Mainstream meets Tantricas

I’m excited about my trip next week to Charlotte, North Carolina for the annual AASECT conference. AASECT stands for American Association of Sexuality Educators, Councilors and Therapists. This will be my third annual meeting with them.
As a Tantra and Kama Sutra educator I find the intersection between more traditional sex educators and therapists and the knowledge I have to be a very expansive area to explore. Understanding the research coming from the scientific community on sexuality, biology and neuroscience and then examining the research and experiential evidence in mind/body research is great food for thought, for my brain! I can look at things like the Chakra system, with its energy centers as metaphors for psychological phenomena, and see the direct correlation between the body’s nervous system and neuronal pathways. Our gut has the second largest ‘bundle’ of nerves next to our brains. It is said to be our second brain. Some scientists now believe that our whole body is our brain. This has immense implications.
Is it then true that we are what we eat and drink? Is where we live and work and play a part of our overall make-up? How about how happy we are? How much pleasure we experience? Or pain? A growing set of the scientific community understands that we are basically a bundle of nerves sending elaborate signals out via chemical messengers that control everything we do, think, act upon and believe. Because those chemicals we pump throughout our bodies can be influenced by what we ingest (in the extreme, think opiates, psychedelics, simple herbs and even more oxygen) we have not only the capacity to see God/Goddess but to feel a part of the great mystery of the universe. We have the capacity to inhale pheromones from our lover, to breathe differently to create a change in attitude or experience, to calm ourselves, to excite ourselves and so much more.
It’s said that we each use about 10% of our brain capacity. I’m not necessarily thinking about ‘thinking’, I’m curious about the other things we do with our brains. The things that have become rote behavior like the way we breathe or the way we treat anger or mindless eating patterns. With training anything is possible because we have a huge brain that can take a lot more input and mastery of thought and action. Simply employing it to be happier and more fulfilled might be a wonderful way to start increasing your brain capacity!
Think about offering your lover a unique experience of touch, erotic pleasure and surrender this weekend. Design an experience for them to increase their capacity for ‘Kama’- pleasure. You’ll be increasing the amount of brain they use too, so they won’t be able to refuse your offering of deep pleasure. It is hard to receive sometimes but in doing so you will be expanding your ability to be a more whole and complete human being.