Tantric Massage in zena.cz

Tantric massage has become quite a big topic lately. Tantra as such certainly deserves attention, but not everyone can say exactly what it really is. Could you bring it a little closer to our readers?

Tantra as a teaching and philosophy arose before the 5th century BCE, yet today it is neither distant nor abstract. Many people who have practical experience with tantra say that tantra is a return to human nature. To the nature we have, in a way, forgotten because of Christian roots, artificially created morality, the modern hurried era with its focus on performance, and IT technologies.

As a philosophy, tantra reminds us of the art of living in the present moment, of listening to our bodies and their needs. It guides us to discover who we really are and what we want, regardless of what our parents, society, or partner think. It leads us toward inner freedom and the acceptance of our own body and sexuality, which in tantra is regarded as sacred. With the help of meditation, rituals, and breathing techniques, tantra allows us to experience a deep sense of unity with ourselves, with a partner, with the universe, and with everything that surrounds us. It teaches us to accept our nakedness, along with the imperfections of our bodies, heals our shame, teaches us to communicate about what we need in a relationship, and opens the way to deep ecstatic experiences.

Tantra does not say how we should live or what is good and bad, because for each person it is something different. It teaches us to approach life openly and without prejudice, and to try and experience things before we begin to judge them.

How did you come to tantra yourself? What spoke to you the most, and what was the journey to where you are today?

My path to tantra began when I was eighteen, when I found a flyer in the hallway of a language school for a weekend tantra course at Křivoklát. Something drew me to the course on a subconscious level, so I called the number on the flyer. The organizer was very kind and explained everything nicely. At that time almost no one in the Czech Republic knew much about tantra. The course started the very day I found the flyer and the next one would be in half a year, so I had to decide quickly. The lady from the flyer even found me a ride, so the decision was made and I set off for the course that same day. My ride was an experienced tantrika, a man named Čestmír, who had already taken the course once and spent the whole trip enthusiastically telling me about tantra. I arrived with great expectations, which the teachers Manguri and Albi fully met. I was absolutely thrilled. I met open, educated, interesting people who were looking for a path to themselves, to freedom, and to a sense of something beyond. In the course, which had almost twenty participants, we danced, meditated, sang mantras, shared, massaged, and did various exercises connected with awakening trust, setting aside masks, and letting go of beliefs about ourselves and the world. We learned how to touch consciously, how to be in contact, and how to communicate openly. The themes also included feeling our own bodies, our emotions, and our boundaries, not the learned ones, but the ones we truly feel.

The course touched me deeply, so right after returning I found books about tantra and soon went to a follow up course, where I also met my then boyfriend Václav, with whom I enrolled in a two year tantric training with John Hawken. At that time it did not even occur to me that I would one day devote myself to tantra as a teacher or that I would have a tantric center. Tantra delighted and intrigued me and brought me knowledge and joy. I sought out various teachers of tantra and Taoism from around the world who were already traveling to the Czech Republic. I tried to learn as much as possible. Other practices were also connected with tantra, such as the Five Rhythms dance, massage courses, and the art of touch. I therefore went for several months to study massage in India and Thailand, where I learned a lot about how the human body works and how to work with it.

After finishing the training, I first began assisting on courses and then teaching myself in cooperation with an experienced teacher. Over time, women’s groups and tantric trainings were added.

While assisting at one course, I also encountered tantric massage. Today, when people say tantric massage, for many it is a synonym for tantra. But it is not so. Tantric massage is one of many tantric rituals, while tantra as a philosophy is much broader. There was a tantric masseur from Germany at the course at that time who offered me a massage as a gift, because he wanted to open a tantric center in Germany and wanted to try out how his art worked. Thanks to my natural curiosity I agreed and I have never regretted that decision. I received three hours of concentrated care and tenderness. The masseur sensed every inhalation and exhalation and looked only for what brought me joy. I felt like a princess.

