An Eruption of Emotion and Energy: What It’s Like to Experience a Tantric Massage

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Sex or Prostitution Aside: What Are Tantric Massages Really About?

Behind the glossy presentation of “tantra” today, anything at all may be hiding. But I want to experience the best of true tantra. In Prague, there are said to be only a few renowned places.

I’m going there, in this random order – Harmony Spa, Tantra Massage Prague, and Arkaya – The Body Center. I’ll do the reportages, and later also the interviews – who are the masseuses, what do they actually do with a naked body, and how does their environment perceive them? But let me note right away that the purpose of tantric massage is not sexual satisfaction.

A warning beforehand: “You don’t know what you’ve signed up for,” one of the tantric women tells me over the phone as we arrange the first massage and interview. When she hears about my plan – three Mondays in a row, three locations, three different women, and their long tantric massages – she adds: “You’ll see, this level of intimacy will trigger your inner processes.”

And she’s right. Based on my own experience, I gradually admit that tantric massages are not just a business because people are willing to pay thousands of crowns for a few hours of gentle care.

I’m writing this as I perceive it myself – a heterosexual man in middle age. With one change to my plan: after each massage I am completely unable to work or ask any questions. There’s a lot of emotion at play here – and perhaps because of that, I go through something like an internal rewiring. It feels like experiential rehabilitation of the soul. That’s why I talk with the masseuses only after completing all three massages.

 
Tantric Massage
Tantric massage is a ritual rooted in tantric philosophy and principles. It is an invitation into a world of senses, care, beauty, and tenderness – an exciting exploration of one’s own ecstatic experiences. Its form is not always fixed; every masseur or masseuse adjusts it slightly according to their own understanding, which is possible only with a deep knowledge of tantric techniques and principles.

In accordance with tantric teaching, tantric massage is also about cultivating sexual energy, deepening pleasure, and releasing blocked energy. In this way, it becomes a healing massage.

The massage itself is a ritual. It has a defined structure, but within it there is room for the individuality of both giver and receiver, for trust in intuition and the flow of the present moment.

The boundaries of tantric massage are crucial and must always be respected. These include the absence of sexual intercourse between giver and receiver, as well as the avoidance of mutual affectionate exchange.

Source: tantramasaze.com

 
Monday No. 1 – Karolína, Harmony Spa
Two massage rooms in Asian style, one with a large bathtub, burning candles, calm meditative music. A graceful woman with beautiful eyes opens the door, smiling, offering to speak informally. Karolína soon earns the nickname Wild Shaman. She’s kind and attractive – though soon, her looks will be the last thing on my mind.

I enter the ground floor of a historical building on Prague’s riverside near Vyšehrad. We sit in armchairs, and I get a theoretical introduction to what tantric massages are. The rules are clear and there are many. I decide to follow every instruction given to me at each visit. I will remain purely the receiver.

Karolina

I don’t touch the woman at all. Instead, I’m told to keep my eyes closed for a stronger experience – what?! But I’m ultimately grateful I obeyed. Karolína tells me in advance that there will be no direct lingam massage – the tantric term for the penis. In our culture, she says, it distracts from the wholeness of the experience and narrows it only to sexual arousal.

After the introduction I take a shower and return with a sarong tied loosely around my hips. Standing, face to face. I look into her eyes, then close mine. And it begins…

Breathing! Her breathing. I hear her deep hissing inhalations and exhalations, and I feel them – as if carried by a breeze – over every part of my body. I stand, then lie face down on the futon. The sarong slips away. All thoughts about the outside world fade. Her touch is impossibly slow and soft. I relax completely. I expect nothing. Sometimes she’s as light as a butterfly, sometimes more grounded, yet always fluid. She leaves no part of my body untouched. It amazes me later how completely one can lose themselves in the experience.

 
Interview 1: Karolína, 32, Harmony Spa
How long have you been practicing tantric massage?
“For three or four years now, in the Neo-Tantra way we do it here, where tantra is connected with massage. Before that, I was interested only in the spiritual part of tantra, but also in shamanism and altered states of consciousness. Through Dark Eros and similar shadow work, I gradually came to tantric massage.”

