Meet Samantha Charles, the woman building Houston’s tantra community

Can you describe yourself in 3 words?

Intuitive, safe, dynamic.

What services do you offer on Sensuali?

Private 1:1 tantric bodywork sessions and private retreats. I also group events including workshops.

Tell us more about yourself…

I am born and raised in Houston, Texas. I always felt misplaced and lacking my community. I spent a lot of time driving to Austin for classes and workshops to explore Tantra and Sacred Sexuality. Craving that type of conscious community in Houston, but not finding it.

I decided to build that community myself at the end of 2023 and haven’t looked back since. I started creating Houston Tantra workshops and classes for people who were looking for a place to explore this work locally.

We’ve welcomed hundreds of Houstonians through our workshops and events, impacting their lives in the areas of intimacy, connection, and spirituality in a big way. Helping couples find their way back to connection, women finding their voices and safety, and men to soften into vulnerability.

While hosting group workshops and events is the most accessible of my work, I also work 1:1 with clients in a more intimate space, offering intimacy coaching and tantric bodywork for individuals and couples in Houston.

Through tantric bodywork and private coaching/mentorship, I help individuals and couples find deeper connection to themselves, their partners, and to their version of God through their very personal journey of spirituality.

My ultimate goal is for there to be a thriving Tantric community here in Houston.

One where people can explore intimacy, spirituality, sexuality, and connection without having to drive to Austin to find it.

What turns you on?

Slow & sensual touch, body kisses, deep conversations, and really getting to know someone. If we’re talking more in the kinky/taboo realm… I actually LOVE watching my partner receive pleasure from another woman.

What was your journey into this world?

I’ve always been really open around sexuality. Being one of the only women in my group of friends who enjoyed sex. So being open and explorative was in my nature.

I attended therapy as a young teenager and in my young adult life spent a lot of time at workshops, events, and retreats exploring self-development and self-help subjects. Taking psychology in college as well as exploring my natural curiosity and awe of the body. I took Anatomy & Physiology classes about 5 different times in my schooling and really geek out about the body.

In 2020 I found Joe Dispenza who really helped me bridge the missing piece of spirituality in my understandings of the mind/body connection. Soon after I discovered Sensual Embodiment practices which naturally led me to the more Sacred Sexuality side of modern/neo-Tantra teachings.

I spent many years driving to Austin finding teachers, workshops, trainings, and retreats, learning as much as I could and being absolutely fascinated by the possibility of intertwining spirituality with sexuality as a modality for healing and cultivating deeper connections with self, partners, and spirit.

All the while wishing there was this type of community in my backyard. I feel spirit put this work upon my heart to be the one to bring it to Houston.

What do the first 60 minutes of your day look like?

It really depends on what’s happening that day. Most consistently I have a hapé practice, where I sit in meditation in the mornings. I have children, whom I get ready for school during the week. Sometimes I lay in bed and scroll on my phone, sometimes I cuddle with my partner and we connect intimately, other times I get up and make breakfast and enjoy a morning cup of coffee.

Why do you do what you do?

Because I have experienced the impact of utilizing sexual energy for more than “just sex.” I have witnessed its incredible healing capabilities—the rejuvenation, the clarity, the emotional processing, and the integration that can become available in these intimate spaces.

I have my own journey of sexual repression, assault, and disconnection. This work has helped me heal on so many levels.

It has cultivated a deeper connection to myself, to my version of God, to my partner, to my family, and to my community.

It has created a depth of experience in my life that I didn’t previously have access to.

And then I started seeing this work impact the individuals and couples who attend our workshops—in their communication, their ability to speak up for themselves, their relationship to desire, their understanding of childhood trauma, navigating depression and anxiety, healing unconscious patterns, and so much more.

I do this work because I have experienced what becomes possible when we stop treating sexuality as something separate from the rest of our lives and begin to explore it as a doorway into deeper connection, healing, and aliveness.

What is an unexpected pleasure you discovered in your work?

I love when people get together outside of our events. Friendships are building outside of what I am hosting, and there’s something really beautiful about that. It really highlights that there are ripple effects that I know and hear about, and so many more that I will never see.

What do you wish more people knew about the practice you specialise in?

Tantra is not as sexual as many people think. There are deep spiritual teachings and embodiment practices that are completely non-erotic.

I also believe sexual education should be much more expansive than learning about anatomy, reproduction, contraception, or STI prevention. There is so much more to understanding ourselves as sexual beings.

Healthy sexual education can include intimacy, communication, consent, boundaries, desire, embodiment, nervous system awareness, emotional connection, and understanding how our bodies actually experience pleasure and sensation.

It can also include exploring the relationship between sexuality, spirituality, and our sense of connection to ourselves, our partners, and something greater than ourselves.

For me, this is where Tantra becomes so powerful. It offers practices for slowing down, becoming more present in the body, cultivating deeper connection, and exploring sexual energy as something that can move through our lives in ways that extend far beyond the physical act of sex.

I want more people to understand that intimacy is something we can learn, practice, and deepen.

It isn’t simply something we’re supposed to instinctively know how to do.

What’s your superpower?

Making people feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Making light of serious subjects while also maintaining reverence and respect.

We love vices. What’s yours?

Drinking too many coffees, I love mochi ice cream, sleeping in, and binge watching shows like Ted Lasso and Heated Rivalry until wayyyyy past my sleepy eye bedtime.

Who are your sensual inspirations?

Leola Watkins with Talk Tantra To Me.

Rina Trevi’s Shibari & Yoni Massage.

Closing thoughts?

I think the most important thing to know about me is that I don’t take myself too seriously.

I take the work seriously. The spaces I create are intentional, sacred, and deeply meaningful to me. But I’m also a pretty normal Houston girl who laughs a lot, asks a million questions, is endlessly curious about people, and believes spirituality should actually make us more human… not less.

I’m fascinated by the places where spirituality, sexuality, embodiment, relationships, and real life collide. I’m still learning, still experimenting, and still very much on my own journey.

I don’t have all the answers. I just really love creating spaces where people feel safe enough to get curious, explore something new, and discover more of themselves.