You've heard of tantra and its promise of deeper connection and intimacy. Though Tantra will help you in your relationships, it’s not that simple. I have written separately on what building a tantric relationship actually involves.
With over 1,500 hours of certified training and eight years teaching men to cultivate confidence, presence, and healthy relationships, I'm often asked one core question: What is tantra, really?
This guide will clarify the essentials: the roots of classical tantra, how it differs from neo-tantra and sacred intimacy, and the most common misconceptions, so you can engage with it ethically and effectively.
If you are starting from scratch, tantra for beginners is the better entry point, and my reading list covers the texts worth your time. Whether you're new or an experienced practitioner, you'll learn practical ways to apply tantric principles: mindfulness, energy awareness, and embodied communication, to enrich your life and relationships today.
Why you should know the source of Tantra
You need to know how the materials work to use a tool.
Millions of people worldwide have heard about kundalini, chakras, and prana, but they have no idea that these concepts come straight from tantra yoga scriptures.
Before the tantric texts (tantras), there was no kundalini, chakras, or prana. Of those, the sacral chakra is the one men ask me about most. Today, though, we see these through a distorted filter. Mistranslated Sanskrit and modern occultism complicate the picture.
Nowadays, people have a vague, cherry-picking idea of tantra. There are a few traditional tantric ideas, some sexual, and some esoteric.
And that’s not right.
Tantra is not intimacy
According to ancient tradition, sacred intimacy isn’t real tantra. Physical intimacy is within tantra, but it’s far from the most essential component.
There’s a historical explanation for this misunderstanding. The British first invaded India in the 17th century. From a European perspective, they couldn’t grasp the mysterious teachings of tantra.
Because of their rigid morals, they saw it as a strange and dangerous sex cult. From this misperception stems our incorrect modern-day ideas. That is, tantra is all about intimacy.
“Generally, I encourage people to follow Tantra, but Tantra is a word that has been widely misconstrued to be only about sex. When I refer to Tantra, I mean spontaneity and a natural way of life that may involve sex.” - Prem Baba
What is the definition of Tantra?
Here are the four main definitions of tantra:
- Tantra as Scripture. In the West, tantra has wrongly become a substitute word for sex. This is incorrect. The word tantra means “scripture”. These are tantric texts (Tantras) that form the foundation of the spiritual system known as tantra yoga.
- Tantra as Weave. Another meaning of tantra is “weave,” representing the interconnectedness of all things.
- Tantra as Technology. Some define tantra as a technology for expansion, using esoteric yoga and awareness to align one’s energy with universal energy.
- Tantra as Oneness. Tantra helps practitioners perceive themselves as part of divine oneness, like a drop of water in the ocean.
“Tantra essentially means 'technique' or 'technology’. Tantra is about learning to use the body, not as oneself, but as a stepping-stone to deliver this Being to the highest possible dimension.” - Sadhguru
What is the goal of Tantra?
The ultimate goal
Tantra's goal is to realize oneness with universal consciousness. That state is what people are reaching for when they describe transcendental sex. This is also called enlightenment, liberation, or self-realization. Unlike other spiritual paths, Tantra doesn't require giving up worldly pleasures or physical intimacy. You seek liberation while living fully with family, work, and relationships.
Tantra vs other Paths
Most spiritual traditions require renouncing the world. Monks and nuns give up worldly life to reach spiritual goals. Tantra does the opposite. If you want to meet that in person rather than on a page, a tantric retreat is the immersive route. It embraces all of life and sees the divine in everything. Your daily activities become spiritual practices: eating, breathing, working, and relating. Tantra was the first tradition to make the physical body part of spirituality.
Spirituality in daily life
Tantra works for people who live and succeed in the world. You don't need to isolate yourself in a cave for years. Instead of leaving your life behind, you bring consciousness into your daily experience. You become a tantric man where you are now, reaching your highest potential without abandoning your current life.
Experience over theory
Other traditions see the body and intimacy as impure. Tantrikas see it as a sacred temple. Tantra practitioners know they're already one with divine consciousness. They just need to experience this truth, not study it intellectually. This means living all of life through Tantra: your relationships, identity, and personal power.
“Etymologically speaking, Tantra is a combination of two ideas – the expansion of mind and the liberation of energy. The meaning of tantra, therefore, is a process by which we expand our consciousness and liberate energy.” - Swami Satyananda Saraswati (lecture at Caxton Hall, London, on Sept. 18th, 1979)
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Tantra vs Neo-Tantra
| Classical Tantra | Neo-Tantra | |
|---|---|---|
| The goal | Realising your true essence | Better, more conscious intimacy |
| Works with | The subtle body, kundalini, the chakras | The body and the partnership |
| Where sex sits | One possible element, not the centre | Usually the centre |
| Typical practices | Meditation, mantra, inner energy work | Eye gazing, breathwork, partner exercises |
| Age of the tradition | Over a thousand years | A twentieth-century Western reading |
| What most people mean | Rarely this | Almost always this |
- Neo-Tantra: The goal is to improve intimate performance and practice physical intimacy in a conscious, spiritual way. It can involve practices beyond the lovemaking act. These include eye gazing, mindfulness, breath, yoga, and classical tantra techniques.