How would you describe Dark Eros?
“It’s a branch of tantra very much based on touch. You learn what kind of touch feels good or not, you discover yourself. On the first course I realized how unaware I was of my own body, how absent I was from myself. I found out that I was keeping myself in a prison of what I allowed myself to feel and express. It was a huge awakening.”

Why did you decide to start massaging people?
“It came gradually. I dedicated time, energy, and money to self-discovery, spending more and more time with it until I slowly transitioned to giving massages. Today I see it as mutual healing, whoever comes to me always brings me a message about myself as well.”

Your breathing during the massage was quite distinctive. Do you always breathe like that?
“It’s different each time, depending on where the process takes me. I’m not even fully aware of it. I just know that breath helps me and guides me.”

Do you meet clients expecting something erotic or even sexual?
“I’ve had such experiences in the past, but it’s simple. I put a lot of attention into the conversation before the massage, that’s the key. Trust is built there. If our intentions differ, people usually leave, because we both know it wouldn’t make sense. I don’t want anyone to come for an erotic experience, because through sexual arousal one can easily be manipulated.”

Do you have a partner, and what does he think about your work?
“Yes, I do. Over time he realized there was nothing to fear. We are honest with each other. If something needs to be clarified, we talk about it. My previous partner was also part of tantric circles, yet after half a year we still had to sit down and set clear boundaries. I made sure he knew nothing wrong happens here.”

 
Monday No. 2 – Alena, Tantra Massage Prague

This place feels more spacious. Alena opens the door, her energy is lively, radiant, full of joy. Later I’ll think of her as The Rapids in the Clouds – gentle yet immensely strong. Behind the final door in a Smíchov apartment house lies a dimly lit room with candles and a large corner bathtub. Armchairs, a futon on the floor, and many small tools around. “What kind of tea would you like?” she asks cheerfully. Everything she does is joyful.

We chat for nearly half an hour. “If you need contact, you can touch me, but don’t be active,” Alena clarifies. The touch is limited to non-intimate zones. Centers like this are not “private rooms”, the client is here in the role of the receiver.

I choose an orange sarong, tie it around my hips. Soon it will come off anyway. Alena asks about my relationship with nudity, what I’m comfortable with.

Alena

I feel as if in a dream. My body understands that here, I truly don’t have to do anything. And that feeling lasts for the next three hours. The massage shifts between dynamic and relaxing, physical and tender, like a blend of Thai and oil massage, full of care and sensuality. I laugh, tremble, almost float. This small woman, half a head shorter than me, somehow lifts and holds my 110 kilos during a standing ritual. She stretches me, opens my arms, and suddenly I am… flying. Nothing matters here.

Alena’s breathing is soft on the inhale, but each exhale is full and alive, as if something deeply moving is happening to her. Into the bath she pours milk, aromatic oils, large salt crystals, rose petals, and slices of orange. Sitting behind me, she embraces me with her whole body.

I feel her palms, her arms, her breath. She moves me gently and fluidly in the water, stretching my body as if effortlessly. I can’t understand how she does it. She rolls me onto my side, her fingers gliding over my lower back. I feel so much that even with closed eyes I can sense every petal on the water’s surface. I’m entranced.

I start breathing loudly myself, my mouth forms an “O.” It just happens. I don’t analyze it. Alena dries me with a towel; I lie on the futon, back, stomach, back again. Time dissolves between these shifts. Her strength is impressive, yet her movements are soft, flowing. Sometimes she’s a waterfall, sometimes a rapid stream, then a gentle brook, and then suddenly an erupting geyser.

Her breathing fills the space. In another kind of salon, it might sound erotic, here, it’s awakening, revitalizing. I reach for her hand briefly, but it distracts me. The inner experience is stronger. I let go.

We lie side by side for a while. Sometimes I open my eyes and meet her gaze. Our fingers intertwine. She strokes my face, gently, tenderly, with care. It’s sensual, but not sexual or vulgar. There’s no shame, no lust, no desire for orgasm. Just pure presence.

My body occasionally trembles in release. It feels like a tiny volcano at my core, sending waves through my whole body, like an inner lightning strike. I burst into laughter. Alena is pure energy. She grabs my hips and in a moment turns me into an earthquake. I feel the hot stones and oil on my skin, the massage deepening into something both primal and sacred.

