Press Coverage
FOR HER INFORMATION, February, 2009
Rediscovering Your Divine Feminine by Dr Elsbeth Meuth
Dr. Elsbeth Meuth is an intimacy and relationship coach, Tantra educator and co-founder of Chicago’s TantraNova Institute. She has appeared on Showtime’s Sexual Healing and NBC’s Starting Over, and in Women’s Health Magazine and the Chicago Tribune.
It’s the time of year when romance is on our minds. As women, what are we really wishing for? Is our heart’s desire love, sensuous connection, lasting intimacy or fulfillment in a relationship?
If one or more of these speak to you, understanding the ancient practice of Tantra will encourage fun and delight in your life and return you to your divine feminine. Tantra honors the goddess in each woman, celebrates her luscious sensuousness and encourages the life giving feminine energy. You may have heard about Tantra on Oprah when Sting and his wife shared their eight hour love sessions. How is this possible?
Tantra differs from Western approaches to sexuality in experiencing intimate connection with oneself or with another. While the Western approach emphasizes the technical and mechanical dimensions of lovemaking, the Eastern approach of Tantra focuses on cultivating sexual energy for oneself and in relationship. It is based on the concept that the core of our sexual being is sexual or life force energy.
The Tantric tradition holds that men and women approach sexual and intimate relationships in fundamentally different ways. For a man, the feeling for a love connection originates in his sexual center, while for a woman it originates in the heart center. This results in a disconnect that as women, we are all too familiar with.
Exploring these practices with a modern perspective can help you and your partner bridge this disconnect, enabling you to be on the same wavelength for:
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Deeper intimacy and love
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Rediscovered aliveness and spontaneity in your relationship
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Joy and play in relationship for the woman
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Revived vigor for the man
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Connection with your creative energy
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New ways to be with yourself and another
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Harmony and balance
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Expanded pleasure in your work and family
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Integration of your spiritual and sexual being
To get a first hand experience of how to connect your sensuous being with your love energy, try this solo practice:
Sit in a comfortable position
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Take in a deep breath and feel your belly rising on the inhalation and falling on the exhalation.
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Put your right hand on your lower belly below your navel (this is your creative energy center), and your left hand in the middle of your chest (this is your heart or love energy center).
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Take in a deep breath, expanding your lower belly into your right hand and then up into your chest into your left hand.
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On the exhalation visualize sending the energetic breath from your heart center, the left hand, down into your creative center, the right hand.
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Continue in this breathing pattern for eight breaths
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In Sanskrit a woman’s creative center is called “Yoni” meaning “sacred space.” It’s the space from which new life comes forth in literal and figurative terms. It’s a space where innate feminine wisdom, essence and joy reside.
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On the inhalation feel your energetic breath moving from your “Yoni” space up into your “Heart” space connecting your creative sensuous being with your love being.
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Slowly take your hands off and let them rest in your lap.
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Stay with your breath and the connection between your Yoni and Heart space. Notice how you feel right now.
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Come back by opening your eyes.
Each of us desires sexual fulfillment; Tantric love unleashes a full capacity for intimate connection and joy. What better way to celebrate this season of romance? I invite your questions on sexual intimacy and will respond in upcoming issues.
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CONSCIOUS CHOICE, February, 2009
People in your Neighborhood: Freddy Zental Weaver
Freddy Zental Weaver
Co-Founder & Director, TantraNova Institute
Freddy Zental Weaver grew up in San Francisco and later in Hawaii where he went to Punahou — the same school President Barack Obama attended. Being raised in a tantric household laid the foundation for Zental’s interest later in life to become a TantraNova practitioner. He is an intimacy expert and relationship coach and has co-produced the best-selling DVD series “Creating Intimacy & Love.” He’s also been featured with his partner on Showtime’s documentary series “Sexual Healing.” He currently has a one-man show touring the U.S. where he takes his audience on an entertaining and often hilarious journey through his life experiences concerning intimacy, sex and love. TantraNova Institute, 2031 W. Warner Ave., Chicago. (tantranova.com)
How I relax at the end of the day
Singing, playing my drums and creating groovy tunes and percussive impressions on my Handsonic, an electronic synthesizer, is deeply enjoyable, meditative and enlivening to my soul.
Best spot to grab a meal
I absolutely love Bistro Campagne, a superb authentic French restaurant with a quaint ambiance that reminds me of my travels in Europe with my beloved, Elsbeth. The staff greets us in French and it’s so close to home.
The most peaceful place in the city
My rooftop deck where I sit and meditate in the summer. It’s like a piece of paradise where luscious flowers surround me, a 100-plus-year-old towering tree majestically screens out the commotion from the neighborhood and the blue sky appears like a vast dome leaving me with a feeling of being in the Caribbean in the middle of Chicago.
If I could change one thing about Chicago
Although lots has changed as it relates to segregation in Chicago over the past 20 years, I’d like to see further change in the integration of our neighborhoods in a more seamless way.
What I would miss most about Chicago
The breath-taking skyline with its shimmering buildings while driving on Lake Shore Drive at night! The contrast in seasons (given that I grew up in California and Hawaii)! And, the superb concerts in Grant Park on a warm summer night!
My favorite haunts
There is a fabulous little neighborhood café called Reds Coffee Shop a block from where I live and work: Lovely owners, nice atmosphere and unique character.
What inspires me
People following their passion, living their dreams and seeing themselves in one another and recognizing that we are all so alike.
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LIFESCRIPT MAGAZINE, August 3, 2007
Tap Into Tantra for an Intimacy Infusion by Dana Demas
An Ancient Practice Can Make Sex Perfect
Looking for a way to improve your relationship? Try Tantra. Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t just about better, longer-lasting sex. It’s also the key to more emotional connection, stronger friendships and a happier relationship. Dr. Elsbeth Meuth and Freddy Zental Weaver, founders of a Tantra offshoot called TantraNova and the TantraNova Institute in Chicago, share their Tantric tips to bring you and your partner closer… without taking off a shred of clothing...!
