Our winter issue is out now. Regular contributor and Neo-Tantra visionary Dawn Cartwright reveals how to ignite the Spark we all crave, within ourselves and our relationships. Dive on in to find out more…
Have a Positive Valentine Night with Joanne Faulkner of Shiatsu Conscious Cooking and her new book ‘Good Food: Better Sex’, a guide to intimacy and love using traditional Chinese medicine and food.
During this evening, Joanne will show you how to use the 5 elements of Traditional medicine to interpret your body’s symptoms and how to use the five flavours of food to treat emotional and physical conditions. She will discuss how the ancient art of using food as medicine can help you harness your powerful, creative sexual energy and direct it for better health and longevity. There will be tasty no sugar Millet Muffins to sample from the new book and together Joanne will talk about foods and demonstrate potent acupressure points to help with a range of conditions from low libido to night sweats and premature ejaculation.
More than just a cookbook, this is a journey with food providing the path back to love and acceptance for our sweet selves. We will discuss recipes that have sexual health benefits but more than that, we can learn how to empower and cherish ourselves with food.
Click here to learn more and book your tickets.
About Joanne:
Joanne Faulkner is a Shiatsu practitioner specialising in the energy of food in Traditional Chinese Medicine and runs a busy Shiatsu practice in Dublin, Ireland. Her Shiatsu & Conscious Cooking Demonstrations and Cookery Retreats regularly sell out. Currently, she serves as Chairperson of the Shiatsu Society of Ireland, ensuring the standards of Shiatsu practice in Ireland. Blogging regularly on her food and health-focused website www.joannefaulkner.ie, she is a published author of “Good Food: Better Sex” and “Shiatsu & the Art of Conscious Cooking”: both modern cookbooks full of delicious recipes, Traditional Chinese Medicine plus acupressure points for health and wellbeing.
Announcing our first event of 2020! Join leadership pioneer Dusty Staub on Friday January 10th for a wonderful exploration of what it means to have a courageous heart.
Tantric visionary and educator Dawn Cartwright shares her beautiful insights about kindness in the bedroom, and the difference this can make to our intimate lives. This article appeared in our Spring 2019 issue.
We wanted to share this enlightening article by Dawn Cartwright, which appears in our Spring 2018 issue. Here, she discusses how the traditional and contemporary forms of Tantra can be harmoniously blended together to work towards healing and empowerment. She says, “Neo-Tantra weaves threads between the the sexual and the spiritual, the human and the divine, demonstrating, in very beautiful ways, that each exists in the other.” Read on to learn more! Dawn’s website is dawncartwright.com.
What is Neo-Tantra? Complementary Aspects of the Old & New
by Dawn Cartwright
“The Munis, girdled with the wind, wear garments soiled of yellow hue.
They, following the wind’s swift course, go where the Gods have gone before.”
~Excerpt from Ke?in Hymn, 10.136 of the Rigveda, as translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith
Some of the earliest written evidence of Tantra appears in the RigVeda, the oldest of the Vedic Texts, dated roughly between 1100 and 500 B.C.E. The Ke?in Hymn, 10.136 of the Rigveda, describes dust-clad munis who cavorted with the wind. The muni, know for their pursuit of ecstasy, engaged in practices far outside the Brahmanical norm; defining evidence of an early Tantra tradition.
Defining Tantra
Tantra is a vast and controversial subject – to define it is a challenging task. Many elements of Tantra are also found in other Hindu and Vedic paths. Yet when we take the view that ecstasy creates the cosmos, Tantra is a path rich with possibility.
The origins of Tantra date back to the Upper Paleolithic Period, nearly 28,000 years ago. It is rooted in reverence for the microcosm-macrocosm view of fertility and the birth of the universe. The earliest traditions, much like the muni, were closely connected to nature. The Tantra sutras, revealing the secrets of existence, were songs sung by the wind, trees, rivers, oceans and mountains. These songs were translated by great mystics into Mantras, Yantras and Tantras.
