I have spent the festive season in training. My gift on Christmas day was, after some months of intense correspondence, finally meeting the international tantric touch and Tantra massage specialist Ron Solo, who had just flown in from Australia, and beginning the practical training with him. This culminated in the one-day tantric touch workshop on the 30th which we facilitated together. My tantric journey in the days before the workshop went deep - my experience of Tantra with trained and experienced tantrikers has always been like this. This took me to even further depths of my soul and being, and I have come out of this training invigorated, motivated and transformed. Experiencing, learning never ceases and so transformation is inevitable.
Facilitating the workshop together was a highlight for me. We had 15 participants from all over South Africa – Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, and of course Johannesburg, where the workshop took place – all of whom went away with a new experience of what sensual touch can be. It was a wonderful experience for all and the feedbacks we are receiving are encouraging and motivating. I will be holding similar workshops around SA in the course of this year. In addition to this, my own planned workshops (more in the German tradition of Tantra workshops), will be on the program which will appear shortly here on my website and on The School of Durga Tantra website, which I am currently working on.
One of the things that my experiences this last year have endorsed in me, is the fact that it is necessary to have continual training if I am to put a true message out there of what Tantra is about. I have had extremely varying experiences with teachers of Tantra. The self taught teachers lack a number of things which are exceptionally important:
- they lack the experience of being on the receiving end of the teaching, and thus do not know what it means to be in the vulnerability it takes to submit to such deep processes.
- they lack the experience of submitting to a teacher, which requires a deep trusting, in itself part of the experience and so important in Tantra. They therefore also lack the feeling of strong willingness to learn from someone else.
- they lack the input of people experienced in a tantric lifestyle and qualified for tantric work. Their knowledge, from books and videos, is extremely limited. More importantly, they assimilate knowledge that they then put into practice with "guinea pigs" who are actually real people and who deserve more. Practicing on personal friends and lovers, i.e. in personal relationships, does not do what the submission to training can achieve.
As I mentioned earlier, part of the training is learning the value of total trust and understanding the vulnerability you submit into, which brings a dimension not possible in personal relationships.
There is nothing wrong with self-teaching, it should however be used for one’s self and not as a teaching to experiment with and impose on others. This can and should be used privately, not professionally. Working on such an intimate level actually requires a great deal of qualified training and experience. My qualification in the expressive psychotherapies required many years of training, and together with over 20 years year's of professional work in the field of experiential psychotherapies, allows me to voice such an opinion from a professional standpoint. What this practice results in is a crashing through personal boundaries, a subtle manipulation and control which ultimately has no purpose but to make the giver feel great. It also opens the door to teachings which are biased and not a true rendition of what Tantra is. This does not do Tantra any good. It also does not do the individual any good.
I know all this from personal experience. It has happened to me here in SA (and only here - the Europeans tend to be much more professional in their approach) and I have seen it happen here to others. I was able to deal extremely well with the manipulative encroachment on my person and taken it for what it was, a learning curve. But will this be the case for the younger, less experienced person? This worries me deeply.
We are extremely vulnerable when it comes to Tantra here in SA. There is little choice to make educated, free choices. In Europe, where there is an abundance of schools and teachers and a large tantric community, this is an entirely different situation. My endeavour this 2007, is to bring a quality of Tantra to South Africa that is comparable with the high standard and quality of work being done internationally. I will also be returning to Germany later this year to further my training with qualified and experienced trainers. I cannot possibly imagine why anyone would want to miss out on getting this kind of valuable input. I have a deep desire to grow, to learn, to progress. I long for encounters with people like Klaus Smedts and Ron Solo, they have given me so much on a very deep personal level, as well as immeasurably valuable training for the work I do.
I find it particularly exciting to have learnt from Ron that there was a vibrant, small tantric community in JHB during the 60ties and 70ties - brought to SA by two women who had received training in Europe and the UK. Even more exciting, is the fact that I have been given the privilege of bringing this quality of Tantra to SA again. I take this on with gratitude and joy and with a feeling of responsibility.
It is with this feeling of deep gratitude that I begin 2007. For the many clients who entrusted themselves to my work in 2006 - it is from you that I continually learn. Thank you so much for your faith in what I do.
For the two intense trainings with wonderful teachers last year, the influences of both of which have, and are finding their way into my own work. The blessings of my trainers, Klaus Smedts and Ron Solo, both of whom I deeply admire, accompany me into this new year of tantric work.
I wish you all a blessed 2007. May you all have many moments of joy and bliss and whatever your journey is, remember there is a beginning, but there is no ending. It is the journey itself that makes each moment so special. In the hardest moments of life are the deepest lessons to be learnt. Accept these with gratitude and experience what a difference it makes. Hardship does not disappear, but it the willingness to accept what is in your path, moves you in a different way and allows you to transform and to grow.
Namaste
Leandra
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