Introducing Master # 1 of the Tao - Tantric Shitshow, Part 2

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Hey y’all,

I’ve always had a thing for the yin/yang symbol, that balance of light and dark, with a piece of light within the dark and piece of dark within the light.

The yin/yang is actually a major symbol in an afterlife love story, an unfinished novel that I really need to finish someday. Maybe this experience is a nudge for me to work on “Lover Man and Bella Donna” – although god/goddess knows how this might affect the original story.

The time I spent in this workshop, I feel like I was immersed in the meaning and essence of yin and yang.

As I said in the earlier email, there were yin/yang symbols everywhere – but not necessarily white and black.

There were a lot of white and gold combos, red and blue, the former tied into how Mantak Chia taught the sexual aspects of the Universal Healing Tao.

Sexuality plays a strong role in his system, but it’s not the end all. His main suggestion with orgasm is to send the chi up into the organ systems to create healing, because our sexual energy is the most powerful source of chi we have.

His focus is mostly on alternative healing, and he has all kinds of odd and peculiar treatments - Karsai Nei Tsang Genital Detox therapy is one of them.

According to Mantak Chia, this is crucial in clearing our sexual organs of the grit and gunk and metals and toxins that settle in our systems and in the pelvis.

Really, this isn’t as out there as it sounds, most of the treatment is a deep abdominal massage with only a few minutes in the genital area. Or at least that’s the way it was for the woman. That burly Thai Karsai Nei Tsang massage therapist really went to town on the man.

Oh, there were live demos of this.

One of the guests, a Frenchman, volunteered to be the model for the male half.

He kept his underwear on - fitted black shorts - the entire time, but the therapist pulled his testicles out and did what I can only describe as wringing them out to dry.

Maybe they didn’t tell him what the demo entailed because he looked like he was about to pass out when it was over.

The female model was from the Source Tantra team, let’s just say she was ready. I think she didn’t get the memo that the therapist would work around her underwear.

She expected to be naked, and immediately threw off her bright yellow sundress – to the shocked horror of Mantak Chia. He threw the dress back at her and told her to cover up as the audience howled with laughter.

Other than that, the demo went without incident.

There are many who consider Mantak Chia to be a fraud. That what he teaches isn’t really Tao.

Rashmi, my classical Tantra teacher, is one of them.

He’s also come up with his own version of Qigong. Most of the Thai locals don’t know who he is. He caters to a well-to-do Western audience.

Dean, the New Zealander owner/manager of the guesthouse where I landed knew who Mantak Chia was, and knew Tao Garden is where I was coming from because Kip told him, and asked me about it when I got there.

“I’ve heard some strange stories about that Tao Garden and Mantak Chia, something about him getting people to drink their own piss.”

Well, he didn’t go quite that far with my group.

But he did make a suggestion.

Gold and white light are the colors a couple draws in and exchanges in the peaks of sexual ecstasy and orgasm – or something to that effect.

He happened to mention that non-alcoholic beer and urine were the perfect gold color to take in that magic color, and that people have been known to drink their urine…

What some people will do for a harder hard-on and stronger orgasms…who knows?

Aaannnddd…wouldn’t it be something if Mantak Chia was having us on, seeing just how far he could push a bunch of stupid Westerners to follow his crazy lead?

He always looks like he’s about to laugh…so maybe?

Either way, the man has written and co-authored a gazillion books on his take on the Tao and Qigong, as well as made as many videos.

So if he’s full of shit, he’s gone to a lot of trouble to prove his point and make it truth.

And a lot of people have benefitted from his teachings and methods. So perhaps everything, even ancient spiritual and healing systems in a state of constant flux, changing with the times and as needs arise and shift?

Yet Mantak Chia treats his staff like shit, and it is obvious women are there for a man’s pleasure and other needs.

His current girlfriend is at least 40 years younger than he is. He blatantly and unabashedly owns the excessive privilege and sexism of a man from his time and place, as well as stature since he has risen far in his life and career.

His house was on the property, and it’s a beast of a mansion.

The man runs a tight ship, I’ll give him that. There’s reason this is called the Tantric Shitshow - none of that crap from his Tao half.

