Book Contest:

Go here for a chance to win a copy of Tantra for Erotic Empowerment.

And don't miss the launch party for our book and Tristan Taormino's Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships, Tuesday, May 13th at Happy Ending, 302 Broome Street, New York, NY. 7 pm. Here are some more details:

Come celebrate the release of two exciting new books: Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships by Tristan Taormino and Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: The Key to Enriching Your Sexual Life by Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson.

Tantra teachers Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson and sex expert/Village Voice columnist Tristan Taormino will party with the Sexerati as they schmooze, dance, and sip on special complimentary cocktails provided by Espiritu del Equador. You'll get an exclusive sneak preview of their latest collaboration: see Mark and Patricia teach Tantra techniques to performers in Tristan's latest volume of her award-winning porn reality series, Chemistry 4.

Every person who purchases a book will get a free tantra, sex ed, or porn DVD. Guests will also be treated to fabulous gift bags full of sexy, sensual, fun goodies hand-picked by the authors. Plus, don’t miss an exciting performance at 9 pm by a very special guest!
Please rsvp to sarah (at) puckerup.com.

Runner's High - Sexual High

A recent New York Times article titled "Yes, Running Can Make You High," reveals that scientists have finally proved what many have known all along, that there is euphoria to be found in intense workouts. According to the article, researchers measured endorphin levels in subjects' brains, before and after a two hour run, using PET scans and recently available chemicals. Dr. Henning Boecker, of the University of Bonn, states that similar levels are present "when people are involved in romantic love affairs."

We couldn't help but wonder what these scientists would discover in the brains of Tantric sex practitioners. We suspect that even those in long-term relationships attain endorphin levels similar to those "involved in a romantic love affair". (Such has certainly been our subjective experience!) Tantric sexual practice involves prolonging arousal, and we suspect that increasing this results not only in the release of amphetimine-like compounds, which happens during an average sexual response cycle (see Masters and Johnson), but also in heightened endorphin levels and that flooding the system with this combination of brain chemicals is what leads to mystical experience (see pp. 35-37 of The Essence of Tantric Sexuality).


Read it here.

Tantra for Erotic Empowerment is available now! And a lot earlier than we anticipated. To celebrate, we're offering free shipping in the U.S. between now and April 1, the official U.S. publication date.

Visit our books page for details.

You can also order it from your local bookstore (a great option) or buy it on amazon.com.

We've written an article about Valentine's Day that should be appearing around the web over the next couple of weeks. It begins:

Tantra is an ancient Indian spiritual tradition that recognizes human sexuality as one avenue among many for achieving mystical experience. Although the number of Tantric texts that deal directly with sexual activity is quite small, most Westerners associate Tantra with love, sex, and relationships. While Western ideas about Tantra are thus somewhat misguided, if you can bring a Tantric sensibility to love and relationship, your love life will be richer and more fulfilling.

Go here and scroll down to read the whole thing.

We've finished the final round of edits, and Tantra for Erotic Empowerment is now at the printer. Everything's on track for an April release.

Our DVDs Tantric Sexual Massage for Lovers and Advanced Tantric Sex Techniques (Alexander Institute) are available at last through our website. The process of making the films was very interesting, and we learned a lot. It's extremely difficult to make effective, explicit instructional films, and we really didn't know what to expect. We're delighted with the final versions. They convey the information effectively and tastefully, and the performers do a great job. We are excited about the possibility of reaching an entirely new audience.

We're looking forward to Dark Odyssey in March and also to the Virginia Festival of the Book. We've been selected as participating authors and will be doing a signing and a workshop March 28-29.

We returned from our weekend of teaching in Maryland to the wonderful news that The Essence of Tantric Sexuality was the Award-Winner in the Health: Sexuality category of the National Best Books 2007 Award and an Award-Winning Finalist in the Religion: Eastern Religions category.

Go here for the complete list of winners and finalists.

We hope this award will help our book get the recognition we feel it deserves and call more attention to the contributions of our beloved Guru, Dr. Jonn Mumford (Swami Anandakapila Saraswati).

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The Supreme Court recently refused to hear the appeal of an Alabama sex shop owner who was contesting the 11th Circuit's decision that there is no consumer right to sexual privacy. In the 11th Circuit's opinion:

"If the people of Alabama in time decide that prohibition on sex toys is misguided, or ineffective, or just plain silly, they can repeal the law and be finished with the matter. . .On the other hand, if we today craft a new fundamental right by which to invalidate the law, we would be bound to give that right full force and effect in all future cases including, for example, those involving adult incest, prostitution, obscenity, and the like."

