Tantra is a spiritual science that originated in India around 600 C.E. While often associated with sex, Tantra is about more than just intimacy. It’s a comprehensive system for balancing the mind, body, emotions, and energy.
Tantric energy work operates at a holistic level by working with the body’s subtle energy systems. The core focus of a tantric healing session is to use energy flow to align the mind and body of the receiver.
Tantric massage techniques help to reduce pain, relieve anxiety, balance emotions, evoke ecstatic states, and heal diseases by addressing the energetic misalignments that cause them. But these practices have been met with skepticism because, until recently, there has been little scientific research into how most energetic practices work.
But we’re catching up! Modern neuroscience, psychology, and medical research have recently begun to confirm that practices like breathwork, meditation, chakra activation, and mindfulness produce measurable changes in the human body and brain.
Understanding Energy in Tantra
In the context of Tantra, energy is often referred to as prana, kundalini or life force. This vital energy permeates all living beings and the universe itself.
According to Tantric philosophy, our bodies are intricate systems of energy channels known as nadis. These nadis intersect to form energy centres, swirling hubs of energy known as chakras. When the nadis are clear and the chakras are balanced, prana flows freely. This supports health and offers access to heightened states of consciousness.
Blockages or imbalances in this energy flow can lead to physical, emotional, and spiritual disease. Tantric practices focus on removing these blockages and harmonising energy flow for optimal health and well-being.
What is Tantric Healing?
Tantric healing works from within by unlocking the stuck or repressed energies associated with emotional trauma or physical ailments. These practices help to heal chronic pain and emotional distress by realigning the body and clearing energetic blockages, activating our natural healing potential.
Tantric energy healing focuses on creating an energetic flow in the receiver’s body and balancing the receiver’s energy centres. This is done primarily on an energetic level, but can also include touch, breathwork, and meditation.
Tantric energy healing can be done with or without physical contact. The therapist channels energy to the receiver, helping to balance and integrate the flow of prana through their body.
This process helps release energy blockages, promotes deep relaxation, and activates kundalini, the sexual energy resting at the base of the spine. Kundalini activation can lead to heightened states of consciousness and facilitate emotional, physical, and spiritual healing.
In many cases, people who receive tantra healing can achieve an orgasmic state, also known as an energy orgasm or spiritual orgasm. An energy orgasm becomes possible when sexual energy flows freely throughout your entire body.
An energy orgasm is a bit different from a regular orgasm. It’s a super-sensory spiritual experience that ripples through the entire being. It involves complete surrender to the energy flowing through us, and offers a deeper sense of connection with body, mind, and spirit.
How Does Tantric Healing Work?
A tantric massage session begins with the creation of a calm, sacred space where the energetic healer can focus on channeling energy to the recipient. Tantric healers, with the aid of touch, breath, and intention, connect deeply with the receiver and send energy into their body and being.
In mastering tantric techniques, the healer becomes more aware of their subtle energies and learns how to transfer their energy to others. This allows them to work on the receiver on an energetic level, aligning the higher energy bodies so that the energetic work steps down into physical healing and vitality.
What does Science Say about Tantric Healing?
Since tantric healing operates on an energetic level rather than a physical one, and since these subtle energies are challenging to measure and record, the science behind energy flow has only recently begun to be explored.
However, with recent advances in brain imaging, we’ve been able to take a closer look at the impact of tantric healing on the brain and body. One breakthrough set of experiments was conducted in 2016 by the renowned tantric healer Somananda in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark and Aalborg University Hospital.
This exploration involved three experiments. The first study used an infrared camera to view the effects of tantric healing techniques on the body temperature of both the healer and receiver. The second used an EEG to monitor brain activity in response to tantric healing. And the third used an MRI to view brain activity in response to these same techniques.
The results were quite clear. In the first test, notable increases in body heat were observed in the receiver in response to the tantric healer, and these same results did not occur when the physical techniques were copied by an individual untrained in energy work.
The second test showed a 40% activation of the receiver’s PNS, or parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is associated with relaxation. It is part of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates unconscious actions like breathing, metabolism, and digestion. This means that tantric healing techniques activate a function that is normally outside of conscious control.
Finally, the MRI test revealed significant changes in the receiver’s brain activity in response to tantric healing. Again, the changes were most visible in areas of the brain associated with relaxation and heightened awareness. With both this test and the EEG test, these shifts in brain activity were reduced when the session was taken over by an untrained individual who performed the same physical techniques.