As far as Sierra’s mission to get the Tao and Tantra dinosaurs to “change their language to be more queer-inclusive,” Mantak Chia made his nod.

He mentioned in one of his lectures that gay and lesbian clients could also use these practices to gain more chi and improve their sex lives.

Other than that, he did not give a damn about changing a thing about how he expressed himself.

Since we were on his turf, tough shit if nobody liked it.

His lesson-plan was extremely male-centric. Whenever he was supposed to focus on female sexuality, he always slipped into…

“And the penis and the testicles…

Also, his talks were interspersed with the dirty-old-man chortle.

You know that sound that’s a hybrid of “hee hee hee,” and “huh, huh, huh?” (Maybe it is hue, hue, hue?) That’s what he sounded like.

One thing that was helpful was that he taught through repetition. So after a while, I started to get it. Every morning, even if we didn’t make it to his Qigong class, he started the same exercises repeated the same things over and over.

We’d circle our pelvises in each direction and then take it to smaller circles to move the sacrum. Simple exercise, but that worked.

It was awesome for low back pain, btw.

“Now squee (squeeze) your anus, squee (squeeze) up, up, up…” He would lift his hand up to indicate sending the chi up to our brains.

“If a man has his sacrum stuck, that affects his penis and he can’t screw…(insert dirty-old-man chortle here)…so spiral from your sacrum.”

“If the lady doesn’t work with her jade egg and tighten her wagina, the king would throw that concubine out! (Insert dirty-old-man chortle here)…”

“If you want more chi, more energy in your sexual organs, play with your nipples and connect with your prostate, and ladies, connect with your mysterious gate and your uterus. Lift your sexual organs, and men, don’t forget to squee your testicles. (Insert dirty-old-man chortle here)…”

Honestly, the only queer (queer as in bizarre, not queer as in gay) aspect to his lessons was the room full of people squeezing their nipples, while the men grabbed their junk.

And my personal favorite? The lesson in the soft entry, hard retreat – and that is exactly what it sounds like it is. Part of that lesson was his advice that it was crucial for the woman to come first. But even that was about the men.

“Men, it is very important for the lady to ejaculate first. Because when lady orgasms, her wagina becomes so warm and juicy, and the penis is like, OOOHHH…and immediately grows hard.”

Granted, I probably didn’t get his words exactly right, but this is close enough.

I think that’s enough for now.

I’ve been in Laos for a few days, and I absolutely LOVE IT here! I’ll write more on that later. But this place is just gorgeous!

Peace,

Mana

The Quixotic Quest of the Great Queer Hope II - Tantric Shitshow, Part 1

Image by ktphotography from Pixabay

Hey y’all,

[The beginning of this letter is the blog right after this one.]

I thought: “What the hell. I’ve never been to Thailand, and what better way to celebrate my freedom after ending a stifling, oppressive relationship than to go to SE Asia and start that journey with a Tantra adventure.”

So I signed right up.

This is the part where I should have done some research.

From the information I found online, the Masters – Mantak Chia (Tao) and Charles Muir (Tantra) - seemed really male, really straight, and much older than you would expect. Mantak Chia is 75 or 76, and Charles Muir just turned 73.

In other words, these men were of a different generation who never had to consider LGBTQ inclusiveness. Hell, they never even had to consider women – queer or straight – beyond making sure they had orgasms.

There was also no mention of Dr. Sierra Levy or a space for Queer Tantra in the description.

This would have been a good time to ask those questions. But I didn’t. And again, that’s on me.

So I get here.

This workshop was on Mantak Chia’s turf of Tao Garden Health Spa and Resort outside Chiang Mai. The grounds are lush and beautiful, there are yin/yang symbols everywhere, and there are all kinds of eastern healing modalities offered in the clinic and in the spa, some of which you can’t find anywhere else in the world, and it seems he keeps making up new treatments.

The environment there is far more Taoist than Tantric, but that’s ok. As complex as Taoist sexuality is, I learned just enough from Mantak Chia that I’m interested and curious to learn more - even if he was prone to saying “wagina” instead of “vagina,” especially when tired and his accent got so thick I hardly understood him. But I preferred his “wagina” to the excessive “yoni” talk that happened during Charles Muir’s lessons.

