Directors’ Statement:
This film originated as a work for hire when a snowboarding buddy of ours told us that his cousin, a prominent Sacred Sexual Shaman known in the tantric community as Baba Dez, wanted to do a documentary about the healing work that he and other practitioners were doing at his temple in Sedona, AZ.
Our first shoot was a conference Dez hosted for tantric healers. But when one attendee was uncomfortable with the presence of cameras, we were shut down before we started. To earn our stripes, we self-consciously participated in exercises intended to “cultivate and move our orgasmic energy”. While not terribly successful in that effort, we did meet a very colorful group of people who ranged from transcendental journeymen, abused women, to lonely men. But they all shared a goal of using the tantric philosophy to harness sexuality for transformational effect.
The initial intention for the doc was to track a few healers and their clients, but after a many months of shooting, money was starting to run out and the healers and clients remained reluctant to show us what they really do. We heard a lot about “sacred spot massage” and other sacrosanct jargon, but due to shame, legality, and trust issues, no one would go on camera. We were afraid we’d have to change our working title from “Doing The Work”, to “Talking About Doing The Work”.
Simultaneously, there were interesting developments in Dez’s life. We heard a rumor that a female practitioner had said that after working with Dez, she “felt like she had been raped”. The shock waves this sent through the tantric community was enough to convince us that we had a dramatic story, warranting a feature doc. We took the project on as our own and shifted the focus from tantric healing to a character piece.
But what happened next in Dez’s personal life was when we really discovered the movie. Repulsed by the continual parade of lovers, Maya, Dez’s primary lover dumped him. Considering that Dez was polyamorous and had “shared love” with more than a thousand women, we were surprised that losing one lover would prove so devastating. But it did, and suddenly the polished sexual guru seemed ever bit the heartbroken teenager. Although, as a studied tantric master with an unshakable belief system, Dez was determined to reignite his relationship with Maya, by manifesting her back.
Dez uses Sex Magic; the ritual of channeling thought, emotions, and physical energy during love making as a prayer to manifest your dreams and desires. Empowered with Sex Magic; the ritual of channeling thought, emotions, and physical energy during love making as a prayer, Dez set out to manifest his beloved’s return by doing the exact thing that had driven her away in the first place; “manifesting” with lots of other women.
This film originated as a work for hire when a snowboarding buddy of ours told us that his cousin, a prominent Sacred Sexual Shaman known in the tantric community as Baba Dez, wanted to do a documentary about the healing work that he and other practitioners were doing at his temple in Sedona, AZ.
Our first shoot was a conference Dez hosted for tantric healers. But when one attendee was uncomfortable with the presence of cameras, we were shut down before we started. To earn our stripes, we self-consciously participated in exercises intended to “cultivate and move our orgasmic energy”. While not terribly successful in that effort, we did meet a very colorful group of people who ranged from transcendental journeymen, abused women, to lonely men. But they all shared a goal of using the tantric philosophy to harness sexuality for transformational effect.
The initial intention for the doc was to track a few healers and their clients, but after a many months of shooting, money was starting to run out and the healers and clients remained reluctant to show us what they really do. We heard a lot about “sacred spot massage” and other sacrosanct jargon, but due to shame, legality, and trust issues, no one would go on camera. We were afraid we’d have to change our working title from “Doing The Work”, to “Talking About Doing The Work”.
Simultaneously, there were interesting developments in Dez’s life. We heard a rumor that a female practitioner had said that after working with Dez, she “felt like she had been raped”. The shock waves this sent through the tantric community was enough to convince us that we had a dramatic story, warranting a feature doc. We took the project on as our own and shifted the focus from tantric healing to a character piece.
But what happened next in Dez’s personal life was when we really discovered the movie. Repulsed by the continual parade of lovers, Maya, Dez’s primary lover dumped him. Considering that Dez was polyamorous and had “shared love” with more than a thousand women, we were surprised that losing one lover would prove so devastating. But it did, and suddenly the polished sexual guru seemed ever bit the heartbroken teenager. Although, as a studied tantric master with an unshakable belief system, Dez was determined to reignite his relationship with Maya, by manifesting her back.
Dez uses Sex Magic; the ritual of channeling thought, emotions, and physical energy during love making as a prayer to manifest your dreams and desires. Empowered with Sex Magic; the ritual of channeling thought, emotions, and physical energy during love making as a prayer, Dez set out to manifest his beloved’s return by doing the exact thing that had driven her away in the first place; “manifesting” with lots of other women.
