On tantric touch, the tantric touch workshop with Ron Solo...and of course festive greetings!
The countdown to the Tantric Touch Workshop on 31st December has started! Bookings are coming in and it looks like a number of very interesting people will be there. I am so looking forward to it for a number of reasons. Ron Solo and I will be working together for the first time, it is the first time I will be working in the lovely new Marquee space and it is the first time that a tantric touch workshop like this is being held at the Marquee and in fact, in SA! So, a lot of firsts to end off the year as you can see!
Touch is so important. Read the article below written by Klaus Smedts, my Tantra massage trainer in Germany. It's about the relationship between the lack of touch and rising aggression in the American culture. We touch too little. Today children are touched less, particularly in the USA where there is so much stress about issues around child misuse. Understandable, but when parents become over careful, children get too little touching love.
Just think of it: our skin is our largest organ. It is the barrier between us and the outside world. It is our protection, but also our source of connecting to others. If we really mean the hugs we give our family and friends, the quality of this connecting would be very different to what we usually experience.
In our workshop we will be working with this – different kinds of touching, tantric touching, simply connecting to others through touch. Touch should always be totally loving. It can become sensual in the right situations and ultimately it can become sexual with our chosen partners.
In Tantra massage I often work with feathers and silk cloth as well as my hands and body. It gives the skin different sensations and a general sensitizing. I also use the cloth to “blow” the energy over the body, creating a soft, flowing breeze over the skin. Clients, who have experienced this, describe it as something very wonderful. Many have visions of waves or being in nature, it connects our selves to our inner being in a special, sensual way. It is extremely relaxing.
I remember my mom doing this with us on hot, humid Durban summer nights when we could not sleep. She would come into our room and then give alternatively give my sister and I some of this soft wind with the sheet. It was beautiful, comforting, cooling, gentle and loving.
We will endeavour to teach this soft, loving and very tantric touch in our workshop. If we could all learn to touch in this way, we will all become better people. It is a touching of the skin, the body and the heart. When we touch someone’s heart we open them to transformation. My Tantra massage training did that for me and my life has blossomed into being blissful all day, every day, and all the time. Klaus's touch, his total acceptance of who I was at the time, his love opened my heart. In the first instance, it opened my heart for myself - I began to experience who I was in a new way and was surprised to find that I liked what I found. Then it opened my heart for others. I stopped expecting the other to be as I wanted them to be and began to accept who they were. Again, I was surprised to find who easy this was once I had accepted myself. This acceptance then grew into this blissful feeling about life in general. I began to see the little things around me, things I had not noticed in such a deep way before.
Just a few days ago in my village now filled with Christmas holiday makers from Mpumalanga and Gauteng, a bakkie of young people drove down my street with loud throbbing music emanating from inside. Outside the youngsters were standing up, allowing the wind to blow directly into their faces filled with smiles and laughter. Tears popped into my eyes. I was joyful about their happiness, about the fun they were having. I smiled softly as I remembered how it would have been before I came to Tantra: I would have felt aggravated about the noise. I would have thought how irresponsible this is - someone could fall off if the bakkie had to stop suddenly. Now, I had a sense of their joy and it made me feel joyful. What a difference loving myself makes to how I perceive others.
I wish you all a wonderful festive season – enjoy the gatherings, the chatting and the fun, and please do not forget to impart love to all of those that you meet.
I look forward to next year and all the new things that Tantra Sacred Massage and The School of Durga Tantra South Africa has in stall – and there is much to come.
I send you all my love,
Namaste
Leandra
A school journal message from Klaus on The Failing Sense of Touch and the rise of Aggression.
"....today something completely different. Some days ago I read an article, which made me think. In this article, Martin Grunewald, a researcher of the sense of touch and director of the haptic laboratory of the University of Leipzig, Germany says: "Humans can be born blind or deaf into this world, but if their sense of touch is not available and does not function, they are not able to physically exist.”
If science knows such facts why do so many humans resist touch? We have all experienced this resistance to touch: someone approaches you, your neighbour, your college, someone you know who does not belong to your immediate circle of close friends…attempt to embrace this person, it would be considered totally inappropriate. Even simple "handshaking" has already almost become almost extinct. One nods briefly with head, muttering some kind of quick greeting, instead of honestly and clearly wishing the person a good day.
In the USA this is extreme - all form of physical contact being avoided for fear of accusations of sexual harassment.
Charles Spencer, psychologist at the Oxford University, wrote about this in 2005, after his research into the deterioration of the sense of touch. The result of this research and his summery was: increasing aggressiveness and physical force results directly to the deterioration of the sense of tough. This can be noticed by anyone occasionally watching the news or reading a newspaper.
To this, I say NO, and will rather continue to embrace, touch, caress and experience other human individuals on all sensory levels…and time and time again experience the miracle of how simple it is to make a stranger happy.
It is so simple!
All love - Love all
Klaus"
Friday, December 22, 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Tantric Touch workshop and other news
Yesterday a friend said to me "you haven't updated your journal...." and she was right- I had not. It has become a whirlwind life since starting to offer Tantra Sacred Massage in JHB and now also in CT - this takes getting used to for me. When I think of all the busy business people flying around the country, I begin to get a hint of what it really must be like. I am presently working in Cape Town and so it is a new venue, new people, a new place to stay, a new climate and lots of bookings. Again, I have met lovely people.
Interestingly, here in CT, I seem to be getting the most couples booking either the full day or the four hour workshop. It has, as it always is, been intensive work with great people, some with difficulties, some just pretty curious, others already on the path of meditation and in the process of finding a new spirituality in life. As always, Tantra has much to offer on all levels. I still have the rest of this week to go, a one day workshop on Sunday and then on Monday, I fly back home. I won’t be there for long though because….and this is my really big news: only one day after parting from my first Tantra teacher, a new Tantra mentor, as he likes to see himself, came into my life: Ron Solo, all the way from Australia. Here is the story….
We had been "set-up" by Rick of the Marquee in JHB. Ron has been offering Tanta massage and tantric touch at the Marquee for about 6 years on his regular visits to SA. I had been invited by Rick to visit the Marquee, to see if I would consider using the Marquee for workshops, so we had recently met. Then the day after I had made the decision to start my own school of Tantra, I got this phone call from Ron all the way from Australia, and that was the start of an almost daily journey into different aspects of Tantra, tantric touch and Tantra Massage.
The old saying goes: one door closes and another opens!
Ron Solo is extremely experienced – he has been offering Tantra workshops around the globe for over 25 years. He specializes in tantric touch and Tantra Massage and so we have much in common and much to talk about. It has been and is wonderful for me to be able to share and learn, ask questions and question answers in this way. It was then Ron's suggestion that we offer a workshop together, which we are doing: "Keep the Fire Burning - a one day workshop devoted to sensual tantric touch - for men, women and couples" in JHB on 30th December. (See WORKSHOP page for details) I am, needless to say, extremely excited about this and hope to meet some of you there. In the days prior to the workshop, Ron and I will be working together and be learning from each other.
I have been thinking about this: how do we learn? Often it is a case of having the teacher and the learner, the one who knows all and the one who knows little. My original teaching on my tantric path here in SA was like that. In Germany, this dissolved into a general sharing and learning with my Tantra massage trainer, Klaus and his wife Barbara. It was glorious to learn like that. It did not diminish my respect for my trainer, on the contrary, it boosted it. I could be me, I was encouraged to bring in what ever I already knew and at the same time I could learn a whole lot of new stuff with ease. The sign of a good teacher in most forms of adult education, should be like that.
