Have you celebrated love lately?

Maybe the love in your life is a pet, friend, or family member. That’s awesome you feel that connection with someone in your life. If you are blessed to have a romantic partner, millions of people long for what you have, and this blog is especially for you. We all want someone special to talk to, touch, give love, and receive love. When have you taken a moment to pause and acknowledge the preciousness of this gift?

You are blessed to experience this rare and glorious feeling. You hold the most sought after jewel,💎 the holy grail, and the fountain of youth.

People in relationships most often live longer, feel more satisfied, and are happier.

In what ways do you celebrate or take your love for granted?

Do you remember what you felt like before you found your love?

What was it like for you to seek love? Did you enjoy the chase? Was dating titillating? Did you find your time alone as easy, or did you struggle with loneliness? Some people love playing the field, get excited by the new relationship energy, and become quickly bored with routine.

For me, the dating scene was excruciatingly painful, and I felt totally inadequate. I cringe, recalling many desperate moments. What a relief I felt when I found who I thought was my perfect partner. Then, a month before the wedding, our engagement blew up. I found myself single again. Ugh!

After some time of grief and fighting off thoughts of giving up this relationship shit, I remember thinking, I don’t want to start all over dating with social niceties and sorting through people that were not a good fit. Maybe that’s why the universe brought Thomas back into my life, and the friendship that had begun 5 years earlier was quickly reestablished without that awkward dating phase. It took a while to move out of the friend-zone and appreciate how he meets me.

I can’t imagine not having someone to talk to every night or planning my weekends and vacations alone. I hold great respect for singles looking for their love partner and sadness for those in a loveless marriage.

Alone time is sweeter, with the taste of love still on one’s lips.

Disliking being single has been a motivator to work on our long-term commitment. Margot Anand, the Grandmother of Tantra, acknowledged that Thomas and I know a depth in our relationship that she has not experienced. There are many sexual adventures that Margot has indulged in that are foreign to us. And yet, we wouldn’t trade it.

What does deep love feel like?

Love is the womb that nurtures your heart ❤️

Love is the greatest treasure and the greatest mystery. We write the most songs about love, and it’s the primary subject for movies, poetry, and books. Wars are fought for love. Families are established or torn apart for love. About $20 billion is spent each Valentine’s Day in the USA.

Love is the greatest desire and drive. Yet, when you have it, how much time do you spend feeling love. If you felt a hint that the one you loved didn’t return your affections, you’d likely feel devastated and do anything you can to win back their love.

I’ve seen countless times a spouse decides to make heroic changes that were otherwise immovable until the threat of losing their love. How many times they’d say, “I’ll do anything for you,” but they wouldn’t take out the garbage, change their money habits or stop the affair until their relationship is at risk.

There is a rich quality and fullness of love that is readily available by BEING in love. Allow your body to absorb the fullness and sweetness of love. BE with and savor the feeling as you touch, see the twinkle in the eye, smell the pleasantness of love. And remarkably, speak of the deliciousness of your love! We would have fewer unhappy relationships if we spent more time nurturing our loved one.

Even if your love is for a friend, a special place, or something you love to do, cultivate appreciation and gratitude. With Tantra, even a sip can be savored for its preciousness. Or we may choose to drive into love and immerse ourselves completely.

I’ve been trying to acknowledge my beloved more often. And when Thomas is loving me up, I try to respond in kind even when it’s not always the most convenient time or my love language. The more we celebrate love, the more love there is to enjoy.

It’s an ongoing exploration. As our mentor, Steve Carter, would say, “How much more can you love?”

I was surprised; I didn’t expect a gift so early and so big.

My motivation for Christmas shopping has been low. In the last couple of years, we have opted for experiences rather than a lot of gifts, stuff we don’t need.

It’s been some of our favorite times as a family – in a cabin on the north shore, games, puzzles, making ornaments, ice skating, an escape room, X-C skiing, theatre, and dance performance, and family movies.

Since we cannot get together this year, we won’t be sharing a family experience.

This year has been eye-opening regarding how little we need to get by—food, toiletries, essential household items, including, of course, toilet paper. Even my wardrobe is simple since working from home. Nothing new and stylish, I prioritize comfort. Instead of “dress to impress,” it’s dress for coziness.

What more do I want and need?

