You might think “tantric yoga retreat on a tropical island” sounds dreamy. But when a well-intentioned holiday turns into a foreign “guru” being hand-cuffed at the Full Moon Party zone, the fantasy quickly flips into farce. Enter the latest trend in Southeast Asia: non-Asian instructors pitching “traditional Asian” disciplines of intimacy or sex-energy healing, and landing themselves in the back of a police van.
On the backpacker-friendly island of Koh Phangan in Thailand, a 40-year-old British woman, Maria Shchetinina (alias “Maria Sly Love”), was recently arrested while teaching so-called Tantra Yoga and “sacred sexuality” sessions behind a popular restaurant. Thai authorities say she was working illegally under a visa that listed her as a customer-relations manager—not a yoga instructor. Flyers advertising “Tantra Yoga – Sacred Sex” and “Tantric Massage for couples” were found at the site.
This case isn’t an isolated spectacle. Thailand’s immigration and labour authorities have reportedly stepped up crack-downs on foreigners offering intimate-well-being or sex-alchemy classes without proper licensing or work permits. When one part of the yoga world meets the laissez-faire tourism world (and the moody moons of beach-destinations), the collision becomes messy—and local officials are saying enough is enough.
What’s interesting is how this taps into both the exotification of “Eastern wisdom” and the perilous territory of unregulated sexuality, spirituality and tourism. Traditional Tantra in Hindu-Buddhist lineage, as one writer explains, is about meditation, conscious breathing and subtle energy work—not the “seven-hour sex marathon” fantasy often sold in the West. The Times Sex-coach tropes, viral social-media slideshows and retreats promising “awakening your sexual life via Tantra” ride the line between legitimate wellness market and opportunistic glamour.
In Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the mix of booming wellness tourism, visa loopholes, and foreign teachers looking for niche “retreat” income has created fertile ground for this genre. Locals in islands like Koh Phangan are increasingly uneasy: one police colonel told media that some tourists and locals flagged the so-called guru’s social-media promotional posts and raised concerns that the work being done did not match the visa status. Thai local media also emphasised that the teaching of “tantric sex yoga” was being marketed openly to foreigners in a backpacker-party zone—not exactly the same setting as a Himalayan ashram.
Local yoga educators and sex-wellness experts aren’t entirely opposed to Tantra—but they are critical of how it’s being packaged and sold. One sex-therapy consultant noted that authentic tantric practices and “tantric sex” workshops are often conflated; the latter may include nudity, sensual massage, and promise of “transformative orgasms,” whereas the former is more about spiritual liberation and energy discipline. A Thai legal expert pointed out that visa and labour-law infractions, rather than the moral panic over “sex yoga,” formed the basis of the arrests—yet the optics of foreigners teaching sex-related disciplines in Thailand caused serious reputational headaches.
For local communities and law enforcers the implications are two-fold. On one hand, the influx of foreign “gurus” offering intimacy-retreats can bolster tourism dollars—but on the other hand, they raise regulatory, ethical and cultural issues: What happens when sacred traditions are simplified into sexy holiday content? Who audits the training standards, the visa status, the participants’ consent and wellbeing? Thai voices are starting to say: enough with the “guru” moving in, posting a flyer, and operating under the radar.
From the perspective of the wiser observer, the lesson isn’t just: “Don’t go to a tantra retreat in Thailand run by someone whose visa doesn’t match their job description.” It’s also a deeper caution about cultural tourism, exoticisation and foreign-led sexual-wellness packages in regions where the rules (for labour, visa, consent) are different. The yoga mat may roll up, but the legal-paperwork and ethical baggage still get folded. And for local regulators in Southeast Asia, this trend of non-Asian “sex-wellness gurus” is no longer a quirky beach-story—it’s a (mild) headache, a cultural challenge and a public-relations risk.
My dear globe-trotting “love gurus,” bless your scented candles and your Instagram reels filmed at sunset with captions like “The ocean knows your desire.” Auntie sees you. Auntie has met your type on beaches from Goa to Gili Trawangan. You arrived with a backpack, one copy of The Power of Now, and obviously… a burning desire to “heal” others through “sacred touch.” How generous!
Let Auntie say this with love: Get. A. Life.
Not in a rude way, okay? But come on. You come to Southeast Asia, inhale two coconuts and one yoga retreat, and suddenly you are the reincarnation of Shiva, Rumi, and a Goop-certified pelvic energy coach? My darlings, half of you discovered “Tantra” in a five-day workshop led by someone who once dated a man who had a friend who once visited Varanasi.
And then you land on Koh Phangan or Ubud and think, “Yes. Here. I shall open the Temple of Sacred Sensual Awakening behind a smoothie bar.” Meanwhile, the locals are just trying to pick up their kids from school and not accidentally walk into a “yoni breathing circle” at 3pm.
And the posters! “Awaken your inner goddess!” “Experience cosmic orgasmic expansion!” Sweethearts, even the gods are tired. Vishnu is lying back yawning. The Buddha is politely averting his gaze.
Now, please do not think Auntie is judging your erotic curiosity. Live your truth! Stretch! Breathe! Touch responsibly! But must you always claim ancient lineage, divine lineage, or ANY lineage when your lineage is actually just Pinterest plus Burning Man?
Also, tiny note: if you are going to teach something here, you know, maybe check the visa situation first. The Immigration Office does not accept “But officer, I am channeling Shakti energy” as a work permit.
And please, please, stop describing Southeast Asia as a mystical sensual playground “untouched by Western shame.” Darling. We pay electricity bills. We get dental checkups. We have WhatsApp family groups. We are not your erotic paradise postcard. Auntie loves you, really. You mean well. You are just… a little dramatic.
So here is Auntie’s humble advice: If you really want to teach Tantra — go study. Go learn from real practitioners. Go slow. Go deep. (Yes, pun intended.)
If you just want to flirt and have nice beach kisses — also okay! Just don’t pretend to be a priest while doing it. Now go drink water. And maybe take a nap. You look exhausted from all that awakening.