The beautiful experience was still resonating in me when, less than a week later, a tantric teacher called to ask whether I would like to give a four handed tantra massage to a client together with her. At that time I was an experienced tantrika and masseuse, but I had only experienced tantra massage as the receiver. The teacher told me not to worry, that she would lead the whole ritual. I agreed and it was very nice, but I felt that tantric massage could be much more than just intuitive touch with a pleasant intention. So I used all my experience from the Czech Republic and Asia and began working on my own technique of tantric massage. I drew a lot from bioenergetics, body therapy, tantra, shamanism, and Thai healing massage. After months of experimenting my own technique was born, and I opened my own massage practice to try it with clients as their tantric guide. Tantric massage was only just beginning in the Czech Republic at that time. I had success, and most clients returned to me. After two years I opened my own tantric center, expanded and systematized my technique, and began to teach tantra massage. People now come from all over the world to learn our Inner Wave technique.

You are currently running a center and a school of tantric massage in the center of Prague. What do you offer?

We offer tantric massages for men, women, and couples, not only on the level of experience, but also on the level of healing and personal or relationship development. We complement the massages with other tantric rituals, such as the tantric bath ritual or the ritual of awakening the senses, which enrich and deepen the massage.

We also teach tantra and tantric massage. We offer courses for individuals or couples who want to relax with each other through massage, deepen their experience with breathing and meditation techniques, or learn how to make love in a tantric way. Within the school of tantric sexuality, we teach people to communicate about mutual needs and fantasies, as well as what men and women actually need in the field of sexuality. At the beginning we talk with clients about what they want to learn with us, and we prepare the course tailored to them.

We also train professional tantric therapists who, in addition to understanding tantric philosophy and mastering massage techniques, must be able to work with the intention and boundaries of tantric massage so that they can guide clients through tantric experiences. These courses are therefore longer and go more in depth. In our wellness it is also possible to book rehabilitative massages, aromatherapy, or for example hot stone massage. In short, we try to offer care and conscious touch even to people who would not yet dare to try tantra.

Could you say which services are most in demand, and what your “average” client is like? Do more men, women, or couples come?

Coming for a tantric massage is certainly easier for men, because they are often more open and less shy than women. Many men later bring their partners, because sharing tantra as a couple and living it not only in our studio but also at home is the dream of everyone who spends some time with tantra. Allowing oneself to feel arousal in the presence of a partner during a shared tantric massage is a deeply bonding experience that opens communication in the couple and awakens trust and mutual acceptance. Women also come more and more often, and besides a deep experience, they often seek healing of past traumatic experiences.

I would say that many people perceive tantric massage only as a “disguised” erotic massage, where the primary goal is climax. But what is the main point of tantric massage, and how does it actually proceed?

This social perception of tantra unfortunately stems from the greed of many owners of “tantric centers” who do not understand tantra at all. Tantric massage became very popular about ten years ago, which unfortunately also brought the fact that half of erotic masseuses renamed themselves “tantric” overnight. There is a huge difference between erotic and tantric massage. Erotic massage is often impersonal stroking by a pretty girl in sexy lingerie, which has little in common with massage. It is focused only on the result in the form of sexual satisfaction of the client, and the masseuse is more an object that the client pays for.

Tantric massage, on the other hand, is based on the experience of deep human closeness, respect, and mutual attunement between receiver and giver, and it is not about orgasm at all. The giver is a guide who first teaches the client tantric breathing techniques to deepen the entire experience and then leads them through the whole ritual, where massage and breathing techniques gradually relax the whole body and mind. For the massage we use body therapeutic techniques to release tension, hot towels for deep relaxation, feathers, furs, or silk scarves to feel tenderness and softness, and then warmed oil enriched with oriental essences to relax the whole body. If trust and a sense of safety awaken, then sexual energy, which is the strongest energy in the body, also begins to awaken during the massage. In tantra we seek to connect the pelvis with the heart and awareness on the level of experience and to help the client feel total surrender. Tantric massage has no goal and offers a safe space to explore the sensations of one’s own body and to enjoy loving touch and care, which we often desperately miss.

If a couple comes to you for a shared tantric massage, it probably helps to be clear about jealousy. In your practice, have you encountered, for example, that one partner has a problem with a stranger touching their partner even in the most intimate places? And who tends to struggle more with possible jealousy? Some may even see it as a form of infidelity. How much do you encounter prejudice in your practice?

