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Be Fully Alive. Level 1 Tantra Immersion
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"A tremendous change is happening on the planet.
I have a feeling we are ready, at long last, to truly love." Dawn Cartwright
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 | What actually happens at a workshop?
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By Brendan Miller
What Actually Happens at a Tantra Workshop?
Level 1 Immersion Be Fully Alive.
On a recent weekend, I found myself sitting a room with 12 women and one other man exploring sexual liberation. No, this was not some kind of orgy. It was a Tantric workshop hosted by Dawn Cartwright, a leading teacher in the Los Angeles area.
When most people hear about Tantra, they generally think about sexual techniques to prolong intercourse, but Tantra is fundamentally a practice of consciousness. As I began to experience through the exercises in the workshop, Tantra is simply about becoming conscious of one’s energy and that of others in a way that allows those energies to play and weave together in a harmonious way. In fact, the meaning of the word Tantra is “weave.” You can think of the goal of Tantra as experience of “Flow,” being present moment by moment. Easier said than done, of course.
Our teacher has studied Tantra widely, including with Margo Anand, author of the popular book The Art of Sexual Ecstasy. The workshop followed the first nine chapters from that book fairly closely. The workshop is appropriate for both singles and couples. As one of only two men in the class, I was thankful that the teacher created space both for the masculine and the feminine and I never felt marginalized. While everyone in the group identified as heterosexual, I suspect that a homosexual participant would have gotten value out of it as well.
Practically speaking, the exercises involved consciously breathing and moving individually, in pairs, and occasionally in groups. If you have taken yoga or other body-based classes, have an open mind and are comfortable sharing with strangers it would probably not feel too unfamiliar to you. However, if the concept of “energy” does not mean much to you, don’t fret. The exercises are designed to work with you wherever you are. We were fully clothed at all times, and all touching of others was optional and maturely handled.
It was a pleasantly surreal experience at times, and intense and challenging at others. For example, our lunch assignment the first day was to go down to the hotel restaurant and discuss our sexual histories in two groups. I found myself as the only guy in my group relating the highs and lows of my sex life around the table with seven beautiful women I barely knew. I took a deep breath and just tried to remain present to whatever they said and was honest when it was my turn. The opportunity to stretch in ways like this was one of the great things about the weekend.
As we moved through the exercises in the workshop and sought to awaken and become more conscious of our sexual energies and integrate them across our entire bodies, a huge amount of positive and challenging emotion was brought to the surface. Everyone in the room had had unpleasant sexual encounters of one type or another in the past, and some participants were brought to tears of grief and release related to past experiences of sexual abuse. It is a credit to the teacher, that an atmosphere of loving acceptance and healing was maintained.
Our “homework” assignment on Saturday night was to self-pleasure without the goal of orgasm and practice the techniques we learned. I will discuss that, and more about day two of the workshop in part two of this article.
PART 2:
Day 2 of the workshop started with a debrief of our self-pleasuring assignment from the previous night. We were asked to self-pleasure without the goal of orgasm, and try to use the techniques we learned on the first day to experience our sexual energy expanding throughout our bodies for as long as we could.
Tantra does not have a problem with orgasm, but simply tries to expand the levels of pleasure we can absorb. The other participants had a range of experiences from new physical sensations, to new energetic awakenings to greater connection in their sex with their lovers afterward. My experience engaged more parts of my body and made me realize that full body orgasm is a possibility for men and not just women. I’ll have to keep working on that.
Tantriks believe the unitary consciousness of the universe split into two, Shiva and Shakti, so that it could know itself. Shiva, as the masculine half, has a static quality of unmanifest consciousness. He has the power to be, but not the power to become or change. Tantriks believe that through uniting spiritually and sexually with Shiva, Shakti gave form to his spirit and created the universe.
Each of us has both of these aspects in us in a unique combination. In Tantric practice, the ultimate state of bliss is the transcendence of all dualities: self-other, masculine and feminine, body-mind, energy and consciousness, Shakti and Shiva. And like their union that created the universe, merging them within ourselves can unlock a new creative potential.
