I tried a few other types of meditation before I found tantra. Zen meditation, for example, made me feel calm. I could see the value in it. But something wasn’t clicking for me. It felt more masculine. I went to a center with Zen monks and saw that even females had their heads shaved and, of course, the image of Buddha is a man. I didn’t feel like my female energy was powerful in this practice. In fact, it felt like I would have to suppress my natural feminine, sensual, and sexual energy to pursue it. My trip to India nearly a decade ago was my introduction to tantra. I didn’t realize there was a practice out there that not only embraces the feminine energy but really taps into your sensual and sexual nature in a very empowering way. In India, I visited temples with erotic carvings of people in every sexual position. I had been raised Christian, with the image of God as a man and definitely not erotic. In these temples they would dress the goddess statues in colorful silks and even put perfume on them and adorn them with flowers in a devotional way. Instead of cutting off your hair, you put flowers in your hair. Instead of feeling shame or guilt about your body or your sexual desires, you put it out there in the open to be worshiped, revered, and admired. I felt like I had finally found my tribe. When my tantra teacher asked me, “Do you want to study sexual tantra?” I was taken aback at first. I didn’t know what it was. He explained that I would use sexual energy for spiritual enlightenment and as a vehicle to help me find and live my life’s purpose. I was like, “Hell yeah! Finally!” This is what I’ve been looking for. Blending sexuality with spirituality made sense for me. I’ve always been a sexual person. But in most religions and philosophies, there is a lot of shame and guilt associated with sex. We’re taught to suppress our desires. In tantra, sex is a sacred thing. Sexuality is something to be honored. And the yoni (vagina) and lingam (penis) are to be worshiped—not feared or hidden or kept secret. I was surprised to find that tantra gave me faster results than regular meditation. I started studying the nonsexual part of tantra to help with anxiety and found that the breath work immediately gave me a feeling of bliss and relieved my anxiety much faster than any kind of meditation I’d ever tried. It not only helps me feel calm and centered, but it’s a more energizing type of meditation. It fuels me with creative and sexual energy, self-empowerment, and helps me live my soul’s purpose and passion. I found my life coming together and ideas coming to fruition very quickly after beginning this practice. I started the practice with the simple three-part tantra breath work, which I still do every day. The three parts of tantra breathing are Bliss Breath, Arousal Breath, and Sound Breath. If you do one minute of each every morning, you will feel more centered and energized within a week. I use it throughout my day too. You can call on it in most everyday situations. The Bliss Breath is ideal for calming yourself in stressful situations, and the Arousal Breath is perfect prep for a hot date. Tantra has changed my life. It’s given me my life’s purpose. It fills me with creative, spiritual, and sexual energy that makes me excited to wake up every day. I truly believe tantra is crucial in bringing mindfulness to everything we do. Other meditation practices dance around or avoid sexual energy. Tantra takes us to the root of our primal creative power, our chi, and helps us harness it. Tantra allows us to give that powerful energy direction. It also teaches us how to be compassionate—to experience giving and receiving love without expectations, or walls that keep us from being intimate in the present moment. Isadora passed away on March 26, 2017. During her life, Psalm made a name for herself as a bold, outspoken sex, relationships, and trauma expert who lived to inspire the next generation of women. She demystified the ancient secrets of Tantra to make them accessible to the modern masses. Raised in a religious cult as a child, Isadora endured years of sexual trauma that eventually ignited her passion to teach sexual empowerment and modern sex ed. In 2007, Isadora traveled to India to immerse herself in the ancient teachings of Tantra to facilitate deep healing and discover her own path as a healer. For eight years, Isadora traveled to India to delve deeper into the path of Tantra and teach yoga to sex-trafficked women in the red light district of Calcutta, work that would eventually become part of a documentary titled Shakti. She studied the Śrī Vidyā tradition of Tantra under spiritual guru Sri Amritananda (Guruji) in Pradesh, India, and was initiated into Shakti Tantra Yoga. We will miss you, Psalm. You will certainly never be forgotten.
