Reading List

If you Google "tantra," you'll find pages of information, which can be a bit overwhelming. The following reading list of seven books was created by Ingo Tantra, of Tantra4GayMen (T4GM). I'd encourage you to see if any of these piques your interest. Allow your own intuition to guide you. The universe is a wonderful tool for us to enjoy and use for our journeys. I recommend that you ask yourself why one might turn you on, while another does the opposite. I'm not saying that your first choice isn't the right one for you. But occasionally resistance can occur for an alternate reason, such as something we need to address, but not necessarily something we aren't yet willing to do.

Urban Tantra: Sacred sex for the twenty-first century (second edition), by Barbara Carrellas

This is the book to start with if you are new to Tantra and curious about what it all looks like! It’s all about the infinite possibilities of Tantric erotic play and the cultivation of ecstasy. It’s easy and engaging to read, with lots of exercises—it truly brings Neo-Tantric practice into the twenty-first century and makes it accessible to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation and gender. (NOTE from Terry: I know Barbara personally and highly recommend this as your introduction to Tantra.)

The Art of Sexual Ecstasy: The Path of Sacred Sexuality for Western Lovers, by Margo Anand

This one is a classic. The number one manual of Neo-Tantra, in my humble opinion. Margo’s work was pioneering in bringing together what we call Neo-Tantra today—a fascinating array of rituals, many inspired by more ancient Tantric and Taoist practices, intended to transform sexuality into transcendental ecstasy. Her practices on deepening intimacy, cultivating arousal, and enhancing pleasure are timeless—and so are her more advanced exercises that introduce breathwork, complex visualization, ritual, and fantasy into your sexual play. Groundbreaking as this book is, it outlines many exercises in detail and can be somewhat dry to read. Also, it comes from a totally heterosexual background with a man and a woman as the archetypal Tantric couple. Nevertheless, many of her practices are immensely powerful, and Jason (Tantra) and I spent years creating “man-to-man” versions of the best of those.

The Multi Orgasmic Man, by Mantak Chia and Douglas Abrams

This is the classic beginner’s manual on multiple orgasms. Simple, sexy, fun, and easy-to-do exercises described in a straightforward way, all with a solid Taoist underpinning. It’s a very technical book. It is good to help you develop basic multiple orgasm skills, but that is all it does, which will be enough for everyone wanting to do just that! What this book does not do, however, is to explain the amazing things that you can use your newfound multiple orgasms for—and for that, read Margo Anand.

Tantra: The Supreme Understanding, by Osho

Osho, the controversial yet brilliant 20th-century anti-guru, has been one (or perhaps the one) central figure in the emergence of Neo-Tantra as it is taught today… This book is a radically modern commentary on an ancient Tantric text from Tibet, and it’s an excellent introduction to some of the timeless spiritual teachings that make Neo-Tantra so much more than just a collection of sexual techniques. The table of contents says it all: The Ultimate Experience, The Nature of Darkness and Light, Be Like A Hollow Bamboo, The Pathless Path, Beyond And Beyond. These are topics and experiences that many Tantric practitioners will stumble upon once they get deeper into the practices. The book is also a fantastic introduction to Osho’s often irreverent style and way of thinking. This is not a book about practice (you won’t find any exercises in there), it’s about ideas—if you are into an exploration of some of the thinking underlying our practice, read this!

The ManTantra Letters, by Victor Bliss and Nathan James

This is one of my favorite Tantra books. It follows the Tantric journey of two real men, lovers and spiritual adventurers, over more than a decade, from San Francisco to Paris and the Himalayas. It details, through their personal reflection in e-mails that they write to each other, how the mystery of the Tantric path unfolds for them in their real life, how it affects their relationship as lovers and their sex, and how it totally transforms their experience of themselves and their world. This book is not an easy read, but it’s totally fascinating and absolutely unparalleled in showing what adventurous depths and spiritual complexity real gay life can go to once we embark on a Tantric path as gay men.

Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love, by Daniel Odier

I love this little book. It’s a (possibly fictional) account of a Tantric initiation, and very much an adventure book for the heart, a kind of Tantric “Teachings of Don Juan”. A book to enjoy, a book about the power of initiation, and a book to make you ponder how you can bring more adventure into your life.

Tantra Illuminated, by Christopher Wallis

This is the number one book on Classical Non-Dual Shaivi Tantra, by one of the great scholars of that field. It’s less a book to just read, but more a book to study. It’s not Neo-Tantra, and it’s not about sexuality. It shows us, in detail and with erudite academic precision, the teachings, ideas, history, and practice of an ancient spiritual system and tradition that began in India about 1,500 years ago. A must-read for anyone who wants to teach Neo-Tantra, as it puts many of the ideas that Neo-Tantra holds about spiritual development, awakening, etc., into a larger context and understanding.