I experience a lingam massage. Sometimes I exhale deeply; I’ve lived through many things, but it’s as if my body finally gets its fill of gentleness and slowness. There’s no “happy ending,” just calm, expanding pleasure, real, authentic.

We kneel facing each other, holding hands, gazing into each other’s eyes. We talk for a while. I feel completely relaxed. The taste of mint tea, the crunch of grapes between my teeth, everything feels amplified.

For the whole next week, I’m charged with energy. I wake early, I exercise effortlessly, and I look forward to each day.

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Conversation no. 2, Alena, 30 years old, Tantra Massage Prague

How did you come to tantric massage and how long have you been practicing it?
I have been giving massages for four and a half years, and I came to them through tantric philosophy about six years ago. Everyone was talking about massage, but tantra first interested me as a way of life. I devoted myself to meditation, work with my body, and yoga practice.

What did the people close to you say when you started with massage?
I was sometimes worried about how someone would receive this information. People around me perceive that I am doing something that fulfills me, and that it is not what they might have imagined at first.

And what about your parents?
My mom knows and she is thrilled. I talk with her about tantra a lot. She even came here to the studio about a month ago with a friend. I massaged her friend, and my colleague massaged my mom.

What is the difference between tantric and erotic massage?
In tantric massage it is not only about sexuality. Emotionality is important, and spirituality as well.

I was surprised by the high degree of emotional closeness.
It is important to create all these connections and, through them, to experience a meeting of souls. What we do here can be called sacred sexuality. We invite into the space not only the bodily aspects of a person, but also the spirit and the soul, that which transcends us. It is hard to talk about, which is why it is a matter of direct experience.

What basic boundaries do you set for someone interested in a massage?
It is important that the client remains in the receiving role, and above all, that the focus is on themselves. In tantric massage it is not about our connection, even though physical contact happens to some extent. It is like meditation, an awareness of what is happening here and now. When we have a lot of energy but little awareness, chaos arises. On the other hand, awareness without energy is lifeless. The same balanced approach is needed in tantric massage.

Monday no. 3, Stáňa, Arkaya, Body Center

Palms glide smoothly over a naked male and female body, on a large screen above the reception. The bright entrance room pampers the senses visually, soft carpets, an ornate mirror, a glass chandelier. In Vinohrady I am welcomed with a smile by Stáňa, a tall, slim, mature woman whom I soon nickname the Experienced Witch in my mind. Be your own master here, allow yourself any sounds and movements, even a headstand, she says at the end of our friendly introduction. Again she first describes the rules, we clarify expectations and options.

We move from light into the dimness of one of the rooms. Lamps and candles light the earthy colors of the space, my feet sink into a thick carpet. A massage table stands in the room. Nearby I see not only fur gloves but also a flogger. Later, when I am lying on my stomach, I can watch in the reflection of a large mirror with an ornate frame my own body and the body of the masseuse, who is wearing a white scarf tied skillfully around her hips. Using my eyes is unnecessary though, it pulls me away from my inner experience. Everything of mine arrives through Stáňa.

Staňa

She starts the music, calm rather than ethnic, at one point a beautiful piano begins to play. I get time for a shower, and when I am half dressed in a sarong around my waist, I am to leave the door slightly open. She comes in. We stand for the opening ritual, Stáňa breathes calmly in front of me. I am puffing as if I had run up stairs, it happens by itself, my body wants oxygen. Her soothing, introductory, relaxing touches confirm her presence. I hear her attune to my breathing rhythm. Then we breathe more actively, we hold the breath, aah. At the end of the opening part I am stroked with the sarong, my own, so I am standing without clothes. It feels natural, like being in the bathroom at home. Being without shame.

I lie on my stomach on the massage table. I experience care through stroking. I do not know exactly when the hot compresses or oil arrive. I feel sudden tremors in my body, a hissing breath, I am fully myself, the masseuse is… where is she. I open my eyes and look in the mirror. I see the reflection of my body and the focused woman above me. She is massaging a lying figure, and I feel a certain disconnect between what I see and what I feel.