The Alabama statute provides for imprisonment of up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine for a first offense and 1-10 years for a second offense.

The same Circuit also recently upheld a Florida statute that prohibits gays and lesbians from adopting.

In the long run, we can only hope that the Supreme Court's refusal to take the case will be for the best. With the current composition of the Court, the result could have been worse if the justices had taken the appeal, but that won't do sex toy buyers (who can still purchase toys out of state) and sellers in Alabama any good.

If your sexual style is out of the mainstream in any way, you should be afraid, very afraid.

And someone said this is a free country.

Criticism

Posting material of any kind on the internet can be a very challenging experience; you open yourself up to all kinds of attacks, especially if you allow people to comment. We've posted clips of some of our appearances on youtube and have received some harsh criticism for what we say. Most of the negative comments are inane, ill-informed or dogmatic, and the posters frequently resort to name-calling. None of them reveal any awareness of the difficulty one faces when trying to explain something as vast, complex and contested as Tantra in a brief television appearance for an audience that presumably knows nothing about the subject.

We did have one interesting set of critical comments from an Indian poster on YouTube, and we've copied it here, along with our response:

"These people are indulging into money making and sensationalising Tantra and projecting it what it is not. Tantra is not Kaam Sootra. Tantra is visualisation and modelling the entire cosmos into which we as part of and menifestation of the cosmos and reflection of the larger model look into ourselves. If sex is symbolised as ceation, that is nearest to the truth, but sex seen merely as hedonistic activity, and practiced so in the name of "Nirvana" is just rediculious.

Meditation should be done on one's own Ātmā as one with the Saviour-goddess (Tārinī). the Dhyāna of Devi, that the Man who meditates on the unattached, attributeless, and pure Ātmā which is Tripurā as one with, and not different from, his own Ātmā becomes himself Her (Tanmaya).

Sādhakas, possessed of the knowledge of Kula, then meditate on the Yoga-blissful (Yogānanda) form (Mūrti) of Śiva and Śakti present in the hearts of males and females and, calling to mind the meaning (Artha) of the Mantra of their Istadevatā, do Japa of it.

Depiction of females like this is clearly against the spirit of Tantra and merely low grade sensational gimmick.
Kindly practice kamasutra freely as Hindus did but do not call it Tamtric.

I have gone through it agin and agin..my comments below besically are reactions to clips shown at "kailash" site. Otherwise what ever has been satated is a sanctioned practice for a "Couple" (husband and wife). Turning one self into a "Veer" from "Pashu" for meditating upon Aadishakti(the orginating source) is one of the prescibed path."

We replied:

Thanks to ******* for the thoughtful, generally well-informed comments. We recognize that his perspective is one that's widely shared, but Tantra is neither monolithic nor moralistic. We teach as we do with the blessings of our Guru and out of a desire to serve and enrich the lives of others. Nothing we teach is derived from the Kama Sutra, with which we have very limited familiarity. As for making money, there are many much easier ways to make far more of it.

To expand on this initial reply, it's important to bear in mind that Tantra is an initiatory tradition, and the texts are not entirely transparent; their real value lies in the way a teacher elucidates them. For example, it's our understanding that "Veer" (hero) "Pashu" (beast) and "Divya" (spiritual person) don't really refer to three categories of human but to qualities that exist in each of us. We were also baffled by the poster's comments about the depiction of women, and this comment leads us to think his perspective is shaped by the puritanism that's characteristic of modern, Hindu orthodoxy, which has little or nothing to do with Tantra.

Fantasy

Fantasy seems to be a loaded subject in the Tantric community and elsewhere. Recently, we talked about this with a friend and long-time practitioner, and she expressed the view that engaging in sexual fantasy is almost antithetical to the Tantric approach, since it takes you out of the moment and prevents you from being present. Others argue that fantasies are negative for a variety of reasons; some people in relationships feel that fantasizing about others borders on cheating; some people are ashamed or disturbed by their fantasies. While some who believe that we create our own reality suggest that fantasizing is dangerous because it borders on committing a thought crime.

