THE CREATION OF OZ TANTRA
By Oceana & Icarus
Oceana and Icarus
Oceana and Icarus met while trekking in Nepal in 1991. On our second day together, we enjoyed some Hatha Yoga together. On the third day after we met Icarus shared that he was interested in exploring Tantra with a partner, and explained the concepts. She said that Tantra sounded very interesting. “While appearing calm on the outside, I think I nearly fell off my chair with excitement. Maybe I had found my Tantric partner that I was longing for.” Says Icarus .
In 1993, Oceana accompanied Icarus for the first time to visit the USA. When we arrived in Los Angeles, Icarus called his business manager to tell her he would be back in New Mexico the following Monday. She informed him that she had made an appointment with some potential clients to interview for an architectural design project. The clients turned out to be the couple that had originally passed the Jewel in the Lotus book on to him. Their project was for him to design and supervise the construction of a solar heated Temple to hold a 21-day International Tantra retreat being taught by Bodhi Avinasha, the author of the book. He immediately arranged to trade some of his professional fees for our attendance at the workshop. .
Within a month, Bodhi arrived in New Mexico and taught a weekend introductory Tantra course, which we attended. One of the greatest Tantra teachers in the world had fallen right into our lap! The first day Icarus thought the workshop was a fair amount of aerie-faerie hype. Nevertheless, we went home that night to explore the homework assignment we had been given. That night we had the most amazing lovemaking I had ever experienced Icarus 48 years. The next day we arrived an hour late for the workshop due to our extended lovemaking session, but we sat in the front row so we didn’t miss a word! The next day Oceana was taught the Cobra Breath by Bodhi- to her amazement all of Icarus disappeared and only his left eye was visible. She was already flying high with Tantra and meeting him at the etherial level WOW!
That afternoon we discovered there was another couple in the class who were Tantra teachers. At that moment the light bulb first went off in Icarus’ head, which said, “Oceana and I have been blessed with a gift of such exquisite and precious Tantric experiences, maybe we could be successful Tantra teachers as well!” Icarus thought we could be better Tantra teachers than this other couple were!
Icarus designed and supervised construction of the Temple and we attended the 21-day intensive workshop with Bodhi. The experiences we were having with Tantra were unbelievable. At the end of the three weeks we left to return to Australia. Bodhi asked us if we would be interested in sponsoring a tour of Australia and New Zealand with her. We said, “Yes.” ”
Icarus arrived in Australia three weeks after Oceana. When she met me at Tullamarine Airport Icarus told her we were going to teach workshops all across Australia. This time Oceana nearly fell off her perch. She thought Icarus was completely out of my mind. “as a child growing up, I didn’t even speak at the dinner table “ says Oceana
At the end of the tour, Bodhi called us into her room. She told us, to our amazement, that we had taken the Tantric practices in her book further than anyone she knew, including herself. She asked us if we wanted to be inducted into the lineage of teaching the Cosmic Cobra Breath. Again, we said, “Yes”.
At that time in his life, Icarus figured that there were six critical global issues facing planet earth: nuclear disarmament, war, food distribution, disease, ecological survival, and the rift between men and women. “I didn’t figure I could have much of an effect on the first five’ said Icarus. However the last one we both had a desire to address, and reckoned we could make a contribution. We decided to. Icarus wanted to quit the practice of architecture, of which he was burnt out, and become a Light Worker – to do something that would be of service to humankind, and hopefully contribute some healing to this planet. And Oceana decided to move on from her career of a children’s librarian!
The rest, as they say, is history………..
And what an amazing impact Oceana & Icarus made on 1000’s of people. Deeply touching and transforming lives. They were leaders in the field of Tantra. Presenting 100’s of Tantra workshop together extensively over Australia, New Zealand, USA and Noumea. They were often invited to be key note speakers at the Sydney Mind Body Spirit Festivals. They were featured on ABC ’”Inside Story” NBN 9 “alternatives’ and channel 7 “Today / Tonight show.”
The primary influences on our work came from Sunyata Saraswati, Bodhi Avinasha, Margo Anand, and Anna Davidovitch. There were many other influences as well. I would say that our major contributions to the field of Tantra were in the following areas: integration of diverse influences into a well orchestrated holistic approach, accompanied by a brilliant musical soundtrack; high quality instruction and facilitation; a genuine warmth and understanding with people; keen insight into the patterns exhibited by people that reveal their core issues – and the ability to help them beneficially restructure their lives; our own role model as mentors with total integrity; guiding and inspiring the men’s and women’s circles; both having a fun and healthy sense of humour and, of course, our “live, in-person, performances”.
Where are they now?
Oceana & Icarus today remain the best of friends, often reflecting on their remarkable time together. Back to take pleasure in the New Mexican sunsets went Icarus and Oceana enjoys the gorgeous surroundings & lifestyle of Byron Bay. Oceana continues to offer Tantra in exclusive private workshops for couples only.