The Yin-Yang of Love
Tantra has its roots in the religions of India and has long been practiced in other Eastern countries, including China, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Here, we tend to associate Tantra with the sexual staying power of men (thank you, Sting!), but the practice isn’t simply about being better in bed.
The Tantra discipline uses ritual, energy and breathing in order to achieve harmony with the universe (the divine), yourself and your partner. It can help you learn about yourself and open the door to longer, more satisfying sex. And yes, men who practice Tantra are able to last longer through a combination of breathing, relaxation and muscle contraction.
Next: Different sexual energy.....
Tantric tradition holds that men and women approach sex and intimate relationships in fundamentally different ways. For men, sexual energy originates in the genitals, while for women it originates in the heart.
The result is a big disconnect: He’s feeling it here, you’re feeling it there, and eventually no one’s feeling it anywhere. Tantra comes to the rescue by helping you get on the same wavelength.
“Tantra helps connect men and women to themselves and to each other,” Meuth says. “They discover the magical connection that allows them to open up and fully be themselves.”
Sound tempting? Here’s how to get started:
Breathe.....
According to Tantric beliefs, we are all full of sexual energy. It’s our most profound life source – part of what created us, and the key to helping us achieve our dreams, including a better relationship.
Unfortunately, most of us have no idea what to do with that energy.
Master your sexual energy.....
The first step in mastering your sexual energy is becoming conscious of your breath. To begin breathing in the Tantric style, Meuth and Weaver suggest a simple meditation:
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Sit comfortably, close your eyes and become aware of your breath.
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After a couple inhalations and exhalations, picture a pool of energy in your eyes.
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As you breathe out, visualize the energy traveling from your face down the front of your body to your genitals.
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As you inhale, envision the energy traveling up your back and into your head.
Keep the “loop” going. Breathe out, and feel the energy pour down the front of your body. Breathe in, and feel it travel up the back of your body. Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth to complete the circuit. Repeat.
Breathing makes you more aware of being inside your body. It’s also a great exercise for centering your mind and preparing yourself for a busy day, a restful sleep or great sex. Do it for five minutes every day.
Create a Heart-to-Heart Connection
For couples who have grown apart and want to reconnect, Meuth and Weaver suggest the Heart-to-Heart Connection exercise. According to Meuth, it’s a perfect way to rediscover joy and passion in your relationship. “When a couple is not getting along, they’re often very much in their heads, each one thinking of what the other has done wrong,” she says. “This exercise can be the beginning of rekindling intimacy.”
Here’s the Heart-to-Heart how-to:
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Sit on the floor, facing each other.
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Place your right hand on each other’s heart.
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Gaze gently into each other’s left eye (it’s a direct link to the emotional center of the brain).
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Synchronize your breathing, inhaling and exhaling together (through the nose) as you continue to hold each other’s gaze, with your hands on each other’s heart.
Admittedly, many couples will feel awkward. “Most people simply aren’t used to staring at each other and many get giggly or embarrassed,” Meuth acknowledges. But push yourself to stay with the emotions. Embrace the intimacy.
After a few minutes, slowly remove your hands and share with each other – one at a time – how you are feeling.
An intimate position....
Meuth and Weaver suggest trying the practice several times a week. If you start laughing, just acknowledge it and continue the exercise. Embarrassment should soon subside, and a strong feeling of connection should emerge in its place. This technique is especially healing to couples for whom words tend to lead to more conflict.
Do the Yab-Yum
The Yab-Yum exercise taps into the energy current you stoked with the basic breathing exercise and heightens it by revving the libido and deepening a couple’s bond, Meuth says.
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To do the Yab-Yum, ask your partner to sit (on the floor or bed) cross-legged or with his legs open if it’s more comfortable for him.
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Sit on his lap facing him, with your legs wrapped around his back (if he’s not sitting cross-legged, you’ll need a cushion underneath your bottom).
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Place your right hand on his lower back and your left hand over his shoulder, resting between his shoulder blades. Have him position his hands the same way on your shoulder and back.
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Once again, synchronize your breathing. Visualize your hearts sharing their energy.
Clothing optional.....
For a twist, try alternating your breathing: As you breathe in and fill your belly with air, your partner exhales and his belly collapses. Then his belly goes out and yours goes in. Develop a rhythm, moving and working together, just as you would during sex.
According to Weaver, most people find that this exercise arouses more than just the heart. “It makes you feel like one body, and most people are startled by the intensity and the connection it creates,” he says.
Add some rhythmic squeezing and releasing of your Kegel muscles (have him do the same), and you should be on your way to the most spiritual sex this side of Sting’s house.
Doing this exercise with your clothes on helps you and your partner connect at the heart level. Meuth and Weaver teach couples to envision sending their love into each other’s hearts as they breathe out and to receive each other’s love as they breathe in.
“You also can extend this exercise into intercourse,” Meuth suggests. “A couple simply lies on top of each other and breathes into each other’s bellies, synchronizing and becoming one.”
Next: Sexual arousal through kissing....
The Rock-Her-World Kiss
Finally, Meuth and Weaver recommend a special Tantric exercise designed to please women.
Kissing in general awakens endorphins and heightens pleasure, Meuth says. But did you know there is a spot in the mouth that is a sexual energy channel to the clitoris? It’s on the inside of the upper lip, at the top where the lip meets the gum. You can feel it with your tongue. Ask your partner to extend his tongue up into this sacred spot and see what happens.
Once you’ve mastered these exercises, add the kisses to complete the picture. All that gazing and breathing should arouse his heart, while the kisses should stimulate your sexual center. The result? A rebirth of physical and emotional intimacy for both of you.
Tantra for Two?
Feeling a little unsure about Tantra? Want to enhance the sensual energy in the bedroom but don't know how? Take our Tantra quiz to help demystify this ancient practice and invite all of its benefits into your love life.
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WOMEN'S HEALTH MAGAZINE, July / August, 2007
Sex Repairs by Leslie Goldman
Every love life needs a little renovation. Our writer heads to a sex clinic and discovers the tools for turning her fixer-upper into the relationship of her dreams.
My husband and I make out in bars, grope each other on the couch, and generally screw with enthusiasm. So while our sex life is anything but broken, it could be even hotter. Allow me to elaborate.