It was a warm December night, I had been working at the computer all day, so I stepped outside. The freshness of the air made everything more vivid. Remnants of the summer garden were silhouetted in the moonlight. I love my yard and our house that we have crafted to make our own.
Our eldest son was in utero when we moved in. He just bought his own home 🏠 at the same time we are paying off ours. It’s exciting to see our boys exploring life, healthy, and seemingly less burdened by growing up than I did.

Taking stock of my life, I surprisingly thought, I have everything I want.

Wow, that’s a bold statement! I have everything I want! Besides our home, health, my family and husband is easy to love; I have been gifted with incredible career opportunities, especially lately with the SkyDancing Tantra Institute Directorship. We get to live our values of spreading love and choose many ways to care for the environment.

Really, I have everything I want? That can’t be true! I could feel my mind beginning to search for exceptions to “everything.” I spend a lot of time WANTING. Wanting a more organized house, wanting more time to do my writing, art, hang with my kids and friends, wanting the weeds out of my garden, wanting to travel, wanting the dog stains out of the carpet, and wanting a stress-free life.

But the clarity and completeness I felt didn’t account for those. There can always be MORE, BIGGER, NEWER, and BETTER. This moment was free from forward-thinking, to-do lists, incompleteness, and instead, I felt a lightness and satisfaction that I have actualized my dreams. My sense of fulfillment and recognition felt pure.

Such a gift to receive – realizing I have everything I want! And every time I try to recapture that moment, I laugh at myself; here I am, WANTING to feel it again, and wanting to share it with everyone! Even though we won’t be together for the holidays in the traditional way, nothing will ever take away what we have.

Wishing you peace these Holidays!
Love, Sara ~ and Thomas

 

(photo by Tim Mossholder, unsplash)

SkyDancing Tantra

Margot Anand awoke many lovers in Minnesota over St Patrick’s Weekend, 2017 with her SkyDancing Tantra teaching. It was fabulous to see the passion in Minnesota come alive.
Over 70 people were regaled with tales of her adventures, gifted with decades of worldly wisdom, gained an appreciation for the miracle of their bodies capacity for pleasure, learned how to create sacred space in our lives so we can enjoy the richness of our sacred sexuality and most importantly received loving guidance to eradicate sexual shame by developing their own inner lover.
This video was taken before Margot Anand’s weekend in Minneapolis.

Margot Anand in Minneapolis

Love Passionately Tantra

Got this from a colleague of mine and it’s so apropos of what I work with in my sessions with people that I thought it would be good to repost here.

Many boundary classes that we take in this new world of consent operate from top down (mind down to the body).

I am a “yes” for this and a “no” for that… we are negotiating with ideas of what would eventually feel good or bad as we imagine it in the future. This is awesome. It’s an important step forward from where we have been.

Yet, usually what ends up coming in is that those ideas are based upon a traumatic projection on the future that we want to avoid, and keep avoiding.

It ends up becoming a way to control the potential future from my terrible past. Here, there isn’t much room for spontaneity, especially when we feel controlled. 


What we are working with in Embodied Intimacy are Embodied Boundaries — boundaries from the bottom up (from the body up to the mind).

Boundaries are dynamic, they represent waves coming and going, sometimes I have a yes for this, then a hell yes for that and a hell no there.

We are alive, and that aliveness is the path to intimacy.

We are in a constant relationship with everything. Relating is everything. Wherever you are you are relating.

So what we really want to emphasize then is that when you are grounded, when you have a spine, you are centered, you can apply defensive boundaries or somatic resources, then this animal is like… ok, I got you, I have in-tell-igence, I can tell inside and begin to listen and trust my yes and my no. 


When we add this dimension of dynamic boundaries to relating, it becomes really fun. Then we make mistakes but they are not violations to be punished for, it’s me trying to figure out how to best love you.

We are constantly trying to figure out how best to love one another by updating the old programs of the past with the more alive raw intelligence of the present moment.

Because the truth is that I don’t know how to love you. And this “I” that I’m talking about is the program that was created in the past.

Would you actually like me to know how to love you? Would you like me to treat you like an object? Would you like to be objectified by my traumatic history and be treated accordingly? How fun is that?

We start in truth. 


When we are scared and hooked on the story, we keep projecting it… it has our teeth in its flesh. In some cases we cannot do anything but to just feel ourselves back into our bodies to create room for our vulnerabilities.

