Academy of Modern Tantra

Jennifer Surch started her career as a counsellor, with a passionate interest for developing new methods of healing. Combining this with her personal journey on the path of Tantra, she went on to become the founder of The Academy Of Modern Tantra, and helps pass on her knowledge to other teachers in the field.

INTERVIEW: JENNIFER SURCH

Let’s start with a definition. What is Tantra to you?

We predominantly run Tantra courses for teachers to be able to help people to have transformative and life-changing liberating experiences, understand the power of different techniques, and embrace their sexual energy. When raising, harnessing and circulating this energy, it can also be transmuted into a series of creative forces. But to dispel a myth, it’s not simply about sex, as sex itself doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Tantra brings together the mind, body, spirit and emotions.

How does this work in practice?

The basic principle behind the Academy is to make Tantra accessible to the mainstream. We combine elements of Taoist Tantra with kundalini energy, present-state-awareness, mindful practices, Transcendental Meditation, conscious-touch massage, bodywork, trauma release and sexual somatic healing. That might sound complicated, but those wanting to teach will understand much of the terminology! In layman’s terms, it’s essentially a holistic wellness programme, as everything we do as individuals, we should do for a reason: to bring more harmony, peace of mind, pleasure and happiness into our lives. But the methods and techniques aren’t set in stone. I am constantly evolving: in every workshop I run I learn something new myself, and my students are a mirror to me as I am a mirror to them.

But in essence you teach the teachers?

Yes. As an Academy we deliver a worldwide-recognised certification, a Tantra Practitioner diploma. This enables holistic therapists to take a structured course, known as a Sexual Somatic Healing & Wellness programme, that they can then replicate and integrate into their own practices. They can then go on to advanced Tantra and teacher training. We also have a business module and offer help with websites, advertising, and how to run a successful business. Students also receive a 220-page manual, a starter tantra kit, ongoing mentorship and support, and a listing on our directory, which offers them access to a wide community of other practitioners for help and advice, as well as a public platform.

What motivates you, on a personal level?

Improving the quality of mental and emotional wellbeing for individuals. Neo-tantra embraces all the best bits of many therapies, so not only the sacred art of Tantra, but also yoga, meditation and mindful practices. These all lead to living a happier life, which is what I strive to do myself: to work to break negative thinking and programming, love my body, and be happy in the skin I am in.

How did you first discover Tantra?

After a fairly traumatic childhood, and suffering from very low self-esteem, I developed an interest in psychology, which led me to train as a counsellor. I agree with Maureen Hughes in this month’s guest wellness column: I think people from high-trauma backgrounds often tend to become therapists or work with people in crisis. Strangely enough however, I originally discovered freedom and liberation through the rave scene! This was my first experience of real pleasure, love, confidence and freedom. In my quest for personal healing, I explored alternative therapies combined with counselling, so I trained to be a NLP practitioner, conscious-touch massage therapist, and practiced mindfulness and meditation. By chance, my path crossed with an individual who practiced Tantra, and from here on I explored more. I went on a personal journey of exploration and growth, attending many workshops and retreats, meeting new people and enjoying new experiences. I then opened one of the first Tantra temples in London, well before the explosion of information on the internet. I trained holistic therapists and built up an amazing team of gifted Tantric practitioners. We would all wander around the temple completely naked, and this to us was normal. There were no inhibitions or judgments.

So you’ve always been comfortable with nudity?

I suppose it came with the territory, and if there was a moment when I ‘discovered’ naturism, I suppose that was it. It was an amazing period of my life, and I met many wonderful people who were passionate about being natural. I attended numerous liberating workshops that embraced naturism and freedom, and have many fond memories of naturist experiences. I met my husband around 2007, and our first daughter was conceived after a visit to a nudist beach in La Marina near Alicante! We ended up living in Marbella for five years not long after that, and there are some great naturist beaches nearby: one of my favourites is Playa Naturista de Playamarina.

How much of your work involves nudity? What are the feelings of the participants?

Some of our students are already naturists, so they start off quite happily nude, but for others it’s a process. On the first day, some can still be a little shy, with towels in all the correct places. By the third day at the latest, nobody cares, and the towels are off. I teach most classes part or fully nude, depending on the group’s comfort levels. We also run retreats, and at our most recent women’s embodiment retreat, held in May in Norfolk, the venue was close to the beach, and we all ended up dancing naked around a fire at sunset. Next year we plan to take our retreats to Spain, so we can have more nudity in the warmth, and include naked yoga on the beach.

It sounds like there’s plenty of fun alongside the serious elements?

We are very careful to hold our events in places that we know they will be OK with nudity and noise! We are often a very noisy bunch, and within the courses there is laughter, tears, dynamic breath and movement, together with powerful full-body energy orgasms. We see people go through incredible personal transformations and have huge releases. It’s often not quiet.

Does ‘society’ in general still have a long way to go, especially regarding nudity, body image and taboos?  

I’d like to think naturism is becoming more accepted, and that society is making incredible leaps and bounds in its negative perceptions of things once considered ‘outside of the box.’ For example, there are programmes on sexuality on Netflix like The Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow that really help to give people a better understanding of subjects such as what Tantric practitioners really do. And away from the sensationalist headlines, I also believe there is less body shaming and much more acceptance of bodies of all shapes and sizes - and that people are in general more comfortable with more flesh on show.

What’s next for you?

At the moment we operate either online or at various hired venues. The next challenge is building our own centre in London, and work is progressing on this. We are also rolling out lots of exciting and dynamic collaborations with like-minded partners in Tantra and Sacred Sexuality. We are continually expanding our community of teachers, who in turn are helping individuals liberate themselves and find deeper and more meaningful connections withs themselves and others. If it’s not too idealistic, you could call it a joint mission of working towards global healing!

www.academyofmoderntantra.co.uk

 © Richard Plume 2022