Gripe No. 1: I believe I should orgasm faster than a 14-year-old boy with a copy of Maxim. When I can't, I give up.
Gripe No. 2: Dan and I have different schedules, which means I'll return from a late workout, endorphins blazing, just as he's polishing off a chihuahua-size burrito.
The really embarrassing bit is:
Gripe No. 3: Despite being a professional body image speaker and author, I'm as self-conscious about my butt as Nora Ephron is about her neck. When naked, I insist on walking backward away from the bed in a sort of modified grapevine, terrified that my husband (!) will catch a glimpse of cellulite.
Sex therapy may be an obvious fix, but I'd always pegged it as one of those things normal people don't do. I'd never even considered it until WH asked me to write about the Berman Center, a Chicago clinic run by Laura Berman, Ph.D., aka the Dr. Phil of getting your freak on. Apparently my misgivings gel with popular opinion: "I've found that 50 percent of people are not satisfied with their sex lives," Berman says. "But only 10 percent of men and 20 percent of women seek help." Well, change begins with me, so I e-mail my concerns to Berman, and she recommends I sign up for an intensive 3-day retreat that will address everything from sexual inhibitions to stress management. Which brings me to...
Day 1: 9 to 10 a.m./Q&A With The Sex Swami
I meet Berman in her brightly lit downtown office, which looks more like a spa than a medical institution. Sitting in a red chair, her blonde hair held back with a black headband, Berman makes eye contact, shoots me an easy smile, and hands me a binder filled with my personalized schedule, journal, and a slew of questionnaires, including a "depression inventory" and a "genital image scale." Holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?
I sink into the couch and set my water glass down on a kitschy more medication, please coaster. Before I know it, we're discussing my sexual background (four male partners plus a short-lived stint of drunken heteroflexibility that culminated in my waking up with a raging hangover and a naked 21-year-old named Valerie); the cues I received about sex and love from my family (tons of laughter and affection, no divorces, and "Put an aspirin between your knees and never let it fall" from my father before every high school date); and how Dan and I ultimately came to be (8 years of best-friendship followed by his dogged pursuit). It's a lot to cough up so soon, and just as we really start to dig in, she tells me we have to stop so that I can get to my Tantra lesson.
Tantra lesson?
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. / Booty Breathing
To help me rethink my orgasm-centric mentality, Berman has sent me to the TantraNova Institute, a Chicago clinic that teaches "the ancient art of sacred Tantric sexuality." I'm greeted by "beloveds" and business partners Elsbeth Meuth, Ed.D., 58, petite with ultra-short blonde hair and a thick German accent, and Freddy Zental Weaver, 51, a towering, handsome man with rich, chocolate brown skin. They lead me into a studio filled with candles, silk pillows, and a floor-to-ceiling painting of a figure with seven chakras ablaze. (For those of you who don't have the token yoga-obsessed friend, chakras are "energy centers" that run roughly from the base of the spine to just above the head. They're associated with a wide range of physical and mental states -- the throat chakra with communication, the heart chakra with love, and so on.)
I sit cross-legged on the floor; the Tantric duo faces me. Freddy guides us through a meditation exercise. His voice is so smooth I can't believe it's not butter. As we inhale, Elsbeth explains the importance of breath: By circulating it through our bodies, we create energy, enhancing sex and, for the truly practiced and fortunate, paving the way to whole-body orgasms.
My homework, Freddy tells me, is to "self-love," perhaps the most PC term ever for masturbation. But orgasm is not the goal. I should encounter myself as my own lover, setting the scene with flowers, music, oils. The purpose of this exercise, Elsbeth explains, is to enjoy the sensations rather than rushing to completion. After caressing my hands, arms, and stomach, I may wish to move on to my "yoni" (Sanskrit for "cooch"). "Start by massaging her," Freddy encourages as I scribble down notes. "Dance on the edge of orgasm." I want to blurt out, "Didn't I see that in a Hallmark card?" but keep mum, engrossed in thoughts of tonight's assignment. Before my yoni gets any self-loving, though, I need to cab it back to Berman's to meet my husband for our first and only couples session.
1:45 to 3 p.m. / Dan, Enter Stage Right
"So, Dan, how would you classify your sexual relationship?"
My guy is such a sport. He really didn't want to air our sexual laundry on a national clothesline, but he's so supportive of my career -- and our relationship -- that he folded. He opens up to Berman immediately, describing it almost exactly as I would. "We're happy, extremely affectionate, lots of kissing and cuddling." He concedes that we are intimate less often than we used to be, due to dueling schedules and his back injury, and that he'd like to get it on more often.
We brainstorm ways to become more sexually proactive. Berman suggests scheduling sex, but we deplore the idea of PDAing our PDA. She counters, "Most young couples today have to make a paradigm shift: Instead of saying, 'Ugh, scheduling sex is a chore,' make it something you can look forward to." Or we can encourage nooky to occur more organically by freeing up time at night. I need to set boundaries between my work and personal life, Dr. B. explains, for the sake of my mental and sexual health. Can I put aside 2 hours at night with no work? I balk. "Think about it as productive time for your relationship and it won't feel so gluttonous," she says. We compromise on an hour.
Then she brings up the rear: "What do you think about her butt issue?" she asks, looking at Dan.
He laughs, describing it as firm and strong, but I blurt out that he's lying and before I know it, I'm crying. This is ridiculous. I was anorexic in college but have been recovered for over a decade.
Berman posits that my caboose complex is a remnant of self-loathing I experienced with my eating disorder. For tonight I am assigned the charming task of standing before him, naked and ass-backward. Oh, and to have sex too.
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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, May 25, 2007
Weaving Sexual Energy Back Into Life by Misha Davenport
Deadly sin: LUST
Lust and the ancient tradition of tantra both have gotten a bad rap over the years.
"Lust is not good or bad in and of itself," says Elsbeth Meuth, an intimacy and relationship coach and co-founder and co-director of Chicago's Tantra Nova Institute. "It can be detrimental if that is the only way you can express yourself, though."
Fortunately, there is tantra.
