Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross

Better Orgasms. Better World.

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Magenta: Why did you create the Shiva Men’s Group last year in Amsterdam?

Rakesh: The reason is that I wanted to provide an aid for the men who took part in the Tantric Dance (™) workshops, which Marcia - Marcia Sanders is my beloved and partner in our “Art of Loving” - and I give. Because I noticed men were having difficulties with dancing from their own strength, center, or masculine energy, while dancing with a woman. I felt, “I need to fill this gap, this hole.”
I noticed also they were trying to please the woman, trying to do it right, and not making their dance from their own energy or their own feeling. They were searching for something and struggling with it.

Here's the link to a recent interview with me on Tantra related issues in all my barely-there-southern-accented glory. ;)

It was broadcast on internet radio on the show, Tantra Cafe hosted by Laurie Handlers. It starts out sounding like I'm going to bash Tantric sex, but I don't; instead clarifying in the first section of the interview how I question the paths prepared for people by neo-Tantra vs old world Tantra. We then transition to discussing boundaries in sex and as observed, or not, in the so-named "sacred sexuality" community, which includes more methods for spirituality and metaphysics in sex than Tantra alone.

This weekend marks the beginning of a huge annual tantra event held up in Sedona, Arizona.

People often describe Sedona as "the national park that people live in." Sedona's that beautiful. It's spring here, and the tantra event attracts people from all over the world. We come to connect, play, and share our ideas about "sacred sexuality."

I come for the sheer fun of it all. It's an intense oxytocin high for the entire weekend, and I love it.

Personally, I'm not into the whole "sacred" idea regarding sex because of the subtext here - that there is somehow un-sacred sex.

First Sting and now Heather Graham is on the tantra train.  While promoting her small role in "The Hangover," Graham told a UK
paper how she enjoys tantric sex. Graham is currently dating director
Yaniv Raz.:

"I first got into it when I was filming The Guru in 2002 and I haven't looked back. What most people know about tantric sex is that Sting does it and it lasts eight hours. But he's not having sex continually. You can take a bath, massage your partner, listen to music. The idea is that you let the whole thing build very slowly until finally you merge with your partner. It works for me."

Arianne Cohen has a great piece on The Daily Beast about her experience getting an erotic massage from, and I quote, "kilt man" (I know Lien, kilts are hot).

And who does she attribute with broadening her sexual horizons?  Why Betty Dodson of course:

My friends all ask the same question: Was I attracted to him? It's irrelevant. That's like asking whether you're attracted to your masseuse. I was first tipped off that this might be the case a few years ago by Betty Dodson, Ph.D., the sexpert and author of Sex for One and Orgasms for Two, who once told me about her first sex party. She was in her early 30s and scared shitless. A large, hairy man in his 50s to whom she was not attracted came over and proceeded to perform the best oral sex she'd ever experienced. This was how she learned to broaden her horizons.

I went to Teeni Dakini's most recent tantra puja. A puja is a Tantric ceremony. A night to wear your tantra ceremonial gear which helps create another way to deepen your intention-setting for the new year on what the participants want to create in their lives, their communities and the planet.

There are two activities I love most about Teeni's pujas. She has the men stand in an outer circle and the women in yet another circle within the men's circle. The women then turn and find a male partner to stand in front of. Teeni then gives short instructions to everyone to follow before the women make their way to the next male. Instructions are healing in different ways. For example, you look into the eyes of your partner and you have thirty seconds to fall in love with them before moving on to the next person.

This week I attended part three of four of the Energy Essentials Series with Teeni Dakini. Teeni has been actively studying and experiencing energy work since 1990 and is an Advanced Certified Tantric Educator and Certified Process Therapist. The Energy Essentials Series teaches basic exercises and principles for energy awareness. Her website is www.teenidakini.com.

This class was called, "Container". It described the role our personal outer energy field plays in social interactions with others and our environment on a everyday basis and in more intense moments like conflict or sex.

It was great for me to learn, at least from Teeni's perspective, the nature of my energy bubble, so to speak; how strong or weak it is, how fraught with holes and how complete or incomplete, how it can react when in contact with other people's energy. Depending on its state, people can energetically crowd us or not take up the space they deserve.