Personally, I felt the exercises of the weekend were opening new worlds to me, within myself and in my relationships, in ways that were subtle yet very meaningful. We practiced breathing energy from our pelvis up into our torsos and heads. We rocked our pelvises, shook our bodies, butterflied our legs and tried to deepen our control of our pubococcygeus muscle. We danced together, gazed into each other’s eyes and did some exercises with an observer/partner. These exercises were intermixed with debriefs and discussions.
Many of the exercises were very simple but also profound. For example, gazing into a stranger’s eyes and trying to stay comfortable and connected is a real growing experience. Likewise, full-body non-sexual hugs awakened my emotions and sensation in surprising ways. In the shaking exercise, we were asked to close our eyes and shake our bodies to deepen our sensation and connection to our embodied selves. Afterward, I felt energized and opened in a way that allowed me to go deeper the rest of the day.
The weekend ended with a beautiful ritual of sensual indulgence for the participants provided by the teacher and her assistants who left us all wanting more. While we did the gentle breathing and movement exercises, we were taught they caressed us with feathers, fed us chocolate, massaged our scalps and gazed into our eyes. This was an unusual experience for me as man, but I found that I could really enjoy it.
While it was an emotionally challenging weekend, I left feeling energized and hopeful, not just about sex, but about new, more connected and embodied ways of relating in general.
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Wake Up Your Sexual Circuitry
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October 24th - 25th . Santa Monica
Your sexual energy is one of the most powerful spiritual awakening forces in your life, yet a great deal of your sexual potential lies untapped, unexplored. Learn ways of accessing this potential, freeing it, as you open your body, heart and spirit to the experience of being fully alive.
Using Tantric techniques that incorporate breath, movement and awareness, you will learn how to access the heart of kundalini - your sexual energy.
Be Fully Alive . Weekend Tantra Immersion
Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
October 24th - 25th . 2015
10:00 am - 5:00 pm each day
$600 per person . non-residential
Sign Me Up!
You will explore . . .
Tantra
- The word Tantra has many meanings, it can mean “to weave”, it can also mean “technique”. In recent years interest in Tantra has grown, many teachers are sharing extraordinary practices and teachings, some reaching back thousands of years, others as fresh as the turn of the century and others even more recent.
- You have probably already recognized the potency of sex in your own life - and feel ready to explore Tantra.
- Through Tantra you will find an endless road of possibility, revealing practical tools that lead to physical, emotional and spiritual fulfillment as a lover.
- In this process, you will discover a life that exceeds your wildest dreams. You will be intrigued by what is possible for you as a sexual being.
- I look forward to having you along for the quest.
What to Expect
- All processes are taught and effectively learned fully clothed and without direct sexual contact.
There is no nudity or sexual contact in the seminar.
- All techniques and processes are shared with warmth and respect.
- You may choose to work alone or with a partner for all partnered exercises.
- Many singles and couples attend, partnering among singles happens with great ease, life long friendships are often forged.
Breathing
- According to Masters and Johnson’s Human Sexual Response Cycle model, when sexual arousal increases, so does the rate of breathing.
- Increased oxygenation caused by increased rate of breathing leads to increased genital sensitivity and excitement in both men and women.
- Breathing expands this intensity throughout the body, allowing sexual arousal to fill the genitals and overflow into the entire body.
- We’ll explore breathing methods that make this process more conscious, making it possible to access a wide range of sexual arousal states and experiences in lovemaking alone and with a partner.
Giving and Receiving
- Truly satisfying sex requires that we embrace the dynamics of giving and receiving, it is necessary to simultaneously connect and let go within ourselves and with our partner.
- This balance is not always easy, many of us find we are more comfortable giving pleasure in lovemaking and less comfortable receiving.
- We’ll explore the connection between receptivity, orgasm and fulfillment, and the origins of each.
Sexual Persona
- Our upbringing has a tremendous impact on who we are as sexual adults. The messages and beliefs we hold are often hidden, causing us to be less open sexually than we know we are capable of.
- Past relationships, pain and disappointment, conservative upbringing and societal expectations, can severely limit our sexual expression and ability to feel sexual pleasure.
- We’ll explore the roots of our sexual persona and begin to move beyond any elements that may be limiting us.
