Update from Dr E

It’s been a while that we communicated on our TantraNova blog. We have been busy with teaching workshops in Orange County and San Diego, with completing our 6-month Level I Certification program with a phenomenal group of students, with lots of workshops here in Chicago and last not least with Freddy Z’s one-man show that enjoyed a packed house at the Institute last night.

While TantraNova is growing, I (Elsbeth) need to grow as well: More projects, more people and more tasks to coordinate and manage. I have been getting a lot of assistants from Kristin who has been working with us in the administration area of the business for the last year. Her support has been freeing me up to focus more on business development and marketing.

I am thrilled about our new offering of practice class series – both available at the Institute as well as a Tele-class. Co-leading the classes allows me the enjoyment of weekly practicing in community. It’s fabulous – for 1.0 or 1.5 hours I get the opportunity along with the students to come to stillness, get more connected with myself and others in the class, and feel my energy and aliveness running through me.

And then we have all these new ideas that are on the drawing board for 2009:

o Freddy Z is in the process of developing his TantraNova Theater Workshop that will be available to the public in October and then he’ll take it around the country to different cities along with his moving and breath-taking TantraNova Man: An Experiential Show.

o Very soon we’ll let you know about our NEW magnificent TantraNova vacation retreat in Costa Rica that is being planned for early March 2009.

o Our Advanced & Certification program starting mid March of 2009 will have a new structure conducive to students from all across the USA. Check it out at TantraNova Certification Program.

You probably can tell that I live and breathe TantraNova. Bringing forth the wholeness and well-being of sexual-spiritual connection within and another is most important to me. I am so fortunate to have this wonderful man Freddy Z by my side who creates with me, who supports and encourages me and who resonates with me in my/our life intentions and dreams.

I am thrilled that we together can support you and others in their journey to greater wholeness and intimate well-being in themselves and their relationships.

Thanks for traveling the road with us, Elsbeth

Freddy Zental's Breakthrough Performance

Zental here. About a month ago Elsbeth and I had the honor of being presenters at the Eighth Annual Tantra Practitioners Conference in Sedona, Arizona. We opened the conference with a presentation on how we came to create TantraNova, why we do what we do and with sharing video clips from the Showtime Special “Sexual Healing” which we were a part of in 2006. The audience was so appreciative and loved what they saw happening for the couples on the show. If you haven’t seen the clips yet please go TantraNova on "SHOWTIME". It’s a wonderful illustration of what shows up when we drop into our hearts and connect with each other while we bring consciousness and focus to our sexual energy and being.

For the close of the conference I had the privilege of performing TantraNova Man: An Experiential Show , my one-man show. I experienced a huge breakthrough in my performance: This was the first time that I did the show in front of an audience of 200 people on a hi-tech professional stage and the first time traveling with the show outside of Chicago. Even if I say so myself … I felt it was the best performance I had ever given. My singing, presence, dramatic expression and moment–to- moment improv were at an all time high! I reached a whole new level … receiving a standing ovation. I am thrilled and excited!

So … perhaps I will be in your town soon doing the TantraNova Man show. Or if you are planning a visit to Chicago please join us on July 19^th for my next show there. 

Until then … Love and Light, 

Zental

For further information and questions email us at tantranova@tantranova.com or go to www.TantraNova.com

Stay in the Practice - Connect with Others

Here is something brand new at TantraNova. It’s about a regular TantraNova Yoga class for our students. Some of you had inquired about this kind of ongoing practice class that is different from our monthly seminars, intro workshops or certification programs. 

Just as Freddy Zental and I have our regular workout practices – like going to yoga class, doing resistance training or cardio, taking walks by the lake or meditating – we thought of how to create such a regular practice class for our students. 

Voila! That inspired us to create our new bi-monthly practice class here at the TantraNova Institute. The class is designed to get grounded in and stay with the foundational TantraNova practices that assist you in energy awareness and flow, conscious breathing and pelvic floor strengthening, all which are so essential in integrating our spiritual, emotional and sexual being. Of course, there will be exercises and conversations that guide you in how to bring all of that into your daily life and relationship(s).

Bi-Weekly TantraNova Yoga Practice Classes at the Institute:

The class will meet every other week at the TantraNova Institute in Chicago - starting in May. To attend the class you will need to have completed one of our workshops or private programs. The 2-hour intro workshop or an introductory private session suffices to qualify!!!

