Tantra Yoga Retreats

There are few things that really getting under our skin over here at BookRetreats...

...but we definitely save our biggest eye rolls for the mythical tantric sex that misguides a lot of curious and horny people. It also greatly diminishes the authentic practice of tantra as a spiritual practice.

An authentic tantric retreat can be applied to everyday life, to a relationship, or to an intimate connection to the self. 

Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

If you want to get to know the true tantra, then keep reading.

What Is Tantra Yoga? A Myth-Busting Tantra Yoga Guide

One of the most controversial and misunderstood types of yoga, tantra yoga is an inner technology. It is not 100% about sex. In the West, Tantra has become synonymous with sex, but that is a mistake. Tantra Yoga is actually a combination of asanas, mantras, mudras, and energy and chakra work. Together, all of these many facets of Tantra Yoga can bring inner bliss that is so much better than just sex.

First things first, in order to better understand Tantra Yoga, you must first know that there are two types of tantra: left-hand tantra and right-hand tantra.

Recommended Reading: Sex or Spirituality? What is Tantra?

Left Hand Tantra

The basic idea of left-hand tantra is: whatever force can bring you down, you can also use to rise up.

What are the top 3 ways humans often bring themselves down?

1. Food

2. Alcohol or drugs

3. Sexuality

So left-hand tantra yogis will utilize these three to rise to the highest possibility.

However, this is a VERY slippery path and one where you can so easily fool yourself. It requires total discipline, awareness, and authenticity. Otherwise, you’ll just end up indulging totally while calling it spiritual.

It is very easy to fool yourself if you follow this path, so make sure if you choose this that your eyes are wide open.

This warning is directed toward people looking for tantric sex retreats and even those searching for a tantra retreat for singles or couples. Not many people will tell you this, but it needs to be said.

I understand the desire to search for an intimacy retreat, one where you can go deeper into this aspect of life. But I want to make sure you have context for your experience before going into it.

Right Hand Tantra

Right-hand tantra is a more internal practice. It’s about internal energy. There are no rituals or external acts needed.

You are simply able to work with your inner energies and make things happen. If you direct your energies toward your mind, you can make it as sharp as a sword. If you direct them to your heart, you can generate a huge love that envelops all. If you direct it to your body, you can bring a huge power to your physical acts.

Being able to sit in one place and make things happen with your energies is a refined expression of Tantra.

Gurus, Sex, and Tantra

Something that is rampant in the tantric realm is gurus having sex with their disciples. This can be an incredibly confusing, entangling, and damaging situation.

The guru-student relationship is about helping the student liberate themselves, not using power to entangle them in a sticky trap. Don’t buy any stories about any powers or healing you’ll receive from a guru if you sleep with them.

Stay away.

People will often say that Krishna slept with many Gopis (cowherd girls), but this is a total misunderstanding. The story may say that he gave an orgasmic experience to 16,000 women at the same time…

...but something like that can’t happen with a physical body. It must be beyond that. It is an intimacy that is far beyond the act of sex. An intimacy that is at the core of every single one of us.

That is what a true tantric guru can help a disciple or student experience.

You can experience a closeness that is beyond anything you could ever imagine. To feel the raindrops falling on your shoulders as the tears of your guru blessing you with every step. To feel every breath that moves in and out to be you and your guru breathing together.

This kind of intimacy is possible with a true guru.

Book the Best Tantra Yoga Holiday

In order to find the best tantra yoga retreat for you, you must first understand the underlying principles of tantra yoga.

You will soon find that each workshop or retreat is unique, each offering a different combination of education, exercises and yoga styles.

While choosing a tantric retreat based on location may be tempting, this is a style of yoga that warrants a bit more consideration in what the workshop itself has to offer.

Maybe you’re looking for a classroom style education that focuses on the history and theory of tantra yoga.

Maybe you’re looking for tantria retreats that focuses on using your learnings actively in your yoga practice.

Maybe you’re looking for a tantric yoga couples retreat so that you and your partner can learn and grow together more intimately.

Maybe you're searching for a tantra massage course to learn more about that practice.

Maybe you're searching exactly for a private retreat in Bali where you can journey within.

Maybe you're looking for specific types of emotional healing retreats because you'd like to heal past traumas.

Maybe you're looking for tantric workshops where you can connect with other people and explore opening your heart more.

Whatever you are searching for, be clear about it before selecting a retreat. Don’t be afraid to send the retreat owner a message if you have any questions.

Whether you want to head the heartland of yoga in India for your tantric experience, or you want to be surrounded by the lush, serene nature of Bali is fully up to you. What matters most is that you choose a tantra yoga retreat that best serves you, no matter the location.

Tantra yoga has the power to transform you, so choose carefully and listen to what calls you.

Tantra Workshops

Tantra workshops are a bit different than tantric retreats in that they normally don't include accommodation or food. They are typically shorter, often being 2 or 3 days on a weekend. A 3 day retreat will be the shortest you'll come across, with many going more like 7 days. Many people come to these workshops to meet other people, expand their horizons, and open their heart.