"Tantra is a great way of getting in touch with yourself and controlling lust," says Freddy Zental Weaver, Meuth's partner and the institute's co-director. "Guys in particular don't realize that their lust is sometimes the only way they express themselves emotionally and sexually."
Tantra actually means weaving. Since sexual energy is what creates all life, all life weaves back to it.
"It is not about orgies, wild sex or exhibiting ourselves," Meuth says. "At the core, tantra is about bringing consciousness to your being," Meuth says.
5 everyday practices for creating intimacy and love
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Breath. Meuth and Weaver say breathing deeply into your belly to the count of four is a great way of clearing your mind.
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Kiss. Kissing with the upper lip causes your body to release endorphins.
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Touch. Facing your partner, place your right hand on your partner's heart and have your partner do the same. "Imagine you are creating a circuit of energy and feel it flow from yourself into your partner and back again."
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Look. Gaze into each other's left eye. "The left eye corresponds to the right hemisphere of the brain that controls emotions," Meuth says. "And it's a great way to connect to each other's soul."
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Laugh. Make laughter and creativity a part of your daily routine and watch your sense of self and well-being improve.
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EVOLVE! MAGAZINE, October 2006, Vol. 5, no. 4
An Interview with Dr. Elsbeth Meuth & Freddy Zental Weaver By Charles Muir
CHARLES MUIR: You founded a school in Chicago called TantraNova Institute. How does it fit into the Tantra movement and renaissance that has converged in the last 20 years?
FREDDY WEAVER: One of the reasons we call ourselves TantraNova is that we aren't steeped in the dogma of Tantra. As you know, there are many versions - Hindu, Tao, Buddhist, North American Quodoshka, and others. At TantraNova we blend some of the essentials of the tradition of Hindu Tantra using the breath, energy awareness, meditation and healing practices with what we know of Western technology in terms of human development, generative language and creative self discovery. The integration of the ancient wisdoms of the East with the knowledge of the West has lead us to this contemporary form of Tantra called TantraNova. We use the breath as the key to activate and move energy. Through specific breathing exercises you can learn to connect the lower chakras (sexual energy centers) in your body with the higher chakras (love and spiritual energy centers). We also use sound, symbols and movement to support the activation and connection of the energy flow. The TantraNova practices assist us in freeing ourselves from old hurts, residual memories or suppressed feelings that are stored in the sexual energy centers in the body. Some of the practices are done by yourself and others with a partner.
ELSBETH MEUTH: And of course, as our former teacher, we learned a lot from you, Charles.
FREDDY: Yes, you got us started in this. Absolutely!
CHARLES: Well, I'm delighted to have helped you and I believe that the expansive weaving that Tantra offers allows everybody to expand based on their own compilation of knowledge in different areas. I understand that you teach a lot about sexual-spiritual connection and I wonder if you could address that.
ELSBETH: Our logo says TantraNova: The discovery of sexual spiritual connection. In the Western world we look at our bodies, relationships and life in a way that is often compartmentalized. For example, we think of sexuality being separate from spirituality - as manifested in our bodies and our practices. In TantraNova a new possibility is offered that teaches how to integrate one's sexual with one's spiritual energies. This allows for a divine experience with oneself and ultimately with a partner. Rediscovering our innate energies that are sexual-spiritual in nature we then are able to express ourselves more fully - free from constraints and habitual patterns, e.g., shame, guilt, fear, suppression or obsession. And this in turn allows us to experience our full potential of pleasure and creativity. What opened up for me in my study of Tantra is this sexual-spiritual connection that was so dichotomous for me when I grew up. As a teenager I didn't call it dichotomous then. I just felt there was something off. Connecting to another human being when I was 16 years old felt so beautiful and then I had to keep this as a secret when I came home and couldn't share myself because I thought I had done something wrong. In learning the Tantric practice I experienced a big opening namely the connection and integration of my sexual with my spiritual being. I rediscovered that it had been already within me. I find that this rediscovery is one of the fundamental breakthroughs Tantra offers us.
FREDDY: For many people who are new to this experience, just getting their creative life force energy in a spiritual way and not collapsed with something that is shameful or guilt ridden can provide a sense of freedom and joy.
CHARLES: In the last several years Tantra has been in the media, several programs on HBO. I understand there is a new series called "Sexual Healing". Tell us a little about that, I understand you are a part of the show.
FREDDY: Yes, we are really excited about this. Showtime's new reality show "Sexual Healing" started airing at the end of July. What's interesting is that the show is weaving the elements of TantraNova practices with traditional Western psychology and sex therapy. The couples on the show came to the week of therapy with the intention to connect more deeply with each other, develop better communication skills and rekindle their intimate relationship.
ELSBETH: TantraNova is not just talk therapy and therefore allows for more immediate tapping into our physical energetic beingness. Through particular healing practices the couples on the show were able to come to a level of openness and authenticity with each other that gave way to a deeper sense of love and intimate connection with each other. By the way these couples came from all walks of life and remarkably easily took to the tantric work without having necessarily any background in Yoga, meditation or any other kind of esoteric studies. The work speaks directly to the human soul. They reported the benefits of having regained a sense of wholeness, inner power and ease with themselves. The women frequently started to experience a new-found satisfying connection with themselves and their partner.
FREDDY: A number of men started to experience being the master of their sexual energy integrating their sexual with their heart energy. Thus they became present and available to more deeply connecting with themselves and their partner. The tantric practice allows us to learn how to use our sexual creative energy as a doorway to our most intimate spiritual, emotional and physical selves.
CHARLES: How do you feel Tantra has a relevance to the world at large?
FREDDY: When we look at the world there is much unconsciousness going on when we talk about the sexual-spiritual being. It's really about world peace and you see it quite evident with what happens to people when they activate and master this energy. So, I think in time, step by step, person by person, piece by piece, the broader consciousness will start to pick this up and start to integrate these new aspects of our sexual being in a way that really is enhancing and elevating the human consciousness.
ELSBETH: I see TantraNova education and counseling as the future for effective relationship and intimacy building. The work beautifully dovetails with traditional sex therapy or marriage counseling. There are various ways people can learn about and start practicing TantraNova: If you prefer to work on a one-on-one basis then private sessions customized to your situation will suit you best. If you are in a relationship you might want to consider inviting your partner to do our private couple program. You also can take seminars that provide you with the wonderful opportunity to learn with and from others.