Bi-Weekly TantraNova Yoga Practice Tele-Classes:

Starting in the summer we will offer bi-weekly TantraNova practice Tele-classes. With access to a phone you will be able to participate in these classes from wherever you may be in the country or the world.

Look for more details on these new class offerings in your email box in coming days!

For further information and questions email us at tantranova@tantranova.com or go to www.TantraNova.com

Keep your Yoni Alive and Well!

This blog is dedicated to women – and the men who care about them!
 

It’s Dr E here. I’d like to introduce you to the “Yoni Egg” today. Yoni is a Sanscrit word that means “Sacred Space” and stands for a woman’s sexual center. The sound of “Sacred Space” expresses much more the sense of honoring and cherishing than our clinical term vagina does.

Building on the “Want more joy, pleasure and peace in your life and relationships?” blog from last week we want to continue emphasizing the relevance of having strong pelvic floor muscles. And here is where the Yoni Egg comes in: It allows you to enliven and keep your Yoni alive. It assists in developing and maintaining a strong, vital PC Muscle, which is paramount to a healthy pelvic floor. 

By strengthening your PC Muscle with your Yoni Egg inserted while you use the breath to move the energy through your body (see blog from 4/1/08 for guided practice) you will: 

1. Feel more grounded and centered in yourself

2. Be more in tune with your sensuous capacity

3. Massage your Yoni from the inside

4. Increase your flow of sexual hormones

5. Develop stronger orgasms

6. Heighten the responsiveness of your G-Spot

7. Maintain healthy reproductive organs

8. Prevent incontinence in later years

9. Experience pleasant aliveness in your feminine center

You already can tell that training your Yoni muscle with the aid of the Egg creates a whole new octave of a sense of groundedness in your feminine being, of expanded sensual experience and ultimately sexual ecstasy with sensations that are deliciously pleasurable. 

The Yoni Egg is made from rose quartz - a polished gemstone. It comes in a sari pouch in various colors with instructions. You insert the Egg covered with some lube to make the passage smooth. Once the Egg is inside your Yoni it’s being held in by the vaginal sphincter muscle. The Egg cannot disappear in your womb – the tiny opening of the cervix won’t allow for that. So you can rest assured that the Egg stays well enveloped in your Yoni space. You can leave it inserted for an hour or a whole day – as I do at times – depending on your comfort. Keep squeezing and releasing every so often. Once you want to take the Egg out just press with your pelvic floor muscle like you do during a bowel movement. It’ll flop out – catch it in your hand.

For further information and questions email us at tantranova@tantranova.com. To purchase a Yoni Egg call 773-525-5006. www.TantraNova.com

For TantraNova Women’s programs go to Women's Seminar & Class Series

Train Your Love Muscle and Ground Yourself!

Here is one of the key secrets: Connect with your life force energy and ground yourself in your pelvic floor. It’s the place of the base center or root Chakra. 

Activating your pelvic floor muscles (the Pubococcygeus or Love Muscle) coordinated with the breath will do wonders for you. Fear of survival, worrying about the future, being afraid of not being good enough reside as constricted energies in the first Chakra. When we release those energies we come back to the ground of our being. 

The following practice will assist you in this process by increasing the flexibility and strength of your pelvic musculature, releasing tension in the sphincter muscle and activating your life force energy that emanates from the base of the spine. 

Sit in a comfortable position on a chair or meditation cushion – close your eyes.

• In order to locate the PC muscle, squeeze your pelvic floor as if you were holding back the urination. Then release the muscle. Repeat this for a few times and then relax the muscle – all the way 
• Now, take in a deep breath filling your belly like a big balloon. On the exhalation visualize sending the breath down and out of your butt into the cushion of your chair 
• Now take a deep breath in filling your belly, chest and all the way up to the top of your head. On the exhalation squeeze and release your PC muscle for several times to the bottom of your exhalation 
• Then breathe in filling your torso from the bottom all the way up to the top of your head – if you can keep squeezing and releasing your PC muscle on the inhalation do so 
• On the exhalation speak out loud while working your PC muscle: Squeeze – release, squeeze release, and so forth until you arrive at the bottom of your exhalation 
• Keep going with this practice for a total of 6 inhalations and exhalations
• Then relax the muscle all the way and continue in your own rhythm of breathing 
• With your eyes closed notice how you are feeling in the area where you were squeezing and releasing 
• Upon completion open your eyes

Enjoy and have fun with it!!!

