It wasn't long ago that a mention of Tantra would evoke gasps and giggles from everyone in a room, including the yogis. My own introduction to Tantra, or what was labeled then as "Tantra", was at a yoga school in Southern Thailand where all of the asana instructors read from a script, and all of the dharma talks were about sex. But today, the study of Tantra—as a yogic path, not a means to getting it on—has become widespread and well-respected. And this renaissance is a direct result of the teachings of people like Tantra scholar Paul Muller-Ortega.

Last weekend, I attended a workshop with Paul at Yoga Tree Hayes. He has spent a good deal of his life immersed in spiritual studies, and has focused in more recent years on Hindu Tantra. In class, we chanted the Tantric version of the Gayatri, meditated, and listed to Paul talk about various Tantric principles, like staying open to the mutability of your identity, and spending time in meditation to learn what's really going on inside, and beyond, yourself.

Paul also talked about how we are experiencing a new age of consciousness education right now, and I believe that to be true: I think there is a reason that mind-expanding practices like yoga (and, specifically, Tantra) have become so popular lately. People in the West are starting to more fully investigate themselves, their bodies, and human consciousness. And because Tantra incorporates, rather than restrains the use of, everything that is human—from the intellect to the body and the senses—people in the West seem particularly drawn to it.

Want to know more about the local Tantra scene? Check out the blogs I've written in the past year that have a Tantra bent:

John Friend Talks in San Francisco

The Samavesha Experience

Stacey Rosenberg Teachers Anusara on the Beach

Chris Tompkins' Tantra Studies Class at Rudramandir

Shiva Rea Raises Money for Book on Tantra

Also, Yoga Kula is an Anusara-only yoga school, which has roots in Tantra.

And here's a recent post by LA blogger Stacie Stukin on her White Tantra experience.

Have you been touched by the Tantra bug? Tell us about your experience.