A strange new path

Today I told one of my closest friends about my new practice. She is the most accepting and open-minded friend I have, and definitely the person who I wanted to talk to about this first. I felt like I spoke so much! Like all the words just tumbled out of my mouth because I was so excited and I didn’t know where to start and where to stop. It was really hard to explain, the philosophy and the physical practises. The particularly hard bits were the bits that at first glance sat in contradiction with feminist values on sex and sexuality, as she too is a feminist like I am. She asked many questions that were expected, like what if the teachings of the White Tigress was written by a man who just wanted women to give him head jobs, and how can it be pleasurable for the woman to just be giving the man head jobs and not having intercouse, and wasn’t it mean to suck the life force out of men? I guess, in particular, not having an understanding of Taoist philosophy made it particularly hard to understand the significance of many of the practices. But, all in all, I think she was quite receptive and interested in the practice and even asked for a copy of the book so she could read it. I did at times, though, feel like the way she was speaking about the practice was a little bit off. But I never expected her (or anyone) to take to the practice as I have. I can completely understand that the practices would seem alien and strange and even off putting to most women, and that my drawing to it is something quite unique to me. Reading about the teachings of the White Tigress resonated so much with me because I feel like they already reflect my natural sexual inclinations, so much so that my boyfriend believes that I was a White Tigress in my past life. I think my being drawn to the practice is based upon this. Therefore, I wouldn’t expect other women to react the same way.

I am excited, however, to have told one of my very best friends about my new found path, and for her curiosity, acceptance and support. I’m grateful of having someone else to talk to about this, outside of my boyfriend. I think from now on, though, I am not going to tell anyone else about the specific practices of the White Tigress, that I will talk about the broader aims and the path of the White Tigress but not what she does to get there. I feel like it’s too difficult to explain and I feel disheartened when the practices are misunderstood. Also, I like the feeling of it being my little secret, and feel like keeping the practices secret is respecting the secrecy with which these practices have been passed down throughout history.

I did call my boyfriend that night to tell him about my conversation with my friend, and it was nice to talk to someone with a developed understanding of Taoist philosophy and to felt like he understood me so well. We discussed how no other man could now relate to me as he does, now that I’ve undertaken this esoteric path, who else would understand me? Since him presenting me with this book, I feel even more and more the destined nature of our relationship and that in my adult life, he is the man I am meant to be with. I can’t even describe in words how much love I feel for him. It is almost overwhelming and brings me to the brink of tears.

At the end of our conversation, he told me that he has been reading the Jade Dragon book and that he was liking and appreciating it, which I was very, very happy with. I am very much looking forward to trying out the practices of the Jade Dragon with him, and hope that it will bring him some rejuvenation too.