Please click HERE to get access to the audio of the PC Practice.

 

Spooning: Harmonizing Energies & Moods

Here is a Valentine’s gift for you and your partner. The purpose of this connecting practice is to create balance and harmony, to influence the synchronicity between you and your partner and to come into resonance with each other.
Here is how the practice goes:

The couple lays together spoon-fashion on their left side (for reasons of energy flow). The receiver on the inside is enveloped in the arms of the giver on the outside. The giver, holding the receiver, has his/her right hand rest on the receiver’s lower belly (Creation Chakra) and his/her left arm under the receiver’s neck. 

Synchronized breathing:

As you lie together, close your eyes and relax. Quiet your mind by focusing on deep breathing together. Breathing into your nose down your throat into your lungs and extending into your belly.

• Become aware of your partners breath. 
• Inhale together and exhale together. When inhaling, visualize receiving energy into your Creation Chakra from your partner’s Creation Center and when exhaling send energy from your Creation Center into your partner’s Creation Center. 
• Follow this pattern for four breaths. 
• Then the giver places his/her hand on the receiver’s Heart Center. When inhaling, visualize receiving energy into your Heart Center from your partner’s Heart Center and when exhaling send energy from your Heart Center into your partner’s Heart Center. 
• Follow this pattern for four breaths. 
• Then the giver places his/her finger tips with a light touch on the receiver’s Third Eye Center. When inhaling,visualize receiving energy into your Third Eye Center from your partner’s Third Eye Center and when exhaling send energy from your Third Eye Center into your partner’s Third Eye Center. 
• Follow this pattern for four breaths.

Now switch roles. Once you have completed this practice look at each other and share your experience with each other.

To learn more about TantraNova, their seminars in Chicago and across the US go to http://www.tantranova.com or call 773-525-5006.

Valentine’s Prep: Discover the Secrets to Lasting Intimacy

As you may know we are going to Newport Beach, CA, in February to lead a 3-Day Valentine’s Retreat. It’s all about discovering the secrets to lasting intimacy. And we are excited (both Freddy Zental and Elsbeth). Our regional coordinator, Ayanna, has been doing a phenomenal job in organizing the event and spreading the word in Southern California. 
 

By the way have you ever considered your intimacy or love conditioning? It’s already ingrained in your subconscious and if you want to make any changes to this conditioning it's essential to recognize what it is set for. Is it set for fulfillment and total satisfaction or neediness and lack of intimate connection? Is it set for struggle or ease, high or low libido, consistent or inconsistent sexual pleasure, picking winning or loosing relationships or partners? Unfortunately your current conditioning will stay with you for the rest of your life, unless you identify it and change it. 

With this in mind we created this Valentine's retreat so that women and men can enter new realms of intimate connection and fulfillment. Whatever your conditioning may be, you will be enabled in this retreat to unleash your full capacity for intimate connection and joy with yourself and your partner, rekindle your passion, and rejuvenate your body and spirit. 

This is what you will learn in a safe, respectful and joyous environment:

• How to create fulfillment, joy and pleasure in your relationship and life
• How to rediscover the source of your creative energy
• How to let go of blocks that prevent you from getting what you want

We at TantraNova hold that men and women approach sexual and intimate relationships in fundamentally different ways. For men, the feeling for love connection originates in his sexual center, while for women it originates in the heart center. The result is a big disconnect: He’s feeling it here, she is feeling it there, and eventually no one’s feeling it anywhere. TantraNova helps connect men and women to themselves and to each other and discover the magical connection that allows them to open up and fully be themselves. The outcome is an experience of:

• How to rediscover the source of your creative energy
• How to let go of blocks that prevent you from getting what you
• Deeper intimacy and love
• Rediscovered aliveness and spontaneity in your relationship
• Joy and play in relationship for the woman
• Revived vigor for the man
• Connection with your creative energy
• New ways to be with yourself and another
• Harmony and balance
• Expanded pleasure in your work and family
• Integration of your spiritual and sexual being

To learn more about their upcoming Valentine’s Weekend Retreat for Couples and Individuals in Newport Beach, CA, on February 15-17, 2008, go to http://www.tantranova.com or call Ayanna Mojica, Regional Coordinator, at 949-395-3359.