We can create an environment that has the power to heal through love — because when I take off my mask, I’m taking the mask off you too. Its instant, your human heart responds.

Just like when you see a wounded animal on the side of the street –– how can I hold you and help you heal that wing? I really want to see you fly, because when you fly its like heaven, happiness comes when with generous giving, giving everything you got, its not taking its just the abundance of the human heart.

Come, take off your mask with us.

Love,
Buster (https://www.embodiedintimacy.com/)

Face to Face Connection

Why do people looking for connection, come to SkyDancing® Tantra?

There are many ways in which Tantra builds connection, whether you are a couple or single. Most frequently acknowledged is the simple act of mindful face to face interaction.

Even when you spend hours a day with someone, you can feel disconnected, alone, and you miss deeper relating. As much as you try to communicate, plan a date night, go to a movie, a concert, a drive together, still you feel an absence of true connection.

Studies show that most of relationship interactions are oriented side by side. That we go through life facing forward rather than turning towards each other. There is an element of parallel orientation when we take care of the home, the kids, sit side by side on the couch, or spend more time looking at our screens than each other. This is not enough quality engagement to sustain a fulfilling relationship. 

Couples turn towards each other when we are courting, during an affair, or in crisis. At these times we are more deeply engaged with each other rather than what’s going on around us. Ironically, most couples who don’t make time for each other day to day, will drop everything and are willing to do almost everything if there is a fidelity threat to their relationship. Rather than waiting for partner dissatisfaction, there are simple actions we can do everyday.

“For passion to spark, the couple needs to move from side-by-side energy to nose-to-nose energy. The partners most rouse themselves from life’s daily tasks and turn to face each other, be fully present to each other.”
Terry Real, Family Therapist

Intimacy comes when we turn towards each other. When we feel seen and heard. Consider how you might approach a child if you want to understand what they’re telling you, you bend down, get to the same level, make eye contact and listen intently, repeating back what they tell you. Too often when our partner tries to talk to us we are on our phones, continue what we are doing, watching our show, or are distracted. Tantra is mindful intimacy, when we pause, and turn to make face to face contact.

Face to face interactions communicate, I see you,
I am with you, I care about you. 

The act of taking our partner’s hands, looking into their eyes and Being, is powerfully loving. It activates the bonding hormone, oxytocin. For some, it can feel uncomfortable at first, those awkward silences that we fill with giggles, looking away, squirming and chatter. It can take practice. In our classes, we constantly hear how powerful and connected people feel, with a simple practice of eye gazing. And when people feel connected, the other tasks of managing a home, family and sexual desire and satisfaction come easier.

Tantric Tip: Set up specific times to turn towards the people important to you. This might be when you greet each other, before meals, and saying good-night. Pause, turn face to face, hold each other’s hands, take a breath together, and smile. Notice how much closer you feel to each other. Another pivotal time to mindfully connect is when you’re making a decision about how to spend the evening. Consider an activity other than screens, such as a massage, reading to each other, cuddling, and day dreaming together.

I appreciate how Thomas greets me with a loving hug when I come home from work. Anyone who sits at our table, joins us in pausing for a few breaths and eye contact before we eat. Since Thomas fractured his neck a few years ago, I don’t take for granted our future, so in the morning before I get out of bed, I turn off the alarm and we hold each other, skin to skin. I get my Thomas fix, breathing in, savoring his warmth and presence.

Face to face connection does not need to be a rare experience or reserved only for extreme situations. Enjoy the sweetness of being together. SkyDancing Tantra is particularly known for its heart to heart, face to face and mindful relating on many levels.

On March 28, 2019 Thomas was interviewed by Enhanced Radio on Love Passionately and SkyDancing Tantra.

Harbin Hot Springs

Everyone needs a place like this.
A place where pressure to be busy and accomplish disappears.
A place where the mind quiets.
A place where words are not needed.
A place where everyone is welcomed with unity and respect.

For most of us, our surroundings are cluttered with projects just waiting to be attended. When we try to relax, the papers on the coffee table need attention, the dust bunnies are nipping at our heels, the unfinished projects ask to be completed, and the unanswered emails call. It’s as if once we have been active in a space, it holds active energy. The challenge is to override the intensity that’s alive in order to get to a deeper level of quiet.