The tradition we are most familiar with today is Neo-Tantra, the “new” or “revived” version of Tantra. Neo-Tantra is known for its embrace of sexuality: a perceptive that has drawn a great deal of controversy and skepticism. The Christian repressive attitudes prevalent even in India have enforced a separation between the spiritual and physical. Neo-Tantra weaves threads between the the sexual and the spiritual, the human and the divine, demonstrating, in very beautiful ways, that each exists in the other.
Scholars, Mystics & Lovers
“The Tantras most often tend to prefer more esoteric subjects: speculations on the nature of the Absolute, cosmogony, the creative nature of sound and word, micro-macrocosmic equivalence, the powers of speech, communication and handling of mantras, symbolic interpretations of words and names, construction of and initiation into mandalas and worship of deities therein.”
~Teun Goudriaan, History of Indian Literature Volume II
To explore Tantra is to experience a mystery that constantly unfolds without end. To understand Neo-Tantra and the ways this new tradition is complimentary to the classical traditions, it’s helpful to understand three perspectives: the scholarly, the classical and the new.
The Scholar To the Tantra scholar, the Tantras are commentaries on the original Tantra sutras, and are often found to be more in-depth and more coherent than the original sutras themselves. The Tantras reveal an esoteric world known only to Tantra adepts.
The Mystic To the practitioner of the classical form, Tantra is one aspect of Mantra, Yantra, Tantra. Mantra is sacred sound. Yantra is sacred geometry. Tantra refers to the methods used to merge the practitioner with Mantra and Yantra. Initiation through a guru is a key element of the classical path. It is said the power contained in Mantra, Yantra and Tantra comes to life when received through guru initiation.
The Lover To the Neo-Tantra practitioner, Tantra is the weaving together of sexuality and spirituality. The quest is to experience the beloved as divine. Neo-Tantra includes classical Tantra themes and practices, woven together with modern-day sexology, humanistic psychology and bio-energetics.
Complimentary Elements & Gifts
Often believed to be in conflict with one another, Tantra in its classical form and Neo-Tantra are in fact complimentary. The classical form of Tantra brings gifts of focus, dedication and devotion to the Neo-Tantra practice, while Neo-Tantra brings confidence, energy awareness and self-revelation to the classical practice.
CLASSICAL TANTRA ELEMENT: THE GIFT
Yantra Focus Awakens new neural pathways, making it possible for sexuality to reach new levels of pleasure and connection.
Mantra: Dedication Teaches the modern-day lover the value of sustained attention and the benefits of commitment.
Tantra/Puja: Devotion Reveals the transcendent quality of giving and receiving. Seeing the divine in everything. Merging with the divine in the beloved.
NEO-TANTRA ELEMENT: THE GIFT
Sexuality: Confidence Increases tapas, the fire of transformation, grounding the classical practices in the human body.
Bio-energetics: Energy Awareness Releases physical tension in the body, unlocking the free flow of Kundalini energy.
Humanistic Psychology: Self-revelation Bridges the inner experience with the outer reality. Tools for self-honesty, maturity and responsibility.
The wisdom of Tantra in its classical form offers important structure and guidance to the Neo-Tantra practitioner. Neo-Tantra practices bring new vitality to a mystical path rich with tradition. The two go hand in hand, following the wind’s swift course toward ecstasy.
Dawn Cartwright is a Tantric visionary, sacred writer, world traveler, and innovator in bio-energetic Tantra fusion. To learn more about her work, go to: www.dawncartwright.com.
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Sneak Peek: What is Neo-Tantra? Complementary Aspects of Old & New
Tonight, we wanted to share a sneak peek of this beautiful article written by our Tantra expert Dawn Cartwright. You can read the entire article in our new Spring issue, available in your local stockist or through subscription. Don’t forget to check out the details of Dawn’s special Positive Nights event with us on Wednesday the 25th of April too!
By Dawn Cartwright
“The Munis, girdled with the wind, wear garments soiled of yellow hue.
They, following the wind’s swift course, go where the Gods have gone before.”