The Pelvis
- It comes as no surprise that our pelvis is an important part of our sexual experience.
The pelvis is alive with a complex matrix of sensory nerves responsible for a great deal of our sexual pleasure.
- We live in a time and a culture where we spend a fair amount of time sitting, causing stagnation in the lower back and groin, leading, over time, to diminished sensitivity in the genitals.
- It’s important to realize our pelvis also contains the center of who we are, the Taoist’s call it the dantien. Bringing vitality into the pelvis brings vitality into our sense of who we are, increases our confidence and ability to interact successfully in all intimate situations.
- We’ll learn sexual yogas that open energy channels that increase sexual sensitivity and pleasure while simultaneously liberating our own healthy sense of ourselves.
The Pelvic Floor
- Just as the pelvis is key to our sexual expression and healthy sense of self, the pelvic floor, muscles that surround and support the genitals, are essential to the magnitude of orgasm and sexual “fit” we have with a partner.
- Engorgement tissues in both men and women create the fullness that increases the pleasurable contact between lovers.
- These tissues, when fully functioning, can heighten the intensity of orgasm by increasing the reservoir of sexual pleasure accumulated during sexual stimulation.
- These techniques are also important in genital rejuvenation for women experiencing hormonal changes and men committed to maintaining a healthy prostate.
- We’ll explore internal sexual yogas that literally wake up the pelvic floor muscles, creating a heightened experience of fullness in arousal and vibrant sexual health.
Cultivating Sexual Pleasure
- While genital orgasm can be extraordinarily satisfying, it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
- We are designed to experience orgasm as a perpetual, sustainable, full body rush.
- Once we learn how to open the sexual, spiritual and emotional pathways to full body orgasm, we can begin to cultivate and direct this pleasure into every area of life and lovemaking.
- In the Tantric iconography, we often see two lovers entwined in a sexual position referred to as YabYum. In this position, we meet in the most intimate way possible, there is no space between us.
- We’ll explore this inner channel that leads to full body orgasm and learn ways to cultivate it’s potential in our body.
Opening to a Partner
- Most of the practices, so far, have been solo practices. It’s at this point in the weekend immersion that we step into partnered practice. Upon opening the sexual channels, creating a pathway for full body orgasmic experience, we can now learn how to join these channels with a lover.
- What happens when the natural forces of sexual arousal are shared and woven together between partners?
- We’ll explore this practice and learn ways of bringing it into our sexual experience with a partner.
Self Pleasuring
- Self pleasuring is an important part of a healthy sex life, yet all too often self pleasure is something that is practiced only to relieve sexual tension.
- This experience can be somewhat cold and empty, focusing only on orgasm and release, forgetting the attributes of warmth and connection that are essential to fulfilling sexual experience.
- You’ll be given detailed instructions and practices for creating a self pleasuring experience of your own Saturday evening that will not only change your attitude about yourself and your sexuality, but will open your body to a greater sense of ease and creativity when connecting with a partner.
Letting Go
- The Indian mystic Osho once said, “Just relax into each other and forget about the mind. Enjoy the very presence of the other, the meeting, and get lost in it. Don't try to make anything out of it; there is nothing to make. Then one day there will be a valley orgasm; there will be no peak. There will be only relaxation, but that has its own peak because it has depth. Some day the body will trigger itself into a peak orgasm but that will also be coming; you will just be there.”
- It’s very hard for us to relax, there is so much stress in today’s world. The stress accumulates, tension builds in the body, we are often in a low grade state of fight or flight without even realizing it.
- We’ll explore a dynamic practice sequence that teaches the body how to let go on a very deep level, opening the possibility for the valley and peak orgasm Osho speaks of.
Who Are You as a Sexual Being?
- How do you like to be made love to? Many have never even given this a thought. We are so wrapped up in pleasing our partner, making the relationship work, balancing the many responsibilities in our lives, that we lose our connection to the lover within.
- Knowing what we enjoy sexually, is the first step in making it happen. It reveals our uniqueness and creates the polarity necessary for sexual attraction and desire.
- We’ll explore the inner details that make each of us the unique lover we are.
