Tantra’s Ecstasy: Generating Love Chemicals Without the High
By House of Tantra’s Andreas Anthony and Wolf Born
You know the old joke: How do you make a Hor…Mone?
The answer is chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. Our bodies are a pharmaceutical lab, producing a vast array of chemicals for every purpose we need to live, including the need for love and sex. Some of the most important ‘love drugs’ are dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin.
Dopamine is associated with feelings of pleasure and satisfaction in sex. It is part of the reward system of the brain and helps us to keep searching for new goals after achieving old ones. It therefore influences us to seek new sexual encounters, and take risks to find them.
Tantra is an ancient practice that helps us to produce love chemicals through mind/body awareness. Tantra provides a path towards deeper, longer and more satisfying sex, producing high levels of dopamine. Tantra can teach us how to have multiple, full body and even cosmic orgasms. We no longer need a string of new sexual partners to fulfil our need for novel sexual experiences, we can find them all in our own minds and bodys.
Serotonin helps us to feel good in a sustained way. Low serotonin leads to depression (that’s why anti-depressant medication blocks serotonin from being reabsorbed so we have more of it to work with.) While high serotonin actually can inhibit sexual activity, this is not a bad thing, as long as it’s in balance with other chemicals, like dopamine. Serotonin produces long lasting feelings of happiness which is what is needed to maintain healthy, loving relationships.
In Tantra, serotonin is developed through regular relaxation and meditative practices. This creates the lasting high that comes from inner balance.
Sometimes called the “cuddle drug’, oxytocin is released when we are given safe, positive touch and provides the pleasure associated with comfort and nurture.
In Tantra, we slow down sexual activity, focusing not just on genital pleasure, but the exploration of the whole body. Long, slow touching sessions, without the need for penetration or orgasm, helps to increase oxytocin levels.
It is easy to get caught in a pattern of relying on drugs, porn or risky sexual behaviours to get our high. Tantric practices empower us to create these chemicals without the need for external substances or experiences. More than that, Tantra is about producing these chemicals in balance, so we can have not only satisfying sexual pleasure, but also the good feelings associated with comfort and safety, and sustained happiness in all aspects of our life.
The House of Tantra is an online community of men learning, connecting and growing together around tantric practices. We are welcome men for our next Intake at the start of November 2025. Learn more https://www.andreasembodiment.com/houseoftantra