CHARLES: I understand that you offer a DVD series. Tell me more about it.
ELSBETH: Our DVD series is available through New Leaf. The first DVD, "A New Path to Loving" is an introduction to TantraNova. The second one, "Creating Intimacy and Love" is a synopsis of our one day beginner seminar. The third one, "The Discovery of Sexual Spiritual Connection" is the demonstration of the healing rituals both for the woman and for the man. The DVDs lend themselves well for home study.
CHARLES: Now about your school: Where are you located and what kind of classes do you offer there?
ELSBETH: Our institute is headquartered in Chicago. We offer private sessions for individuals or couples and beginner through advanced seminars. We have a 2-year certification program and offer retreats. And then of course I also work with women and teach women seminars to guide women in tapping further into their feminine energy, inner power and creativity.
FREDDY: We are always looking for new ways to get people involved. And people who might be apprehensive to come to a seminar or a private session or perhaps even buy a DVD, would and are willing to come to the theater. So I've created this play where I am singing, dancing and weaving the TantraNova story and how it works and lives in my life expressed in a theatrical, experiential show.
CHARLES: Well, when I am next in Chicago, I'd like to see that.
Charles Muir is the founder and director of The Source School of Tantra in California and Hawaii. He is considered the "Grandfather of the modern Tantra Movement in the United States." He is the co-author of "Tantra: The Art of Conscious Loving".
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THE MONTHLY ASPECTARIAN - December 2004
A Conversation With … Freddy Zental Weaver & Elsbeth Meuth
Guy Spiro: There are two widely divergent streams running strongly in society now. We’ve got movies such as Kinsey coming out, and yet we have the rise of the religious right. Things are, to say the least, interesting for sexuality now.
Freddy Zental Weaver: Absolutely. It’s an age-old issue. Sexual energy is so powerful that it scares people. It has been the seed of a lot of violence and misunderstanding and yet it is the seed of the creation of life. Nature has built it in to keep us existing. We believe that sexual energy is so primordial, fundamental and perennial that, in terms of creativity and the pleasure principle, it must be present in every aspect of our lives. With the exercises and practices that we teach at Tantra Nova, such as pranayama breathing, meditation, ritual exercises, and learning to move the sexual energy, the stories that keep it compartmentalized free up, and when that happens we get expanding creative and pleasure possibilities in areas of our life that seem completely unrelated to it.
GS: There are a lot of people practicing and teaching what they’re calling Tantra. Increasingly you see it, but would the Tibetans recognize it as Tantra?
Elsbeth Meuth: We call ourselves Tantra Nova. We do that on purpose because we are not orthodox tantrics. We don’t aspire to that. We are drawing a lot from that tradition with respect to the connection of the sexual with the ritual that is so alien to our Western culture. We blend it with western technology with respect to human development, and how we use language as a force in creating our lives, including our connection with ourselves sexually as well with another or others. We are aware of the fundamental conversation, what is Tantra, and who knows anyway?
GS: I didn’t point that out as a criticism, but as something that I think needs to be acknowledged.
EM: We are not attached in an orthodox way to that tradition. However, what was so eye-opening, not only eye-opening whole body-opening, with tantric healing is that it really brought together my sexual with my spiritual being. That was totally dichotomous for me. Not only for me, societally it’s dichotomous. One doesn’t seem to go with the other. But it doesn’t lie outside, it lives within me, so it’s just tapping back into myself and connecting with that life giving force that really drives everything. It drives my body, it drives my connection to the creative in me, my intellectual being has to do with it, but now it’s no longer fragmented. I can always tap back into it as well as my own relationship with respect to what it means to love and to make love. In the past, I was a lot in that realm of drama, and suffering, and romantic illusions, and that has all disappeared. Look at him rolling his eyes at me.
[Laughter]
FW: It’s a tough one to disappear, the collapse that we have in terms of romantic and the small “l” love drama that we had, hold sexual energy. When people come to the seminars or our work, whether they’re a couple or they’re single, it’s not like they’re sexually dysfunctional. It’s that they know or have a sense that there’s something deeper. It’s that intimate connection that’s often missing. When you combine the meditative practices, the stillness of the thought with the sexual energy, you connect with the primordial life force. What enshrouds that energy for most of us is what we learned about sex growing up, what’s supported by the laws, what the pundits, the clergy, the churches, the dogmas that are there suppressing, ignoring and vilifying that energy, had to say. As it frees up and starts to move, and we combine that again with that stillness of meditation, it’s phenomenal what opens up for people. They start really getting and developing another listening for themselves as to what they’re here to bring, what their song is, what their purpose is and so on. I mean ultimately it’s about, are you happy?
GS: I’ve always thought that there is a serious disconnect. We’ve been given these bodies, these amazing instruments, and told not to play them. And that’s crazy; not only are people going to, but now they’re going to feel guilty about it?
FW: People aren’t even supported to own their own energy and own their sexuality, and if somebody is suppressed and told, don’t touch that, their only inclination is to find out more about what it is.
EM: That is what is so great with the Kinsey film and Kinsey’s actual work. It’s very clinical, but he used the facts to show just what you said, Guy. Everyone is in a body and is a sexual being, and there are practices nobody talks about. Through his work, things became more open and like, oh, this is how it is, and not some kind of concealed way of looking at what sexuality is. That doesn’t mean that what Kinsey uncovered made the guilt disappear. That is actually, I think, where we do much of our work. What is keeping people from accessing themselves fully, and being with themselves fully, and also expressing themselves fully with another? This is where notions like guilt or shame live. I have done something wrong, it’s not right, or I’m not good enough. These notions we live in actually keep the energy from flowing.
GS: If you’re not supposed to touch that, then why do you feel pleasure when you do?
