Thea Euryphaessa, Founder, Urban Deva

I signed up for the course at the end of January somewhat absent-mindedly. I knew I wanted to do it but was busy with other stuff so didn’t really pause to consciously consider what the workshop might entail. ‘It’s with a load of other women’, I thought. ‘It’ll be fine’. Hmm…

To say the workshop was life-changing would be the understatement of the millennium. One of my very first thoughts was if every eleven year old girl did this workshop in secondary school our culture would be transformed overnight; pregnancy rates would drop and the number of sexually transmitted infections would fall as young women’s relationships with their bodies were given a solid, confident foundation from which to grow.

Contrary to the British media’s parochial fixation about Tantra solely enabling folk to have sex for hours on end while withholding orgasm and/or ejaculation, it’s actually about far more than that. It’s about healing broken relationships with the body by consciously reconnecting with oneself from the neck down at a physical and emotional level. It’s about carving away the many layers of long-held, mostly unconscious fear and bullshit, and coming into one’s true essence.

For reasons of confidentiality and in the spirit of the ancient Greek Eleusinian Mysteries, I can’t reveal specifics of what took place; suffice to say the women I attended the workshop with were among the most courageous, most supportive, most inspiring individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Like me, these were women who were tired of trying to be something they weren’t or no longer wanted to be. These were women who wanted to drop the guilt, shame, and fear and face all future sexual interactions with every single cell in their body consciously engaged and with an open heart and generosity of spirit. These were women with whom I laughed and cried and am now proud to call my friends.

To be clear, none of the workshops Shakti Tantra run are for the faint of heart; rather, they’re for those who are ready to drop the crap and connect with themselves and others at the deepest, most profound level possible. Let me put it like this: Hilly, co-founder of Shakti Tantra and our workshop leader, had more presence and sexual magnetism in her little finger than many so-called glamour models have in the whole of their silicone-pumped, surgically-enhanced bodies. One seriously sexy dame. Her assistants, also, were bottomless wells of support and compassion guiding us through all the exercises with the utmost tenderness.

And the food? Did I mention the food? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an erotic looking spread. It was the sort of stuff you want to lay all over someone and lick and pick off them at leisure. Everything about the overall experience was class. Nothing seedy or cheap. The venue, the food, the accommodation, and the teachings were all top drawer. I can’t wait for the next-level residential workshop in June.

They also run men’s, couple’s, and mixed-group workshops. Whether you go alone or with your partner; whether you’re single or in a long-established relationship, please — do yourself the biggest and best favour you could probably ever make in your life and book on one of their workshops. I guarantee it will change your life.

Thea Euryphaessa,
Founder, Urban Deva