This is what impressed me so about Ron Solo. When I asked, "do you mean we should facilitate this workshop together?", his answer was, "of course, I want to also learn from you!" Was I excited! One of the world's best and most renowned Tantra coaches wants to learn from me.....this was too good to be true! But it is true - and thus began a journey of sharing via email and phone calls and, yes, it is exactly like that: we learn from each other. It is a dialogue of learning, teaching, sharing. It requires great openness - there is no space for arrogance or fear. You just have to go into it head on in order to learn like this, and unfortunately, a lot of teachers are not willing to expose themselves so far.
Tantra has no hierarchy!
Tantra is no longer a secret path!
Tantra today is an open teaching that grows and benefits the most from genuine sharing.
Tantra is for everyone - you do not need to have a problem to start this path.
Tantra is simple to understand and easy to begin putting into practice in your life.
Tantra is physical - it is about changing conditioning of the mind, but you cannot do that without changing the body memory. The work has to be on both levels.
Any contradiction to this, any suggesting that Tanta is a complicated, secret teaching, any suggestion of false and binding devotion to teachers, any suggestion that you can go on working with a paid Tantra teacher for 6 months and more, without addressing the physical, the sensual, the sexual, the body memory or your deteriorated marriage etc., is not Tantra - it is manipulation and money-making.
I feel strongly about this. Tantra does not want to manipulate in any way
In it's purest form it is simply about opening the heart to a deeper love for and a greater celebration of life, while simultaneously opening the body to a free flowing of sexual energy which is our life's force. The very nature of our being is sexual. Removing the taboos around this subject does not make perverts or sex maniacs out of us! Repression however can and far too often does. One usage of our sexual energy is actually sexual. Most of it is for the pure joy of everything we do in life. What healing the heart and healing the body result in is simply, happy human beings, people expressing their creativity in every aspect of life, including in their sexuality.
Sexuality is a celebration - a celebration of love for one's self, love for others, love for life and for the whole of creation.
Namaste
Leandra
Interestingly, here in CT, I seem to be getting the most couples booking either the full day or the four hour workshop. It has, as it always is, been intensive work with great people, some with difficulties, some just pretty curious, others already on the path of meditation and in the process of finding a new spirituality in life. As always, Tantra has much to offer on all levels. I still have the rest of this week to go, a one day workshop on Sunday and then on Monday, I fly back home. I won’t be there for long though because….and this is my really big news: only one day after parting from my first Tantra teacher, a new Tantra mentor, as he likes to see himself, came into my life: Ron Solo, all the way from Australia. Here is the story….
We had been "set-up" by Rick of the Marquee in JHB. Ron has been offering Tanta massage and tantric touch at the Marquee for about 6 years on his regular visits to SA. I had been invited by Rick to visit the Marquee, to see if I would consider using the Marquee for workshops, so we had recently met. Then the day after I had made the decision to start my own school of Tantra, I got this phone call from Ron all the way from Australia, and that was the start of an almost daily journey into different aspects of Tantra, tantric touch and Tantra Massage.
The old saying goes: one door closes and another opens!
Ron Solo is extremely experienced – he has been offering Tantra workshops around the globe for over 25 years. He specializes in tantric touch and Tantra Massage and so we have much in common and much to talk about. It has been and is wonderful for me to be able to share and learn, ask questions and question answers in this way. It was then Ron's suggestion that we offer a workshop together, which we are doing: "Keep the Fire Burning - a one day workshop devoted to sensual tantric touch - for men, women and couples" in JHB on 30th December. (See WORKSHOP page for details) I am, needless to say, extremely excited about this and hope to meet some of you there. In the days prior to the workshop, Ron and I will be working together and be learning from each other.
I have been thinking about this: how do we learn? Often it is a case of having the teacher and the learner, the one who knows all and the one who knows little. My original teaching on my tantric path here in SA was like that. In Germany, this dissolved into a general sharing and learning with my Tantra massage trainer, Klaus and his wife Barbara. It was glorious to learn like that. It did not diminish my respect for my trainer, on the contrary, it boosted it. I could be me, I was encouraged to bring in what ever I already knew and at the same time I could learn a whole lot of new stuff with ease. The sign of a good teacher in most forms of adult education, should be like that.
This is what impressed me so about Ron Solo. When I asked, "do you mean we should facilitate this workshop together?", his answer was, "of course, I want to also learn from you!" Was I excited! One of the world's best and most renowned Tantra coaches wants to learn from me.....this was too good to be true! But it is true - and thus began a journey of sharing via email and phone calls and, yes, it is exactly like that: we learn from each other. It is a dialogue of learning, teaching, sharing. It requires great openness - there is no space for arrogance or fear. You just have to go into it head on in order to learn like this, and unfortunately, a lot of teachers are not willing to expose themselves so far.
Tantra has no hierarchy!
Tantra is no longer a secret path!
Tantra today is an open teaching that grows and benefits the most from genuine sharing.
Tantra is for everyone - you do not need to have a problem to start this path.
Tantra is simple to understand and easy to begin putting into practice in your life.
Tantra is physical - it is about changing conditioning of the mind, but you cannot do that without changing the body memory. The work has to be on both levels.
Any contradiction to this, any suggesting that Tanta is a complicated, secret teaching, any suggestion of false and binding devotion to teachers, any suggestion that you can go on working with a paid Tantra teacher for 6 months and more, without addressing the physical, the sensual, the sexual, the body memory or your deteriorated marriage etc., is not Tantra - it is manipulation and money-making.
I feel strongly about this. Tantra does not want to manipulate in any way
In it's purest form it is simply about opening the heart to a deeper love for and a greater celebration of life, while simultaneously opening the body to a free flowing of sexual energy which is our life's force. The very nature of our being is sexual. Removing the taboos around this subject does not make perverts or sex maniacs out of us! Repression however can and far too often does. One usage of our sexual energy is actually sexual. Most of it is for the pure joy of everything we do in life. What healing the heart and healing the body result in is simply, happy human beings, people expressing their creativity in every aspect of life, including in their sexuality.
Sexuality is a celebration - a celebration of love for one's self, love for others, love for life and for the whole of creation.
Namaste
Leandra
Sunday, November 26, 2006
The birth of The Durga Tantra School, South Africa
Notes on the birth of The School of Durga Tantra, South Africa...
I have just returned from my second working visit to JHB, full of impressions, experiences, teaching and learning. It is a strange thing being taught by a teacher, then becoming a teacher one's self and allowing the learning through the teaching to begin. I stand, once again, in gratitude to the people that have entrusted themselves to my work. I want you all to know, as you grow I grow too. Each encounter with you, each massage experience, allows me to grow in the work and as an individual.
Have you ever experienced this? You are taught by a wonderful person, learn so much, are so grateful, continue on your life’s journey and one day, you see your teacher and know that you have departed from the teaching? The common ground is lost, the love once felt diminished, the respect you had perhaps even attacked - yet the deep feeling of recognition and gratitude for what you were taught and a love in your heart remaining still, strong and faithful…?
My work during the past months has taught me so much. I learn from every one of you coming for Tantra Sacred Massage for my teaching, for Tantra Sacred Massage sessions. I, the teacher, learn and you, the student, teaches. Is that not wonderful? Yes it is! I have learnt to express my understanding of Tantra, what it is, what it is not and how it works during the time since I began Tantra Sacred Massage, growing slowly into the teaching. Existence has given me knowledge and method at times when I, the person, could not have known what I needed to know. It was there, flowing through me and the work. At the same time, my mind watching, thinking, where did I get that from…? Well, Existence always supports one and what you need is there when you need it - if you have the willingness to receive.