We’re not Hindu. Yoni coming out of an American mouth sounds pretentious. So pretty please, with sugar on top, call our bits the sacred cunt already. It’s more honest, not to mention sexier.

I finally ran into Sierra, who said she didn’t know how many people had signed up who were queer. Kind of odd for the head of queer tantra.

She said she had put the word out on Facebook and “other groups,” so maybe some would show up. She had heard there were “a few queers” here.

She also said that there would be an announcement drawing attention to her as the queer pod leader, and that’s how we would find each other.

People came to this workshop from all over the world - some couples, but mostly singles - of all ages and sizes, many between mid-twenties to early forties, and most seemed straight.

Although I suspect there were several bisexual women here, most of them were from Europe, a place where discretion is the better part of valor. From my experience, European lesbians/bisexuals are perfectly content to hide in plain sight.

And when you’re in a workshop that’s very patriarchal in its outlook, that’s probably a better way to be.

Oh, and both of the “Masters” in this Workshop on blissful, ecstatic love had a harem mentality when it came to women.

All this became more obvious every day.

So does this sound like the kind of Tantra workshop a queer woman would feel awesome in?

Umm….yeah…not. Dr. Sierra Levy did not tell me any of this.

Once I got here, Sierra told me a lot more. This was a biannual workshop – the 4th, and rumored to be the last “Masters.” She had been here for the 2nd and 3rd workshop, and said that both times had totally sucked.

“It’s so heterosexist,” she said. “I’m here to give support, and to make this a safe space for queers to be. The Masters need to evolve and change their language.”

And Sierra was here to make that happen.

She didn’t tell me any of that either when I had met her.

She had a particular hard-on for Charles Muir, the Master of Neo-Tantra.

Sierra had taken his course in California several years ago. When it came time for the men and women to separate to learn about yoni (cunt, goddammit!) and lingam (you mean cock?) massage, she piped up that she preferred to massage yonis .(cunts!)

Sierra insisted she’d rather join the men and Charles Muir refused to let her do it. He said she could buy his books and videos on how to massage the yoni.

(How about divine pussy? That has a nice ring.)

But Sierra Levy could not join the men.

“Well, what if I pack? Could I join the men then?” Sierra told me she asked him. “Charles Muir didn’t even know what I was talking about.”

Well, no. Why would he? Never mind the generational difference, most men who are mighty comfortable in their male privilege don’t take the time to learn the ways and verbiage of queer women.

Anyway, Dr. Sierra Levy, naturopath and acupuncturist has been pissed off at Charles Muir ever since.

Who knows how long she’s been a thorn in his side? She was determined to get him to evolve, and change his language to spill his secrets to a queer audience.

“I would rather die than change my language!” Charles Muir protested.

What’s mystifying to me is how many times she has taken his workshops. Again, this was her 3rd out of 4 Meeting of the Masters Workshop. And that doesn’t include the California workshop she took several years ago.

For what it’s worth, Sierra has a kind heart and I think she meant well. And to give credit where it’s due, the Sierra’s of this world do their part to bring about social change. They squawk long and loud, and eventually people have to listen, even if they only do so in the hope they’ll shut up.

Which she didn’t.

However, I did not knowingly or willingly sign up to be a part of her Quixotic Quest as the Great Queer Hope in the world of Neo-Tantra and Sexual Tao.

Oh, and by the way, she lacked the skills to be supportive to the one and only queer who showed up on her recommendation, much less be this stellar hero of the Great Queer Hope.

This was one of those scenarios where somebody wants to be a part of something so they can feel important and special, not for what they have to give to others.

If you’ve read this far, this is only the beginning.

Peace,

Mana

PS: Click HERE if you’d like to read the beginning of this letter.

The Quixotic Quest of the Great Queer Hope I - Tantric Shitshow Part 1

Image by KiraHundeDog from Pixabay

Hey y’all,

Well, that was a disaster.

I love being open. I love the results of being open most of the time. It’s a state that makes life more interesting, and jumping into the unknown has landed me in some spectacular places and experiences.