- Classical Tantra: The goal is to work with the subtle body to make Kundalini travel through the chakras to realize our true essence. It can include life-force energy and union with a partner. But that is rare and reserved for the advanced, spiritually mature practitioners.
Two Classical Paths
Classical Tantra developed two main approaches.
- Right-Hand Tantra: This is the subtler, gentler path. It teaches refined techniques like visualization and inner meditative work. The right-hand practice is closer to the path in Yoga that pursues transcendence. You could say it’s more ascetic.
- Left-Hand Tantra: This is the extreme, fierce, and transgressive path. It uses methods that are taboo in our culture, like intimate practices and substances. It’s a radical method for reaching enlightenment.
Both paths share the same goal, liberation through embodied awareness.
Have you done yoga? Then you’ve already practiced tantra
Understanding Tantra is crucial for anyone practicing yoga today. Most Westerners believe modern yoga comes from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, but that's not the complete story.
Patanjali's text contains only four asanas, all seated meditation postures. It teaches transcending the body through asceticism, which contradicts today's yoga that builds physical strength and celebrates the body.
Modern yoga is actually watered-down Tantric yoga. While Patanjali promoted renouncing the physical world, Tantric yoga embraced the body as sacred. This explains why today's practice focuses on dynamic movement, breathwork, and physical wellness.
The evolution went: Tantra → Tantric Yoga → Modern Yoga.
Contemporary yoga integrates movement and mindfulness to honor both physical and spiritual development, rather than escaping the body. Understanding these origins helps you realize your practice uses tools designed for embodied awakening, not transcendence through renunciation.
The true origins of Hatha Yoga
According to yoga historians, Goraksha truly compiled the earliest hatha yoga texts, which are the basis of the system we know and practice today.
Goraksha was a tantric practitioner of the lineage of the Nath tradition (1000-1200 CE).
What was his goal?
Goraksha wanted to create a simplified version of tantric yoga. He removed the more complex practices of energy and mantra to suit the mainstream.
The tantrikas saw this hatha yoga as a tantric amplification of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga, which were practical prescriptions for a good life.
Note: It's not the same as modern Ashtanga Yoga.
Swami Swatarama, like Goraksha, was also of the tantric Nathas lineage. Around 1450 CE, he compiled the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, an introductory text for yogis.
This is the authentic classic text on yoga from which all modern exercise-based yoga comes. The tantric works of Goraksha and Swatarama are the most influential on modern yoga today.
Tantra scholar Christopher Hareesh Wallis writes:
“A couple of scholars have shown now, it’s not widespread knowledge yet that Hatha Yoga almost definitely comes out of a south Indian Tantric lineage called Shambhavānanda lineage. We also have a newly translated very important scripture, called Matsyendra Samhitā, dated 1300, which claims to be the teaching that Goraksha received from Matsyendra. ”
Hatha Yoga Pradipika And The Tantric Texts
Christoper Tompkins, another Sanskrit and Tantra scholar, has a similar insight. He claims that, in 2016, he discovered that verses in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika came from the Varahi Tantra. This tantric scripture presented ‘Hathayoga’ as a female devotional practice. The yoga text made this available to everyone from any social class: men, women, and householders.
The move from tantra to hatha yoga changed a Goddess-based practice into a male-based one. This emphasized renunciation and the seminal power of male practitioners.
The yogic scholar James Mallinson writes:
“The conventional history is that yoga begins with Patanjali in the fourth century CE. That’s what most practitioners of modern yoga learn. My co-author Mark Singleton has written about how 95% of modern yoga is not from that. ”
This is a common misunderstanding, so common that most yoga teachers have learned it in their training.
Good news: the yoga teacher trainings and workshops that are correcting this are on the rise. They explain how modern yoga comes from the transition from tantra to hatha yoga, honoring the deepest sources.
“Because it elaborates (tan) copious and profound matters, especially relating to the principles of reality (tattva) and sacred mantras, and because it provides liberation (tra), it is called a tantra.” - The medieval text Kāmikā-tantra.
The origins of Vinyasa and sun salutations
What about the most popular yoga practices, sequenced vinyasa and sun salutations? These fill most yoga studios and trainings all around the world. If you’re already a yogi, you might have practiced them today!
Mallinson also speaks about these practices. He claims that Tirumalai Krishnamacharya created them from Swedish gymnastics only 100 years ago.