Going on vacation is one way we try to get away from the noise of doing. “What did you do on your vacation?“ most people will ask. Even on Facebook, we post the sights we have seen, the food we’ve eaten and the many adventures we’ve taken. Rarely do you say, “I’ve had the most wonderful vacation, doing nothing.“ What if the greatest adventure is just being? Not doing anything, just being and having a place that facilitates that delicious state. 

Last week, I was able to return to my sweet spot. A place where I first learned the depth that can be experienced of profound letting go and inner peace. When I name this place (for those of you that it is familiar) notice your visceral reaction……..

Harbin Hot Springs. And specifically, the sacred waters of the warm meditation pool.

For 3 1/2 years, while recovering from the fire that destroyed it, I have longed to return. I anticipated this venture might invoke many responses and still I had a lovely surprise.

The surprise was not the blackened trees that lined the road up to Harbin. It wasn’t the tears of grief for the devastation of what made up it’s character, lush greenery, old lodging structures, and the Temple. The surprise wasn’t the joy of seeing life sprouting from the trunk of the big fig tree that had canopied the warm pool, nor the compassionate Quan Yin statue sitting serenely in it’s spot. My surprise came while blissfully meditating in the pool, one thing made it more sweet, Thomas. 

I nestled against his warm chest. With the body-neutral water already dissolving the edges of our skin, our bodies melted together. Without thought, our breath synchronized and the words came to me, “I have missed who we are, when we are here.”

The noise of our busy lives disappears in these waters and tension between us is replaced with a tinge of sensual excitement. We discovered a newness about each other here. We were initiated into the magic of SkyDancing Tantra at Harbin. For a moment, we returned to innocence, curious, love struck. What could be more lovely than calm, pleasurable excitement?

The waters of Harbin flow. 
The heart of Harbin beats.

Harbin’s a special place. So special, I feel it’s presence in my bones. Although it has changed due to the fire in 2015, each of us carry it’s essence alive within us. During moments of distress when I seek refuge, I visualize walking down the steps leading into the warmth of the meditation pool. Aaahhhh.

Until we soak in the waters again, Thomas and I find elements of deep connection by dropping into our state of being every week when we create our Tantric practice of Sacred Space.

~ Sara

Harbin Hot Springs Entrance

Establish a sacred place in your home or nature to visit for reflection, meditation and quiet. Savor these times, drinking them into your whole being. The real gift to yourself, is returning to your personal place of being. Return again and again, with mind, body and spirit, either visualizing how your body felt, the sensory details and emotions, or in person.

Tantra Video with Sara & Thomas

Who am I? – When I am not who you think I am?

What happens when we let go of externally imposed constraints to discover our true selves? SkyDancing Tantra is about de-conditioning, letting go of self-limiting perceptions of who we are, and getting back to our raw, wholeness.

We allowed ourselves this exploration of freedom for 3 weeks when we were immersed in advanced studies of SkyDancing Tantra in France.
The two of us often care too much about what others think. As a result, we often merge ourselves and don’t feel fully defined as separate. Even in our relationship of over 27 years together, we are not always clear where one ends and the other begins. We joke, “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine.” Especially, with chocolate desserts.

During recent Love and Ecstasy Trainings in France, we gave ourselves permission to let go of our roles, our ideas of what it means to be a parent, sibling, adult child, spouse, a professional, to explore who is Sara and who is Thomas. By letting go of obligations and cultural conditioning, we could see our imagined constructs and what self-imposed rules we’ve internalized. From a place of free will and empowerment, our values became clearer, what lies behind our true desires, what parts do we embrace and wish to maintain and what is old and no longer serves us.
SkyDancing Tantra promotes full expression of your natural self, with integrity. Freedom and removing constraints is not about breaking rules and vows, unfettered play without consciousness. It is about truth and honoring your whole self very consciously. You choose with awareness what is truly fitting for your highest good and what can be shed and discarded.

Sara’s Story:
In one exercise, when we slowed down our decision making to discern, from what criteria were we making decisions, Thomas sat across from me with the possibility of me mindfully moving closer and touching him. Immediately, my yoni, my sex, was so excited she started screaming “jump on Thomas.” Her enthusiasm and passion for him was clear and almost hard to restrain. I had to tell my yoni to quiet down so I could listen to the rest of me. Then, the sensations from my heart were immense. I burst into tears with such a full heart of love for him. I was closer to him by now, but physical touch was superfluous, we were already in deep connection. By giving myself the time to really listen to different aspects of myself, I appreciated many different kinds of love for Thomas. And no part of this love was diluted with obligations and expectations, it was pure in-the-moment soul connection.

