Back from a trip to India including a short visit to the house of Mahatma Gandhi. To walk the same floorboards, to stand on the same balcony, in the footsteps of the Great Soul, was to feel inspiration. Those today fighting for a just cause could learn from a man who used all means except violence to obtain justice. And succeeded.

Many thanks for the wonderful hospitality Marta and I received in India, especially from Gita Pandit who gave us accommodation in Mumbai, tea in Delhi, and a lot of inspiration - including the visit to the Gandhi House. We're looking forward to you resuming your studies at the Zen School!

Apart from all the fun, and the challenges of an Indian train (for those who know my mantra) we had positive results in our search to promote the school to potential shiatsu visa students. And I should mention it wasn't all work - the Taj Mahal is even more than the hype, even more than the most expected expectation, even in 47 degrees. Make it a thing to do before you die! (early morning best!!!)

Taoist Training - preparing for the Summer Retreat

This year sees changes! A new and beautiful venue near Glastonbury in Dorset with accommodation for both singles and couples and a refreshing new programme make this year's Taoist Summer Retreat a must for those on the seriously fun path to enlightenment - lighten up! A wise Taoist hearing the bookings already rolling in will be thinking of registering sooner rather than later. The Retreat (1st to 9th August) covers Steps 2 and 3 of the Foundations of Taoist Practice plus you need Step 1 to qualify - just to make sure its right for you.

If you're just starting out, or simply want to learn more about the Taoist practice, the next Foundations Step 1 is on June 21st & 22nd at the Rosewell Centre, including Taoist Sweatlodge. You learn the basics of the Inner Smile, Six Healing Sounds, Microcosmic Orbit and much more. Set in the beautiful countryside of South Lincolnshire, near Stamford - just over an hour from London by train or two by car depending on traffic, the Rosewell Centre is hosted by Sue Hix, a qualified Taoist Practitioner, offering classes in Tai Chi (including Sword and Fan forms), Chi Kung, Yoga, Pilates, Shiatsu (including horse-shiatsu), Sweatlodge and Women's Groups.

Accommodation ranges from sleeping-bag on the dojo floor, free camping in the adjacent meadow, to proper beds in nearby B&B's. Sandwich lunches can be had in the village of Castle Bytham (yes there's a castle) and on the Saturday evening Sue cooks us a delicious vegetarian feast in time to digest before the evening Sweatlodge. Sue can also organise breakfast for floor-sleepers and campers if you arrange with her beforehand - click for info and directions.

Many Taoists who began at Rosewell have said what a wonderful start it is to the Foundations. And if you've not yet experienced a Sweat-lodge, this is a nurturing and supportive introduction to a wonderful tradition shared by Taoist and Native American alike.

The next Step 1 after that, (July 26th & 27th at the London Tao Centre) is the last before the Retreat. You can making savings by registering in advance for more than one course. Click to see training dates and costs

Healing NLP

Early Bird discount (before 22nd June) is on offer for the next Society of NLP accredited Practitioner Training August 22nd to 29th. http://www.healingnlp.com Also on the web site, names and contact info for our growing number of Practitioners and Master Practitioners, including other languages spoken. Learn to master mind, starting with your own, and help others be the best they can, finding their full potential, overcoming fears and phobias, learning to understand others. Works well with healing therapies - not surprisingly as NLP began as one itself - and fits nicely with the 5-element model of oriental medicine.

Facebook etc friend requests
Many thanks to the many who have invited me to join their networks on Facebook and similar sites and I would love to do so but for the volume of requests. I really appreciate your thoughts and feel very flattered so please don't think my lack of response is personal. I've actually closed my Facebook account because the deluge of messages got too much to cope with. I already spend too long looking at liquid crystal. Consider me a friend anyway!

best

Kris

To be a Taoist Trainer

More Changes in the Tao - becoming a Taoist Trainer

Many people who've shown interest in climbing the ladder to becoming a Taoist Trainer have, up till now, had to consider the potential effect on personal relationships of the requirement to work in pairs from Step 6 onward. They've also had to cope with the effect on their resources of numerous course repetition and assisting requirements.