FW: I’ll tell you a little story. This was my first experience with sexual energy. It’s a story I often tell in our seminar introductions, a little bit about ourselves. I always preface this with, as you listen to my story, think about your own. I was five years old, watching the cartoons one early Saturday morning, and I heard these noises down the hall in my parents’ bedroom. I’m watching the cartoons and they’re interesting, but these noises are more interesting. So I go down the hall, I look into their bedroom and they’re making love, and I watch them for awhile. My father looks like, I don’t know if he’s hurting my mom or loving her, but at one point he’s got her in sort of a head lock and he’s humping and grunting and kind of bumping her, and then he strokes her hair and kisses her softly and the next thing you know she’s flipping him over and she’s bumping and grinding and I don’t know what in the hell is going on. They see me, they stop, they sit-up, they say, come in young Freddy and sit at the edge of the bed. Now they’re nude, sitting up in the bed and my father says to me, well, young Freddy, we’re making love and one day you’ll be even more interested in this than you are now. We both love you very much, could you leave and close the door. And I left and closed the door. I remember that as my opening experience in sexual energy, presented to me by two people I loved and who loved me very much, and it’s done with respect, caring and sharing.
GS: You were very fortunate.
FW: My point exactly. There are not that many parents that are grounded enough in their own sexual energy to be able to present it to a kid who is not even into puberty in an open, sharing, caring and honest way. It’s not what we learn. As I grew older, I was very open about my sexual energy, but that wasn’t what I ran into in other relationships, because they didn’t come from that same kind of household. But can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone were that honest and open and understanding about their own sexual energy?
GS: You guys are working in that direction. You have a new series of DVDs out.
EM: The first one of the series is a twenty-minute introduction. Freddy always says you can give that to your mom when she asks you, what are you doing with Tantra Nova, what is it? The first one is called, A New Path to Loving. The second in the series is called Creating Intimacy and Love, and it’s a condensed version of our one-day beginning level seminar. It introduces people to the foundational practices that have to do with breathing and energy awareness. Without the breath, we cannot move energy, and when we want to connect sexual with spiritual energy within us, then we need to know how to move energy throughout the body. So they are foundational practices we run through for students. Then the third one is called The Discovery of Sexual Spiritual Connection, and that is where Freddy and I demonstrate the healing rituals for the woman, and the healing rituals for the man, and that is more explicit in nature. Of course each of them can be bought separately as well as together.
GS: As I look through your promotional material, without having to get very explicit, there’s a lot of what looks like really good ideas for people to practice. “Master Your Breathing and Calm the Unending Chatter in Your Mind.” That’s good for anybody to do, whether they’re involved in sexuality or not. The “Touch Each Other’s Heart through Hands-On Heart Connection,” this is good stuff, people need to know these things. “Kiss Often to Awaken the Endorphins;” people don’t know about the upper lip, they don’t know these practical things.
FW: That’s the beginning. Once one starts working with those sound fundamental practices and integrating that into their practices with their beloveds or their partners, that’s when we start getting to another level of intimate connecting with, first, ourselves and then really turbo-charging our relationships.
GS: Number four on the sheet, “Gain Control of Your Love Muscle and Let Go.” That’s basically what they teach pregnant women to do with the Kegel, right?
EM: Yes, but to only use it for toning, which is, of course, crucial to the young mother. It’s also important to a man who wants to separate ejaculation from orgasm to sustain his wonderful life force energy, or a woman to really tap into her creative center. It goes much further than just strengthening that muscle. It is really a tool to center ourselves, to come back to oneself and to activate our sexual center, if you choose to. I also want to say something about the ten practices you referred to a little earlier. It’s really just an example from Freddy’s and my life, and that is that we do these practices during the day, sometimes it’s just for a minute, that Freddy comes to my desk and he just puts his hand on my back or on my chest and we breath together, which brings us back to ourselves and connects us. It has a very curious effect, it connects one to oneself and it connects one to the other. Simultaneously, without words, it’s just a connection of our energy and the connection of our breath.
GS: When two people are breathing together, one will have greater breathing capacity. That one should breathe more shallowly than they normally would, so that the breathing is simultaneous?
FW: There’s several different breathing practices that we teach, but what I do is sometimes it’s two in one, so one person, who has the smaller lungs, will take a breath. While I’m taking one breath, they might take one and let one go. By the time I get full of air, then I let go on their out breath. As you do it more, it becomes more intuitive. It’s a wonderful way to begin a listening.
GS: So the DVDs are readily available?
EM: Yes. On our website. We just started a relationship with New Leaf as our distributor, so there’ll be an even wider distribution of the DVDs through their magazine and their contacts. We are working on a relationship with Amazon, but that won’t happen until the New Year.
GS: You guys are local Chicagoans, so you are accessible.
EM: That is another thing that’s unique to what we’re doing here in Chicago. When we started this three and a half years ago, there were people that would come and go; Margo Anand would come and go, Body Electric comes and goes. We’re the only facility that has regular seminars and private session work, where individuals can start to fundamentally integrate these practices into their personal life.
Dr. Elsbeth Meuth and Mr. Freddy Zental Weaver are the founders and directors of the TantraNova Institute, headquartered in Chicago. They offer seminars and private sessions to couples and individuals to assist them in rediscovering their passion and renewing intimacy within themselves and their relationships. They may be contacted at 312-787-7642 or by email to
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CHICAGO TRIBUNE, June 29, 2003
No Time Like the Present for Sex .....
Compiled by Devin Rose
Economic stress? Terrorism fears? This calls for more sex! That's the word from Dr. Elsbeth Meuth and Freddy Zental Weaver, directors of the TantraNova Institute in Chicago. (Tantra teaches the attainment of ecstasy through esoteric, sometimes erotic, techniques.) They warn against letting one's love life become a casualty of troubled times.
"Sexual energy is life force," Weaver said. "When this core energy is blocked or diminished during periods of prolonged stress, lovemaking and your whole life suffer."
The tantra educators offer 10 Guidelines for Making Love in Times of War. They include:
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"Spoon" to reconnect after a hard day.
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Kiss often to awake endorphins. (They say kissing the upper lip is especially effective.)
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Gaze into each other's left eye to link souls.
For the rest of the guidelines, or to find out about seminars or private sessions, go to www.tantranova.com. (Be sure to look into the YabYum exercise, in which lovers sit with bellies touching and align their energy centers.)
