From sex to celibacy to mind tricks, there’s more to tantra than meets the third eye.What do you think of when you hear the word “tantra?” Sex, most likely. Orgies, perhaps. Hours of multiple orgasms. Then, of course, there’s Sting. The rocker is known for, among other things, his practice of tantric sex. He told England’s The Guardian in 2003 that tantra is about “a journey,” not “fucking for eight hours.” And yet, becoming a better lover and experiencing better sex tends to be a far bigger incentive for most Western bodies to practice tantra than how Sting described it in the same interview: “It’s about reconnecting with the world of the spirit through everyday things.” Take Destin Gerek, “The Erotic Rock Star,” for example. On eroticrockstar.com, viewers see the sexologist’s bedroom eyes, his long hair, his rock hard body using a sex toy as a microphone. They can watch seven different intro videos titled “Orgasmic Mastery,” with subject matter like “ejaculatory choice” and “male multiple orgasm.” He was even at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas recently promoting his services.

An Aspen yoga teacher is headed to trial next month on charges of groping his students in yoga postures. A lawyer for 48-year-old Steven Jon Roger says any contact between the yoga teacher and his students was a routine part of his yoga instruction. The case goes to trial after Roger refused a plea deal on Tuesday. Roger refused the deal to plead guilty on two misdemeanor charges of sexual contact without consent. The yoga teacher said he wouldn't plead guilty because the convictions would have resulted in a lifetime on the Colorado Sex Offender Registry. Prosecutors say the contact between Roger and his students was under their clothes - not a part of routine yoga instruction. A jury trial will be scheduled for March.

I recently joined a gym and started a pretty intense cardio and weight training routine. It's a nice contrast to yoga, but my muscles get so tight, that it's changing my yoga practice! I don't flow like I normally do and I don't feel in my body. The day after an intense jump rope session, my feet were so tight I could barely feel myself standing on the mat! How do I find balance between going to the gym and keeping my yoga practice going strong?,Yoga instructor and certified personal trainer Arnold Prosperos answers: It is a nice contrast! Continue with that line of thought and continue to step out of the box with your physical and yoga training. Since your body is comfortable with doing a type of movement exercise such as vinyasa yoga, once you introduce a new type of exercise, cardio or resistance training, you won't feel "in your body." This is because you are vigorously stretching and strengthening your body and mind in ways that you are not accustomed. Your mind and body simply become comfortable with your yoga practice. Now that you have introduced a new variable into your system, everything feels different.

Tingting Peng had been in banking for a few months when she started to feel miserable. She had landed an investment-banking analyst job at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong straight out of college when she was 21 years old. The salary was great for someone her age -- US$50,000 base plus bonus -- but the job was all consuming. "After six months, I felt burned out," says Ms. Peng, who is now 26. Gradually her health began to suffer. One bout of flu morphed into another, with viruses and stomach bugs in between. "I was sick for weeks on end, but I would self-medicate and still go to work," says Ms. Peng. Unhappy and unwell, she spent thousands of dollars on clothes, bags and shoes she didn't need. "I was looking to superficial things to make me feel better," she says.

She left Morgan Stanley after two years, then bounced between finance jobs for another two years. When the last one -- as a research analyst with a hedge fund -- cratered, Ms. Peng took a break and went to see her family in Boston. Gradually the idea of starting her own fitness business began to crystallize. Exercise was the one thing that kept her going during her four-year finance stint.

Since I'm a yoga instructor, I love to try out different types of yoga classes when I'm traveling. I've taken Jivamukti yoga classes before and really like the flowy movements and the spiritual side, so I was excited to try out a class while visiting some family recently. I'm so glad that this wasn't my first Jivamukti class, because I almost walked out halfway through. The instructor had an annoyingly low, monotone voice, the sequence of postures was really sporadic, and when she adjusted me in Rotated Triangle, she accidentally pushed me over. She also played music really loud, and not serene yoga music — she was blasting Bob Marley. I left feeling more stressed out than when I started. My point here is that you shouldn't judge a class based on the person who taught it. Even though certain types of movement classes such as ballet or Salsa will cover the same techniques and positions no matter where you take them, they're often taught differently, depending on the instructor. One teacher may talk you through a class and walk around helping, while another may stand in the front of the room and demonstrate without saying much at all.

You've heard of Hatha Yoga and Hot Yoga, now -- no joke -- there's Laughter Yoga, The Herald-Sun in Durham, N.C., reported. During a three-day workshop at Patanjali's Place yoga center in Durham, participants pretended to be laughing in an elevator, then laughing with friends, then whooping it up over imaginary tea and wine, the paper said. "I had so much energy," participant Hope Gregory told the newspaper. "It was joyful energy." Laughter Yoga was started by Madan Kataria, a doctor from Mumbai, India, and combines laughter, improvisation and yogic breathing, the Herald-Sun reported. Instructor Susan Ludwig told the paper, "Even if we ... fake laughter, just the act releases endorphins."

Hindu leader and statesman Rajan Zed says Jennifer Aniston's yoga practice is superficial. The Hollywood star, who is a huge advocate for the practice, is said to have only scratched the surface of what yoga really is, says Zed. What hot celebrity singer uses weed and yoga to heed off depression?, Zed issued a statement in Nevada today extending an invitation for Aniston to get more involved in her yoga practice by adopting Hinduism. "If Aniston needed any spiritual direction, I or other Hindu scholars would gladly provide it," Zed offered. But 40-year-old Aniston has been a long-time practitioner of yoga and already says the practice has reached beyond a physical workout by changing her body and her mind. "Mandy [Ingber, Aniston's yoga instructor] has brought yoga into my life," Aniston said in her introduction to Mandy's Yoga DVD, Yogalosophy. Adding, "This workout will change your body and your mind”. But Zed says Aniston must turn to Hinduism to get the full effect and while he has yet to address Ingber's infusion of astrology into the practice, Aniston says the infusion is what keeps her coming back for more.

Yoga, for me, is synonymous with muddling. Every class I take, I spend the hour not so much enjoying the real benefits as trying to look like I know what the heck I'm doing.
What I need is remedial help, someone to slow it down and work one-on-one to address issues of flexibility, strength and stability specific to my body. Then maybe I'd be prepared to join the yoga masses. What I need, come to think of it, is a few more sessions with Colette Barry, owner of Healthy Fit Studio in Westlake. One round of her "Tough Men, Tough Yoga" program wasn't enough, even if it did expose just about all my physical flaws. The differences between Barry's place and a typical yoga studio are many. For one, you're never going to hear her utter the words "chi" or "chakra." Foremost, though, is that Barry, daughter of a chiropractor, is less interested in transcending gravity than using it to her advantage. In other words, she uses body weight as a force for stretching. Also, unlike so many of her peers, Barry is not averse to machines and draws liberally from principles of Pilates. She also incorporates walls into her routines, using vertical surfaces for stability and resistance.