See more surprises we discovered:

Tantra is a path of personal growth. For those of us who are seekers, whether we’re seekers for depth of relating, depth of knowing, knowing beyond mind, or knowing with our whole being. We feel blessed that we ventured into this never-ending path of celebration of discovering who we are meant to be.

Love to hear your thoughts,
Sara & Thomas Stout

SkyDancing Tantra seminars provide the space to explore, to play, and discover your true nature. From your embodied awareness you integrate these loving qualities into your life.

SkyDancing Tantra In Minneapolis
Saturday Evenings 7:00-9:00pm

Mar 30: Sensual Awakening*
April 20: Spiritual Sexual Renewal*
May 4: Tantra Community Night
May 18: Sexual Fitness and Pleasure*
May 25: Yum Night

Presented by Sara and Thomas Stout of Love Passionately
*Co-presented with Diane Long of Kaleidoscope Healing Arts

Minnesota Weekend Retreats

Ecstatic Touch™ (Level 1):
The Art of Pleasure
Shire in the Woods, McGrath, MN
April 26-28, 2019

Save the Date for SkyDancing Tantra Immersion
4 day Retreat
Shalom Hill Farm, Windom MN
July 4-7, 2019

East Coast Weekend Retreats

Timeless Loving® (Level 1):
An Introduction to SkyDancing Tantra
Rowe Center, Rowe, MA
Apr 12-14, 2019

Ecstatic Touch™ (Level 1):
The Art of Pleasure
Guest House Retreat Center, Chester, CT
Aug 9-11, 2019

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If you’d prefer to learn Tantra alone or with just your partner,
schedule some Tantric Coaching Sessions  or
Tantra Massage for Couples

You’ll be able to go at exactly the pace and level of intensity you desire!

Somatic Sex Education

From Amanda Brown Testa’s Blog on New Sex Ed

Let’s face the facts.  For most of us, the sex education that we received in our formative years was lacking and sometimes entirely incorrect.  As a result, you may carry shame, judgment, or other feelings about yourself or your sexuality that impact your life.

This episode is all about breaking free of these feelings and embracing radical acceptance through somatic sex education.

In this podcast, Amanda Brown Testa talks with Anara Lani & Chris Muse, the founders of New School Sex Ed.  Anara and Chris are somatic sex educators who have directly experienced the pain and confusion of being brought up in a world where mixed messages about love, desire, and sex are the cultural norm. They’ve spent several years untangling and clarifying what true sexual health and empowerment feels like, and they are passionate about creating opportunities for individuals, couples, and groups to safely explore their own experiences to find self-acceptance and personal liberation. Anara and Chris believe that through compassion, guidance, self-reflection, and dedication, this kind of awakening is available for all of us.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN…

  • What led both Anara and Chris to become somatic sex educators.
  • What it means to truly feel freedom sexually.
  • How Chris & Anara are making up for the lack of sex education that most of us got when we were younger.
  • What somatic sex education is and how it’s different.
  • The difference between sex and sexuality.
  • How sex has more to do with connecting with yourself than most people realize.
  • The stories we make up about sex based on our early experiences.
  • What to do if you want to work with a sex coach but you feel uncomfortable or ashamed.
  • The importance of accepting any trauma or shame that may come up.
  • What it’s like to explore radical acceptance of our bodies and the freedom that comes from it.
  • How Anara and Chris went from thinking they were sexually empowered to realizing they actually weren’t and the work they did to feel truly empowered sexually.
  • The role of vulnerability in this work.
  • Why you might want to work with a sex coach or educator instead of just referring to a book.
  • That importance of presence and awareness in having a better sexual experience and tapping into your emotions.
  • What can happen when we focus too much on what “should” be happening.
  • What it means to authentically trust yourself.

Click here to listen to the full podcast:

Jingle Balls

Mary Jo McCullough interviews a very special, holiday baker who takes great pleasure in sharing the delights he cooks up.

The Delicious Dish brought to you by LovePassionately

From our hearts and funny bones to yours, we wish you joyful holidays and look forward to sharing many laughs, hugs and passion in the New Year,
Sara and Thomas Stout