The Healing Potential of Tantra

Before speaking about the healing potential of Tantra as I have experienced it, it is helpful to arrive at a shared understanding of the energetic nature of the human being.

Energy is a subtle aspect of our lived reality. At times it becomes visible, in form of a lightning for example, yet it remains intangible, and often unnoticed. However for sensitive bodies and attentive nervous systems, it is deeply perceivable. This subtle layer of experience is far more malleable and responsive to change than the physical body, which moves and changes slowly.

Because of this, our energetic system is continuously influenced by external circumstances, even when the physical body appears unchanged. At the same time, we influence other energetic systems, often unconsciously, through our own presence, emotions, and state of being.

Modern physics echoes this ancient knowing. In quantum theory, scientists discovered that the smallest building blocks of reality are not solid matter but pure energy. Experiments with photons (the smallest particles of light) have shown that a particle’s behavior changes depending on observation. Attention shapes reality.

On a biological level, these subtle processes are perceived and translated through the central nervous system. As Mariana Pinzon writes:

“As you shift your awareness away from the body, towards your energetic or light body, your Central Nervous System (CNS) will increase its sensitivity to process neuro-electric signals. All beings emanate an energetic field and transmit these kinds of signals that can be perceived directly by your CNS without processing through your sensory experience.”

Change within energetic systems is created through presence, intention, attention, and the emotional charge attached to them. Where attention goes, energy flows. Over years of working with both the physical and energetic bodies of many humans, I have learned to sense how energy moves through the body, and where it does not. The more freely energy can flow, the more alive, creative, and connected a person feels.

Yet many people today are deeply disconnected from their bodies. And where there is no attention, there is no flow.

This disconnection is not accidental. It is shaped by the environment in which we grow up, by culture, family systems, gender roles, religion, and societal expectations. Each human develops a unique internal landscape: certain energies feel familiar and accessible, while others feel frightening, forbidden, or overwhelming.

From an early age, many of us learn, subtly or explicitly, to be a certain way and not another, to express certain emotions and suppress others in order to receive love, approval, or safety. Emotions and energies that are not welcome are pushed away, stored in the body, in a box labeled: do not feel. To not feel the body starts numbing around these areas. Over time more emotions and sensations are added to that box, and it starts growing bigger and heavier. What begins as numbness can turn into contraction, and eventually into physical pain as the unprocessed energies pile up.

This is why I often speak of energy and emotion together. Emotion is simply energy in motion. Each emotion has an intrinsic function: fear protects, anger initiates change, grief allows letting go, disgust supports health. And beyond emotions, there are many other energetic currents moving through us, sexual energy, creativity, will, confidence, groundedness, stress.

Tantra works directly with this energetic reality.

Its healing potential unfolds through several intertwined aspects, and depends on how deeply a practitioner has embodied them.

One essential aspect is tantric bodywork. In this work, we do not address the physical body alone, but include the energetic and emotional body as well. Through conscious touch, presence, breath, guidance, and attunement, we meet areas of contraction and numbness on both levels. As energy begins to move again, the body softens, sensation returns, and life force becomes available. This work does not merely relieve symptoms of psychosomatic pain, it addresses their roots, inviting ongoing awareness and change in everyday life. Anyone who has received bodywork knows this difference immediately.

Another core healing principle of Tantra is acceptance.

Tantra invites all parts of you: desires, emotions, contradictions, shadows, to be seen and felt without judgment. Healing happens not by rejecting or fixing what we find, but by meeting it with honesty, compassion, and presence. Only what is accepted can transform.

As Carl Jung reminds us, “We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.” And further, “Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”

Shame, for example, survives only in secrecy. When brought into the light, spoken, witnessed, and held, it dissolves. Tantra creates spaces where this kind of seeing and acceptance becomes possible.

Another profound healing element of Tantra is the quality of touch.

We live in a chronically undertouched society. Much of the touch we experience is functional, touch to fix, to soothe, to greet, to arouse. There is nothing wrong with this. But the quality of touch increases, the more we can let go of a specific outcome and allow ourselves to stay present and curious.

In Tantra, we practice non-goal-oriented touch, touch for the pleasure and love of touching itself. When hands are guided by presence rather than agenda, they move intuitively to where they are needed. The practitioner listens rather than directs, allowing something larger than the mind to lead. This shift changes everything and the body recognizes it immediately.

On a biochemical level, this kind of touch releases a cascade of hormones that directly support wellbeing. Oxytocin fosters trust, safety, and nervous system regulation. Dopamine brings pleasure, vitality, and motivation. Serotonin supports emotional balance. Endorphins ease pain and create a sense of comfort and connection. The body quite literally reorganizes itself through safe, attuned touch.

In essence, the healing potential of Tantra rests on several pillars: an understanding of the energetic nature of our existence, radical acceptance of what is present, and a refined, conscious quality of touch.

If this speaks to something in you, I would be honored to welcome you into my session space, for some tantric healing.