symbolised as an upward pointing triangle, like the archetypal form of a meditating yogi. In three dimensions, it is depicted as a phallus with a serpent coiled 3½ times around its base.

  

   In tantra, the event of orgasm - in both men and women - is analogous to the experience of the serpent power (kundalini shakti) awakening from its root place at the perineum (Mooladhara Chakra) and travelling up the spinal column (Sushumna Nadi). The worldwide archetype of serpents associated with sex comes not from the idea that a man's penis is like a snake, but from the tantric concept that orgasm is an explosive upward moving event, an awakening of shakti's sleeping power, physically identical to the psychic event of spiritual enlightenment. Both these awakenings are triggered by the union of the two opposing forces, consciousness and energy, male and female, Shiva and Shakti, respectively.
   In tantra, the body - and most specifically the female's body - is often likened to a temple, a place in which one's idea of God is worshipped, a place which should be kept clean, healthy and fully functional to the best of one's ability. All yoga practices are ways to purify the body and maintain health. The sexual organs are not seen as any less or more important than any other. Internal or external, digestive, reproductive or otherwise, all the organs have an important function and are to be wisely used and treated. There is no guilt, distaste or prudery associated with sex or other bodily functions in tantra. Self exploration and understanding is encouraged towards all aspects of being. More than just physical organs, the vagina and penis are understood to be temple and artefact, respec-tively. In tantric love making, much respect is shown towards these two organs in the physical and spiritual union which takes place.
   The physical nature of the female sexual organs is to draw up, to absorb into themselves. During the fertile phase of a woman's cycle, the cervix will be softer and more open, as opposed to hard and more closed at non-fertile times.During sexual arousal and orgasm, the vagina becomes extended by the

uterus moving higher up into the abdominal cavity thereby allowing greater penetration by the penis. The muscle spasms of the female's orgasm move upward, starting from the perineum, assisting any semen deposited there to move further up into the womb. In a woman the experience of orgasm can be felt all through the body and can be multiple in number and long lasting. Ideally, no energy is lost in the female's orgasm since this whole process is internal. On a mental level, a woman becomes intensely inwardly focussed during sex. All her faculties are in receptive, upward, mode. Even after the act, at the very moment of conception it is Shiva's seed (as actualised in the sperm), which penetrates Shakti's seed (the ovum).
   This concept of upward moving energy and orgasm is very important to remember, because when it comes to birthing, the downward and outward direction required is the very reverse of what a woman's fertile vagina and the normal sexual energy usually aim to achieve. In other words, at the time of labour everything you've known and practised with your sexual body has to be reversed! Without some regime of downward practise, it is no wonder many women find labour so troublesome physically, emotion-ally, mentally and spiritually.
   In a similar vein, but conversely, women who, for whatever reasons, find sex an unwelcome act or orgasm an infrequent or unattainable event, are perhaps blocked by fear of the upward energy of their bodies thereby manifesting in frigidity or even infertility. Such women can frequently find solutions to these problems with particular yoga techniques which develop better upward control of their shakti energy. A specific program for such women is in Chapter 9, see the Prescriptive Yoga Program - "Sexual Tension", page 2017.
   You will notice in Table 3 on page 31, there are two directions in which energy and consciousness can travel. The normal, worldly direction of shakti is downwards. This means basically that "energy works". At its most gross, shakti is gravity, that most primal of forces which makes us "grounded". For example, if someone is being too intellectual, unrealistic and caught in a "head trip", we would say they need to get grounded. The best treatment for this is to get them to go out and dig a big hole - just for no reason - dig a big hole and then fill it in again! They will come back a little more humble and straight-talking for sure. To get your shakti moving out of your head, you simply push it down into the earth. Shakti, by its true nature,must usually be grounded. It must relate to the real world and to its own creations.