Title: Beyond Tantra: Healing through Taoist Sacred Sex Author: Mieke and Stephan Wik Publisher: Findhorn Press Publish Date: 2005 Pages: 154 Genres:: Self-Help, Non-Fiction, Sex Therapy Reviewer: J. Henry

Rating:

Like most tantra books, Beyond Tantra is a sexuality reference for those who are unaware of the benefits that tantra sex can bring to a couple’s sexual drought. The authors, Meike and Stephan Wik, are not certified sexologists but serve as the reader’s guides for those of us who are novices and curious as to what this level of spiritual intimacy entails. Mieke and Stephan were new to tantra and scribed how being persistent in learning the various techniques of this age-old science helped communication and sexual intimacy for their marriage. Beyond Tantra delves beyond tantra and reveals aspects of spiritual healing called Shuang Xiu (Dual Cultivation), which is a branch of Taoist knowledge that uses sexual energy to “promote good health and longevity as well as spiritual development.”

As Mr. and Mrs. Wik learn more about tantra and elements of Taoism, so does the reader. Beyond Tantra starts off as a journal of revealing Stephan’s intrigue with the art, and more importantly in recreating the sexual strength between him and his wife of more than 20 years. While Mieke seems a bit put off by the thought, she concedes to Stephan’s urging. As many couples may give up on tantra, Stephen looked into it with an earnestness that soon died when his wife revealed her hesitation and he read up on how intensive the process may seem. After years of reading many books and giving up quickly on intense spiritual and sexual feelings, Stephan decided to pursue tantra again and comes to learn about dual cultivation to aid in Mieke’s gynecological affliction.

In his research, Stephan learns about Sacred Sex which is used to heal one physically and emotionally. While this has elements of tantra, it goes beyond mere sex in its attempt to heal, focus on breathing, positions, massages and communication. Where they both try to adhere and adapt to the openness needed to be successful in the tantra method, one has to be aware of what you are doing wrong in your emotional and physical relationship with your significant other, which is something neither author had truly come to terms with. “You have to want to improve yourself; otherwise, it’s just not going to happen,” stated Stephan—a mode of thinking that helped him and Mieke to succeed.

Recall that tantra is not just about improving sexual intercourse; it is about strengthening your sexual qi (sexual life force) and retaining this energy to increase arousal. The outcome of this may not always be orgasmic, but satisfying in other ways. Concentration on the female’s vagina (yoni) and the male’s penis (jade stalk) are important. While some books may focus on tantra from the Indian perspective, the Wiks delve into it from the Tibetan aspects rather than the Indian and use language from the Pinyin spellings of China.

The Wiks’ personal experience transitions into brief personal reflections from Stephan and Mieke with instructions on the exercises they felt helped them along the way. In these reflections, the reader learns about Stephan’s unconscious animosity towards his wife for her infidelity years ago and also about Mieke’s inability to communicate her sexual wants, which led her to lead astray in the first place. Afterwards, we learn about the positions, their significance, the setting and mood that needs to be established and the instructions to intimacy, such as massaging the yoni or the jade stalk, and how to achieve valley orgasms, which are orgasms that happen when the body and mind are relaxed. This may not include the actual act of thrusting during penetration as with Mieke and Stephan, when each was able to have an orgasm at the mention of his kissing Mieke’s yoni because their sexual qi was in sync with one another.

What Beyond Tantra lacks is the in-depth knowledge and background of these aspects of tantra and dual cultivation. It would be beneficial if they went into further details about its benefits from other perspectives and even included some professional studies that may aid in this hypothesis. Instead of journeying into didactic methods, which would convey the body parts and what tantra and Taoism may consider the most excitable parts of the body, they convey everything from a basic standpoint in a short matter of time. The few sketches offered in each chapter help in illustrating the body positions and massage techniques, but each chapter is sparse inasmuch detail as the authors choose to convey.

The writing is brief and concise, but in a way that the reader may feel they are missing further information that they should probably try to attain from some of BeyondTantra’s references listed in the back or even refer to the Wiks’ website. The punctuation of the exclamation point is overused repeatedly throughout the book, not only in Stephan and Mieke’s personal revelations, but also in their explanation of tantric and Taoist belief in which they insert their own personal responses: “There will be a lot of practical information later in the book about how to do this (without electrodes)!” It seems that Stephan is the general narrator in this book except in portions labeled Mieke’s story because of the general reference to women from a distance, it seems that Mieke only chimes in when the section is labeled so.

A reader going into the Beyond Tantra should not expect to understand the whole reasoning behind these exercises. While the overview and details are good, they are still at a beginner’s level that keeps you at arms length from truly appreciating and understanding everything they can gain from the history and use of these cultivation techniques.