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
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CONSCIOUS CHOICE, February 2003, Vol. 16, no. 01
TantraNova - THE DIDVINITY OF SEXUAL LOVE
by Darlene E. Paris
In the early years of our marriage, I remember that my love for my husband René and his love for me soared high. Those were the days in which simply looking at one another sent chills up and down our spine. We made time in those days to simply be with one another -- and to engage in lovemaking sessions that kept our passion alive. As time passed, however, our interest in one another, and zest for lovemaking, seemed to wane.
Rushing up the rungs of the corporate ladder, we didn't have time for the passion-filled days we enjoyed in our early twenties. As a sales representative for a large media company, I was too busy trying to figure out how I was going to increase sales in my territory, while René, who worked at the Chicago Board of Trade, was concerned about stocks and bonds, and when he would finally become an options trader.
At age 29, we had become too ambitious to nurture one another. On some nights, we'd look at each other with the intention to be together intimately, but we'd eventually flap our hands at the notion and collapse unto the bed.
René and I were not alone. Several of our 20-year-old-something friends were experiencing the same thing in their marriages. My close girlfriends and I would talk about our situations with fear that our relationships would come to an end. Mine certainly did.
Five years after we married, René and I decided to get a divorce. We tried marital and individual counseling, but these sessions failed to bring back harmony into our lives. After nine years of living with my beloved friend, René and I decided that it was best for us to go our separate ways.
According to Elsbeth Meuth and Freddy Zental Weaver, this scenario is not uncommon. "Some of us can only go so far in our relationships because we don't know how to take our experiences any deeper," Meuth says. As Tantra educators, Meuth and Weaver help couples cultivate and sustain loving relationships through some of the ancient practices used in tantra.
The word tantra literally means "technique" and refers to ancient texts from India. These books feature a dialogue between the Hindu God Shiva, who represents the "penetrating power of focused energy," and his consort Shakti, who is regarded as the feminine creative force or "The Power of Tantra."
Although tantra is typically associated with the practice of sexual rites and is well known for its instructions in achieving longer orgasms and sustaining erections, this 1,000-plus-year-old practice is actually a healing art that addresses the whole person -- mind, body, and spirit.
In tantra, sex is a holy sacrament and considered to be a path to enlightenment or self-realization. "Tantra work is based upon us getting in touch with our innate energies," says Meuth who, along with her beloved Freddy, received her certification in tantra education from the Source School of Tantra located in Maui, Hawaii.
"Sexual energy is the most fundamental energy that exists," she continues. "This is the energy we come from. This energy creates, sustains, and fuels. It is the source of nurturance and aliveness," she explains.
This energy can be expressed in different ways. For example, it is made manifest through one's work as you paint a picture, write poetry, or prepare a meal. It's also the energy you use when you create a business or decorate a home. This energy enables you to create life on your own terms and is responsible for all of your relationships, both intimate and casual.
Meuth and Weaver's brand of sexual healing work is called TantraNova. In their practice, they use techniques from traditional tantra, such as rituals, breathing exercises, chakra work, and mantras, "but where we differ from traditional tantra is that we work with generative language and examine how we create our reality through the words we speak," Weaver says.
"All human beings live in language; therefore, our reality is created by the words we use," explains Meuth, who has been a practitioner of generative language -- or how the words we speak shape our reality -- for more than 10 years.
Meuth uses an example from her own life to illustrate how the language she used in her youth later created a world in which she found herself having to constantly prove herself to men.
"Growing up, I lived with the assumption that being a man was more powerful than being a woman. That was something that I made a decision to believe and I had evidence from society to support my belief," she says.
"This made me feel I had to prove myself to men or fight them and make them wrong. Then, I aspired to become like a man," she says. "What I was neglecting was the feminine part of myself, and I don't mean in appearance, but that dimension of myself that is receptive, soft, yielding, and accepting. I was not listening to that part of myself, let alone, developing it."
Meuth's language about men drew to her exactly the type of men she sought to avoid until she was able to become aware of her words and then choose a different reality for herself through tantra practices. "Not only do we have feelings about the opposite sex that prevent us from experiencing more love, but we have interpretations around sexuality in our culture that closes down possibilities with respect to full self-expression."
Tantra assists us in getting in touch with and freeing ourselves from old hurts, residual memories and suppressed feelings that are stored in the tissue and musculature of the sexual energy centers in the body," Meuth says. When we are free of these energies, we can live a fuller and richer life.
Some of the techniques Meuth and Weaver use to free pent-up hurts, memories, and feelings include breathing exercises. "Through breathing you can learn to connect the lower chakras (sexual energy centers) in your body with the higher chakras (love and spiritual energy centers). "They also use sounds, symbols and movement to support the activation and connection of this energy flow.
"Tantra Nova teaches you how to integrate your sexual with your spiritual energies", says Elsbeth. "This allows for a divine experience with yourself and ultimately with a partner".
Personal Experience
Diane Crowley knows a little about the sexual-spiritual connection and how that can happen with a partner. Before she and her husband, Trevor, got married they scheduled an all-day session with Elsbeth and Freddy. "My husband and I wanted to explore and augment our spirituality through our sexuality and gain a more intimate understanding of each other to foster each other's wholeness and healing," Crowley says.
During their session, the educators demonstrated different tantric practices such as a breathing exercise that activates the seven energy centers in the body, or chakras. "The chakra work is extremely important," says Meuth. "We are not trained to listen to energy in our culture, but how can we get more in touch with feeling our energy, or connecting with our energy unless we listen to it?" she asks.
Developed by the ancient seers of India, the chakra centers are located in various areas of the body. Each center has certain characteristics and "wheels of life" that vibrate at a certain frequency.bodyitalic The vibration and frequency of a particular chakra correlates to the health of its corresponding organ. "In order to live in harmony, it is necessary for our energy centers to remain balanced," Meuth says.