Here at the London Tao Centre we have stated our intention to make courses more accessible, in line with current education and training methods. We want more people to qualify so we can spread the benefits of the Tao that has benefitted us. Everyone can become a more effective human being, even if their only practice is the Inner Smile at the morning mirror.

So, as of now, Steps 6 and 7 are optional and no longer pre-requisite for Step 8. (We will continue to offer tantric training as a separate stream for couples. The next is in September, details soon.)

Step 8 will be dedicated to individual "Trainer Training," to include personal assessments of knowledge and ability to pass it on. This takes into account individual learning and teaching ability rather than simply turning up and being there.

On successful completion of Step 8's 4-day training you will either receive your Taoist Trainer Licence to teach Steps 1 to 4 without any further post-requirements, or be asked to repeat/assist specific course/s to reach an acceptable teaching standard. For the sake of clarity, outcomes will be defined so that everyone knows and can agree on standards - more on this in the future.

Pre-requisites for Step 8 are a) to have attained Taoist Practitioner (TP) status and b) after attaining TP, just one series of assisting once on each of Steps 1 to 5, plus Taoist Shamanic Healing and the Tai Chi Summer Camp

To achieve Taoist Practitioner status you can take a simple assessment after completing Step 5. This assessment will be of your ability to:

demonstrate the Tai Chi form and explain the applications;

demonstrate and explain the basic structures of Iron Shirt Chi Kung;

demonstrate an understanding of and ability to explain and demonstrate the Jade Circle or Jade Arrows practices.

If you've completed Step 5 in the past you can take your Taoist Practitioner Assessment at the upcoming Tai Chi Camp 15th to 20th July at the Rosewell Centre

In summary: A Taoist Practioner will have completed Steps 1 to 5 and, after successful assessment, be authorised to teach Basic Tai Chi, Intermediate Chi Kung, and Jade Circle or Jade Arrows.
A Taoist Trainer will have assisted on Steps 1 to 5, Taoist Shamanic Healing and Tai Chi Summer Camp, and, after satisfactorily completing Step 8 Training & Assessment, receive the London Tao Centre Trainer Licence to teach Steps 1 to 4.

I will update the web site to reflect these changes which I hope will inspire a new and dynamic generation of Taoist Practitioners and Trainers, confident in their proven knowledge and ability to impart these wonderful practices to others. This is already happening in the networking of the Jade Circle.

Learn more

A rant for English Football

Once upon a time England were losing so often that they dumped the lot and built a new team around six Liverpool players. In those days Liverpool obviously must have had more than six English players to choose from. Things got better.

The other day I watched Liverpool beat Arsenal, a foreign club based in North London. Not entirely foreign - their Englishman came on as a substitute late in the game and showed his team how to play - that is to say he ran all the way up the field with the ball, staying on his feet when challenged instead of lying down and pretending to be injured. (Quote from Martin Johnson on the differenc between football and rugby: footballers spend 90 minutes pretending they've been hurt; rugby players spend 80 pretending they haven't.)

What are the prospects for English football - as opposed to football in England - when English players are so few? Of course we can scour the world for the best foreigners to make our club teams sparkle but what then of the pool of home-grown talent for our national team?

I know the Premier league is the best in the world - the most excitng to watch, the best-paid players, the top managers, but isn't it silly for anyone to think this means our national team could be any good? And wouldn't it be just as silly to suggest clubs should pick local boys over imported stars.

What to do, then? We could ask the money, Rupert, Roman, Abdul etc, to invest in facilities to develop home-grown talent but am I forgetting something? Yes, what would be the benefit to them? Are any of them English? Would they make any more money?

Perhaps, therefore, before England becomes a mere performance stage, our own football organisation should require an English club's team to have a specified number of English players. One? Two? Three?

Would they? They seem to roll over nicely to re-schedule games for the money.