My body twitches again on its own. It is not a seizure, although it might look like one. I do not worry about it. The previously discussed offer to use a tool known as a flogger returns. Am I really going for this, flashes through my mind, but despite total uncertainty I say yes. A swish, I grip the table with both hands. I am curious about my awakening anger, I want to roar at the whole world. Suddenly the flogger disappears, replaced by gentleness beyond gentleness. A huge contrast, amazement. If my eyes were not closed, they would pop open in surprise. This is what I wanted to show you, smiles Stáňa.

An offer of prostate massage follows. This is my biggest hesitation. I do not want it. But I go for it, I am also an explorer here, I am writing a reportage. After a while I feel that this is not my path inward. And that I will never be a smuggler either. I will not torment you, says Stáňa after a seemingly endless moment.

I am already lying on my back. Blissful. I am covered with hot compresses. Wonderful. I breathe, calm again, at times my body twitches in release. Her hands are in my groin, a moment later on my chest, then back again. Circular movements. Long strokes. Inhale, the air goes deep into my belly. I feel my integrity, my whole body, surface and inside, the body’s own awareness. I am in a whirlwind, I breathe like crazy.

I cannot keep up with all that is happening to me, I open my eyes to understand a curious spiral movement. I close them again. The more I breathe, the more the masseuse breathes. Five inhalations and exhalations, then one breath in and tensing all muscles in the body as much as possible, twice in a row. The second time I hold the tension longer than ever. I shake, sweat pours off me. I fall back, release. Stáňa encourages me to live through my power. I growl. I shout. Why, I do not know, after all I have already been an airplane. I clench my hands like the claws of a beast. Release. I return to reality without having been away. Calm. We talk. What was that again. I smile.

For the next week after the massage I am full of emotions. I exercise every morning with gusto, I feel the need to put my things in order.

Conversation no. 3, Stáňa, 51 years old, Arkaya, Body Center

How long have you been giving these massages, and what path brought you to them?
I have been massaging for about ten years, and in that time more than a thousand people have certainly passed through my hands. I come from a Christian family, and through my longing for higher understanding I somewhat dismantled that original concept.

Why?
It was important for me to find out why I feel the way I feel. Because of my upbringing I had absorbed dogmas in my body that sexuality is bad. The flow of energy in this area was completely blocked, and therefore my heart could not be nourished. I needed to unravel this, and I gradually came to tantra through work with inner energy. With my husband, he is my ex husband today, we were looking for ways to improve our relationship, and we began to discover tantra.

What did you do before?
I worked in the economic sphere, in accounting, with papers. It stopped making sense to me, so I resigned. I began to feel the principle of the feminine soul. I no longer wanted to strive for performance. When I saw an ad looking for tantric masseuses, I went to try it and immediately felt like a fish in water. I do not even consider massage to be work, it feels like fulfilling my calling.

Do you remember your first client?
Yes, and in retrospect I would apologize to him in my thoughts. I had a tendency then to do the massage mainly well. Which is actually wrong. When I teach clients tantric massage today, I tell them above all, stop having any expectations that it has to turn out in some particular way. That takes an enormous amount of energy.

Why is the opening ritual important, and what happens during the massage?
During the beginning the client breathes beautifully, we attune to each other. From then on nothing is forced, it unfolds naturally. Breath, sound, and movement help the client reach their depth. Various kinds of touch serve this.

I was also struck by the contrast in the style of touch.
In my view contrast helps the body open more easily. With you I asked whether we could use a stronger contrast with the flogger so that you would perceive more.

It was part of your offer beyond the usual scope. And then suddenly the softest caress came, and the contrast was amazing.
It is the letting go of control and self control. We often use the contrast of flow and stillness, slowness and speed, firmness and softness. There are also techniques of shock and startle, but we do not work with those.

And what is this work like from a financial point of view?
Ideally the masseuse should not be financially dependent only on income from massage, so she does not have to work with clenched teeth or in fatigue. I am here to help open your energy through the massage and to bring you into your full experience without expectations. The feeling of surrendering control is probably the most important thing for people. This is why entrepreneurs and people used to being goal oriented often come. For a while, they can simply receive.

2.11.2022
Author of the article: JAN DAVID

Zdroj: https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/magazin-zivotni-styl-erupce-emoci-a-energie-jake-to-je-zazit-tantrickou-masaz-218265