But every so often, I would be wise to exercise the caution of taking a closer look of what I’m jumping into.

And this Masters Workshop Tao Meets Tantra, with Sierra Levy (no – excuse me, I mean Doctor Sierra Levy, naturopath and acupuncturist), allegedly as the head of Queer Tantra was definitely one of those times.

I should have researched.

I should have asked questions. I should have asked a lot of questions.

But I didn’t, and that’s on me.

To get y’all up to speed, I left the Masters Workshop on Sunday, while it ends today, Wednesday. I came to Pai with Kip on Monday.

Right now, I’m sitting in a lovely little café on a dirt road with a lovely view of a small farm between this café and the place where Kip and I are staying in our respective mud huts.

Roosters are crowing, birds are chirping, the morning sun is bright, and it’s not too hot yet.

Photo by me.

Oh, and there’s a white Buddha statue on the hill above us.

There are lots of Buddhas on hills around here, and lots of temples.

I have this gorgeous little cappuccino set up in front of me, with a tiny cup of flower water on a small wooden tray, with a wooden spoon to stir as much brown sugar as I desire into my cappuccino.

In other words, I’m good, life is good, and I’m in a good place.

Photo by me.

I’ve also had some time to process long enough to find the humor in what I just left behind.

It’s fabulous when everything goes smoothly in life and travel, but the really good stories come from conflict and chaos, when everything goes to hell and all the drama that ensues.

So please excuse the length of this email. For those who want to dive with me, it will take several letters to tell all this in digestible chunks.

On that note, back to the shitshow and how I landed in it.

I met Sierra last summer at the first Cascadia Tantra Festival on the Olympic Peninsula. I almost didn’t go. I had finally gotten back in my house and I was exhausted. But the guest coordinator convinced me to come, insisted this would be so healing and nourishing after a breakup.

So I rallied and went.

This was one of those times when jumping off the cliff into the unknown was a gorgeous idea.

Five weeks after my split with Morgen, I was numb. The healing from the CTF was desperately needed. At the end of those few days, I was able to feel again, without feeling horrible. And to give credit where it’s due, Sierra Levy had been a part of that.

Sierra and I were 2 of 3 queer women there. The 3rd, Grace Bryant from Seattle, was one of the presenters and her 2 workshops – “Deconstructing Gender Identity” and “Non-Binary Tantra” - left little doubt as to what she was about and what she had to offer in this workshop.

On the last day of CTF, Sierra and I had paired up for an exercise in letting go through sending some love to those who had hurt us and who we hadn’t forgiven.

Sierra said: “I don’t need to do this. I’ve already done my work, but I can hold space while you release. I’m in bliss about 97% of the time.”

Looking back, that statement right there was a red flag.

But I went with the flow. In the exercise, we sat across from each other and held hands – left palm up and right palm down, left hand receives and right hand gives to make a circuit between us.

It was intense.

Energy coursed through me as tears streamed down my face.

I let go of so much shit inside of sorrow and the sorrow inside of shit about Morgen and her daughter, Yseult. Then they flowed out, and Robert (my late brother) and Keckley (his ex-wife) came in, and then my older brothers, then my parents, and I think you get the idea.

A powerful release like that is vulnerable and sets up a lot of trust.

After this exercise, Sierra and I continued talking, and agreeably lamented the lack of queer women who were also interested in studying Tantra. She then told me about this intensive Workshop in Thailand, and to spread the word to other queers who I thought might be interested.

“I’m heading up Queer Tantra,” so said Sierra, “and I want as many of us there as possible. There are only about 20 spaces left.”

“Are you teaching classes?” I asked.

“Maybe. My role hasn’t been fully defined yet.”

She friended me on Facebook and sent me the link. I kind of had a picture of her playing a role similar to what Grace Bryant had at this one.

I thought: “What the hell. I’ve never been to Thailand, and what better way to celebrate my freedom after ending a stifling, oppressive relationship than to go to SE Asia and start that journey with a Tantra adventure.”

So I signed right up.

This is the part where I should have done some research.

To be continued…

Peace,

Mana