I like watching English football. I'd like to watch England play.

Spring into April

Taoist Training

This year's Step 5 initiates broke two records: all completing their agreed tasks with only a minor variation, and surviving the most ferocious weather. Everything's perfect - a blizzard blew the tipi over, forcing startled sleepers to take refuge in a nearby and pre-arranged (well done, Kris!) shelter with thick carpets and under-floor central heating. It was so comfortable we felt compelled to run out and roll in the snow for a Scandinavian moment on Easter morning.

The next event coming up is Foundations of Taoist Practice Special Step 1 for Women only 12th & 13th April, 10am to 5pm, with Tanya McCormack and Uta Demontis co-facilitating with Kris Deva North.
The next combined Step 1 for men and women is at the Rosewell Centre in Stamford Lincs, June 21st & 22nd.
Step 1 is pre-requisite for Step 2 (Healing Love) and 3 (Power of Fusion) on the Summer retreat (August 1st to 9th) - make sure of your place this year - things are changing next year.

Diary note for Mantak Chia's visit: 7th to 13th November. Three exciting new workshops: Taoist Astrology & Feng Shui; Tao Yin & Tan Tien Chi Kung; DNA Stem Cell Chi Kung & Mindpower Manifestation. Registrations open in September.

Good news for those patiently waiting for the Cosmic Chi Kung 'Hands of Light' video. Here it is on the new Shamanic Healing page on the web site, completely free! and I'm sorry its taken so long...life happens...

Changes in the Tao
The London Tao Centre is making some changes to bring our training more into line with modern society's sometimes conflicting demands on resources of time and money. The focus is on outcomes and demonstrating commitment and ability, rather than time passed.

The training courses are being made more accessible and pre-requisites kept to the minimum. The aim is to offer a clear pathway for learning to teach these ancient but effective practices and for certification as one of our Taoist Trainers. Changes will be published on the web site www.healing-tao.co.uk and here in the newsletter as and when, the first being a change to the requirements for Taoist Practitioner following Step 5, now including a simple assessment:

demonstration of the Tai Chi form and explanation of the applications;
demonstration and explanation of the basic structures of Iron Shirt Chi Kung;
demonstrating an understanding of and ability to explain and demonstrate the Jade Circle or Jade Arrows practices.

Learn more If you've completed Step 5 in the past you can take your Practitioner Assessment at the Tai Chi Camp this year. The Interim Taoist Practitioner qualification (TP(int) is discontinued.

For Taoist Practitioners already assessed and certified to teach Intermediate Chi Kung, Beginner Tai Chi, and Jade Circle/Jade Arrows click here. Could you be among them?

Healing NLP

Early Bird discount now on offer for the next Society of NLP accredited Practitioner Training August 22nd to 29th. Also on the web site, names and contact info for our growing number of Practitioners and Master Practitioners, including other languages spoken. web site

March Newsletter

Chant for Charity
I'm still seeking a few more singers, unsingers, chanters, growlers, blowers, drummers and strummers to come along this Saturday 1st march to help in creating an Album of Chants to promote our school and raise some money for Capital Radio's charity Help a London Child here at the Zen, 68 Great Eastern Street London EC2 starting at 5.30 pm to about 8.30 pm. - bring a friend to blow or sing or drum or strum.

Early Warning of Approaching Vitality
Yes, its the Vitality Show March 27th - 30th at Olympia.
Visit us on Stand E131, enjoy a wonderful head- neck- and shoulders treatment and get a 5% discount on any courses you sign up for at this exhibition. Thursday 27th 1pm to 9pm. Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10am to 6pm. More than 400 exhibitors. Great Buzz!

