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Tao of Tantra

"Tantra is that Asian body of beliefs and practices which, working from the principle that the universe we experience is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the divine energy that creates and maintains that universe, seeks to ritually appropriate and channel that energy, within the human microcosm, in creative and emancipatory ways".
David Gordon White, Wikipedia

Tantra is not one single system, but in fact is a term that describes a number of different Asian practices. Taoism is the set of practices that orginated in ancient China and were passed down from generation to generation. Taoist master, Mantak Chia, collected together some of these teachings to create the Universal Healing Tao, which included practices of Healing Love.

Taoist Healing Love is known for its detailed techniques of working with ones sexual energy. Rather than splitting the physical body and sexuality from spirit and the divine, these practices focus on bringing them back together as One. Through these practices we can overcome the suffering of duality and the illusion of separation.

There are many reasons to practice Healing Love, including:

- making connection and bringing healing to one's sexual organs
- overcoming restrictive sexual conditioning and trauma
- being able to control sexual energy, instead of it controlling you
- connecting the heart (love) to the sexual organs (sex)
- improving relationships
- transforming sexual chi into an energy that can be used by the whole body
- becoming multi-orgasmic
- using sex as an experience of connecting to the divine
- merging two souls as One
- bringing spirit into the physical body: enlightenment within the body

There are many levels, from the physical healing to the spiritual oneness. A practitioner may choose to begin these practices for any of the above reasons. However, even if you begin simply to heal your body, you will find that you evolve spiritually as you continue to practice.

About the Practice

Healing Love is grounded in chi gung and meditation. The body is prepared both physically and energetically with a number of different chi gung exercises. Meditations include the Six Healing Sounds and the Inner Smile, which are designed to clear the organs of negative energy and transform negative emotions. Breathwork is also an essential part of the practice, and is used to cultivate and move chi in the body.

The techniques of working with the sexual chi (ching chi/ jing chi) are different for men and women, and are usually taught separately. They involve connecting to one's sexual organs in meditation and breathing into the chi there. Then one learns how to circulate this chi around the body moving from Earth (the physical) to Heaven (the spiritual) and then back to Centre. This tranforms and refines the sexual energy into a form that can be used for healing.

In class we mainly work with unaroused sexual chi. Often one is only aware of sexual energy when it is fully aroused (orgasmic). However, we learn to work with it in its unaroused state as it moves more slowly and we can learn to guide it more easily.

The Healing Love system encourages Single Cultivation before Dual Cultivation. That means we learn to direct our own sexual energy before we try to move the chi with a partner.

The Tao of Tantra: Workshops by Shashi Solluna and Andrew Fretwell

Shashi and Andy have designed a number of workshops to bring these practices to individuals and couples. The basic practices of chi gung and meditation are taught to the group as a whole. Then men and women are split for separate classes on gender-specific technique. This creates a safe teaching environment for working a little deeper and addressing specific issues. They also do work with men and women together, exploring polarity in a comfortable way. Using eye contact, breathing techniques, movement and partner chi gung, we can experience sharing energy with another person.

Sexuality is an extremely delicate area to explore, and Shashi and Andy are known for their ability to create very safe ways to open. We are mainly focusing on the movement of chi (energy) in the body, which is very subtle and internal. There is absolutely no nudity in the mixed groups, to maintain a comfortable environment for all. In a workshop we will only teach exercises....one is invited to try out the full practice at home!

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