Some retreats and workshops will include hatha yoga in order to get the body's energy moving and to bring it into a greater state of ease.

The most popular places for these workshops are the UK (in London), India, and NYC (US).

What Is Tantric Massage?

Tantric massage therapy is a way for people to open up sexually and sensually. It can be a way to release traumas, expand their ability to experience and receive pleasure, and bring deep emotional healing. Often these massages can allow you to experiences deep orgasms. For women, they can experience mutliple orgasms in a depth that they might not have before. Men can learn how to separate their ejaculation from their orgasm and experience energetic orgasms.

Because the person receiving is often nude, you want to make sure that whichever tantric massage therapist you do this with is of the highest integrity. There is too much abuse of power going on by male practitioners when giving tantric massage for women. It's not as common with male tantric massage.

The most popular areas for tantra massage are often in big cities like: NYC, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Houston, San Diego, Philadelphia, Denver and can't forget...the UK.

Before deciding to go for it, it's highly recommended to watch a video of a tantric massage to make sure you will feel ok with the process.

Tantric Practices

There are different kinds of tantra practices that will help you move toward higher consciousness. These daily spiritual practices can be things like mantra, working with yantras, yagnas, pranayama (breath work), tantra kriya yoga, tantra meditation techniques, and others.

One of the most well-known practices is the Osho tantra meditation. He has various forms of both dynamic and still meditations that fall under the umbrella of tantra.

One key, whenever you're doing sadhana, is creating sacred space. Whether it's in a small area in your house, or even just internally inside your own being, sacred space and a proper internal environment can make your sadhana much smoother.

Tantric rituals are often performed to generate energy that the practitioner can then work with. Often the rituals involve mantras, yantras, and yagnas in a complex play between geometry, energy and form. Some rituals have true power and are approached from a scientific perspective, like an electrician would approach wiring a house. Other rituals (mostly done by westerners who do left-hand tantra), don't have a scientific basis and are more there to ensure you're more present in the moment.

Sexual Energy in Left-Hand Tantra

This is a very controversial subject, one one which is thrown around so easily. Most people just focus on channeling sexual energy and call that tantra. The way it's being taught in most places, I would refer to it more as sacred sexuality or sacred love-making.

It involves cultivating both male and female sexual energy towards healing, experiencing ecstasy, or transmuting it to experience high states of meditation and yoga (union).

For that to happen first there needs to be an exchange of sexual energy between the man and the woman. Then they must transmute that sexual energy and bring it up through the chakras until they rest in an sometimes explosive equilibrium and harmony.

The kundalini energy must be activating and harness properly in order for this to work. This is where most people run into trouble.

Most people simply aren't ready to have huge amounts of kundalini shakti running through their system. They often haven't done daily spiritual practice for years beforehand, which purifies the system and readies it to receive these large influxes of energy.

Tantric Teachings

You can find tantric teachings going back thousands of years. In Buddhist teachings, the Vajrayana path is often referred to as Tantric Buddhism. They do lots of deity visualization, breathwork, guru yoga, and various other practices that utilize the mind in active meditation processes.

One of the most cited ancient texts on tantra is the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. Here's a quote from this source text. Instead of just reading it like more words, try and feel and understand the state of consciousness of the person who spoke this:

"Mystical ecstasy subject to dualistic thought, it is completely free from any notion of location, space, or time. This truth can only be touched by experience. It can only be reached by those entirely freed from duality and ego, and firmly, fully established in the consciousness of the Self. This state of Bhairava is filled with the pure bliss of unity between tantrika and the universe."

This is clearly not describing swing lifestyle or a free love culture. It's a deep experience of the potential of human consciousness.

The Six Yogas of Naropa has a lot of overlap with traditional tantra as well. It describes various practices that one could describe as tantric, even if it does not use those words.

Some people break down tantra into white tantric yoga and black tantra. In this categorization, white tantric yoga only uses the energy gained from tantric practices for the benefit of others. In black tantra, you can run across practitioners who are seriously playing with fire. They can utilize the energy for dark and destructive purposes. It's not recommended to follow this path.

Tantra Schools

You might be curious where you can find a tantra school in India...

...well here are two recommendations:

1. Isha Yoga Center, run by Sadhguru. One of the greatest living tantrics and yogis on this earth. I'd highly recommend reading this article he published on what is tantra yoga?

2. Bhairavananda Traditional Tantra Lineage, run by Guruji Rajkumar. A master with unparalleled insight, experience, and depth of practice with mantras, yantras, and yagnas.

If you're looking for tantra teachers of the absolute highest integrity, these two are for you.

Tantra Teacher Training

If you'd like to go beyond learning tantra and actually become a tantra teacher, then you should check out our list of tantra trainings. We've got trainings all over the world.

One thing I will say, while you might be able to get a tantra certification by going through one of these trainings, it takes daily sustained practice and true experience to truly be able to share the depths of tantra.