With this all, has come a growing in me to the extent that I now leave one of my teachers with this heavy, yet open and willing heart. It is a hard thing to do. It has to be done in order to go further. There will be more teachers, I will always want to continue learning and I look forward to that immensely. I think most of us have gone through such a parting sometime in our lives. The love is there, yet you know you must move on. Your heart feels heavy, yet you know it is free. The gratefulness you feel, does not make the feeling of loss softer. You think you will fall, but you don’t. You walk away, strong and steady towards the unknown with a security that Existence, the Divine, God will always provide.
Tantra traditionally was always a woman’s teaching. As with so many things in our culture, women have lost their power to be what they actually are, lost the knowledge of what they actually know. I now claim this teaching as a woman’s teaching. Others have done it before me, I do it now. In so doing, my own school is in the process of being born: The Durga Tantra School, South Africa.
Durga is one of the qualities of the Mother Goddess. Durga rides a lion. She is strong, she is a warrior, she is full of passion, she is inspired creativity in every way. In fact she is far more than one aspect. She is the sum of all the feminine goddess energy and her story has a deep message for both men and women.
My name Leandra, means The Lion Woman. I was given this name in deep prayer a number of years ago. At the time, I did not understand the meaning it would later have for me. After coming through my own Tantra process, at the time that I took Sannyas with Osho, I remembered. I searched my computer for the document in which I had written it so that I would not forget, and when I found it, I immediately had an affinity to it. It now had meaning.
Then many months later I read about Durga, that she always rides a lion, I read that she stands for strength and creativity while being as passionate as Shakti, another aspect of the Mother Goddess. She carries a sword and has the ferocious quality of Kali, the destroyer of all that is not the Truth (yet another aspect of Mother Goddess) and I knew, I had found my home.
It has been some weeks of bearing now, the "pregnancy" has ended and my school, Durga Tantra School has been born. I claim these qualities for all the women of this world: the passionate lover, the ferocious warrior, the creative artist, and the feminine image of strength itself – the Durga that lives in us all. The lioness is the only animal that does it all by herself – except for pro-creation. The male lion mates with a number of lionesses in order to secure his genes for the next generation and after the period of mating, he goes his way…until next time perhaps. The lioness hunts and kills, loves and cares for her offspring, lives on her own with her children. She is strong, forceful, soft and gentle all at once.
Recently on a visit to the Eastern Cape, I saw lions close up. The urge to get out the safari van at the sight of such beauty, such softness, such grace, was strong. I wished I could get out and lie next to her and her young. I wanted to caress her as I do my beautiful tom cat at home. I wanted to feel her warmth, hear her breadth, feel her strength. Do you men know this with your woman? Oh yes, you do!
So why do you ask "what about the males, what about us..."? Well, just think of how your life is enhanced by such women! Some of you have forgotten the passions of the love you felt with your first real love. Some of you are blessed with the passion still, after long relationship years. You want this softness yet strength, this ferociousness yet tender passion, this capability to create the home you live in, to create and bear your children, the ability to endure, to withstand whatever hardship you entrust her with. You may feel fear at all this, and roar like the lion keeping his distance from her and her children, but you want it never the less! It is within encounters with such women that you grow, that you become your best….that is, if you are willing to receive from her and show the reverence she deserves.
Durga Tantra is born for women and for men.
Tantra is a woman’s teaching. I am a woman. I teach Durga Tantra to men and women alike. Let us all be strong, creative and deeply passionate about ourselves, about life, about our loved ones!
Namaste
Leandra
I have just returned from my second working visit to JHB, full of impressions, experiences, teaching and learning. It is a strange thing being taught by a teacher, then becoming a teacher one's self and allowing the learning through the teaching to begin. I stand, once again, in gratitude to the people that have entrusted themselves to my work. I want you all to know, as you grow I grow too. Each encounter with you, each massage experience, allows me to grow in the work and as an individual.
Have you ever experienced this? You are taught by a wonderful person, learn so much, are so grateful, continue on your life’s journey and one day, you see your teacher and know that you have departed from the teaching? The common ground is lost, the love once felt diminished, the respect you had perhaps even attacked - yet the deep feeling of recognition and gratitude for what you were taught and a love in your heart remaining still, strong and faithful…?
My work during the past months has taught me so much. I learn from every one of you coming for Tantra Sacred Massage for my teaching, for Tantra Sacred Massage sessions. I, the teacher, learn and you, the student, teaches. Is that not wonderful? Yes it is! I have learnt to express my understanding of Tantra, what it is, what it is not and how it works during the time since I began Tantra Sacred Massage, growing slowly into the teaching. Existence has given me knowledge and method at times when I, the person, could not have known what I needed to know. It was there, flowing through me and the work. At the same time, my mind watching, thinking, where did I get that from…? Well, Existence always supports one and what you need is there when you need it - if you have the willingness to receive.
With this all, has come a growing in me to the extent that I now leave one of my teachers with this heavy, yet open and willing heart. It is a hard thing to do. It has to be done in order to go further. There will be more teachers, I will always want to continue learning and I look forward to that immensely. I think most of us have gone through such a parting sometime in our lives. The love is there, yet you know you must move on. Your heart feels heavy, yet you know it is free. The gratefulness you feel, does not make the feeling of loss softer. You think you will fall, but you don’t. You walk away, strong and steady towards the unknown with a security that Existence, the Divine, God will always provide.
Tantra traditionally was always a woman’s teaching. As with so many things in our culture, women have lost their power to be what they actually are, lost the knowledge of what they actually know. I now claim this teaching as a woman’s teaching. Others have done it before me, I do it now. In so doing, my own school is in the process of being born: The Durga Tantra School, South Africa.
Durga is one of the qualities of the Mother Goddess. Durga rides a lion. She is strong, she is a warrior, she is full of passion, she is inspired creativity in every way. In fact she is far more than one aspect. She is the sum of all the feminine goddess energy and her story has a deep message for both men and women.
My name Leandra, means The Lion Woman. I was given this name in deep prayer a number of years ago. At the time, I did not understand the meaning it would later have for me. After coming through my own Tantra process, at the time that I took Sannyas with Osho, I remembered. I searched my computer for the document in which I had written it so that I would not forget, and when I found it, I immediately had an affinity to it. It now had meaning.
Then many months later I read about Durga, that she always rides a lion, I read that she stands for strength and creativity while being as passionate as Shakti, another aspect of the Mother Goddess. She carries a sword and has the ferocious quality of Kali, the destroyer of all that is not the Truth (yet another aspect of Mother Goddess) and I knew, I had found my home.
It has been some weeks of bearing now, the "pregnancy" has ended and my school, Durga Tantra School has been born. I claim these qualities for all the women of this world: the passionate lover, the ferocious warrior, the creative artist, and the feminine image of strength itself – the Durga that lives in us all. The lioness is the only animal that does it all by herself – except for pro-creation. The male lion mates with a number of lionesses in order to secure his genes for the next generation and after the period of mating, he goes his way…until next time perhaps. The lioness hunts and kills, loves and cares for her offspring, lives on her own with her children. She is strong, forceful, soft and gentle all at once.
Recently on a visit to the Eastern Cape, I saw lions close up. The urge to get out the safari van at the sight of such beauty, such softness, such grace, was strong. I wished I could get out and lie next to her and her young. I wanted to caress her as I do my beautiful tom cat at home. I wanted to feel her warmth, hear her breadth, feel her strength. Do you men know this with your woman? Oh yes, you do!
So why do you ask "what about the males, what about us..."? Well, just think of how your life is enhanced by such women! Some of you have forgotten the passions of the love you felt with your first real love. Some of you are blessed with the passion still, after long relationship years. You want this softness yet strength, this ferociousness yet tender passion, this capability to create the home you live in, to create and bear your children, the ability to endure, to withstand whatever hardship you entrust her with. You may feel fear at all this, and roar like the lion keeping his distance from her and her children, but you want it never the less! It is within encounters with such women that you grow, that you become your best….that is, if you are willing to receive from her and show the reverence she deserves.
