Why we no longer call our work “Tantra”?

To be honest, it was Rod that started the move, and I was resistant for a long time. I had spent 15 years creating and building Tantric Blossoming. 

When I started in the neo-tantra space, there were only two couples in Australia offering tantra, and their work focused on experiences for couples. 

Initially, I was offering two bodies of work - Tantric Bodywork sessions for women and men, to create healing and awakening in the body, and Sacred Sexuality for Women. 

I was a pioneer in the space, but I didn’t know or understand this at the time. 

It all expanded very quickly, offering events in Sydney and Melbourne regularly. Tantric Nights (for men, women, singles and couples)  became a big success running monthly in Sydney and every second month in Melbourne for 8 years. At its peak, 80 plus people were showing up to the event. 

I created couples retreats, women’s retreats, men’s retreats, Tantric embodiment training programs, and facilitator training programs. I created all this by responding to what was being asked of me. Following my desire and capacity to respond. There were also events in Canberra, Brisbane, and even Glasgow and Bournemouth. 

The tantra movement was growing and growing from when I started in 2005 through to 2015. All of a sudden there were so many events in Australia. 

There were a lot of international teachers visiting, and people were being “teacher trained” sometimes with as little as ½ day training program, sometimes through to 7-day programs. 

This is not enough time to train someone to hold space for others. Especially in the sexuality space. For example, my teacher training program was two years, and sometimes I wondered if it was long enough. What was happening in the name of Tantra did not feel good, and it had nothing to do with Tantra. 

There was a lot of distortion, manipulation, and abuse happening in the name of “Tantra”. 

For many years, I maintained a position of “someone needs to hold the light in the Tantra space, to be offering work with depth and integrity.” 

I felt that I couldn’t walk away from being in the Tantra space, how I had supported 1000s of people over the years.

People experienced feeling connected to their bodies for the first time, making eye contact with another in a way that melted their armour, learnt to touch with awareness, sensitivity, and love, dissolved years of protective patterns, connected to their sexuality, experienced healing with the opposite sex, as well as loving sexual intimacy, couples transformed their relationships and so much more. 

In other Tantric spaces, people’s boundaries were being crossed, teachers were taking advantage of students (including sexually) and people were being pushed into experiences that were not serving them. 

There is so much sexual abuse being done in the name of Tantra.

Rod continued to share with me his concerns about associating our work with the abuse happening in the name of Tantra, these were concerns I shared and felt deeply about. However, I wanted to be a safe space, a light in the tantra world. But at a certain point, I surrendered, admitting that it was a battle that was not my battle. 

And I knew it was time, time to let go, of holding onto Tantra, to surrender Tantric Blossoming, the business I had built over 15 years. 

And in 2020, during the pandemic years, the opportunity was ripe, time was available, to retire the Tantric Blossoming website and branding, and begin recreating. 

My last Tantric Embodiment training completed in 2022, the dates were pushed out due to the covid years. But that was the final release. 

Rod and I have spent many years training with our teachers, grounding and integrating the wisdom of Sacred Intimacy. In many ways there are similarities to what I offered previously, and also so much more. 

Our work goes far beyond what I had embodied and learned previously. 

Sacred Intimacy is a two-bodied practice that supports the journey of awakening. It’s as beautiful and magical as it is painful, vulnerable, and awkward. 

It’s life in all its dimensions, and I love it. 

All the tools within Sacred Intimacy can be applied by singles and couples. 

The more Rod and I grow and awaken in this work, the brighter the fire in me grows, to share and inspire others to experience Sacred Intimacy. 

Thank you Rod for leading me to this evolution of our life and journey together. 

For a taste of Sacred Intimacy, check out our course, Pathway to Love: A Journey of Embodiment.