Both living masters and scholars say that isn’t true. Sun salutations and vinyasas are, in fact, ancient practices.
For example, Sadhguru teaches Surya Kriya, a sun salutation from Antiquity, which he was initiated into in his past lives.
Christopher Tompkins has found clear evidence. Many tantric texts mention Asana Vinyasas, particularly the Vaishnava and Kaula Lineages.
Christopher commented:
“Both [Mark Singleton and Norman Sjoman] dismiss Krishnamacharya’s list of source texts for these practices as unrelated to the practice he sought to revive. I will disprove the theory of modern origins for Surya Namaskara and many of the Asanas applied to it, drawing directly from a collection of hundreds of unpublished Tantric sources.”
Tompkins provides textual proof that:
‘Vinyasa’ was never supposed to be only a sequence of body poses or Asanas.
The right way to perform tantric Vinyasa was to add Mantras, Nyasa, Pranayama, Mudra, and visualizations. It was a holistic ritual, often performed around your own sacred Mandala. It was an integrated practice of tantra.
It’s time to restore Tantra to its rightful place. It is the origin of much of the 21st-century spirituality's knowledge and practices.
Are you curious about your Vinyasa practice?
Watch this fascinating timeline of tantric texts depicting the vinyasa developing throughout history.
Tantric Intimacy is 5% of Tantra
We’ve mentioned that Tantra uses any experience and emotion to achieve liberation. This all-inclusive characteristic extends to emotions like desire. And within that desire is also physical intimacy.
But intimacy is not the main focus of a tantric lifestyle at all. It accounts for a small fraction of the classical material. The 5% figure is my own rough estimate from years of reading the texts, not a number from the scholarship.
In the West, that small percentage has become nearly 100%. Our culture has simplified this ancient practice to only one of its aspects.
Intimate tantra and sacred intimacy are mainly used for the self-development of your personhood. Sacred sexuality is a modern philosophy. Its goal is to transform your love life and relationship, healing through connection and pleasure.
In this mix, the original, more profound tantric ideas get lost, and we practice red tantra or kama sutra. Despite both coming from India, these two practices are not part of classical tantra.
“When an action or a thing, once complete, becomes beneficial in several matters to one person, or to many people, that is known as Tantra.” - Sabara (scholar from the early centuries of our era)
Classical tantra practices
So, what does classical Tantra actually involve?
Traditional practices focused on awakening energy and awareness through both outer rituals and inner meditation. Common methods included:
- Honoring divine energy forms through prayer and ritual.
- Practicing visualization and guided meditation.
- Working with chakras, or energy centers, to balance the body and mind.
- Exploring the qualities of Shiva and Shakti, the masculine and feminine aspects within all life.
- Chanting mantras (sacred sounds) and using yantras (spiritual symbols).
- Performing simple yogic postures and breathwork to move inner energy.
These practices aimed to refine life-force energy and guide it toward higher awareness. The ultimate goal was liberation, or the realization of unity between the individual and the universe.
* The photo is an anatomical illustration of the subtle energy system from the 1899 Tibetan manuscript Sapta Chakra.
Tantric intimacy in a classical context
In modern times, the classical Tantra scholar Christopher Hareesh Wallis explains that ancient scriptures do not describe detailed methods for intimate union. Unlike later interpretations influenced by modern culture, classical Tantra focused on spiritual transformation rather than physical technique.
While a few ancient texts mention symbolic rituals involving energy exchange between the masculine and feminine principles, these were rare and highly esoteric. They served as metaphors for balancing energies within oneself, not as instructions for physical practice. Scholars such as Wallis and David Gordon White have offered different views on this subject, but most agree that the deeper purpose of Tantra was always spiritual realization through awareness, not the pursuit of pleasure.
The following ancient tantric ritual described was meant only for advanced practitioners who had already developed spiritual maturity. They were not suitable for beginners and focused mainly on deep meditation and self-discipline.
Kula Yaga
One ancient text describes Kula Yaga, a sacred rite taught by the sage Abhinavagupta. It represented the mystical union of divine forces and sacred body fluids, meant to honor the creative power of life itself.
“It was only by 'drinking' the fluids of the Yoginis that men could enter the family of the supreme godhead and thereby obtain supernatural powers and transform themselves into gods.” - David Gordon White (Kiss of the Yogini)
Any mention of bodily elements in such rituals was symbolic, expressing reverence for vitality and transformation, not literal action, as David argues in his book.
Vajroli Mudra
Another ancient technique, called Vajroli Mudra, speaks of conserving vital life energy through focus, breathing practice, and internal control. Its purpose was to strengthen discipline and channel creative energy upward for personal empowerment and spiritual growth. These teachings highlight mastery of awareness and energy, not physical manipulation.