Durga Tantra is born for women and for men.
Tantra is a woman’s teaching. I am a woman. I teach Durga Tantra to men and women alike. Let us all be strong, creative and deeply passionate about ourselves, about life, about our loved ones!
Namaste
Leandra
Friday, November 17, 2006
New premises in Johannesburg and thoughts...
I am in the middle of my second session of bookings in JHB and it is proving, once again, to be a wonderful experience with really great and interesting people. I never thought I would grow to love JHB so much! Everyone is asking if I like the rain and I have to answer, "No, not really, on the KZN south coast we have plenty of it all the time!" But I do love the way the JHB people become really joyful when it rains. One massage session was held in my rooms with a background of thunder outside overriding the soft, sensual and relaxing tantric music that I play throughout the massage. The atmosphere was quite dramatic and the rumbling of nature's force enhanced the massage environment greatly.
The best news however, is that I now work from my own centrally situated premises. It has been a whirlwind visit this time. I arrived on Wednesday, took out a lease on a flat on Thursday, moved in on Friday morning with next to nothing other than a few drapes and a futon bed bought the day before and had my first booking on Friday afternoon. Since then, it has been quite a feat to get the flat set up in the atmosphere I want for my work. Between bookings, I was rushing out to local shopping malls to get sheets, towels, cushions and curtains. It is actually quite amazing how easy it is to set up a sacred, very special space. You can do it easily at home and I suggest you do exactly this. Just think how this will enhance the sensuality and sexuality in your relationship! A few drapes, special towels, a bit of oil or massage crème, soft music in the background and off you go on a magical, sensual journey with your spouse or lover.
Tantrikers don't have sex in the bedroom - which is actually for sleeping. Just think of the difference it can make: instead of leaving sexual activity for the time you actually need to fall asleep, give it a special space and time! Set up a room in your home for this, or take 30 minutes to transform your bedroom with some special drapes, ornaments, flowers and incense and then go into being together lovingly, perhaps massaging first, doing some deep breathing to get your sexual energy grounded (all taught in Tantra Sacred Massage sessions) and then approach the sexual as only a god or goddess should, with reverence for and gratitude towards the other and yourself and see what a difference these few changes make, not only to the expression of your sexuality, but to your relationship in general!
And singles do not have to miss out on this. Do the same for your self-loving. In fact, I teach my clients that self-loving is the first step to tantric sexuality. What is taught in the massage sessions should be practiced alone and then together. Take the time for this - I know life is always busy, but is this not an important aspect of life? Of course it is. So much revolves around the sexual that we should be more earnest in going about making these experiences special indeed.
While I was out shopping today, accompanied by a female tantric friend, we giggled and chuckled at the thought of how many people around the globe were having orgasms at that very moment in time! We brought to mind how we are surrounded by the sexual constantly - the birds and bees, trees and flowers outside, constantly busy with sexual activity, granted in matters of pro-creation but then also all (well, most) men always gazing longingly at women, (just look around and you will see their eyes turning this way and that), women chatting about their lovers (if they have one) and then of course, the yearning for intimacy in those who do not live this.
So yes, take the time for sensual and sexual activity, make it special and experience how spiritual this can be. After all, we are all sexual beings and would not be here if sex had not taken place.
Tantra is not all about sex. But it focuses on the sexual as the special quality of life uniting us with the Divine, if we will only allow for this.
Namaste
Leandra
The best news however, is that I now work from my own centrally situated premises. It has been a whirlwind visit this time. I arrived on Wednesday, took out a lease on a flat on Thursday, moved in on Friday morning with next to nothing other than a few drapes and a futon bed bought the day before and had my first booking on Friday afternoon. Since then, it has been quite a feat to get the flat set up in the atmosphere I want for my work. Between bookings, I was rushing out to local shopping malls to get sheets, towels, cushions and curtains. It is actually quite amazing how easy it is to set up a sacred, very special space. You can do it easily at home and I suggest you do exactly this. Just think how this will enhance the sensuality and sexuality in your relationship! A few drapes, special towels, a bit of oil or massage crème, soft music in the background and off you go on a magical, sensual journey with your spouse or lover.
Tantrikers don't have sex in the bedroom - which is actually for sleeping. Just think of the difference it can make: instead of leaving sexual activity for the time you actually need to fall asleep, give it a special space and time! Set up a room in your home for this, or take 30 minutes to transform your bedroom with some special drapes, ornaments, flowers and incense and then go into being together lovingly, perhaps massaging first, doing some deep breathing to get your sexual energy grounded (all taught in Tantra Sacred Massage sessions) and then approach the sexual as only a god or goddess should, with reverence for and gratitude towards the other and yourself and see what a difference these few changes make, not only to the expression of your sexuality, but to your relationship in general!
And singles do not have to miss out on this. Do the same for your self-loving. In fact, I teach my clients that self-loving is the first step to tantric sexuality. What is taught in the massage sessions should be practiced alone and then together. Take the time for this - I know life is always busy, but is this not an important aspect of life? Of course it is. So much revolves around the sexual that we should be more earnest in going about making these experiences special indeed.
While I was out shopping today, accompanied by a female tantric friend, we giggled and chuckled at the thought of how many people around the globe were having orgasms at that very moment in time! We brought to mind how we are surrounded by the sexual constantly - the birds and bees, trees and flowers outside, constantly busy with sexual activity, granted in matters of pro-creation but then also all (well, most) men always gazing longingly at women, (just look around and you will see their eyes turning this way and that), women chatting about their lovers (if they have one) and then of course, the yearning for intimacy in those who do not live this.
So yes, take the time for sensual and sexual activity, make it special and experience how spiritual this can be. After all, we are all sexual beings and would not be here if sex had not taken place.
Tantra is not all about sex. But it focuses on the sexual as the special quality of life uniting us with the Divine, if we will only allow for this.
Namaste
Leandra
Friday, November 3, 2006
Wise Words - Swami Jnaneshvara
Today I would like to share some very wise words with you by Swami Jnaneshvara, an ordained monk in the Himalayan tradition and the order of Shankaracharya, now living in the USA and an independent emissary of Swami Rama and the Himalayan Tradition. His website is the very best site on meditation and spiritual teachings that I have found on the web. It is well worth visiting, particularly if you are a seeker of the Truth about who you are in relation to Existence, to the Divine. His teachings are easily understandable with many visual diagrams explanations. He also has great info's on how to start meditating from scratch. If you would like to read more, go to www.swamij.com. I highly recommend his website.
Namaste,
Leandra
WISDOM TO LIVE BY AND SHARE WITH OTHERS
Swami Jnaneshvara
There is only one highest reality and many teachers.
All humans and life arise from the same one source.
All countries, religions and institutions arise from that.
There are many books of wisdom from many ages.
Thinking there is only one way comes from ignorance.
Coercive conversion is violence against other peoples.
The goal of life is found within, not in institutions.
Wisdom, joy and freedom come from inner stillness.
Love all, as we are all waves of the one ocean.
Beautiful is it not? So true and yet we forget these wisdoms so often in our daily lives.
Write this up and past it somewhere where you can read it every day.
Namaste,
Saturday, October 28, 2006
About the people coming to Tantra Sacred Massage
It has been a while since I posted news in my journal. The interest in Tantra Sacred Massage is growing fast and I am starting to get really busy. This is wonderful, particularly as the clients who are finding their way to me are all wonderful people (with one exception – more about this later), all seeking in one way or another.
My first week of Tantra Sacred Massage in JHB was great. I was fully booked with a waiting list and my feeling at the end of the week was that it had been a truly meaningful time. I would like to thank all of the clients who found their way to me, for their trust in my work, for their openness and willingness to receive, not only the massage but the love I imparted and the message of Existence’s love in the hours of closeness, intimacy and learning we spent together.