Excerpt from Ke?in Hymn, 10.136 of the Rigveda, as translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith
Some of the earliest written evidence of Tantra appears in the RigVeda, the oldest of the Vedic Texts, dated roughly between 1100 and 500 B.C.E. The Ke?in Hymn, 10.136 of the Rigveda, describes dust-clad munis who cavorted with the wind. The muni, know for their pursuit of ecstasy, engaged in practices far outside the Brahmanical norm; defining evidence of an early Tantra tradition.
Defining Tantra
Tantra is a vast and controversial subject – to define it is a challenging task. Many elements of Tantra are also found in other Hindu and Vedic paths. Yet when we take the view that ecstasy creates the cosmos, Tantra is a path rich with possibility.
The origins of Tantra date back to the Upper Paleolithic Period, nearly 28,000 years ago. It is rooted in reverence for the microcosm-macrocosm view of fertility and the birth of the universe. The earliest traditions, much like the muni, were closely connected to nature. The Tantra sutras, revealing the secrets of existence, were songs sung by the wind, trees, rivers, oceans and mountains. These songs were translated by great mystics into Mantras, Yantras and Tantras.
The tradition we are most familiar with today is Neo-Tantra, the “new” or “revived” version of Tantra. Neo-Tantra is known for its embrace of sexuality: a perceptive that has drawn a great deal of controversy and skepticism. The Christian repressive attitudes prevalent even in India have enforced a separation between the spiritual and physical. Neo-Tantra weaves threads between the the sexual and the spiritual, the human and the divine, demonstrating, in very beautiful ways, that each exists in the other.
Scholars, Mystics & Lovers
“The Tantras most often tend to prefer more esoteric subjects: speculations on the nature of the Absolute, cosmogony, the creative nature of sound and word, micro-macrocosmic equivalence, the powers of speech, communication and handling of mantras, symbolic interpretations of words and names, construction of and initiation into mandalas and worship of deities therein.”
~Teun Goudriaan, History of Indian Literature Volume II
To explore Tantra is to experience a mystery that constantly unfolds without end. To understand Neo-Tantra and the ways this new tradition is complimentary to the classical traditions, it’s helpful to understand three perspectives: the scholarly, the classical and the new.
________________________
You can read the full article by picking up a copy of our Spring issue or subscribing today. Dawn will be a special guest at Positive Nights on Wednesday the 25th of April, from 7.30 to 9.30p.m. at Powerscourt Theatre, Dublin 2. The theme of her event is “Bringing Dating Back.” She will talk about how the sacred energy of ancient Tantric rituals called the Pancha Upacaras can be used to inspire greater devotion and intimacy in our modern-day dating lives. You can learn more about the event on our website, Facebook or Meetup, and book your tickets at this Eventbrite link.
Join Paul and his special guest Dawn Cartwright for an evening of love and intimacy that is sure to inspire. You’ll be guided through Tantra practices that open the heart: a journey into the far reaches of human sexuality and Tantra. This beautiful evening will take place from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday April 25th in the Central Hotel, 1-5 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2. Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
Where and when did the ritual of dating begin?
Each morning, just before dawn, Tantric adepts in every Tantra temple in the world present five specific offerings to the deity. First, sandalwood powder is smoothed on the deity’s forehead and feet. Then, a mantra is sung while flowers, gathered from the temple gardens, are offered. Fragrant incense is lit, oil lamps illuminate the deity’s face, and sweets, dripping with honey and ghee, touch the deity’s lips. Sandalwood, mantra, incense, lamps and sweets: the Pancha Upacaras, a Sanskrit phrase that means, “five moments of access”. Five offerings purposefully chosen to awaken the five senses, allowing the devotee “five moments of access” to an elevated experience of the world.
Simple rituals such as this compose a twilight language rich in meaning and significance. Esoteric practices are known to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary through simple means. While it may seem as if the Pancha Upacaras are offered to awaken the deity from her slumber, it is the adept whose senses are awakened, triggering a heightened state of consciousness – revealing the sublime within the mundane. Much the way one would greet an honoured guest in their home, the deity is welcomed into the temple each morning, and the devotee catches a glimpse of the divine within.
