Resources

 

This is a list of some resources that I enjoyed and from which I learned a lot. It's a work in progress, so if you're interested, come back at a later time.

Last update: 2022-01-18.

10/10 can recommend

Books

Diana and Michael Richardson have written a host of books one can recommend. I read their book on tantra for men, which introduced me to the concept of "cold versus hot arousal", to prefer lower levels of it. They align themselves with Osho, so one should take that into account.

Barbara Carellas' Urban Tantra is another classic, of course. It's one of the more "shiny" books with lots of images. I can't seem to find it in my library at the moment, so I will have to talk about it at a later time.

Margot Anand's The Art of Sexual Ecstasy sees things from a very "western" perspective. She has a lot of detailed practical instructions, but also covers a lot philosophical ground. I remember I bought it because it was the only book I was able to find at the time, that specifically contained instructions for solo practice.

Online Resources

I hesitate to put a lot of online resources here. A lot of what I found is a rehash of the same old tropes, or just blatant self-promotion. If you want to look for yourself, I suggest you rather search for "kundalini yoga", rather than "tantra". You'll find more insights and less sexy stuff.

Anyway, here is the one resource that I find highly interesting, as it approaches the subject from a more yogic and philosophical persperctive, and goes into enormous detail: Advanced Yoga Practice.

Another one I can recommend as a refreshing perspective, is David Chapman's https://vividness.live/ website. It's not another "introduction to tantra", but it's a critique of mainstream buddhism from a buddhist tantric perspective.

Just out of curiosity...

These are all concerned with semen-retention a.k.a. "sexual continence". I do not endorse these books, because they often contain wacky pseudoscientific claims, but I think they are interesting for historical reasons, and if you at all interact with the relevant online communities, you will eventually come across at least one of them.

Julian Lee's *) "Bliss of the Celibate "from 1998 is probably the most-quoted "classic" of the genre. It exists only online as a PDF, whose copyright status I don't know, so I won't link to it. Lee mostly references ancient hindu and buddhist authorities, and does little to even try and prove his points.

The Coiled Serpent, by C. J. van Vliet, stems from 1939. It, too, is only available as a PDF, but I guess the copyright is expired on that one.

Dr. R. W. Bernard's (really Walter Siegmeister) Science Discovers the Physiological Value of Continence, from 1957, at least attempts to put some science behind it - as the title suggests. When you actually read it, you discover that it is all just anecdotal evidence based on the "authority" of a few MDs and their personal experiences. At least, instead of relying only on vitalist notions, he tries to show that the chemical composition of semen makes it especially rich in energy, and thus its expulsion would be extremely draining. Not very convincing if you ask me, but at least an attempt was made.

Scientific studies about porn addiction, nofap and semen-retention

While I haven't found an awful lot about the actual practices and their validity, there are a few critical appraisals of the relevant internet communities.

Addiction or Transgression? Moral Incongruence and Self-Reported Problematic Pornography Use in a Nationally Representative Sample, by Joshua B. Grubbs et al, 2019. (PDF available.) The most interesting finding of this study, to me, is that self-reported sex addiction caused by porn is predicted most by religiosity.

The Battle for “NoFap”: Myths, Masculinity, and the Meaning of Masturbation Abstention, by Scott Burnett (2021). Explores the overlap of (toxic) masculinities and the nofap movement.

*) At least I think that's his website. Don't click on it unless you're into 90s nostalgia though. This is ugly. You have been warned!