There seems to be four main groups of clients coming to Tantra:
I had one exception to the really great people I met. My first experience in JHB was a last-minute booking. He came, I assume, expecting something else – an erotic massage a-la "get it over with" type of thing – and was not seeking in any way. He was abusive in that he showed no respect for the goddess I hold within myself. He showed no gratefulness for the love received and no interest in sharing afterwards about the experience. He seemed desperately wanting to “just” orgasm, which he couldn't, and I felt an inner aggression in his body and experienced this in his attitude when he left.
Without looking at me he walked past me as I held open the door, saying “cheers” from his back. I felt degraded for a moment and turned to Existence’s unfailing love for comfort. What I realized is that he mostly hurt not me but himself. He degraded himself, behaving nothing like the embodiment of the god he should perceive himself to be. I felt such compassion for him afterwards: I felt his loneliness, his inability to open up to anything real and his utter frustration with who he is and with life in general. Hopefully, the encounter with Existence’s love through Tantra Sacred Massage will touch him in some way sometime in his life, so that he too can find the ever present comfort, love and support that Existence always offers us – if only we are open and willing enough to receive it.
What did I learn from this? Well, firstly there will be no more last-minute bookings in future!
The bit of emailing about booking times and payment seem to be important as a preparation time. Something takes place in the mind (a changing mind-set, a feeling of anticipation, fantasies about what it will be like) and something takes place in the heart (a growing willingness, an openness to receive, a yearning for the experience) and this appears to be so important in the weeks and days before our encounter.
I also learnt that the goddess I embody - the goddess every woman embodies - cannot be degraded in the connectedness to the Divine. The initial feeling of degradation dissolved rashly into a feeling of compassion and sadness. Once again Existence’s love coming through, as it always does when the willingness to receive is at hand. My perception of myself grew through this experience, be it one that I do not want to encounter again.
Here on the KZN south coast, I am also becoming busy. Apart for single men coming mainly from Durban during the week, I have many couples coming over weekends. This work is intense over the 2 days that they are here. In between sessions: the quiet, the sea, the wind, the fish eagle nesting across the river valley, the changing colours of nature - my therapy, my direct link to Existence. Just watching the beauty of it all, the changing colours of nature, showing me time and time again the vastness of what we call life, is so comforting. It allows me a feeling of wholeness, of connectedness with the beauty of it all.
This is also the feeling I have in the work. Tantra Sacred Massage is glorious in every sense! I am so grateful to have been given this gift.
Again, a big thank you to all of you for your receptiveness and faith.
Namasté
Leandra
My first week of Tantra Sacred Massage in JHB was great. I was fully booked with a waiting list and my feeling at the end of the week was that it had been a truly meaningful time. I would like to thank all of the clients who found their way to me, for their trust in my work, for their openness and willingness to receive, not only the massage but the love I imparted and the message of Existence’s love in the hours of closeness, intimacy and learning we spent together.
There seems to be four main groups of clients coming to Tantra:
- clients with sexual difficulties such as men with pre-mature ejaculation, women with lack of orgasms, some clients with more general difficulties around intimacy such as lack of emotionality in love making, inability to enjoy close body to body touching or unable to switch off the mind
- married couples wanting rejuvenating in their love life after years of being busy at work and in the home
- men who are feeling lonely in long marriages; children grown up, sex life come to a halt, getting older and a growing fear of loosing potency.
- Underlying all this, it is the lack of warmth, a longing for touch, being loved and held that is the real motivation
- deeply seeking men who have long felt there is more to life than what they have achieved, what they are living and experiencing in their lives. These are mostly guys who have reached their goals and are basically happy but have a certain emptiness or yearning for something deeper and, in a more real sense, fulfilling.
I had one exception to the really great people I met. My first experience in JHB was a last-minute booking. He came, I assume, expecting something else – an erotic massage a-la "get it over with" type of thing – and was not seeking in any way. He was abusive in that he showed no respect for the goddess I hold within myself. He showed no gratefulness for the love received and no interest in sharing afterwards about the experience. He seemed desperately wanting to “just” orgasm, which he couldn't, and I felt an inner aggression in his body and experienced this in his attitude when he left.
Without looking at me he walked past me as I held open the door, saying “cheers” from his back. I felt degraded for a moment and turned to Existence’s unfailing love for comfort. What I realized is that he mostly hurt not me but himself. He degraded himself, behaving nothing like the embodiment of the god he should perceive himself to be. I felt such compassion for him afterwards: I felt his loneliness, his inability to open up to anything real and his utter frustration with who he is and with life in general. Hopefully, the encounter with Existence’s love through Tantra Sacred Massage will touch him in some way sometime in his life, so that he too can find the ever present comfort, love and support that Existence always offers us – if only we are open and willing enough to receive it.
What did I learn from this? Well, firstly there will be no more last-minute bookings in future!
The bit of emailing about booking times and payment seem to be important as a preparation time. Something takes place in the mind (a changing mind-set, a feeling of anticipation, fantasies about what it will be like) and something takes place in the heart (a growing willingness, an openness to receive, a yearning for the experience) and this appears to be so important in the weeks and days before our encounter.
I also learnt that the goddess I embody - the goddess every woman embodies - cannot be degraded in the connectedness to the Divine. The initial feeling of degradation dissolved rashly into a feeling of compassion and sadness. Once again Existence’s love coming through, as it always does when the willingness to receive is at hand. My perception of myself grew through this experience, be it one that I do not want to encounter again.
Here on the KZN south coast, I am also becoming busy. Apart for single men coming mainly from Durban during the week, I have many couples coming over weekends. This work is intense over the 2 days that they are here. In between sessions: the quiet, the sea, the wind, the fish eagle nesting across the river valley, the changing colours of nature - my therapy, my direct link to Existence. Just watching the beauty of it all, the changing colours of nature, showing me time and time again the vastness of what we call life, is so comforting. It allows me a feeling of wholeness, of connectedness with the beauty of it all.
This is also the feeling I have in the work. Tantra Sacred Massage is glorious in every sense! I am so grateful to have been given this gift.
Again, a big thank you to all of you for your receptiveness and faith.
Namasté
Leandra
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Tantric Sexuality - 30th September 2006
Journal, 30th September 2006
I recently had a fellow from JHB who was interested in the massage emailing me explicit photos of naked women and pornographic photos of men and women. This is the difficulty here in SA: Tantra is not well known, there is little information available to the general public and one has to be a seeker or at least have heard of the word Tantra to Google and find the appropriate pages. So there is this general impression here, that this work is another form of eroticism, another form of sexuality and that practitioners of Tantra are either sex workers or sex-hungry, uninhibited individuals who live promiscuous lives! This is not the case, on the contrary: practitioners of Tantra live a form of sexuality that is immersed in awareness, connecting the physical and spiritual to embrace life, all life, in the universal Love that is available to all of us if we only take notice of it and become aware of it. Having said this tantric sexuality is however, only the physical aspect of the work
I wrote to this fellow sending me the pornographic photos, that he had not understood the spiritual aspect of the work and that it was inappropriate to email me such photos. I am neither repulsed by it, nor does it turn me on. All it does is show me where the fantasies of this fellow and possibly his repressions are embedded.
