to approach it with a sense of openness and curiosity and a willingness to surrender into vulnerability and truth.

Can Tantra help me with my intimacy issues?

If you’re looking to improve self-confidence, a healthy body image, the ability to connect to others or to establishing a healthier relationship with yourself through intimacy and sensuality, then tantric therapy is worth exploring.

Through the use of massage and sensual touch, various meditation practices, sound, breath work and sensory awareness, Tantra breaks false beliefs around man-to-man connections, abandonment and neglect.

By activating your body’s spiritual energy, Tantra contributes to the release of trauma, shame and feelings of unworthiness, which will help support the development of a well-integrated gay identity alongside an enhanced spiritual awareness.

Tantra can help you reclaim your power by creating balance between giving and receiving, helping you to allow true love and understanding back into your life.

How do you practice Tantra in a socially distant world?

Being confined to our own spaces, perhaps with a partner or family member, or maybe simply in our own company, reduces the easy access to sex with strangers, which we’ve become used to. Dating apps can be a great distraction to avoid connecting with our true self, to avoid the experience of genuine love.

Our new-normal provides a massive opportunity within the gay community to be bold and to develop the curiosity to rise up to the challenge and to expand our horizon of knowledge with regards to sexual pleasure and fulfilment. For those who do explore the path of Tantra, they unavoidably will discover an entire new galaxy beyond the stereotypical gay landscape of top and bottom.

There are lots of online tantra courses that you can explore – whether that’s a recorded session or a live workshop. What’s possible in terms of physical workshops depends where you are in the world. If getting together with other people isn’t currently possible, online options are a good place to start.

Dedicating a small amount of time each day to the practice of Tantra could be a great way for you to manage any anxiety you may currently be feeling, and help you to navigate through the current uncertainty.

Is the best way to get started with a one-on-one session or a group session?

This really depends on what feels right for you. One-on-one sessions can be good for beginners to help you work on some of the breathing techniques, but you’ll generally find that group sessions feel more dynamic as you feel the energy of other men around you.

Tantra is usually about getting naked, and frequently involves self-pleasuring. In group sessions, you’ll generally be working alone and together – so you’re going to need to feel comfortable about getting intimate with other guys.

What are the origins of Tantra?

Tantra is closely associated with spirituality, but it’s not a religion. Tantra is often used to broadly describe the ancient traditions of using sexual energy to transcend our physical limitations and to connect with the higher energy of the world around us.

The earliest examples of these traditions have been found in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Mayan people, and the Aztec civilisation.

Tantra, as we know it today, draw most directly on Hindu and Buddhist texts that were written in India, somewhere between 300 and 400 AD.

In India, Tantra was at its most popular in the 11th and 12th centuries. Although widely persecuted and forced underground, the Tantra traditions were preserved in the monasteries of Tibet and by travelling spiritual teachers or shamans.

Today, Tantra traditions are widely practised and celebrated. At its core, Tantra is based on forms of meditation that use our sexual energy to connect with the world around us.

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