Celebrate Pleasure
- Life is a great deal more sensual than most of us would ever imagine. In the final session we’ll explore a Tantric ritual that ignites the mystical aspects of this ancient path.
- Our senses are the vehicles that bring pleasure in all its forms into our lives.
- You will be guided into a realm that may have existed before only in your dreams, as you celebrate the warmth and vibrancy of being fully alive.
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Here's what participants are saying . . .
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Be Fully Alive . Level 1 Tantra Immersion
Opening. Prior to BFA I was aware of my own energy but not really. After taking the class, not only was I able to understand the energy but I was able to work with it. Through this process I also began to identify blocks within myself that were sabotaging my own energetic flow. Dawn thoughtfully walks her students through the processes that allow them to rise to their truest potential thereby allowing them a greater connection not only with themselves but with their partners and the world around them. JS
Build your foundation. I have been in this class more then once and each time I learn something new. Dawn has a way getting you to open up, clear out and make space for what ever it is you need. Her intuitive approach works for everyone. I have seen participants from all walks of life respond to her workshops. If your looking to connect deeper with your partner or yourself and who you really are "Be fully alive" will show you the way. SS
Be Fully Alive changed my life! After taking the class the first time, I said "Yes!" to pleasure and to expressing myself more fully! I since have taken the class 4 times and each time I find more places of expansion and love within myself. MM
This is such a good building block in ones journey in Tantra. I have done it twice and learned more each time about opening up, surrendering and sharing my heart freely with others. Dawn helps one to open one's heart to others and to oneself in such a gentle, loving way. No one is pushed, only encouraged to participate as much as one feels comfortable doing. Dawn is a very intuitive teacher and guide and I would follow her anywhere. She has changed the way I experience intimacy and love, with an open heart, unafraid. What a gift!!! AP
Awakening of my Inner Fire I was so in awe after my experience in BFA. I literally was a different person after it.. I learned about my energy that was and is always present within me.. this is an amazing weekend, very fun, sacred and awakening.. I felt overflowing if life, love and joy for the present moment. KK
Be Fully Alive begins a process of self discovery in tantra and to be with the perfect caring and brilliant teacher is such a treasure for the heart!!! This workshop is all about self love and finding ways to get past our blocks to find the pathway to bliss and pleasure. Self knowledge is what is uncovered as well as discovery about the other. Dawn is alway creating new ways to allow us to excavate our minds, bodies and souls....What I learned most was that tantra is all about love...fully and completely. The weekend we start with a foundation and build to with each and every exercise...I learned to connect deeply with just about everyone in the class. Feeling connection with everyone in our lives is possible and real if we allow it...This is a celebration of joy of love and feeling fully alive!!!! Amazing experience moment to moment! LOVE. AR
Deeper and Deeper! I love this class so much I've done it 4 times now! Every time I go deeper with the exercises and I discover more joy and more wisdom in the practice. DL
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 | Your Instructor
Dawn Cartwright is a Tantric visionary, sacred writer, world traveler, and innovator in bio-energetic Tantra fusion. She discovered the path of Tantra by accident shortly after a period of life-changing mystical experiences in lovemaking more than twenty years ago. Dawn’s study and research is focused on the ancient and modern forms of Tantra, bio-energetics, and the actualization of human potential through sexuality.
Dawn received her degree in psychology from the University of California, Davis, and has had extensive training in Tantra, Yoga, Sexuality, Bioenergetics, Meditation, and Expressionistic Movement & Art. She has studied many schools of Tantra including Neo-Tantra, Shaktism, Kashmirian Shivaic Tantrism, Vaishnavism, Tantric Buddhism, Tantric Kriya Yoga and the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. Dawn has had the honor of receiving these transmissions from some of the most acclaimed Tantric masters of modern times, Aditi Devi Ma, Christopher Tompkins, Vajra Ma, Margo Anand, Daniel Odier, Bohdi Avinasha, and Osho.
Founder of the Chandra Bindu Tantra Institute in Santa Monica, California. You can also find Dawn on Facebook and Twitter. You can read Dawn’s blog on Elephant Journal. Dawn lives in Santa Monica, California.
Chandra Bindu Tantra Institute
www.chandrabindutantrainstitute.com
310.592.1293
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