If you'd like to take your sex life to a higher plane, you might want to consider introducing some tantric techniques to your lovemaking. This is a way to control and manipulate your sexual energy, including exchanging energy with your partner and prolonging orgasm.

Tantra is more than just a way to more intense orgasm, however. It's an Eastern practice that involves the whole mind, body and soul. You may want to extend the practise out of the bedroom, as Tantra includes techniques that can affect your whole way of life. By harnessing your sexual energy and directing it towards areas of the body or mind, you can boost energy and clear blockages. Tantric practise also means treating your body and your partner's body as sacred. Sexual ecstasy is seen as a divine feeling and love making as an art that involves special skills.

Breathing
Probably the most fundamental practical aspect of Tantric sex is breathing practise. This might mean controlling your breathing during sex to bring your attention back to the present, or synchronising your breath with your lover's. Breathing in time with your partner can lead to a feeling of merging or union that is very intimate and moving. Yoga and meditation teach breathing exercises that can be incorporated into your Tantric sessions, try focussing on a slow, long out breath to control your breathing, coupled with deep breaths from your diaphragm. While you breath in this manner, bring your attention to your partner and their breathing.

Positions
Tantra is not about turning sex into a marathon of a hundred different positions, but the Kama Sutra does form part of the teachings of Tantra. Working your way through every position is not part of the plan, though. Sexual positions are to be explored, and for the most part you're looking for ways to prolong your lovemaking. Multiple orgasms for both man and woman are part of the fun, for him this means learning to orgasm without ejaculation. This means he needs to learn to control the muscle at the base or 'root' of his penis. Women can improve their orgasmic potential by contracting their pelvic floor muscles, try clenching as though holding in a pee, then releasing. Do this for cycles of around 10 seconds at a time, every time you remember.

The most important aspects of Tantra are to respect yourself and your partner. Rather than seeing sex as a 'naughty' or secret activity, devotees are encouraged to focus on the sacred and spiritual aspects of lovemaking. Ultimately, there is no one clear definition of Tantra as every follower has his or her own interpretation. For those who practise Tantric sex, the experience is one of constant discovery. You too will come to have your own understanding of the meaning of Tantra the more you practise the simple techniques of slowing down, paying attention and giving respect to the act of sex.