Certainly, tantric sexuality is wonderful, and delving into tantric practice will enhance your sexuality enormously. This is great for both singles and couples alike and Tantra also offers remedies for all aspects of sexual problems. It is not a bad thing to come to Tantra for these reasons. However, the earnest seeker will soon realise the greatness of this work. It is so much more than sexuality. Ultimately, Tantra teaches the transcendence of sexuality. For the seeker, the work starts with his or her sexuality, it continues through alleviating suppressions and all forms of repressions as well as all forms of sexual hurt. It takes you to acceptance of the sexual as something beautiful and natural in life – free of taboos, free of guilt, free of bad associations and dependency - dependancy of relying on sexual activity and success for feeling good about yourself and your life. It leads to free flowing sexual energy that does not require pornographic fantasies or the like. It leads to wonderfully satisfying sexuality in self-loving or with consenting partners and within this, to the spiritual connection between these partners and to life, to Existence itself. In the final stage, it leads to spiritual awakening, to enlightenment – the actual quest of the seeker – in a similar way as years of meditating does.
In fact, tantric sexuality IS meditation!
What is so special about this compared to other forms of spirituality and meditation? This question is often asked. There is nothing else by way of spiritual seeking or healing body work that addresses the sexual as directly as does Tantra. When the sexual is not addressed, not included in the path, many repressions are avoided, not looked at and thus stand in the way of real personal spiritual growth.
The body contains memories of whatever we experience in life, including what we are taught as children and young adults about the badness, the sin of the genitals and our innate, natural sexuality. The part of the body that takes most care of these memories, suppressions and repressions are the genitals – for the very reason that they are not mentally or physically touched on in usual therapeutic efforts to alleviate problems of all kinds. So in this area of the body, these memories and false understandings are kept and held and sometimes not even noticed – although they are constantly affecting our well being. Tantra addresses exactly this. This is what makes it so special, so direct and such excellent work.
Tantra therefore touches the body in a very real way – through the false associations held in the mind and in the body, mentally as well as physically. Practitioners of Tantra have no inhibitions about their own sexuality, having gone through the process themselves. They have no inhibitions talking about sexuality openly, experiencing sexuality, sharing sexuality, teaching sexuality, living sexuality. One form of living sexuality is actually transcending it, getting into the space of not needing it. I have experienced this and it is a very beautiful place to be in, contrary to what most people might believe. Transcendence of the sexual does not mean impotence or frigidity. It means freedom in a very real way. It means a coming home to your independent and individual self, to the real meaning of who you are – a coming home to Truth.
You can come to this work from any level, from the sexual wanting more satisfaction in life or from the seeker's yearning for awakening. What you will find is love, for yourself, for the othe and for all life. It is in this love that you find the answers we in some way all search for: what on earth is this life actually all about?
Working, sleeping, eating, having sex, making babies, living family life and going through some joys and some hardships is what we go through in our human state, but it is not in this that we find the meaning of life. The answer to this question may fall out differently for different individuals, but to me the bottom line is that there is only one Truth about who and what we are and this is only to be found in the spiritual: we are all connected as part of Existence, part of the great Divine, God.
There is no separation between us human beings, between us and nature, between us and Existence.
We are one. This realisation means freedom to me. This freedom means bliss at every level of my being.
Namasté
Leandra
PS I am adding some quotes from a most beautiful book about sacred sexuality which I recently bought: “Kama Sutra – Including The Seven Spiritual Laws of Love” by Deepak Chopra – I need to share this with you.
First of all, the artistic illustrations are really lovely and the book is filled with beautiful verses around the subjects of love and the newly interpreted original Kama Sutra - this was his aim with the book, to translate and interpret the old texts in a new way, than has been in the past.
"All problems related to sex, neurosis, deviancy, violence and abuse, can be traced to resistance, to suppression and repression, not to the sexual urges themselves. If we are allowed to discover our urges, desires and emotions, without outside inhibition, they won't go to extremes.
Extremism, in any form, is a reaction to repression, inhibition and suppression. Aggression and violence are the shadow energies of fear and impotence."
Deepak Chopra
This is what Vatsayayana wrote at the end of his book Kama Sutra (here in the translation of Deepak Chopra):
"Thus have I written in brief the science of love, after reading the texts of ancient authors and following the ways of enjoyment taught by them. One who is acquainted with the true principles of this science plus regard to virtue (Dharma), material success (Artha), and love or pleasure (Kama),
as well as to one's own experiences. Such a one is not driven simply by his own desires. A sexual practice is not right just because it is authorized by the science; keep in mind that these rules given by them, the Kama Sutra was composed according to the precepts of Holy Writ, for he benefit of the world, by Vatsayayana, leading the life of a religious student and wholly engaged in the contemplation of God. This work is not intended to be used merely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted with the true principles of this science, and who preserves his Dharma, Artha and Kama,
and has regard for the practices of society, is sure to obtain mastery over his senses. In short, through seeking three goals of life an intelligent and prudent person, without becoming the slave of his passions, obtains success in everything that he may undertake."
I hope I have made you curious about this great book!
Namasté
Leandra
I recently had a fellow from JHB who was interested in the massage emailing me explicit photos of naked women and pornographic photos of men and women. This is the difficulty here in SA: Tantra is not well known, there is little information available to the general public and one has to be a seeker or at least have heard of the word Tantra to Google and find the appropriate pages. So there is this general impression here, that this work is another form of eroticism, another form of sexuality and that practitioners of Tantra are either sex workers or sex-hungry, uninhibited individuals who live promiscuous lives! This is not the case, on the contrary: practitioners of Tantra live a form of sexuality that is immersed in awareness, connecting the physical and spiritual to embrace life, all life, in the universal Love that is available to all of us if we only take notice of it and become aware of it. Having said this tantric sexuality is however, only the physical aspect of the work
I wrote to this fellow sending me the pornographic photos, that he had not understood the spiritual aspect of the work and that it was inappropriate to email me such photos. I am neither repulsed by it, nor does it turn me on. All it does is show me where the fantasies of this fellow and possibly his repressions are embedded.
Certainly, tantric sexuality is wonderful, and delving into tantric practice will enhance your sexuality enormously. This is great for both singles and couples alike and Tantra also offers remedies for all aspects of sexual problems. It is not a bad thing to come to Tantra for these reasons. However, the earnest seeker will soon realise the greatness of this work. It is so much more than sexuality. Ultimately, Tantra teaches the transcendence of sexuality. For the seeker, the work starts with his or her sexuality, it continues through alleviating suppressions and all forms of repressions as well as all forms of sexual hurt. It takes you to acceptance of the sexual as something beautiful and natural in life – free of taboos, free of guilt, free of bad associations and dependency - dependancy of relying on sexual activity and success for feeling good about yourself and your life. It leads to free flowing sexual energy that does not require pornographic fantasies or the like. It leads to wonderfully satisfying sexuality in self-loving or with consenting partners and within this, to the spiritual connection between these partners and to life, to Existence itself. In the final stage, it leads to spiritual awakening, to enlightenment – the actual quest of the seeker – in a similar way as years of meditating does.
In fact, tantric sexuality IS meditation!
What is so special about this compared to other forms of spirituality and meditation? This question is often asked. There is nothing else by way of spiritual seeking or healing body work that addresses the sexual as directly as does Tantra. When the sexual is not addressed, not included in the path, many repressions are avoided, not looked at and thus stand in the way of real personal spiritual growth.
The body contains memories of whatever we experience in life, including what we are taught as children and young adults about the badness, the sin of the genitals and our innate, natural sexuality. The part of the body that takes most care of these memories, suppressions and repressions are the genitals – for the very reason that they are not mentally or physically touched on in usual therapeutic efforts to alleviate problems of all kinds. So in this area of the body, these memories and false understandings are kept and held and sometimes not even noticed – although they are constantly affecting our well being. Tantra addresses exactly this. This is what makes it so special, so direct and such excellent work.