Zen Shiatsu Open Evening and Intensive Immersion Course Coming Soon
Come to our Open Evening on Friday 29th February and learn more about Zen Shiatsu. Meet the teachers, have your questions answered. Win a 5% discount if you sign up this evening - no pressure, big saving. No need to book - just turn up: 6.30 for 7pm at 1st Floor, 68 Great Eastern Street EC2A 3JT (Old St Tube) Finish by 9 pm and costs just £9. Find us:

5-day Shiatsu Intensive Immersion course. Monday 3rd March, daily until Friday 7th, 10am to 5pm. Learn the Four Positions: Prone, Supine, Side and Seated, leading to your basic Certificate in Practical Shiatsu (CPS.) If you can't make the Immersion, why not join one of the weekly courses: these start Tuesday evenings 6.30 pm or Thursday afternoons 2.30 pm, or for the monthly cycle enrol Saturday March 15th at 10am or 2pm (3rd Saturday, two sessions, 10 am to 1 pm and/or 2 to 5pm.)

The Zen School Spring break is from March 17th to 28th.


Taoist Training
Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 1 8th and 9th March, 10am to 5pm, pre-requisite for later Steps, including Steps 2 and 3 on the Summer retreat. With enrolments already rolling in make sure of your place on the last retreat of its kind - there are changes in the air ! Last year we had to turn people away.

Can you sing, strum, blow, drum or hum?

I'm looking for 12 people who can't to growl in the background and for 12 people who can and a few people who play instruments to join in creating an Album of Chants to promote our school and raise some money for Capital Radio's charity Help a London Child.

We'll be chanting everyone's favourite - Gayatri Mantra, the Mexican Om, and others such as We All Come from the Goddess, Om Nama Shivaya, Shakti Kundalini, Truth Simplicity and Love, Shiva O, Om Mane Padme Hum etc. (You don't have to know the words - there'll be cue-cards and practice!) The Album should be available as a download within a few days.
Our PR Consultant Marta Antunes received this message from Chloe Herbert at Capital Radio:
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for everything you and the Zen School of Shiatsu do for Help a London Child. It really is with people and organisations like you that Help a London Child are able to carry on the work we do for disadvantaged children and young people in the Capital. You really are helping to make a difference and your support is very much appreciated."

Your name will be on the album which is scheduled to be recorded at the Zen School of Shiatsu 68 Great Eastern Street London EC2 on Saturday 1st March starting at 5.30 pm. It shouldn't go much later than 8.30 pm. Interested? email Marta

Taoist Training
starts up again on the weekend 8th and 9th March, 10am to 5pm, with Step 1 of the Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 1 is of course pre-requisite for later Steps, including the Summer Retreat in August - Steps 2 and 3. With a few enrolments already it may well be worth your while to think about that if you intend to develop your practice (while having a lot of fun). Last year places filled up quickly and we had to turn people away. This year we have hired a bigger venue in Dorset. Nevertheless....

Master Mantak Chia is planning changes to his system which I will keep you informed about but let me reassure you that the London Tao Centre will continue to keep our training accessible, affordable and structure simple. A new module, Taoist Shamanic Healing, combining advanced Fusion practices with Cosmic Healing, replaces Cosmic Healing as a pre-requisite for Step 5 and replaces Chi Nei Tsang as a requirement for Step 8. I'm still writing the manual but take a note of the first course: October 24th to 27th, Friday through Monday. There are no pre-requisites although if you have done Fusion (Step 3) by then you will find it helpful.
The web site info will be updated soon.
We will also be giving Certificates of Attendance for courses.

Master Chia has asked me to find out what you would like him to teach on his next visit in November so please - click reply and let me know your requests or suggestions,. Stem Cell Rejuvenation sounds interesting and Tao Yin could be exciting...what do you think? Click with your suggestions or requests.

Healing NLP
If you have an NLP Practitioner Certifcate from the Healing NLP Institute or any other Society of NLP accredited trainer why not upgrade your qualification to Master Practitioner? The 8-Days NLP MASTER PRACTITIONER TRAINING this year runs in two blocks of four days, 25th to 28th April and 2nd to 5th May, 2008 Friday through Monday 9am to 6pm. Ask for the NLP Master-Practitioner Training Application with Early Bird discount for payment by 7th March.

