Body of evidence: The science behind Tantra’s power
Eye gazing, touch, breath and arousal are not only intensely pleasurable; science is now showing that they deeply nourish the body and transform the chemicals that create health. Within minutes of practising them, stress hormones fall, oxytocin rises, and the nervous system shifts out of defence and into repair.
Taoists have understood this for thousands of years and revere the cultivation of jing, the body’s essence and life force. What Taoist masters knew through bodily experience, researchers are now measuring in the lab.
In a session there is no time to explain the science behind the practices I use, and the men I work with are in such a state of serene euphoria that the words would be lost on them anyway.
So let me offer you the opportunity now to go on a microscopic journey through your body, in a less aroused and stimulated way.
Your body is a miracle
Think of a simple cut on your arm. It heals itself with no instruction from your mind. Every cell knows its job and gets on with the repair, and we go through life expecting it, barely noticing the miracle.
What we notice even less is that we can influence these processes, in ways that support both health and pleasure.
Here then is an odyssey through your form, with my hands, my body, my breath and my touch as your willing guides. Let me show you via sensual practices some of the remarkable processes taking place in your body as we work together.
As if at the start of a meditation, feel yourself shrinking into your body. Not simply grounding yourself, but slipping through your own skin and dropping, level by level, into the substance of your being. First, through the eyes, where two nervous systems meet. Then follow your breath inward, down into the lungs and the blood. Then through the nerves that carry touch. Then into the hormones that flow through you. Then into the cells themselves. And finally into the mitochondria, the tiny furnaces inside each living cell.
When the journey ends, you can rise back up and resurface, knowing the miracle of your body a little better and what pleasure is actually doing inside it.
Gazing into each other’s eyes
Before any physical touch begins I will look deep into your eyes, allowing our two nervous systems to meet. This is an underrated act of huge intimacy. In fact, when two people hold eye contact, their brain rhythms begin to synchronise [1]. With prolonged gazing, faces start to blur and shift, and the whole sense of self can loosen. This loosening of self has been documented in the lab [2]. In this relaxed state you are becoming ready for my touch.
The breath of life
Before I lay a hand on you though, we begin with breath. Breathwork can sometimes be confronting for new clients; there can be a self-consciousness towards the seemingly exaggerated breathwork of practices such as the Wim Hof Method.
But fast, full breathing blows off CO2, and in the process the blood becomes temporarily more alkaline. Your temperature changes and your hands start tingling, signalling the doorway into altered states. The physiology is real and there is research behind some of these effects.
In a 2014 Dutch study, men trained in the Wim Hof Method were injected with a bacterial toxin while practising the breathing technique. They showed an adrenaline surge, a lower inflammatory response and fewer symptoms than men not trained in the technique [3].
Even aside from the Wim Hof-style exertions, slow breathing has been associated with changes in brain activity linked with calmer, more alert states [4]. Nose breathing is also beneficial, with research showing that nasal respiration can influence activity in emotional and memory regions of the brain [5].
The massage begins
As your breath settles into a slow rhythm, I begin to touch you. The gentle stroke of my fingertips. The tantalising feel of my breasts on your back. This soft and smooth feeling of my hands and body on your skin is more than erotic; research suggests it can affect your stress response physiologically.
Skin contains nerve endings that are specialised for slow, gentle, human touch and associated with pleasant sensations [6]. Fifteen minutes of massage has been shown in research to raise oxytocin and lower adrenocorticotropin hormone [7]. Beyond the bliss, there is scientific evidence for physiological changes associated with relaxation.
Simply humming with vitality
As our breath synchronises, I will hum gently into your ear and encourage you to make sound. Humming is another practice that new clients may find awkward and puzzling. It’s just not something you’re used to doing with intent in front of another person.
But humming increases nitric oxide in the nasal passages fifteen-fold [8]. Nitric oxide plays an important physiological role in the respiratory system, including effects on blood vessels and pulmonary function. Humming, chanting, low tones and long exhales may also influence the body through respiratory-vagal pathways associated with rest and regulation [9].
While admittedly the humming boost in nitric oxide is mostly local to the sinuses and airways, these simple practices still form part of the wider interaction between breathing, circulation and the nervous system.
Mitochondria provide the spark
It might ruin a sensual moment if I started discussing mitochondria during a body-to-body massage! So here’s a quick science lesson while we are both fully clothed.
Most cells in your body hold hundreds to thousands of mitochondria. They pump charged particles across their inner membrane and build a voltage like a battery. The field across that membrane is about thirty million volts per metre – that’s comparable to a lightning strike [10]!
