Perhaps nothing more fuzzy in the “retreats world” than a Tantra Retreat. Tantra comprises of an enormous field of topics — religious, spiritual, philosophical, psychological, physical and somatic — not to talk about differences in typology of Tantra like White, Red, Dark and Black Tantra, and various Tantric lineages, and subsequently it’s not so strange that the label “Tantra Retreat” is about the same as “A Restaurant.”
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What I mean to say, is that like with a friend who offers to take you to a restaurant, you know you’re going to eat something, but what you get served can be anything. More or less the same goes for so-called Tantra Retreats. Luckily, those who offer them, print book works of retreat content descriptions on the Internet, which, when you have finally finished reading those, is almost as if you have already taken and attended the retreat itself.
Anyway, jokes and irony apart, it really is a kind of Tantric jungle out there — you have Tantra Yoga, Womb Listening and Whispering, Lingam and Yoni Honoring, Yoni Egg, Orgasmic Bliss, Tantra Philosophy, Tantric Sex, Slow and Mindful Sex, Couples, Intimacy, Dance, Full Moon, Conscious Touch and Darkness retreats, Sacred Sexuality, Breathwork, Chanting, Tantric Initiation, Kundalini Awakening, Dakini and Goddess Worshiping, Yoni Mapping, Tantra Massage, Tantric Alchemy, Shamanic Rituals, Multi-Orgasm, Divine Union, Tantric Eye-Gazing, and Tantra Meditation retreats, among many other types, and more often than not the retreats have a tendency to blend together all the “modalities” I’ve just mentioned.
Tantra retreats can take a weekend, week, two or three weeks, a month, it all depends, they are usually incredibly expensive, and they’re typically organized in quiet, excluded, exotic or rustic places, with preferably lots of nature around you. What you get out of it, is basically what you put in it, and here also, of course you have authentic teachers knowing well the subject they’re talking about, but sometimes also those who think or pretend to really transfer some valuable “secret-sacred” knowledge and practice.
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Surely there are very well-defined Tantric retreats that focus deeply on just one or a few topics, and where you will really learn something, like, for instance, Tantra Massage, Tantra Yoga, or Tantric Breathwork, but even with the fuzzy, fully stuffed Tantra retreats you will of course meet people, exchange ideas, have “some” learning experience and adventure, maybe simply having a good time, perhaps even taking something of it with you that can make a valuable change in your life.
But to make a very, very long and rather complicated story short — the message I’d like to give, is not to take the phrase “Tantra Retreat” for granted. It can actually mean anything, so it’s important to scrutinize meticulously the kind of retreat offerings made, compare different retreats, try to first understand what Tantra and Neo-Tantra is, and what kind of Tantric modalities exist, before you fall for the first bling-bling retreat ad that appears in the Google Search Engine or on Book-A-Retreat websites.
