When you dive a bit deeper into the make-up of contemporary sensual erotic Tantric and Taoist massages you will notice that the concepts of Tantric massages are intermixed with Taoist principles and vice versa.
eBook | Click for details
That may seem odd and inconsistent but there are good reasons for why that happened. In fact, Taoism and Tantra both see sexual energy as an expression of creative life energy (Qi or Prana) and use sexual energy to increase life force, nurture spiritual advancement, and stimulate better health and longevity. In Taoism the Dantian and Meridians are the transformers and conductors of sexual and life energy, in Tantra these energy centers and channels are called Chakras and Nadis respectively.
Let’s, for instance, take a look at the Neo-Tantric Lingam Massage as created by Joseph Kramer in the 1980s in the USA. The name of the massage points to Indian concepts i.e. Tantra and Lingam, but the massage itself came into existence as a development of the Taoist Erotic Massage. By the way, the same counts for the Neo-Tantric Yoni Massage.
In any case, the “Taoist” part of the Tantric Lingam Massage is that the treatment is not only applied to stimulate erotic energy, but also to circulate that energy through the body without ejaculation (while at the same time having multiple orgasms), which is an important concept of ancient Taoist Sexual Practices. Not only does the Lingam Massage uses Taoist techniques to increase health and longevity, but the Lingam Massage is also about the freedom to experience pleasure as a natural phenomenon without feelings of guilt, which is based on Tantric ideas.
eBook | Click for details
Then, as for a second example, let’s take a look at the famous Tantra Massage as developed by Andro Rothe in 1978 in Berlin, Germany. As Andro explained himself, the Tantra Massage is based on his earlier developed Yin-Yang Massage. You may immediately notice that two things are blended here: “Tantra” is an Indian concept and “Yin-Yang” is a Chinese i.e. Taoist idea.
One of the fundamentals of the Yin-Yang Massage is the Meridian theory from Traditional Chinese Medicine used to activate vital life energy (Qi) and to stimulate balancing and strengthening of Yin and Yang aspects in humans. The Yin-Yang massage also borrows from a range of other ideas and knowledge, such as the Indian Chakra and Kundalini teachings. In fact, when you learn to give the Tantra Massage as created by Andro Rothe, you will first learn the Yin-Yang Massage.
So, all by all, when one understands the basic ideas of Indian Tantra and Chinese Taoism it isn’t odd at all that ideas, methods and techniques have been borrowed from both to create the variety of East-West sexual, genital and sensual massages we know today. The juggle, shuffle and mash-up of Taoism and Tantra may be rather confusing for the layman, but in the end it all makes perfect sense.
