Tantra and Healing
As trauma is held in the body (the physical and the energetic/subtle body) the very cultivation of breath becomes a form of healing and empowerment, with breathwork being a fundamental practice within the classical tantra idea around entrainment where we bring focused attention through the breath.
I’ve been thinking about tantra as a healing process recently, rather than specifically to do with sex or enlightenment. This is especially important for gay men or men who love men, in a society that, while more tolerant in some areas, still has lingering oppressions (especially where it is intersected with such things as ethnicity or race, disability, gender non-conformity, age). “There’s so much pain that comes with trying to be who you are in a society that doesn’t approve of who you are.” Jacoby Ballard quotes in A Queer Dharma; Yoga and Meditations for Liberation.
As trauma is held in the body (the physical and the energetic/subtle body) the very cultivation of breath becomes a form of healing and empowerment, and breathwork is a fundamental practice within the classical tantra idea around entrainment where we bring focused attention through the breath, mantra, mudra, visualisation, bandha and pava (the very attitude of reverence or gratitude).
As gay men or men who love men, we can experience extreme forms of homophobia and more subtle forms of heteronormativity, which can lead to isolation, depression, a general sense of low self-worth, addiction (and this can be compounded by a gay culture that normalises many forms of substance misuse).
There is a great saying, hurt people hurt people. As we hurt, we further perpetuate that hurt. Healing is sorely needed. But to heal, people need to have the tools to do that, hence were tantra has the potential to be not just an individual strategy, but a societal healing process. Communities of practice is a fundamental part of that. It is through our communities, such as here at T4GM, that we can learn to grow, laugh, show vulnerability. Where we can witness one another in our growth and transformation. Where we can learn to breath together.
“Prana can be collectively produced – the more people there are to generate the prana, the more of it there is.” Jacoby Ballard further quotes. Prana, being the breath of life, our life force. With pranayama being the mastery of our life force, of the breath of life.
This is why breathwork is the corner stone of the Naked Practice sessions I facilitate on the TLA App. Our breath can be grounding, powerful and healing. Indeed, scientific researchers have now validated the use of tantra healing practices to awaken our kundalini in the lower spine, from where it radiates upwards, circulating throughout the body.
Although I started by saying I was considering tantra as a healing process rather than specifically to do with sex or enlightenment, kundalini awakening naturally stirs sexual energy. As there is a close alignment between our spiritual and sexual being, the sexual release can enhance heightened spiritual awareness.
This must be a true win-win of our healing journey.
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Email me direct if you are interested in mindful, trauma-informed, intimacy or spiritual coaching, or if you would like to join my new Pink Tantra Towards Awakening group for chat rooms, video channels and in-person workshops around tantra and intimacy practices robert.pinktantra@gmail.com
See my personal development / personality profiling book DISCover the Power of You published through John Hunt Publishing Ltd, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-78535-591-2
And for a bit of light reading, see my first historical fictional novel Fermented Spirits published through Austin Macauley Publishers, 2022. ISBN-13: 978-1398437159