The word Tantra is Sanskrit and comes from the root word tan - to extend, expand, spread, continue, put forth or manifest. According to the Tantric teachings of Buddhism, every human being has the potential to achieve profound and lasting happiness; and this remarkable transformation can be realized very quickly if we utilize all aspects of our human energy, especially the energy of our desires.

What Tantra teaches us is a way of breaking free from all the conditioning that limits our understanding of who we are and what we can become. It is a way of expanding the power of the life-force within us from the compartment called sexuality to its rightful place as the creative energy of the universe.

All this conflict will dissolve as we train in the tantric point of view and recognize that each man is a complete man and each woman a complete woman. Furthermore, every man and woman contains both male and female energy. In fact, each one of us is a union of all universal energy. Everything that we need in order to be complete is within us right at this very moment. It is simply a matter of being able to recognize it. This is the Tantric approach.

The Tantric Attitudes

The following are the fundamental Tantric Attitudes

• Learn Self-Love. Listen to your heart and trust your intuition. Know that ecstasy is your birthright.

• Drop Guilt. Celebrate sexuality as a sacred life-giving force intended to nourish and vitalize you.

• Enjoy Spontaneity. Prepare well. Then let go of techniques and explore freely what draws you.

• Cultivate Pleasure. Learn to receive pleasure freely, totally and unconditionally.

• Discover Meditation. Quiet the mind and listen. Bring your awareness to your body and its sensations.

• Give up Goal Orientation. Allow yourself to be swept up in each moment for it's own sake.

• Allow Surrender. In the true spirit of the word, allow yourself to melt (render) into that which is higher than yourself.