We don't share these opinions and feel that the conscious exploration and use of sexual fantasy can be a valuable way to expand your sexual repertoire. Fantasy is also a key component for building a high level of arousal for the purposes of the sex magic practice we describe in The Essence of Tantric Sexuality. Imagination is one of the most powerful resources we human beings have at our disposal, and what is fantasy (or any form of visualization) if not an act of imagining? If you find yourself becoming too limited by or dependent on a fantasy, it is a good idea to try something new. We don't advocate fantasizing when you are with a partner (although we are not categorically opposed to it, especially in the context of mutual exploration), and retreating into the realm of fantasy to such an extent that you find it difficult to be present for your beloved is probably a sign of serious problems in your relationship.

The key is to be conscious and intentional when you fantasize. If you can view your fantasies as tools for discovering more about yourself and expanding your sexual capacities, you will not be using fantasy to escape; instead, you will be using it to enrich your life and enhance your ability to present.


We'd be interested in your thoughts on this subject, so please comment.

Amazon.com has just posted the cover of our next book Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: The Key to Enriching Your Sexual Life. They're taking pre-orders too, though it won't be out until March.

We're very proud of the contents; they represent a distillation of our 8 years of experience teaching together and an expansion of the online course we've been offering for several years. While the subtitle refers to enriching your sexual life, we're firmly convinced that sexual self-knowledge and owning your sexual power will enrich every aspect of your life. Tantra is really about an approach to living that embraces the erotic and divine in all experience.

Dark Odyssey

We'll be attending Dark Odyssey Summer Camp from September12-17. This will be our sixth DO event, and each and every one of them has been an opportunity to learn, grow and be challenged, as well as an opportunity to teach and have fun.

Dark Odyssey brings together people from a variety of communities that are on the sexual margins; it's a very diverse group, and that diversity is incredibly inspiring. While only a small minority of those in attendance identify themselves a Tantric practitioners, the spirit of the event is perhaps more truly Tantric than many a Tantra workshop. The conscious exploration of one's edges is an important (if often overlooked) aspect of living life in a Tantric way. Dark Odyssey is a wonderful opportunity to do just that.

For more information visit Dark Odyssey

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Schedule for August

It's going to be a busy few weeks, but we'll do our best to blog while we're on the road. Here's our August teaching schedule.


Tantric Erogenous Zones -- San Francisco
Friday August 10, 2007, 7-10 pm
One Taste San Francisco
One Taste


Pleasure as Spiritual Practice -- San Francisco
Sunday August 12, 2007, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Center for Sex and Culture, San Francisco, CA
Pre-registration and location info: mail@sexandculture.org or 415-255-1155

Lecture and Book Signing, The Essence of Tantric Sexuality
Monday, August 13, 2007, 7:30pm - 9:00pm
East West Books
324 Castro St.
Mountain View, CA 94041
East West Books

Using Sexual Energy for Consciousness Expansion, KC, MO
Friday August 17, 2007, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Plaza Wellspring
4901 South Main, Suite 400
Kansas City, MO 641123
Open to all.
$25

Tantric Tools for Enhancing Intimacy - Workshop KC, MO
Saturday August 18, 2007, 1:00pm - 6:00pm
Plaza Wellspring
4901 South Main, Suite 400
Kansas City, MO 64112
Couples
$95 per person
Email us: tantrapm2@aol.com to register for the Kansas City workshops.

Tantric Erogenous Zones at Sexy Spirits -- NYC
Friday August 24, 2007, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Sexy Spirits
301 W 55 ST, # 4
City: New York
$45
Information and Registration.

Tantric Sex in the Modern World

Although our background and training are more traditional than many Western Tantra teachers, we've taken some criticism on one website for our emphasis on the sexual aspects of Tantra. Some of these criticisms are dogmatic, ill-informed about our work, or based on a more general lack of knowledge about the Tantric tradition; others are more substantive and serious. We usually strive to make it clear that sex is only a small part of Tantra and that many practitioners are celibate. At the same time, sex is what attracted us in the first place, and it's what most people -- whether they're journalists or members of the general public -- are interested in talking about.

The role of sexuality in Tantra is a contested one. Today, most traditional pracititioners are very conservative and puritanical, and most scholars of the tradition take a very dim view of Neo-Tantric sexual practices, pointing out that they are quite far removed, in both form and content, from Tantric sexual ritual. This is true even when, like David Gordon White, they embrace the idea that sex is what sets Tantra apart from other South Asian religious traditions.