Tantra therefore touches the body in a very real way – through the false associations held in the mind and in the body, mentally as well as physically. Practitioners of Tantra have no inhibitions about their own sexuality, having gone through the process themselves. They have no inhibitions talking about sexuality openly, experiencing sexuality, sharing sexuality, teaching sexuality, living sexuality. One form of living sexuality is actually transcending it, getting into the space of not needing it. I have experienced this and it is a very beautiful place to be in, contrary to what most people might believe. Transcendence of the sexual does not mean impotence or frigidity. It means freedom in a very real way. It means a coming home to your independent and individual self, to the real meaning of who you are – a coming home to Truth.
You can come to this work from any level, from the sexual wanting more satisfaction in life or from the seeker's yearning for awakening. What you will find is love, for yourself, for the othe and for all life. It is in this love that you find the answers we in some way all search for: what on earth is this life actually all about?
Working, sleeping, eating, having sex, making babies, living family life and going through some joys and some hardships is what we go through in our human state, but it is not in this that we find the meaning of life. The answer to this question may fall out differently for different individuals, but to me the bottom line is that there is only one Truth about who and what we are and this is only to be found in the spiritual: we are all connected as part of Existence, part of the great Divine, God.
There is no separation between us human beings, between us and nature, between us and Existence.
We are one. This realisation means freedom to me. This freedom means bliss at every level of my being.
Namasté
Leandra
PS I am adding some quotes from a most beautiful book about sacred sexuality which I recently bought: “Kama Sutra – Including The Seven Spiritual Laws of Love” by Deepak Chopra – I need to share this with you.
First of all, the artistic illustrations are really lovely and the book is filled with beautiful verses around the subjects of love and the newly interpreted original Kama Sutra - this was his aim with the book, to translate and interpret the old texts in a new way, than has been in the past.
"All problems related to sex, neurosis, deviancy, violence and abuse, can be traced to resistance, to suppression and repression, not to the sexual urges themselves. If we are allowed to discover our urges, desires and emotions, without outside inhibition, they won't go to extremes.
Extremism, in any form, is a reaction to repression, inhibition and suppression. Aggression and violence are the shadow energies of fear and impotence."
Deepak Chopra
This is what Vatsayayana wrote at the end of his book Kama Sutra (here in the translation of Deepak Chopra):
"Thus have I written in brief the science of love, after reading the texts of ancient authors and following the ways of enjoyment taught by them. One who is acquainted with the true principles of this science plus regard to virtue (Dharma), material success (Artha), and love or pleasure (Kama),
as well as to one's own experiences. Such a one is not driven simply by his own desires. A sexual practice is not right just because it is authorized by the science; keep in mind that these rules given by them, the Kama Sutra was composed according to the precepts of Holy Writ, for he benefit of the world, by Vatsayayana, leading the life of a religious student and wholly engaged in the contemplation of God. This work is not intended to be used merely as an instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted with the true principles of this science, and who preserves his Dharma, Artha and Kama,
and has regard for the practices of society, is sure to obtain mastery over his senses. In short, through seeking three goals of life an intelligent and prudent person, without becoming the slave of his passions, obtains success in everything that he may undertake."
I hope I have made you curious about this great book!
Namasté
Leandra
Friday, September 29, 2006
About the massage work
What with everyone's busy working and family schedules, I have had to realise that it is just not feasible to travel so easily all the way to this remote spot on the KZN south coast for Tantra massage sessions. The massage guests, who have made it here so far, have not been disappointed. It is wonderful to get away from daily life for something as special as Tantra massage, but this usually has to be combined with a holiday or business in Durban or something like that. I love working here. The massage studio is decorated in a personal style, it is my sacred room - I do not only work there, but use the space for meditating, reading my increasing small library of books about Tantra, for resting and letting my thoughts flow or my heart just glow. I am still so in awe of what Tantra has done for me personally, in my life and my whole being. It is a special space.
I realise this will be different in JHB and CT where I am sharing rooms with others. However, I will try to create the atmosphere I need for Tantra Sacred Massage and for the times that I will be there working with massage guests, these shared rooms will become "my" special rooms for this work.
I am looking forward to welcoming you there and to working on an on going basis with some of you. The deepness of the work, the full benefit of what Tantra massage gives you grows with continuous work - or if you like "treatments". The relationship between the giver and the receiver of the massage develops, mutual trust grows and a true opening from heart to heart becomes not only possible, but inevitable. So with this in mind and in my heart, I am looking forward to welcoming you these new massage spaces.
I had the pleasure this last weekend of having a couple here from a far away place in SA for massages. They made use of the overnight accommodation and so had the opportunity to look through some of the books on Tantra that I had placed in their lounge. I found that that added a certain depth to the work. It helped getting Tantra into perspective. They were totally new to Tantra and knew little about it, so I felt this was really a worthwhile aspect of having time here to make use of my small library.
They chose separate massages - actually a good way for a couple to start, each having their own space to experience the massage - and it also gave me the opportunity to connect intuitively to the individual person. The massages were, needless to say different - they always are as Tantra massage does not follow a set scheme.
I felt energised after they had left. Massaging keeps me deeply in my own awareness. I am totally there and my own daily life is somewhere far away, not even in the background. My preparation consists of getting the space ready - the room temperature needs to be warmed (at least at this time of the year - in summer it will have to be cooled!), the oil gets freshly mixed and heated, the music chosen and towels need to be ready etc. Then I take time to meditate and get my own energy "charged up" for the massage. I impart energy during the massage, "lending" mine to the massage guest in order to move theirs, but this imparting of energy does not, cannot reduce my own energy. Once in the massaging, I work deeply intuitively, feeling not only through my hands and body, but with and through my heart, my love. If I do it right, not imparting too much, not withholding anything, I come out of the massage energised. The giver receives too during Tantra work. It is the connection to Existence's universal love that makes this possible.
Tantra massage is about transformation on a very deep level. It gives me such joy to see how glowing, how radiant the guests become after the massage. And I know there will be movement in the days and weeks afterwards. To those of you who misunderstand Tantra as another form of eroticism, I say, you are so wrong. Oh yes, it can be erotic, but it is so much more!
Namasté
Leandra
I realise this will be different in JHB and CT where I am sharing rooms with others. However, I will try to create the atmosphere I need for Tantra Sacred Massage and for the times that I will be there working with massage guests, these shared rooms will become "my" special rooms for this work.
I am looking forward to welcoming you there and to working on an on going basis with some of you. The deepness of the work, the full benefit of what Tantra massage gives you grows with continuous work - or if you like "treatments". The relationship between the giver and the receiver of the massage develops, mutual trust grows and a true opening from heart to heart becomes not only possible, but inevitable. So with this in mind and in my heart, I am looking forward to welcoming you these new massage spaces.
I had the pleasure this last weekend of having a couple here from a far away place in SA for massages. They made use of the overnight accommodation and so had the opportunity to look through some of the books on Tantra that I had placed in their lounge. I found that that added a certain depth to the work. It helped getting Tantra into perspective. They were totally new to Tantra and knew little about it, so I felt this was really a worthwhile aspect of having time here to make use of my small library.
They chose separate massages - actually a good way for a couple to start, each having their own space to experience the massage - and it also gave me the opportunity to connect intuitively to the individual person. The massages were, needless to say different - they always are as Tantra massage does not follow a set scheme.
I felt energised after they had left. Massaging keeps me deeply in my own awareness. I am totally there and my own daily life is somewhere far away, not even in the background. My preparation consists of getting the space ready - the room temperature needs to be warmed (at least at this time of the year - in summer it will have to be cooled!), the oil gets freshly mixed and heated, the music chosen and towels need to be ready etc. Then I take time to meditate and get my own energy "charged up" for the massage. I impart energy during the massage, "lending" mine to the massage guest in order to move theirs, but this imparting of energy does not, cannot reduce my own energy. Once in the massaging, I work deeply intuitively, feeling not only through my hands and body, but with and through my heart, my love. If I do it right, not imparting too much, not withholding anything, I come out of the massage energised. The giver receives too during Tantra work. It is the connection to Existence's universal love that makes this possible.
