By Sabryna & ShivaChris — TantrÂmour
What science is beginning to understand
ARTE has just broadcast a fascinating documentary entitled Alternative healing: the path of trance, directed by Cécile Denjean. It concerns a state that human beings have known for millennia – trance – and which neuroscience research is rediscovering today with growing interest. Clinical trials are underway, particularly with patients suffering from severe depression resistant to conventional treatments, and the observed results on the brain are described as spectacular. What shamans, mystics and artists have always practiced is beginning to find scientific legitimacy: altered states of consciousness are not an anomaly, they are a resource.
We both watched this documentary, and we wanted to share with you what it awakened in us – both as practitioners of tantra, and as human beings on this path for many years.
A natural state, not a deviation
What struck us about this report was the way trance is presented: not as something frightening or marginal, but as a state naturally accessible to the human body, present in all cultures and at all times. The mistrust that our modern Western societies have long shown towards it says more about our collective relationship with control and rationality than it does about this state itself.
Trance, in its simplest form, is that moment when the analytical mind fades, when the body reclaims its rights, when something greater than our usual thoughts can come through. Many of you have already experienced it without necessarily giving it that name: in a deep dance, in intense breathing, in a moment of meditation where time disappears, in an embrace that goes beyond words.
What Tantra has known for a long time
In our practice and teaching of Tantra, we regularly work with entry points to these states – without substances, safely, in a benevolent and progressive setting. Conscious breathing, free movement, mantra chanting, shared breath, meditative touch, dance: these are all practices that allow the nervous system to to come out of their usual state of vigilance, to release accumulated tensions, and sometimes to touch something vaster.
What science today calls an «altered state of consciousness for therapeutic purposes,» Tantra names differently according to tradition – but the intention is the same: to allow being to reconnect with its own depth, to traverse what is frozen, to release what is compressed. Some people who participate in our retreats experience intense emotional release, tears that come for no apparent reason, sudden joy, a feeling of unity with all that is. These are not accidents. This is exactly what this documentary describes.
Living spaces in a world that compresses
We also want to share something more personal. We are both in very good health, and we often ask ourselves why, beyond genetics or chance. Our firm conviction is that regularly living in spaces of joy, love, kindness, and shared presence keeps us alive – in the fullest sense of the word.
The system in which we collectively evolve – schools, businesses, institutions, sometimes families – doesn't always foster self-listening, gentleness, or respect for each individual's pace. Many people arrive to us carrying years of unspoken tensions, unmet needs, and unexpressed emotions. What the ARTE documentary scientifically validates, we see happening in our workshops: when we create the conditions for deep relaxation, something is released, something is repaired.
It's not magic. It's neurology, biology, humanity rediscovered.
The TantrÂmour Festival: When such an event becomes a space for transformation
What we are describing here is not theoretical for us – we experienced it concretely last year during the TantrÂmour festival that we organise every year. For a whole week, day after day, we saw people transform before our very eyes. The Ecstatic Dance evenings – several during the week – are perhaps the most striking illustration of this: some people arrived a little tired from their day, still in their heads, and gradually, under the effect of the music, free movement and the presence of others, something opened up. But this transformation movement was not limited to the evenings: the morning meditation and yoga sessions, and the daytime workshops on dance, tantra and art, also created, in their own way, these same spaces for deep release. Bodies unfolded, faces opened up, smiles arrived effortlessly – not in one evening, but gradually, throughout the week. These are not performances: it is life itself moving again, layer after layer.
What touches us deeply is that these people then return to their daily lives – their work, their children, their challenges – not disconnected from reality, but quite the opposite more grounded, lighter, more themselves. The festival is not an escape; it is a resource. A few days in a space of radical kindness, authentic encounters, and practices that nourish the body and soul can often transform an entire year.
A festival like TantrÂmour offers something rare: the opportunity to to really consider, far from the demands of performance and productivity, in a secure environment where one can let down their guard. The variety of offerings – tantra workshops, dance, breathwork, ceremonies, live music – creates a natural progression that allows everyone to go at their own pace, without pressure, without judgment. Some go through profound emotions. Others laugh as they haven't done in years. Others still simply experience a few days of inner peace, which in itself is already a healing.
We sincerely believe that these spaces are not a luxury: they are a necessity. In a world where isolation, anxiety and burnout have become massive realities, to meet up – truly together, in joy and presence – is perhaps one of the most powerful acts of care there is.
An invitation
If this subject resonates with you, we strongly encourage you to watch this documentary – it's available on arte.tv. And if you feel you're carrying tensions that daily life doesn't allow you to overcome, perhaps the spaces we offer at the TantrÂmour festival – or in our workshops throughout the year – could be a doorway, at your own pace, in complete safety.
Trance is not just for initiates. It is a natural capacity of living beings that we all carry within us.
With love 🙏
Sabryna and ShivaChris
🎬 The documentary «Healing Differently: The Path of Trance» is available on arte.tv
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/118241-000-A/se-soigner-autrement-la-voie-de-la-transe
TantrÂmour Festival 2025 – Photos by: Echo_Clem / Julien – Echo des Étoiles
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