While we don't expect to sway our critics, we strongly believe that the conscious exploration of one's sexuality is one of the richest arenas for self-discovery and for practicing within the spirit, if not the letter, of the classical Tantric tradition. Despite the fact that sex is everywhere in our society, sexual knowledge, or better yet, sexual gnosis is taboo. The conscious violation of social taboos was an integral part of ancient Tantric practice, and we believe that deliberately delving into one's sexuality, with the intent to discover and connect with its potentially transcendent power, while breaking free of society's constraints, is an authentic way of practicing Tantra in the contemporary Western world. This is one of the central themes of our next book, Tantra for Erotic Empowerment.

We've just joined technorati at Viviane's suggestion.

Technorati Profile

Her blog is The Sex Carnival

It has been an interesting weekend. On Friday evening we attended a screening of our friend Edin Velez's film A Certain Foolish Consistency at the Scanners: New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center. On Saturday night we returned to the festival to see Passion and Power: The Technology of Orgasm also at Scanners. We've posted reviews on our myspace blog:

blog.myspace.com/tantrapm

On Saturday, we attended the Passion and Power after party and saw quite a few friends, including some with whom we'd lost touch in the past couple of years. We also made some interesting new ones. It was a delightful evening, but it ended on a much darker note.

It was after 2:00 am when we got back to the apartment we use when we're spending the night in New York City. When we arrived, we discovered that a pipe in the bathroom ceiling was leaking. We tried knocked on the door of the apartment upstairs, but the occupants were away. Then we called the super; he wasn't pleased to get a call at that time of night and said he couldn't do anything about it until Monday, so we placed a large bowl under the leak, which was beginning to subside (it had stopped completely by the next morning). It was about 3:15 when we got into bed.

It was very hot in the apartment, so we left the windows open. Just as we were drifting off to sleep, we heard a series of gunshots right below our window. We looked out to see someone apparently fleeing the scene. We called the police, who came quite promptly and in large numbers. We later learned they closed the block. We went downstairs and told one of the officers what we had seen. We got back to bed after 4:00.

The next morning we went out to survey the damage. Bullets had hit three cars, shattering glass in two and going through the windshield and flattening a tire in a third. We surmised that there had been some kind of shoot-out, since it appeared that bullets had flown in two different directions. We don't know if anyone was hit during the exchange.

There's a strange kind of clarity that hits you in extreme moments like these, and that's something worth remembering, since it relates directly to Tantric practice; every experience we have in life is an opportunity to discover something. Still, this isn't the kind of experience we're interested in replicating.

We can only guess that the shooting was gang or drug related; the neighborhood has had its ups and downs, but whatever the case, violence is sad and senseless. At best, innocent, poor people had their property damaged. At worst someone was hurt or killed. One of us could easily have been hit by a stray bullet, as could any number of other people in the neighborhood. As midtown Manhattan becomes more and more of a shopping mall, the less affluent parts of the city seem to be sliding backwards, and the new New York seems to be embodying the worst of both worlds -- the crime and violence of the old days are creeping back into the sanitized version of the City.

We've asked the readers of our myspace blog to share their definitions of Tantra with us:

http://tinyurl.com/2nbjgj

Comments are welcome here too.

We took a brief vacation, and now we're back to our busy schedule at home. We have some interesting plans for the next few days -- a community gathering tomorrow night, a screening of our friend Edin Velez's new experimental film on Friday:

http://www.edinvelez.com/

and another screening and panel discussion featuring Betty Dodson on Saturday:

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/207591/

Mating in Captivity

We've both been reading Esther Perel's excellent book Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic. It is well worth your time, whether you are partnered or not. Perel treats individuals and couples; she has a wonderfully clear-headed and non-judgmental approach, and her views on contemporary relationships and what it takes to make them function well, erotically and emotionally, are very much in line with our own. We discuss some of these issues in Chapter Five of The Essence of Tantric Sexuality and will examine them in even more depth in Tantra for Erotic Empowerment.

Here's a brief quote from Perel:

"For many of us, premeditated sex is suspicious. It threatens our belief that sex is subject only to the machinations of magic and chemistry. The idea that sex must be spontaneous keeps us one step removed from having to will sex, to own our desire and to express it with intent."

The Tantric approach to sexuality is all about consciousness and intentionality. The result of bringing awareness to sex and treating it as something to be discovered, again and again and again, is magic, not the illusory magic of infatuation and chemical attraction, but something deeper and more powerful because it is willed.