we began reading books and watching videos about “better sex.” In our exploration, Tantra appeared, surprising us. It felt like discovering a powerful, archetypal secret, such as, “The Fountain of Youth” or  “The Source of Supreme Bliss.”

Wow! Sex and the divine!
Deep down within us, we knew that high pleasure, intimacy and orgasm were truly special.  Yet we never imagined that all of cosmic existence was available through the Tantric practices of uniting sex, heart and spirit.

After first learning about Tantra from a variety of texts and videos, we felt ready to go deeper with our learning by attending workshops and retreats with teachers. We cleared our schedule, created a vacation to join a class, and walked into the course trembling like scared rabbits. Within a day or so in the deep immersion of the Tantric experience, our lives were changed in ways we couldn’t imagine.

Our commitment to create and bring Tantra Heart Kriya Yoga to Cincinnati was born within those first courses. When we announced our intention, others laughed because Cincinnati, with a nationally recognized conservative image, appeared to be the least likely place to share the beauty and spiritual power of sex. We were unsure ourselves about people’s interest until our first class in Cincinnati attracted seven participants and the second had 17, with participants describing their experience with us as “euphoric.”

We’ve been exploring, sharing and teaching ever since. People now travel from all over the continental US, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia and Central America to participate in Tantra Heart courses.

The two had their first date in January, were engaged in March, and married in August of 1967. “We had a real connection on multiple levels,” Antoinette says. “Intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical. It was exciting.”

Antoinette completed her college degree at Stonehill College near Boston, where she and Richard moved after their wedding. She earned a combined degree in English and French, with a minor in education and philosophy.

After some years in Pittsburgh following Boston, Antoinette and Richard moved back to Cincinnati with their two-year-old daughter. At that point, Antoinette, who had stopped teaching to be a “-”stay-at-home-mom”-”, took a position in student affairs at the University of Cincinnati. It was her first step into organizational leadership and management.

“I have a passion for organizational development, effective leadership and team building,” Antoinette says. She went from the University of Cincinnati to upper level hospital administration, a field she enjoyed for 20 years.

Toward the end of that time, Antoinette and Richard founded Tantra Heart. Antoinette remained in her hospital career for three years before leaving to focus fulltime on teaching Tantra in 2001. “I began teaching in 1998,” she says. “For three years I did both my hospital job and Tantra. My life was very exciting and full.”

She adds, “My life now is even more exciting and full.”

Richard taught high school in Cincinnati for a year before marrying Antoinette in the summer of 1967. The couple moved to Boston, and Richard began teaching in the public school system.

During this time, he began to work with disadvantaged youth, eventually moving to Pittsburgh to focus on kids in trouble with the law.  Working as a team with three other teachers, “We landed a grant from Lyndon Johnson’s Model Cities program,” Richard explains. “With that we opened the Community Human Services Corporation, which is celebrating its 40th year of operation in 2010. Our premise was to develop partnerships between members of a community and creative change agents.”

After Richard and Antoinette moved back to Cincinnati in 1973, Richard became the primary caregiver for their toddler, while Antoinette began working at the University of Cincinnati.

When their daughter was ready for school, the entrepreneur in Richard resurfaced and he launched a construction company in partnership with an architect and a builder. Richard served as the business administrator. He later left the company to begin independent organizational consulting.

Not long after, Richard and Antoinette began to learn about Tantra. “Little by little” Richard says, “Tantra awakened a new approach to life.”

Richard gradually closed his consulting company to put full attention on growing Tantra Heart. He and Antoinette began teaching Tantra Heart Kriya Yoga in 1998, bringing a variety of skills and expertise from their education and careers, as well as their new research and learning, into this ground-breaking service to the world.

“There are parts of our former careers that we miss,” Richard says, “But in comparison to our work of love and service through Tantra Heart, those things pale.”