Perhaps owing to the romantic nature of the human heart, or the longing each of us has to touch the ineffable quality of love, the Pancha Upacaras, a ritual enacted since the beginning of time, eventually found its way into every corner of the world. These five offerings are the roots of hospitality and compose the traditional elements of successful dating.
In the chilly pre-dawn mist, the Tantric deity becomes more beautiful with each flower-laden moment. Beauty that exists because it is seen. Beauty seen because it is invited and welcomed, because it has already been awakened within the one who extends the invitation. Just as a tree that falls without a witness cannot make a sound, beauty, though it is certainly there, cannot be experienced without the observer. We create the beauty we see in the world and each other through our endeavour: in this case by awakening the five senses to see it. Dating and hospitality were originally meant to deepen our connection with those we revere, without expectation or goal.
Not so very long ago dating meant affection, flowers and chocolates. Candlelight, serenades and perfume. The very same offerings that compose the Pancha Upacaras. Today, dating has been reduced to “hanging out” and online chat rooms. Devotion seems to have gone by the wayside and the transcendent quality we all long for in dating has all but disappeared.
Is it time to bring dating back? YES!
Join Dawn Cartwright at Positive Nights, April 25th, and discover how to create the perfect transcendent date.
This experiential Tantra evening is led by Dawn Cartwright, a Tantric visionary, sacred writer, world traveler, and innovator in bio-energetic Tantra fusion. She discovered the path of Tantra by accident shortly after a period of life-changing mystical experiences in lovemaking more than twenty years ago. We’ve all experienced it at one time or another, the feeling of dissolving that deep sex brings. A feeling that connects us to life in a way that is both powerful and mystical. As modern day lovers we are becoming increasingly aware of the connection between sexuality and the vibrancy with which we illuminate our lives.
To book your tickets or learn more, click on this Eventbrite link. The Facebook page for the event can be viewed here.
You’re invited to join Dawn for The Red Tent Sacred Sexuality for Women, April 26th – 27th, and 2-Nights of Tantric Bliss, April 27th -29th, in Wicklow, Weaving the Beloveds for Couples, May Bank Holiday Weekend on the Wild Atlantic Way and Fragrance of the Lotus Tantra Teacher Training beginning April 19th, 2019. For more information, go to dawncartwright.com.
Dont Forget to catch Dawn at Positive Nights on October 5th. Click here for tickets and more info!
By Dawn Cartwright
Whether you’re just hearing about Tantra for the first time or have been practising for years, it can be challenging to find simple practices that deliver all the intimacy and ecstasy Tantra promises in just a few minutes a day. These three practices do just that. They’re practices that unlock positive energy pathways in your body and relationships. Each is meant to be practised 5-10 minutes a day for 21 days. Three short weeks to greater intimacy and pleasure. Can’t beat that. You may wish to create a relaxing, sensual environment for each practice. However, don’t let that slow you down. I encourage you to start now. Yes, now, this very minute. A life of ecstasy awaits you.
Your Essence as Light Rays. Tantra Meditation for Solo Practice
Consider your essence as light rays from centre to centre up the vertebrae, and so rises “livingness” in you.
The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. Sutra 70
Begin standing. Your body is open and soft, feet are parallel. Let go of the tension in your pelvis and legs, the way you’d feel just before jumping up into the air – isn’t that amazing? Next, place your hands on your lower abdomen, just beneath the navel and breathe into this space. Notice your spine moves naturally with the breathe, undulating up and down. Relax your spine so that it’s able to undulate freely. Press firmly into the ground with your feet as you exhale to give a feeling of strength and stability.
Expand your breathing 1-2 seconds, inhaling slightly longer without straining, exhaling slightly emptier. Continue like this 5-8 minutes. You’ll discover a subtle intensity building inside you, filling you with ecstasy.
Silent Harmony. Tantra Meditation for Practice with a Friend
Intone a sound audibly, then less and less audibly as feeling deepens into this silent harmony.