The breathing exercises move the energy throughout the seven chakras and to the brain. Regular practice allows couples to connect more deeply with themselves and each other. The Crowleys also received instructions for a very intimate practice called the "Sacred Spot" ritual. The Sacred Spot, also known as the Grafenberg Spot, or G-spot, is located deep in the vagina, or yoni, as tantra educators call it, and is another pleasure point, besides the clitoris, of sexual stimulation for women.
In this ritual, the man lovingly massages his beloved with oils and then gently enters her yoni, which means sacred space in Sanskrit, with his ring finger. Once he finds the G-spot, he holds his finger there and caresses it slowly. This ritual is believed to expand a woman's feelings and frees her from past trauma or negative experiences.
The ritual can also be an expansive experience for a man. "Tantra teaches us men to get in touch with our giving side, our nurturing side, our more feminine side," Weaver says. "There's a lot of learned behavior that does not serve us as men, particularly in relationships with women, like that over-macho behavior that allows wars to happen and wants us always to be right. Through Tantra we become conscious of those things and learn ways to move differently," he explains.
Once clients learn a ritual, it's important for them to keep healing practices and lovemaking sessions separate. "The rituals are for the purpose of healing, says Weaver. When we instruct men in the Sacred Spot Ritual, we tell them to tie up their lingam (the Sanskrit word for penis) because they won't be using it," he says.
Bill Overstreet is also learning the meaning of true intimacy through tantra. When Overstreet's wife discovered he was having an affair with three women he worked with, she asked him to move out of the house until she decided what she wanted to do next.
The time alone gave Overstreet space to think about his behavior and his feelings about intimacy. "A long time ago, I was a professional athlete. I got caught up in the whole ego thing. Everyone was clamoring at me on the road. The girls would call the room. I didn't even have to hunt for sex. It would come right to me, he says.
Throughout the 33 years of his marriage, Overstreet had affairs. "My wife and I would have sex, but it was infrequent. I just didn't feel that intimate connection."
But during the five months that he's been receiving tantra education from Meuth and Weaver, his views on intimacy and marriage have changed. "I want to be able to experience an intimate relationship with my wife in a monogamous way, which has not been the case in the past."
Today, Overstreet is sharing some of the rituals he has learned with his wife. He's hoping to move back into their home very soon.
"I never really got any kind of intimate understanding of how special having a sexual encounter is with someone until I began studying tantra. I mean what greater gift can you give than sharing your body? But we don't see that in our society. Men, in particular, see sex as a conquest, let me go out for the kill, that kind of thing. So, I'm finally able, at age 54, to see sex in the Divine Light. Tantra is definitely the divine light of sexuality."
Meuth and Weaver agree. It's one of the reasons they work with such enthusiasm. "We are doing this work to bring about the possibility of harmony not only to ourselves, but to our relationships, not only to our local communities, but to the world at large," Meuth says.
Other than Meuth and Weaver, the names have been changed in this article to protect the identities of the people.
Darlene Paris is a freelance writer, teacher, Reiki Master, and author of Healthy and Natural Living in Chicago: The Best Alternative Resources in the City and Suburbs (Chicago Review Press, 1998).
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TODAY'S CHICAGO WOMAN, May 2002
DISCOVER TantraNova
Looking to take your sex life to new heights? TantraNova, Eastern-based practices that help you discover your sexual-spiritual energies, may be the key. We asked expert Dr. Elsbeth Meuth to tell us how Tantra Nova can increase bedroom pleasure.
TCW: What is TantraNova?
Dr. Elsbeth Meuth: In the Western world we look at our bodies, relationships and life in a way that is often compartmentalized. For example, we think of sexuality being separate from spirituality - as manifested in our bodies and our practices. With TantraNova, you learn how to integrate your sexual with your spiritual energies, allowing for a divine sexual experience with yourself and ultimately with a partner. Rediscovering your innate energies that are sexual-spiritual in nature will allow you to express yourself more fully, free from constraints and habitual patterns (e.g., shame, guilt, fear, suppression, etc.). This enables you to experience your full potential of pleasure.
TCW: Where does TantraNova come from?
EM: Tantra Nova is based on tantric practices originating in ancient India and China. These practices are founded in a spiritual system that considers sexual love a sacrament. TantraNova combines Eastern with Western traditions by blending ancient Tantra with Western knowledge of human development and generative language. Thus, it provides you with a new, joyful and satisfying way of connecting with yourself and others on sexual, emotional and spiritual levels.
TCW: How does it work?
EM: In TantraNova we use the breath as the key to activate and move energy. Through specific breathing exercises you can learn to connect your body's lower chakras (sexual energy centers) with its higher chakras (love and spiritual energy centers). We also use sounds and symbols to support the activation and connection of the energy flow. Further, we train certain muscle groups that are crucial to the activation of energy and the experience of pleasure and joy. The practices can be done by yourself, with a partner or in a group.
The tantric practices assist us in getting in touch with and freeing ourselves from old hurts, residual memories or suppressed feelings that are stored in the tissue and musculature of the body's sexual energy centers. The numbness, pain or discomfort that you might experience at times will disappear, allowing wellbeing and pleasure to occur.
TCW: What benefits do I get from it?
EM: As a woman you can benefit from TantraNova in multiple ways.
First, it will help you to:
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Experience a sense of wholeness, intimacy and love;
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Generate greater ease with yourself and potentially with a partner;
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Bring forth your creative power in all areas of your life.
Secondly, it will assist you in:
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Achieving new ways of experiencing orgasmic pleasures by reawakening your feminine energies;
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Learning to enjoy the delicious experience of Amrita, also called the female ejaculate, which is often a kept secret from western women.
TCW: How and where can I learn more about Tantra Nova?
EM: There are various ways:
If you prefer to work on a one-on-one basis then private customized sessions would suit you best.
If you are married or in a relationship you might want to consider inviting your partner to join you for a couple intensive.
You also can take seminars where you can learn with and from others in a community. TantraNova seminars for women are designed to explore a woman's divine feminine within, open up her creative source of power and generate energetic connectedness within herself and with others.
Dr. Elsbeth Meuth is the owner and co-director of the TantraNova Institute. She is a certified Tantra Educator (CTE). Visit the TantraNova website at www.TantraNova.com or call at 773-525-5006 for more information.
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