It is also fine if a couple is not yet clear. Tantra is about experiment and discovery, and people often realize things during it that they did not know about themselves before. Before each massage we also offer a free space for conversation, during which we talk with receivers about how tantric massage proceeds and what is and is not fine for them. The aim of tantric massage is to unite the couple, not to divide them, so we give both partners the possibility to stop the massage at any time during its course, for themselves and for their partner, and to say that this is their boundary of intimacy for today and they do not want to go further. At the same time we explain that they should not force themselves into anything but should listen to their feelings and be guided by them. In tantra there is no “right” or “wrong,” and tantric massage is a path on which receivers can proceed together in small steps toward mutual respect, tolerance, and openness. This path cannot be rushed and it is not good to sprint through it, it is better to walk it and experience every step.

Tantric massage has nothing to do with infidelity. There is no lovemaking, no mutual touching between receiver and giver, and no relationship is formed beyond the framework of the tantric massage. Tantra provides a safe space in which the receiver, under the guidance of an experienced guide, discovers the sensations of their own body, their needs, and their energetic potential, which they then bring into the relationship, deepening and enriching it. Jealousy often arises from the fear that we will lose our partner or that they will like it somewhere else more than with us. If we perceive the relationship as a path of mutual growth, then everything a person experiences in tantric massage and brings into the relationship is in fact a path of one toward the other.

In recent days, the Czech media has been stirred by the case of Richard Vojík, a tantric guru. Several clients have accused him of rape. What would you say to that as the owner of a tantric center? What is your position, and how do you perceive the case personally?

I see the entire case as a serious crossing of boundaries and an abuse of trust and authority from the position of a teacher. No teacher should abuse the trust with which clients turn to them to satisfy their personal and sexual needs. If a teacher enters into sexual contact with clients, it is abuse, and that person should definitely not work with people. When taught and passed on correctly and ethically, tantra is a healing philosophy that can help people in many ways. This places even greater demands on teachers. It is no art to bring people to experiences. The art is to help them integrate and process them. Because I organize seminars, I completed a five year psychotherapy training in Gestalt, so that I would know how to support the processes that can arise in a course.

Because tantra works with intimate themes, sexual energy, and trust, any crossing of boundaries can seriously harm clients. In our center, professional tantric massage therefore places great emphasis on the ethics and personal responsibility of the practitioners. Any failure has deep negative consequences. Every masseur and masseuse in our center is therefore bound by the Quality Standards and the Ethical Code that I created for tantric massage as a profession. A violation would lead to immediate termination of cooperation and further sanctions.

According to what criteria do you choose your employees? And how do you actually vouch for them to the client? Many clients will probably wonder whether, especially in the case of men, it must be a person mature in terms of self control and work with mind and body. After all, a masseur or masseuse also feels arousal, or do they not?

We are very careful in selecting our masseurs and masseuses. A professional tantric therapist must be a personally mature person with perspective, who has a relationship to giving touch and to tantra, whose motivation is purely therapeutic, and who can remain only in the role of a guide. Our masseurs and masseuses then undergo more than 120 hours of training, where we teach them to work with the body, deepen their knowledge of tantric philosophy and ethics, introduce them to the art of tantric massage, meditation, breathwork, and working with boundaries. The training also includes several experiential massages. Our center also provides ongoing supervision led by an experienced psychotherapist and supervisor. Our therapists strive to continue educating themselves not only in tantra but also in massage techniques and philosophy.

Practitioners also work with their own feelings, which can include arousal, desire, or attraction. This is where ethics comes in, because the giver must never cross the boundaries of tantric massage, not even if the client wants it. Once trust is lost, all previous work would be in vain.

If during training we gain the impression that a person is not ready to guide others, we prefer not to start cooperation at all rather than endangering our clients. All our masseurs are then bound by a fairly strict contract that is intended to protect our clients, the practitioners, and the reputation of our center.

And finally, what experience or feeling should a client take home after a tantric massage?

Above all, the client should leave with the feeling that they have lived through several beautiful hours in which someone cared for them and gave them love and care. They should feel rested, physically and mentally relaxed, and full of new energy. When the massage goes well, it can touch a spiritual experience, the client may feel healing of fear or shame, a sense of connection throughout the whole body, and often inspiration for the life ahead.