Rooted in the Indian lineage of Tantra, this meditation treats sexual union as a sacred doorway into samadhi. Rather than seeking pleasure for its own sake, it invites a prayerful mood—cheerfulness, love, and gratitude—so that the energy of union can flower into a lightning-flash of egolessness. In that instant of no-mind, the sense of being only a body falls away and awareness recognizes itself. Even a single, conscious contact with this glimpse can redirect one’s life toward inner freedom.
This is not indulgence but alchemy: by remaining aware in the very midst of coitus, the seeker learns to notice and gently hold the silent gap that appears and disappears like a will-o’-the-wisp. With practice, that taste can be deepened through dhyana (meditation), until it becomes part of one’s understanding and daily life, and the grip of lust naturally dissolves. Though Tantra offers this potent channel, the same summit can be approached through meditation, yoga, and prayer.
Phase Instructions
First Stage: Consecrate the Mood
Enter this practice only when both partners are genuinely cheerful, loving, and prayerful. Sit together facing each other; close the eyes for a minute and place a hand on the heart. Breathe softly and invite feelings of joy, peace, and gratitude until the chest feels warm and open. Silently set the intention: “May this union be meditation; may awareness remain.” Proceed only if this mood is authentic; if there is anxiety, anger, or heaviness, postpone the practice. Consent, gentleness, and unhurried pacing are essential.
Second Stage: Enter Union in Prayerful Awareness
Begin intercourse only after the heart feels full. Keep the breath relaxed and the movements unhurried, as if you are carrying a flame that must not flicker. Let attention rest in the felt sense of love and gratitude while a thin thread of witnessing remains: silently remember, “I am awareness; the body moves within me.” If the mind grasps, compares, or chases sensation, soften and pause. Recenter in breath, heartfulness, and the quiet prayer to remain aware.
Third Stage: Catch the Lightning Flash (The Glimpse of Samadhi)
As arousal intensifies, watch carefully for a split-second gap—a flash of silence without thought, a shimmer of no-mind. The instant it appears, let movement subside for a few breaths so the gap can open. Rest in that stillness and notice the taste of bodilessness, as if the body is left behind and only pure presence remains. Do not chase pleasure or force stillness; simply hold contact with the gap as your central aim. If the flash vanishes, continue lovingly and wait for the next glimpse, returning to breath and witnessing each time.
Fourth Stage: Completion and Silent Integration
Whether climax happens or not, after completing the union remain close without speaking. Keep the eyes closed and sit or lie quietly for 15-20 minutes. Attend to the echo of the glimpse—its silence, spaciousness, and contentment. Let gratitude spread through the body and allow any residues of craving to dissolve in that peace. Simply be with the afterglow as meditation.
Fifth Stage: Deepening Through Dhyana (Between Sessions)
On the same day, or daily, sit alone for 20-30 minutes. Recall the taste of the glimpse and rest as that awareness, letting thoughts pass like clouds. If helpful, lightly anchor attention in the breath or heart while remembering the bodiless stillness touched during union. Over time this familiarizes the mind with no-mind; understanding deepens, and lust naturally loosens its hold.
Optional Stage: Alternative Doors to the Same Summit
If sexual union is not presently part of your life, cultivate the same glimpse through meditation, yoga, or prayer. Sit in silence, practice gentle breath awareness or a heart-centered prayer, and abide in the quiet interval between breaths and thoughts. The essence is the same: notice the gap, rest in it, and let it reveal the freedom that is not of the body.
Core Benefits
- Acts as a sacred doorway into samadhi.
- Redirects one's life toward inner freedom.
- Facilitates the recognition of awareness.
- Deepens understanding and daily life through dhyana.
- Naturally dissolves the grip of lust.
What Osho Said About This Technique
Please describe to us the spiritual significance of sex energy. How can we sublimate and spiritualize sex? Is it possible to have sex, to make love, as a meditation, as a jumping board toward higher levels of consciousness?
There is no such thing as sex energy. Energy is one and the same. Sex is one outlet for it, one direction for it; it is one of the applications of the energy. Life energy is one, but it can manifest in many directions. Sex is one of them. When life energy becomes biological, it becomes sex energy. Sex is just an application of the life energy. So there is no question of sublimation. If life energy flows in another direction, there is no sex. But it is not a sublimation; it is a transformation. Sex is the natural, biological flow of life energy, and the lowest application of it. It is natural because life cannot exist without it, and the lowest because it is the foundation not the peak. When sex becomes the totality, the whole life is just a waste. It is like laying a foundation and going…Read the full discourse →
What is tantric sex? After 'monkey sex' and after 'love-bliss sex', before the highest cosmic and religious sex in which no partner is needed, in which the cosmos is the partner, isn't there tantric sex in which two partners are involved, a sex act which is a meditation based on certain techniques?
Many things will happen to the world. First, wars will become impossible. 'There will be no Vietnams and no Israels, because people will never accumulate so much anger in them that they have to kill, and kill millions. Many things will happen to the world if people are natural. Then they will not shout so much as you think they will shout. Right now they are allowed to shout they will shout -- but for how long? If they are given complete freedom, shouts and abusing and condemnation and fights will start disappearing from the world. It is a vicious circle. It is as if you have been starving a person and you don't allow him to go close to the fridge. And you say 'If we allow him he will eat too much. ' And you have been starving him -- and now you are afraid if you allow…Read the full discourse →
For a long time a man has been lying in a dingy, dirty room, full of bad smells. The walls are cracked and stained. Then, he gets up and opens a window. Now he can see the bright sun in the sky; now he can see birds flying freely in the heavens. Now, a man who has suddenly come to know about the vast sky, about the sun and the moon, about the flying birds, the swaying trees and the fragrant flowers, will not stay in a dirty, foul, dark room a single moment longer -- he will rush out under the open sky. One who has had a glimpse of samadhi in sex, however fleeting, will immediately know the difference between inside and outside, between freedom and imprisonment. But, in a way, we are all born into tight cells, closed in by walls, and they are dark and dirty.Read the full discourse →
How can one convert the sex act into a meditative experience? Should one practice any special positions in sex?
But how to make the sex act a meditation? Just by surrendering it becomes so. Do not think about it, let it happen. And be relaxed, do not move ahead. This is one of the basic problems with the mind: it always moves ahead. It is always seeking the result, and the result is in the future. You are never in the act; you are always in the future seeking a result. That seeking of a result is disturbing everything, it damages everything. Just be in the act. What is the future? It is to come; you need not worry about it. And you are not going to bring it with your worries. It is already coming; it has already come. So you forget about it, you just be here and now. Sex can become a deep insight in being here and now. That is, I think, the only act…Read the full discourse →
"how often should one indulge in sex in order to help and not to hinder the meditation process?"
The tantric love act can be done as much as you like. The ordinary sex act cannot be done as much as you like because you are losing energy in it, and your body will have to wait to regain it. And when you regain it, you will only lose it again. This looks absurd. The whole life is spent in gaining and losing, regaining and losing: it is just like an obsession. The second thing to be remembered: you may or may not have observed that when you look at animals you can never see them enjoying sex. In intercourse, they are not enjoying themselves. Look at baboons, monkeys, dogs or any kind of animals. In their sex act you cannot see that they are feeling blissful or enjoying it -- you cannot! It seems to be just a mechanical act, a natural force pushing them towards it. If…Read the full discourse →
Common Questions
It is rooted in the Indian lineage of Tantra.
The focus is not on pleasure but on a prayerful mood—cheerfulness, love, and gratitude.
Yes, it can be approached through meditation, yoga, and prayer as well.