The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. Sutra 42
Sit or stand facing your friend. Close your eyes. Then, begin to hum. You’ll hum loud enough for your friend to hear you. You’ll send the humming down into your body so that you feel the vibrations in every part of you.
At a certain point, the humming will take over and you’ll suddenly feel more energised, awake and playful.
After 3-5 minutes, hum more and more softly until the humming becomes stillness. In the silence, breathe into the sensations created by the vibration of the humming for a minute, then open your eyes. Invite your friend to do the same.
Smile.
Give one another a warm, supportive hug. Breathe softly into your navel and relax into your connection for 20 seconds.
Give your friend a strong squeeze and let them go. Experience the silent harmony.
The Fire in the Beginning. Tantra for Practice with a Lover
At the start of sexual union keep attentive on the fire in the beginning, And so continuing, avoid the embers in the end.
The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. Sutra 48
Create a space for your practice in your bedroom or on a sheepskin spread on the forest floor. Take the time to feed all your senses with colours, textures, fragrances, sounds and flavours. Make sure there are plenty of pillows and blankets for comfort.
Invite your lover to sit facing you. Take a moment or two to settle into your bodies and the space you have created. Enjoy the sensual items you have prepared.
When you feel ready, place your hands on your knees and begin to circle your rib cage above your hips. Let your head, neck and spine follow the movements. Your lover will do the same. Relax and let go.
Your breathing will naturally deepen. Let your movements create an awareness of space inside your body. Feel your love and attraction. The spiralling movements will intensify these feelings, making them stronger. Circle in one direction 1-2 minutes, then change directions.
After 3-5 minutes, you’ll open your eyes and slowly move into an embrace, sitting with your legs wrapped around one another. Spiral gently together in your embrace, breathing in sync as sensations of love and attraction fill your bodies, merging you together as one.
Dawn Cartwright is a Tantric visionary, sacred writer, world traveler, and innovator in bio-energetic Tantra fusion. Dawn will offer: Sacred Sexuality. How We Love. 6 Nights of Tantric Bliss, October 6th – 12th and Fragrance of the Lotus Tantra Teacher Training 2018 in Wicklow. To book your place, go to: dawncartwright.com
From Longing – To Belonging
Thursday 10 December, 8pm, The Lantern Centre, Dublin 8. Facebook Event Page
Tickets €15/€10 Concession
In this fast moving time of shopping-days-till-Christmas, you’re invited to join Fiona Daly in the space of Longing… a rich and fertile opening to your soul’s yearning.
“As we feel into this darkest time of year, we explore longing as a gateway to a profound and vibrant experiencing of your own depth. We will connect deeply with ourselves and with each-other, supported by the ancient tradition of Tantra and more recent understanding of our humanity drawn from psychology, neurology and relational therapies. The evening will be experiential and informative.”
Fiona Daly is a tantra teacher, psychotherapist and relationship counselor. She holds a gentle, joyful, compassionate space to nourish the emerging of your unique human self.
Like so many people who have struggled in relationships, I have felt the need for healing in emotional and sexual areas and have attended various workshops and trainings for that purpose. These have usually felt beneficial at the time but a few weeks later, I’d find myself wondering, have I changed that much?
Issues had only ever marginally improved, if at all, until I met Deborah Anapol and discovered Pelvic Heart Integration. Big changes happened and are still happening. It’s a work in progress, but there is progress!
I learned techniques that release old hurts that were regularly being triggered. I’ve learned powerful breathing techniques that harmonise the connection between my heart and pelvic area. Previously, I knew that my sexual and heart energies needed to be more in harmony – but I didn’t know how.
The ‘ battle of the sexes’ is an external reflection of an internal battle between masculine and feminine aspects of ourselves that we internalised during our childhood. We feel responsible for the emotional state we are in, yet it is the result of the presence, or lack of presence, of masculine or feminine support received from our parents.
Pelvic Heart Integration offered me techniques that I use in my own practice as a Tantric Massage Therapist, but most importantly, I have found more clarity and harmony within myself and see this continue to be reflected in the honesty and harmony of my own relationships.
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