SUMMER!!
Sunshine, an abundance of many different delicious fruit and
vegetables, joyous bird song, the smell of freshly mowed grass,
the bright, fresh colors of flowers, warmth... for me, this is the most
sensuous time of the year! In summer I feel the most connected to my
body, because there are so many sensations available everywhere that I
simply cannot ignore! My mind might be busy with various important tasks
and duties, but my senses are wide awake, receiving information like a
stream of gentle invitations to really feel, see, hear, taste and smell
the world around me. I become present instantly and being alive takes on a whole new dimension!
The DVD tr ilogy, Margot Anand's Secret Keys to the Ultimate Love Life includes a beautiful ritual on sensory awakening as part of her presentation on "The Art of Erotic Devotion". Here she quotes William Blake, "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is - infinite".
Joins us for a vibrant summer of cleaning up our doors, opening our senses and celebrating life to its fullest!
Much love,
 Lokita & Steve CarterCo-Directors of the SkyDancing Tantra Institute
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Just say "Yes"
By Brian Ahern, certified SkyDancing Tantra Teacher (Level 1)
My first step on the SkyDancing Tantra path was saying 'yes'
to my Beloved's invitation to read Margot Anand's book, The Art of Sexual Ecstasy, out loud. It was a dark time following
deep loss. This book unfolded in a magical way as we began reading and doing
the exercises and having deeper and deeper experiences.
The next 'yes' was to attend a day-long presentation by
Margot Anand in NYC, after which I heard people enthusiastically discussing
going off to California to train. I remember thinking, "I'll never do that!" The
rest is history as we said 'yes' and dove in deeply, allowing the training to
penetrate our minds and bodies.
For me as a man, Sky Dancing Tantra helps to dissolve
remaining armor that has outlived its function, and allows me to embody my
experience. As I become more sensitive to energy flowing in my body, I develop
my potential of tuning in more deeply with my lover (and everyone else!). As I practice the Tantric Attitude aspect of
'surrender,' just saying 'yes', an entity manifests that I call 'US'. This
energy field draws out the higher aspects of my being, to be woven into my
evolving self.
Before I began on the SkyDancing Tantra path, my culturally
trained sexual experiences were performance-based. This approach was
accompanied by feelings of shame and fear, on one hand, or triumph on the
other, depending on how well I 'performed'. I learned to transcend this mode
through the Tantric Attitude and practices.
The Tantric Attitude points the way. For me personally, as
well as men whom I coach, I find that there are two aspects of the Attitude
that present the biggest challenges, as well as significant growth. These are:
'giving up goal orientation' and 'cultivating pleasure'. I believe this is due
to the provider/protector roles for which men have been evolutionarily
programmed. 
Modern brain science points to the idea that 70-90% of our
neuronal pathways are devoted to fear and pain-based circuits to ensure
survival. Take a moment now to shake
your head 'no'. Now nod your head 'yes'. Likely, you'll find it easier to
shake, or just say 'no'. This is Nature's way of protecting us from overly
spontaneous risks in an uncertain world. Happily, for increasingly more of us
on the planet, this limited survival level of brain function is becoming
obsolete.
Our ability and willingness to shift these
neuronal pathways to pleasure, in the here and now, is an important step in the
evolution of consciousness. This is the practice of 'making love, not war'. As
my Beloved and I deepen our practice of the Tantric Attitude, we not only
expand individually and as a couple, our work in the world becomes more potent
and effective, as we practice what we preach and preach what we practice!
Brian
Ahern, a psychologist, and teaches SkyDancing Tantra together with his
beloved of almost 40 years, Holly Rawson, in coaching sessions and
workshops. Read more about their offerings here.
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SkyDancing Tantra from the Female Perspective by Lokita Carter, co-director of the US SkyDancing Tantra Institute
One of the most poignant
stepping stones on my path with SkyDancing Tantra has been a phrase coined by
Margot Anand, "I am responsible for my own pleasure". From my parents I learned
that it was not okay to ask for what I want - sexually or otherwise. In their
view, a female who did ask was a "slut". Hence I grew up with the assumption
that whatever my lover had to give, that's as good as it was going to get.
