Picture by Kate Czuczman
It all started, bizarrely, with bees. I’d sent an idea about bee therapy to Top Sante magazine. “No thanks,” they replied, “but would you like to write an article about tantric sex instead?” Well, I’m never one to turn away work, so before I knew it I was searching the scarier reaches of the internet for wisdom about all things tantra.
What I discovered, to my surprise, was that it was as much about philosophy as it was about marathon sex sessions. A lot of it overlapped with mainstream mindfulness. It was about living in the moment and enjoying the journey rather than obsessing over the goal. Not a bad approach for life in general, I thought.
My chance to put it to the test came, unexpectedly, on a weekend retreat in Cornwall when I took to a surfboard for the first time in three years (and only the fourth time in my life). And being a goal-orientated kind of girl, I applied my usual ferocity to getting up on my feet.
I tried…
Picture by Kate Czuczman
and I tried…
Picture by Kate Czuczman
and I tried…
Picture by Kate Czuczman
But no matter how hard I tried, I seemed to end up face first in the surf.
Which was when I remembered tantra. Maybe, I reflected, as I disappeared once more into a wave, I needed to rethink this. To stop fixating on the perfect pop-up and enjoy the ride.
So I did. I relaxed. I laughed. I started to have some fun.
Needless to say, it was at that moment that I finally made it to my feet. Not very stylishly, admittedly – I don’t do cool, more’s the pity – but I was, at least, above the waves and not under them.
Picture by Kate Czuczman
But what’s all this got to do with rowing? Well, having looked at some unforgiving frame-by-frame footage of my rowing from a recent outing, what most struck me was the angst. As the lightest of lightweights, I’ve applied myself to my technique with the same, grim-faced, white-knuckled fury that I was applying to my surfing, straining every sinew to perfecting the catch and slowing the slide. So tightly-wound have I been that I’m currently invalided out with a bad back and dodgy shoulder which, my osteopath tells me, is the direct result of my tense, hunched posture in the boat.
So once I get back on the water, I’m going to be taking the tantric approach to my rowing. I’ll make a piont of relaxing a bit more. Grimacing a bit less. Enjoying the ride, even. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, I’ll achieve the goal I’m after while I’m looking the other way…