That charge drives the creation of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the primary energy-carrying molecule found in all living cells. It powers every heartbeat and every thought. Nitric oxide, the same molecule your humming boosts in the airways, is also one of the signals involved in telling cells to build new mitochondria [11].
For me, this provides a fascinating biological parallel with the traditional ideas of “life force” and “feeling more alive”.
What drains our battery
While all of these practices engage the body in wonderful, health-enhancing ways, modern life places it under considerable strain. Down at the level of the mitochondria, that strain leaves its mark.
Psychological stress has been linked to changes in mitochondrial function [12]. Mitochondria also follow the body clock, and their function is tied to the rhythm of day and night [13], a rhythm that late nights and artificial light easily disrupt. Heavy drinking can damage them directly [14].
Yet mitochondria are not simply shaped by strain; they adapt. They respond to the demands placed on the body, which is one of the reasons physical activity is so important to their health [15]. They respond to our emotional state too: research has found that positive mood is associated with better mitochondrial function the following day [16].
Everyday habits can also affect nitric oxide, the molecule that helps regulate both mitochondria and blood flow. Using antiseptic mouthwash, for example, can reduce the oral bacteria that turn dietary nitrate into nitric oxide. Research has shown that disrupting these bacteria can reduce nitric oxide bioavailability and raise blood pressure [17]. Breathing through the nose, meanwhile, allows us to make use of nitric oxide produced in the nasal passages.
Massage, touch and bodily awareness work in the opposite direction to modern life: where life adds stress, a delicious massage eases it. Where life leaves the body neglected, arousal and touch bring us back into it.
Pelvic breathing
While breathing deeply through the nose can influence your physiological state, breathing with awareness deeper into your body can also help awaken your sense of physical connection.
The diaphragm and the pelvic floor work together as part of breathing and postural control [18]. If you imagine breathing into the pelvis, you can become more aware of this coordinated movement. For many men, simply allowing this often-clenched region to soften and move with the breath can create a powerful sensation of release.
Firing your sexual energy
Arousal involves a complex mix of neurochemicals and hormones associated with motivation, bonding and pleasure. And believe me, you will be aroused by now. Orgasm brings further neuroendocrine changes, including a rise in prolactin [19].
But what happens when arousal is built and circulated rather than released is barely studied. It is here that the science ends and Taoist and Tantric teaching takes over.
These teachings, thousands of years older than modern science, view retained and circulated sexual energy as fuel; a traditional idea of life force that has intriguing parallels with the biological energy systems we have explored.
Boxers have long abstained from sex before a fight, believing it keeps their fire. Science hasn’t backed them up, but the instinct echoes what Taoist and Tantric traditions have taught for millennia. In Taoist teaching, ejaculation spends jing, the body’s essence and most precious reserve of life force. Delaying release at the height of arousal preserves that energy and redirects it through the body, rather than letting it go.
A return to self
But if you do choose to orgasm, then embrace it fully. Men are taught to orgasm quickly and quietly, through the snatched fumblings of youth, or masturbating in the shower, terrified of being caught.
It is a crime that such orgasms have been suppressed. Let them be loud, and let them move through the whole body. When a man is finally given permission to let go fully and take up space, what comes out can surprise him: trembling, tears, raucous laughter, sounds he has never dared make before. Some body therapists describe experiences such as these as the nervous system releasing held tension once it feels safe [20]. The Taoist and Tantric traditions call it removing blockages. I call it coming home.
So when I help you to orgasm, let it be everything.
Resurfacing
Finally, you are ready to return from the microscopic world to your normal size, and feel the weight of your body and the edges of your skin.
All of these processes are part of the miracle that is your body in this very moment. The work I do engages with them in different ways and each practice is a way of attending to your body and becoming more aware of it.
I offer you a gentle invitation to experience all of this, lying on the table while I hold the space for you to explore the miracle you live in.
Be present in the massage
If I shared all of this in the midst of our time together, not only would it cool your arousal, but it would be lost in the ether as your brain floated on the sensual cloud of my body sliding over yours.
My practice brings pleasure on a level that has to be experienced to be understood, and you don’t need to know the science for your body to feel the changes.
Many of the physiological processes explored here are supported by science. Others belong to ancient Tantric and Taoist traditions and to the subjective experience of touch, breath, arousal and connection.
For me, Tantra is art meeting science in a perfect union of arousal and life force.
Now that you’ve read about the science, if you are intrigued, simply give yourself to the process and enjoy our sensual time together, knowing just how extraordinary your body is from the inside out.
References
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