When
I started on the SkyDancing path, I learned that I did not have to limit myself
to that conditioning. Through diligent practice and many healing sessions I
overcame this early shaming and moved into a responsible relationship with my
sexuality, thus creating more fulfilling experiences for myself and my partner
in the bedroom, and overall.
In SkyDancing Tantra
practice the roles of giver and receiver are fluid. Usually, more often than
not men consider themselves the giver, and women are the receiver. In our
personal tantric practice, we switch roles, so that Steve explores the role of
receiver, while I become the active giver. It is very healing for the man to
lay down the traditional giver role, and be receptive, and for the woman to
give to her man! Margot Anand's Yin-Yang Game is the perfect practice for
exploring this!
And,
of course, I love being honored as a Goddess, a Shakti. What doe s that mean,
exactly? Tantra teaches that each of us is a representation of
the Divine, hence "Gods" and "Goddesses". By embodying the qualities of the
divine, we do not have to search outside ourselves for a "god" but we are
actively living it. During the day I often remind myself that I am indeed a beautiful Goddess. As if by magic, any stress makes way
for ease, relaxation and a deep joy. On top of that, when I appreciate myself
as a Goddess, the men around me, particularly my husband, honor me as a Goddess
as well! It is almost as if we are rising above the mundane everyday relating
into a realm of witnessing where there is less reactivity and more responding.
I love being a Goddess.
The spiritual
tradition of Tantra honors the woman, the feminine, as the holder and teacher
of the tantric secrets. SkyDancing Tantra was developed by a great goddess,
Margot Anand, and it celebrates the equal partnership of men and women. It is
inclusive of us all, and that's another reason why I love it!
Lokita Carter
and her husband Steve are the lineage holders to
Margot Anand in the USA and co-directors of the US SkyDancing Tantra Institute.
Read more about their offerings here. |
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Upcoming USA Events
Love & Ecstasy Training Cycle 2: Love & Orgasm with Steve & Lokita Carter ~ Aug 6-13 at Harbin Hot Springs, Nth CA Love & Ecstasy Training Cycle 5 with Jelle Bode ~ Aug 20-27 at Harbin Hot Springs, Nth CA
Awakening the Ecstatic Body 3: From Sexual Union to Spiritual Communion with Crystal Dawn Morris ~ Aug 28-29 at Sedona, AZ Timeless Loving: An Intro to SkyDancing Tantra with Steve & Lokita Carter ~ Sep 3-5 & Nov 5-7 at Harbin Hot Springs, Nth CA *NEW!* An Evening of SkyDancing Tantrawith Steve & Lokita Carter ~ September 30th at Lenox, MA The Wave of Bliss: An Advanced
SkyDancing Tantra Workshopwith Steve & Lokita Carter ~ Oct 1-3 at Westport, CT Love & Ecstasy Training Cycle 3: From Sexual Passion t Spiritual Bliss with Steve & Lokita Carter ~ Oct 22-28 at Harbin Hot Springs, Nth CA Contact & Calendar
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A Teaching from Margot Anand
"In a loving relationship, when
the masculine and feminine qualities are developed and understood in each of
us, the union of the two
polarities can happen within each person. This is what is meant in Tantra by
"ecstatic awareness". It is a state of consciousness that embraces
both sexes in one body and then rises above the inner duality to a state of
oneness.
Introducing a sacred dimension to sexual loving allows
both partners to acknowledge that they possess divine qualities. They
recognize their true potential as infinite and unlimited.
In
Tantra you discover that that by honoring the god or goddess in your
partner you can see beyond the limitation of personality and, by seeing
the divine in the other person, perceive the same potential in yourself.
The other person becomes a reflection of your own godlike nature. This
is why tantric partners greet each other by saying, 'I honor you as an
aspect of myself'."
(excerpted from "The Art of Sexual Ecstasy")
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