VL: Is traditional psychological therapy and counseling effective?

MA: I mostly know what I hear from those who come to my trainings, which last two to three weeks over the course of a year with practices in between. Almost every one of them says to me, “This is worth 15 years of therapy,” probably because my training deals with the whole person. All it takes is a skilled teacher and a willing student. Individual therapy can heal the mind and feelings, but often does not deal with the body too.

VL: Does tantra liberate both men and women from gender stereotypes?

MA: Tantra philosophy teaches that we all have aspects of the masculine and feminine within us. Jung called it the animus and the anima. We were born with the hormones of both, which allows us to experience both polarities. It is culture that separates the male and female roles.
In my training, which I call SkyDancing, there’s an opportunity to look at all that. There’s one practice I call the yin/yang game (which is also described in The Art of Sexual Ecstasy) in which a couple divides a 24-hour day into different periods. They each write down what they think is “my day in fantasy” (which is usually of an erotic nature), describing all the things they have ever wanted to experience and never got a chance to. Then they take turns, one being the supporter while the other one asks for what they want and need. This is all based on an agreement of complementary interaction, where one takes on the yin role while the other gets the yang role. Yangs will be at each other’s throats because they each want it their own way. Yins wait for the other to give direction because they don’t want to take the initiative. Changing yin/yang and male/female roles is one of the ways tantra teaches how to drop the stereotypes and come into your own power.

VL: Why do you think so many religions have taboos about sex?

MA: Traditionally, religion has always tried to control human sexuality, because when someone becomes ecstatic, they are free. The system that is run by the politicians and the priests wants to harness people’s energy so that the citizens will make money and support the priests and politicians. People are taught to believe that a priest is necessary for them to have a relationship with the divine. They do not believe it is possible to have this experience on your own, which is what tantra teaches. So, the priests have a vested interest in controlling people, especially when it comes to having an ecstatic experience. This is where the traditional separation between the flesh and the spirit comes from. The body has been regarded as the abode of evil instincts, while the spirit is what will bring you to God. When people are convinced of their original sin and guilt, they are under control of the church and are powerless. This is what I mean when I say that we are trapped in the Anti-Ecstatic Conspiracy. The system does not want us to wake up to our natural ecstasy. The moment a person does wake up, they become a free thinker and are considered dangerous. That’s when they become a “cultural creative,” someone who demands to have meaning in their life in every moment.

VL: What do you think about the secret life of former President Bill Clinton?

MA: Americans, in their Puritanism, think that there’s only one way to deal with people who have affairs; that if you don’t tell about your affair then you will be damned for the rest of your life. And that’s not true. If Clinton had been president in France, we would have sent him many blessings and would have said, “Look, if you’re OK with your wife and you’re OK as president, we don’t want to hear about the rest. It’s none of our business.” In France, the art of having affairs while staying happily married is something that has been cultivated for centuries. It is still going on to this day.
My responsibility is not to tell all, but to make sure that sexual safety is respected and that I don’t put my partner at risk. When we enter into our sacred garden, our commitment to each other is honored and we are truthful with each other. Even if I am not married to that person, I honor my commitment to him and the agreements we have. But one of those agreements may be that I don’t want to hear what you are doing outside our relationship. I want to trust that when you come to me, you come clean and fully present. How you handle it depends on every individual and every situation.

previous page or

continue with interview