Tantra massage is about transformation on a very deep level. It gives me such joy to see how glowing, how radiant the guests become after the massage. And I know there will be movement in the days and weeks afterwards. To those of you who misunderstand Tantra as another form of eroticism, I say, you are so wrong. Oh yes, it can be erotic, but it is so much more!
Namasté
Leandra
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Tantra-Open-Talk on the KZN south coast
The last couple of weeks have been wonderful, spent decorating the massage studio and getting ready to begin the work. And the first massage has been given! What a beautiful, deeply moving experience. The honor of touching the other in a tantric way is actually quite indescribable, partly because each guest is unique in body and expression and the massage touches this uniqueness – my experience therefore differs each time I massage. It is deeply moving to embrace this uniqueness in which there is no "norm". Although I am giving the massage, my experience is of receiving. The intimacy of touching the body and heart of another, being totally present in the moment, each moment, is the deepest kind of intimacy I know. It is the willingness to be led by the guest’s uniqueness, every step of the massage that gives such gratification. In this I feel the true sense of humbleness - humbleness towards the beauty, creativity and vastness of Existence.
Very exciting was also the first Tantra-Open-Talk in KZN, held last night on the south coast. It was a small group of people from 27 to 65 years young. The evening was very relaxed - we drank home brewed chi tea, chatted, Tantra-talked and enjoyed a light meal, listened to a bit of Ecstasy, a beautiful Margot Anand music CD.
We spoke about the origin of Tantra, how in Hinduism, Buddhism as well as Christianity there has been a tradition of Tantra. In Christianity it has died out altogether - except for the celibacy aspect of Catholic priests and in the other spiritual traditions it always was a secret practice and usually caused quite a stir. Tantra is revolutionary! It must stir, because it goes against the grain of what is usual practice, no matter what culture or religion. His information was very detailed and yet broad at the same time. Also part of the talk was about how Tantra coming to the west, is largely due to Osho's teachings about the old sacred texts. The first half of the talk concentrated on meditation practice, paths to enlightenment and how Tantra is such a path and other questions around the subject of spirituality and the seeker's striving to Awake. It was rewarding and very informative experience.
I was surprised, would have thought that the interest of participants would have been more about sexual issues and sexuality in general. This did come in the second half of the talk, after a question about how to get non-ejaculatory, multi-orgasms as a man. We were given a history of the sexual development from boy to man and made it very clear how it comes about that men have a rushed attitude about sex: the usual masturbatory practices causing the lingam (penis) to become numbed and only able to "feel" if heavily thrusted. Tantra offers techniques to get the sensitivity back into the lingam. Of course the females in the group were not left in the cold. Part of the talk was also about how the anatomies of the lingam and yoni have exactly the same features and how the functions correspond.
We giggled a bit, laughed a lot and everyone seemed to enjoy the event. It was such a great evening and we are looking forward to the next one!
Namasté
Ma Anand Leandra
Very exciting was also the first Tantra-Open-Talk in KZN, held last night on the south coast. It was a small group of people from 27 to 65 years young. The evening was very relaxed - we drank home brewed chi tea, chatted, Tantra-talked and enjoyed a light meal, listened to a bit of Ecstasy, a beautiful Margot Anand music CD.
We spoke about the origin of Tantra, how in Hinduism, Buddhism as well as Christianity there has been a tradition of Tantra. In Christianity it has died out altogether - except for the celibacy aspect of Catholic priests and in the other spiritual traditions it always was a secret practice and usually caused quite a stir. Tantra is revolutionary! It must stir, because it goes against the grain of what is usual practice, no matter what culture or religion. His information was very detailed and yet broad at the same time. Also part of the talk was about how Tantra coming to the west, is largely due to Osho's teachings about the old sacred texts. The first half of the talk concentrated on meditation practice, paths to enlightenment and how Tantra is such a path and other questions around the subject of spirituality and the seeker's striving to Awake. It was rewarding and very informative experience.
I was surprised, would have thought that the interest of participants would have been more about sexual issues and sexuality in general. This did come in the second half of the talk, after a question about how to get non-ejaculatory, multi-orgasms as a man. We were given a history of the sexual development from boy to man and made it very clear how it comes about that men have a rushed attitude about sex: the usual masturbatory practices causing the lingam (penis) to become numbed and only able to "feel" if heavily thrusted. Tantra offers techniques to get the sensitivity back into the lingam. Of course the females in the group were not left in the cold. Part of the talk was also about how the anatomies of the lingam and yoni have exactly the same features and how the functions correspond.
We giggled a bit, laughed a lot and everyone seemed to enjoy the event. It was such a great evening and we are looking forward to the next one!
Namasté
Ma Anand Leandra
Saturday, April 8, 2006
4th August 2006 - going online
4th August 2006
The Tantra Sacred Massage website is going online. We are not quite finished with creating it; however what is completed is now online for you to view. The Journal is a space where I from time to time will place interesting information, thoughts and experiences with and around Tantra Sacred Massage and Tantra generally.
I have been so blessed since starting my journey with Tantra, it is natural to want to share this with others.
I am so excited about this work! What makes it even more exciting, is that already there are enquiries for the massage and also for workshops - that is very encouraging. It shows too, that this work is greatly needed in South Africa - this is the very first Tantra massage service being offered in S.A!
I am deeply grateful to Klaus Smets for the wonderful massage training I enjoyed in Germany earlier this year. I will do my best to do justice to the fineness of his work. Hopefully he will one day come and visit us here with his adorable wife, Barbara, to visit our beautiful country and allow me to spoil them to some delicious massage-specials!
Barbara offers the Hawaiian Lomi Lomi Nui massage and the Lumdura massage in their Tantra Massage School in Wuppertal. The latter, being her own creation, which is a combination of the Hawaiian and the Tantra massage....and guess what, I have already booked my training with her for next year!
I'm beginning my journal with a translation of a text about the sense of touch and aggression which Klaus placed on his school journal. He is so right and what he says so important, I want to share it with you. Below that, I have added a translated text from his website on what Tantra means to him and from what perspective he teaches Tantra Massage.
Namasté
Ma Anand Leandra
The Tantra Sacred Massage website is going online. We are not quite finished with creating it; however what is completed is now online for you to view. The Journal is a space where I from time to time will place interesting information, thoughts and experiences with and around Tantra Sacred Massage and Tantra generally.
I have been so blessed since starting my journey with Tantra, it is natural to want to share this with others.
I am so excited about this work! What makes it even more exciting, is that already there are enquiries for the massage and also for workshops - that is very encouraging. It shows too, that this work is greatly needed in South Africa - this is the very first Tantra massage service being offered in S.A!
I am deeply grateful to Klaus Smets for the wonderful massage training I enjoyed in Germany earlier this year. I will do my best to do justice to the fineness of his work. Hopefully he will one day come and visit us here with his adorable wife, Barbara, to visit our beautiful country and allow me to spoil them to some delicious massage-specials!
Barbara offers the Hawaiian Lomi Lomi Nui massage and the Lumdura massage in their Tantra Massage School in Wuppertal. The latter, being her own creation, which is a combination of the Hawaiian and the Tantra massage....and guess what, I have already booked my training with her for next year!
I'm beginning my journal with a translation of a text about the sense of touch and aggression which Klaus placed on his school journal. He is so right and what he says so important, I want to share it with you. Below that, I have added a translated text from his website on what Tantra means to him and from what perspective he teaches Tantra Massage.
Namasté
Ma Anand Leandra
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