* Photo from Theos Bernard's book “Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience.”
Theos Bernard was probably the first Westerner to practice and photograph vajroli mudra in 1943.
The Sword’s Edge Observance
A third classical reference, the Brahmayamala, describes a practice called the Sword’s Edge Observance (Asidharavrata). Scholar Shaman Hatley studied it as one of the earliest known examples of Tantric partner meditation.
The primary purpose was to teach self-control and detachment from desire. Practitioners were asked to stay fully aware and mindful in the very face of temptation, using meditation and mantra to remain centered even in the presence of strong emotions or attraction.
“The couple should adorn themselves and behave seductively, though with a mind purified by yoga.” - Brahmayamala
This practice symbolized balance, staying steady like a sword’s edge, and turning human connection into a tool for awakening. It was meant only for spiritually mature students. Some have likened it to a toned-down version of the contemporary practice of karezza.
“In the Candamaharosana-tantra, VajrayoginI describes how this Tantric worship is to proceed. A yogi and yogini should seclude themselves in a hermitage to practice together.” – Passionate Enlightenment by Miranda Shaw
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Tantric intimacy in a Tibetan context
Tibetan traditions have preserved more detailed teachings on Tantric partner practices than most Indian sources. These teachings, known as Karma Mudra or the Yoga of Union, were part of advanced Buddhist systems such as the Six Yogas of Naropa, developed between the 11th and 12th centuries.
Tibetan masters regarded these teachings as symbolic methods for awakening awareness and compassion through the balance of inner and outer energies. The focus was not on physical technique but on transforming human connection into a path of mindfulness and realization.
Historical figures such as Milarepa, Drukpa Kunley, and even the Sixth Dalai Lama used unconventional methods to illustrate freedom from rigid thinking. Their stories reflected how joy, humor, and authenticity can lead to spiritual insight when guided by wisdom and discipline.
Tibetan texts describe union practices in deeply metaphorical ways, using the language of harmony, energy flow, and inner stillness to point toward enlightenment. These teachings emphasize maintaining awareness, calm, and compassion while engaging with the world, symbolizing the union of wisdom and method that leads to liberation.
In essence, Tibetan Tantra teaches that true intimacy arises from conscious presence, trust, and respect. The aim is not sensual indulgence but the cultivation of an open heart, a stable mind, and the recognition of divine unity within and through all human experience.
“If you feel you’re about to lose control, stop all movement. Relax your gaze into space and in this way (rest) unwavering in the naturally present state of awareness.” – (Karmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss, p. 298)
* Photo from the book Karmamudra
Tantra in the Modern World
Tantra began thousands of years ago, but its message is timeless. At its core, it teaches that awareness and transformation can happen through ordinary life, not by escaping it. Modern practitioners see Tantra as a way to bring consciousness into daily actions: breathing, working, resting, creating, and relating with care and presence.
While ancient texts described complex rituals and energy practices, today Tantra focuses more on mindfulness, emotional balance, and connection. The essence remains the same: awakening through experience. It is about learning to live fully in the present moment, seeing unity behind life’s apparent opposites, and honoring both body and mind as sacred.
In modern society, constant speed, distraction, and stress fragment our attention. Tantra offers a remedy by teaching how to return to stillness and embodied awareness. It reminds us that spirituality does not belong only in temples or monasteries; it belongs in our conversations, our relationships, and our choices.
Classical and modern forms of Tantra can work together when practiced with honesty and respect for their sources. The goal is not to recreate the past but to apply its wisdom to today’s world.
Ultimately, contemporary Tantra is a living path of balance, authenticity, and compassion. It helps people rediscover connection with themselves, with others, and with the deeper flow of life itself. Through this awareness, the ordinary becomes sacred, and every moment becomes an opportunity for peace and growth.
Relationship Mastery Through Tantra
In my coaching, Tantra is not just a theory; it’s a practical system for real and lasting transformation. Its timeless teachings on awareness, presence, and energy become tools for personal growth, emotional balance, and meaningful connection.
Through The Tantric Man Experience™, I guide men to live and love with greater confidence, authenticity, and purpose. Over the years, this 9-week mentorship program has helped more than 600 men reconnect with their partners, save their marriages, reignite intimacy, and attract fulfilling long-term relationships, all through a grounded, modern application of tantric wisdom.
My unique method combines classical Tantra, mindfulness, breathwork, and psychology in a clear and safe framework designed for today’s world. You’ll learn to embody strength and compassion, communicate with confidence, and create relationships that thrive on genuine trust and respect.
This is more than coaching; it’s a path of transformation. If you’re ready to reignite connection, awaken purpose, and live as your most powerful, present self, watch my free Tantra masterclass and experience how modern Tantra can change your life.