Happy New Year of the Rat,

Modern Day Sexual Teachings

Facilitating at an Open Forum recently, Marta and I found a wide range of views on tantra and its relevance to "Modern Day Sexual Teachings." Our version, in this broad church whose only common theme is acceptance, is Taoist Tantra.

The Tao is the One, the source (1); Tantra is to expand and to liberate (2). Both see the world "not as a vale of tears, of sorrow or of suffering, but of subjective and objective beauty, a world of reality, neither an illusion nor an evil...the path is smooth and straight". The aim is enlightenment: Union with the Divine (3), the means, sexual ecstasy. The practices are lofty and profound, sacred and profane, barring nothing except harming another. (4)

While the Tao is Harmony, Tantra "challenges practitioners immediately to see all things and all experiences as intrinsically pure and innately perfect.... including situations meant to shock, repulse or terrify ... heart and mind will be illuminated"(5). Courting the disapproval of society, Tantra bashes down boundaries, barriers and taboos, prescribing "forbidden acts"(6), opening windows to spiritual independence, creating opportunities for grasping the moment, shoving you along the "short path" to ultimate peace, the indescribable experience of subtle clear light.
Flavoured by its roots, Hindu ritual is based on surrender (6), eating forbidden meat and drinking forbidden alcohol. Women practitioners (personifying the goddess Shakti) are seated either Right or Left of their male (Shiva) partners in the tantric circle. In the Right-Hand Ritual members enjoy sex with their own partner, in the Left-Hand Ritual with others, of any or no caste and regardless of sexual appeal. Rituals culminate in orgasm, with Shiva ejaculating in ecstatic surrender to the power of Shakti, the divine.
The mechanistic nature of the rituals and unofficial use of drugs help participants overcome apprehension, inhibitions and aversion to such practices as breaking caste taboos, ingrained over lifetimes in the Hindu consciousness. Liberation from conditioning of caste, taboo and convention leads to a freedom from fear possibly comparable with that of a committed Christian or Jew discovering that sin has been abolished.
For many this is enlightenment enough. Others continue to surrender: possessions, dwelling, family, becoming Saddhu, beyond ritual. Beyond the beyond, the Aghora sect live tantra "at the Left Hand of God" (7), frequenting cremation-grounds, eating human flesh and excrement, having sex with the dead, surrendering all attachment to shorten their chosen path by many incarnations.
For the male and female Buddhist, with their "inner experience of dissatisfaction with this existence"(8), the focus is bliss rather than sexual ecstasy. The Right-Hand path means practising alone or "Single Cultivation"; Left-Hand or "Dual Cultivation" is with a partner, preferably a member of the same tantric family: teacher, pupil, co-practitioner (5). A man should not surrender semen, in fact if he "spills it, this is considered a great fault.... a very grave mistake"(9). The reward for correct practice is enlightenment in just one lifetime.

"Addicted to sin and anger"(3), we in the West yearn for ecstasy yet pollute the practice of pleasure with demons of Shame, Guilt, and Fear of punishment (10). A Western guru diverts such "demons" by encouraging an attitude of Reverence or describing practices as Sacred, but labels as "shame-muscles" parts of the body, which might otherwise be described as pleasure-zones. Judaeo-Christian patriarchal conditioning influences western tantra towards the socially approved ideal of the faithful couple. Carefully drawn boundaries and use of psychotherapy and counselling help groups and individuals meet fears and inhibitions arising from repression or sexual wounding earlier in life. This approach suits seekers who might otherwise not take even a first step on the tantric path. Enlightenment here could mean freedom from sexual trauma.
Indian classics advise setting aside twelve years yogic preparation of the physical and energy-body, Taoists (11) recommend Tai Chi and Qigong to open and clear energy channels (3). Western tantrics, wanting immediate enlightenment, now, at the weekend workshop, might find certain practices overload the nervous system, with painful and sometimes dangerous long-term side effects.