What do these Tests Actually Tell Us?
From these experiments, we can see that tantric healing offers a deep sense of relaxation, heightens sensual awareness, and increases circulation (increased body heat). These techniques create a measurable change in the brain activity associated with the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and rebalancing the body.
The parasympathetic nervous system is the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system, which puts us in fight-or-flight mode. The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body and mind for rapid, high-energy activity, which is amazing! But once we have successfully escaped the predator, the body needs to slow down and rebalance. That’s where the parasympathetic nervous system comes in.
The parasympathetic nervous system directs blood to the extremities, lowering heart rate and blood pressure. Increased circulation means that the cells and tissues receive more blood flow, allowing them to heal more quickly. This warms the body and heightens sensation, promoting relaxation, metabolism, and cellular healing.
Tantra massage benefits us by stimulating our parasympathetic nervous system, which is linked to relaxation, sexual arousal, and heightened awareness. The more relaxed we are, the easier it is to become sensual and aroused, and the more present we become to our sensations and feelings.
By working with the energy flow through the body, the healer can speak directly to the receiver’s nervous system and invite the body to relax, rebalance, and release tension. Tantric massage techniques awaken the sexual centres, releasing a flow of prana, and then lift this energy flow upwards throughout the higher energy centres.
Tantra Massage Benefits
When it comes to tantra massage benefits, Somananda’s tests are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve already covered the activation of the PNS. This increases vagal tone, which supports emotional balance and digestive health. In scientific terms, tantric techniques have a profound impact on the nervous system, brain chemistry, hormonal balance, and even brain structure. And, in more esoteric terms, tantra awakens the sexual centres, promoting energy flow throughout the body and being.
In terms of brain activity, tantric mindfulness practices increase synchronisation between the right and left hemispheres. They increase activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, which improves concentration and awareness. They also reduce stress by calming the amygdala and linking the limbic system to the prefrontal cortex, offering stronger emotional balance. These techniques help to link and integrate the many parts of our being into a smoothly functioning whole.
Tantric massage techniques stimulate both gamma and theta brainwaves. These brainwaves are associated with heightened awareness, creativity, deep relaxation, and improved learning ability. They also increase levels of key neurotransmitters, like serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and GABA. This leads to greater happiness, stronger motivation and focus, stronger bonding and improved relationships, and a reduction in feelings of anxiety.
The breathwork and meditation aspect of tantric massage benefits hormonal balance, helping to regulate levels of cortisol, endorphins, melatonin, estrogen, and testosterone. Lower cortisol means lower stress. And when the endorphins are flowing freely, we feel good and happy. Melatonin is important for healthy sleep, and the sex hormones are fundamental for energy levels, sexual desire, and so much more.
Because the mind, body, and emotions are closely linked, tantric massage promotes emotional healing. Tantric practices release emotions that have been stored in muscle tension. The default mode network in the brain, associated with overthinking and negative self-talk activates the insula, the emotional awareness hub of the brain. This means that regular tantric massage can relieve anxiety, offer resilience against depression, and even reduce emotional distress.
All of the beautiful biochemical and neurological benefits of tantric massage begin with energy flow. In the physical body, this is expressed in many ways. With breath comes increased circulation, increased oxygen, and stronger cellular health. With strong, clear nadis and chakras, the nervous system is balanced. With active, healthy energy flow, the mind, body, and spirit can operate as an integrated whole.
Final Thoughts
It’s beautiful to see that we are finally confirming with modern research what tantric practitioners have known for more than a millennium.
Our vital energy guides and informs the entire being, linking mind, body, and emotions together. With the use of breath and meditation, we can promote the free and balanced flow of energy through the body. And this actually reshapes our brains and rebalances our nervous systems.
By listening to our energy and flowing with it, we cultivate consciousness and presence. And by feeling and releasing our emotions, we release energetic blockages and allow the body to return to balance.
Tantric practices improve physical vitality, emotional health, and mental balance. They do this primarily through the movement of energy. And this energy then steps down through the various layers of our being, working through the mind, heart, and body, realigning every aspect of our being. And, regular tantric massages are a great way to tap into these benefits for yourself!
Thank you for sharing this deep dive with me, folks! Love and light,
In gratitude
Taranga