Is Tantra something more than disgusting, boring, worthy and dangerous? Stoned and inebriated, fearful of the great fault, the grave mistake, plagued by guru-demons of shame and guilt, we seek the true spirit of tantra, the path of ecstasy. Can we attain self-realisation by having a good time?
"Secret Instructions of the Jade Chamber"(12) is a Taoist text on harmonising male (yang) and female (yin) energies. Sin is not recognised, nor any concept of right and wrong beyond individual conscience. With "...all things and all experiences intrinsically pure and innately perfect..." it is unnecessary to create difficult and painful processes. Pain and difficulties arise only from our responses to experiences.
Taoist Tantra is mutual nourishment, yin drawing on yang and yang from yin. Single, Dual and Multiple Cultivation can be practised, for pleasure, health and longevity, healing, self-realisation and, ultimately, experiencing a self beyond the cycle of life and death: Re-Union with the Tao, the universal Source. As above, so below: each of us a microcosm, two heavenly cycles fusing in the moment of sexual climax.
Taoist methodology begins with the familiar: the physical and the formulaic. In progressing from novice to adept, the practitioner learns to transcend form and formula. There is no ‘sacred’ focus, all human sex being sacred in the union of Yang, the force of Heaven, with Yin, the power of Earth.
Sex is seen as the servant, not the master. Practitioners learn to control and harvest the abundance of reproductive power, otherwise wasted in unmindful intercourse: yang having the power to repopulate a continent in a single ejaculation, yin with eggs to generate hundreds of lives. If the products of our pleasure are not being deployed to start new life, say the Taoists, we can internalise the intense energy, all the hormones and nutrients, to improve our own lives.
Repression of the natural urges is considered unhealthy. In the words of Mantak Chia, a modern Taoist Master, "Sex is natural. The human being has a powerful sex drive - and you cannot keep the pingpong balls under water. Sometime, somewhere, they pop back up, maybe as disease, maybe as emotional problems, causing energy blockages, leading to illness. The Tao is the way of recycling, not repression."
Men and women redirect orgasmic energy through the Microcosmic Orbit (Small Heavenly Cycle), for good health and long life, with the additional benefit for women of controllable and painless menstruation (13). Practitioners enjoy increased vigour, improved stamina and enhanced sensation through "whole-body-orgasm". Harmonising male and female peaks and valleys of arousal and orgasm without energy-loss enables longer and more pleasurable sexual encounters.
Woman loses energy more through menstruation and childbirth than orgasm. For man, it is vital to open the Orbit otherwise non-ejaculatory orgasm can cause aching, congestion, wet dreams or headaches. Retention and recycling is important but Taoists also make recommendations for seminal release related to the age of the practitioner and season e.g. rarely in Winter, a time for conservation, more frequently in Spring - and the springtime of a relationship, with its urgent need for surrender to the goddess. However, Secret Instructions of the Jade Chamber contra-indicates practice when in the grip of emotional extremes and unbridled passion, then adding that because you may become ill from it, you may also be cured by it! Other contra-indications include practising when drunk, too soon after a meal, and when constipated.
Mantak Chia speaks of the spiritual power: "You can either pray 100,000 hours, or you can consciously guide the sexual energy in the Microcosmic Orbit."

The Tao is the way of harmony, Tantra expands and liberates. Without gender discrimination, rules, hierarchy or clergy, requiring no conversion or belief system, offering guidance rather than dogma, the Tao of Tantra is a short sweet path to spiritual independence, or your own conception of self-realisation or enlightenment. These words of the Dalai Lama capture the essence: "if the meditator applies certain meditative techniques it is possible to create opportunities for grasping the moment and consciously generating the experience of subtle clear light...during the time of death, of deep sleep, and sexual climax."(9) If His Holiness were a woman, he might have included the moment of childbirth!

Is it disgusting, boring, worthy and dangerous, or can Tantra offer self-realisation by having a good time? This is for you to find out for yourself, because everyone has their own ideas.

RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING
A Touch of Sex - Shiatsu Secrets for Lovers revealed
Master of the Zen School Kris Deva North and the Taoist Master Mantak Chia combine their years of teaching and depth of knowledge and experience to create a compelling journey through the secret ‘erotic pressure points’ of Chinese Medicine.
‘A Touch of Sex: Shiatsu Secrets for Love’ reveals the secrets of Taoist Foreplay, from it’s origins at the Court of the legendary Yellow Emperor through 4,000 years of sexual history to it’s relevance for modern lovers: combining loving touch with healing power.
"Sexual practices have been studied for centuries in both East and West," says Chia. "Chinese and Japanese traditions combined the study of sex with medicine: certain pressure-points and meridians were found to stimulate and sustain sexual desire. Using the secrets of these points and channels makes for longer and more pleasurable sexual encounters. Peak moments can be prolonged beyond bliss, into ecstasy. Like cooking a Chinese meal, preparation is the key."
"Yes, you can become a far more effective Lover," adds North. "Woman, man, straight, gay and bi, you can please your partner and please yourself. The act itself is natural. You know what to do. It is the moments leading up to the act which make it more or less pleasurable for your partner. Women fear insensitivity. Men fear inability to perform. Both fear rejection. Knowing the psycho-sensual secrets of certain pressure points helps you become a better lover, however good you are already. Are you aroused more quickly, your partner more slowly? It’s quite usual for the man to climax first. Woman comes to the boil more slowly but simmers longer. He’s done in, she ready for more. "
Based on the form of a conventional shiatsu treatment, the text and pictures give detailed guidance, showing precisely where to place the hands - and other body-parts - to stimulate and sustain arousal.
Many of the pressure points from shiatsu healing massage are shown with their more arcane applications, sometimes with passing reference to the clinical use, for example: "Conception Vessel 1, known as the Gate of Life and Death, so named because the retention of sexual energy is said to prolong life, has subtle use as arousal point for both sexes, especially good for prolonging male orgasm. Clinical use is said to be able help with prevention and relief of symptoms of some prostate conditions."
Self-shiatsu is well covered, with exercises for men and women to keep themselves at the peak of sexual fitness, and the women’s practice of using the famous Chinese Drilled Jade Egg is described in detail. A chapter on what to look for in a lover, from astrological compatibility to physical attributes as indicators of sexual performance, is followed by advice on coping with sex-vampires and energy-parasites. It is Mantak Chia’s twenty-first book, and the first by Kris Deva North. The book shows a profound knowledge of the subject, which it conveys with a light touch and hundreds of colour photographs.
* * *
‘A Touch of Sex’ is available in paperback and as an on-line digital download: learn more
And here for info and training on managing sexual energy

Tao of Tantra References
1) Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu tr JC Wu, Shambala 1989 ISBN 0877733880
2) Ecstasy through Tantra, John Mumford, Llewellyn 1988, ISBN 0875424945
3) Principles of Tantra, ed A Avalon. Ganesh & Co (Madras) 1914
4) Cultivating the Energy of Life, Eva Wong, Shambala 1998, ISBN 1570623422
5) Passionate Enlightenment, Miranda Shaw, Princeton 1994 ISBN 069101090
6) TheTantricTradition, Agehananda Bharati, Rider 1965
7) Aghora, Robert Svoboda, Sadhana 1999 ISBN 0965620840
8) The Dalai Lama’s Book of Wisdom, ed M Bunson, Rider 1998 ISBN 0712671196
9) Healing Anger, The Dalai Lama tr GTJinpa, Snow Lion 1997 ISBN 1559390735
10) Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, Bloomsbury 1996, ISBN 0747528306
11) Taoist Secrets of Love, Mantak Chia, Aurora 1984 ISBN 0943358191
12) The Taoist Experience, Livia Kohn, SUNY 1993 ISBN 0791415805
13) Healing Love through the Tao, Mantak & Maneewan Chia, Healing Tao Books 1986 ISBN 0935621059