Born 4 November 1944 , in Yorkshire , England , under the sign of Scorpio. His father was a civil engineer and his mother was an artist, writer, dance teacher and spiritualist. Nik was brought up and educated in the Middle East (to 1955) and finished his schooling in England . From an early age he studied ancient cultures, archaeology, anthropology, religions and mythologies, specializing in Egyptology, ancient art, symbolism and occult/paranormal phenomena. His other early interests were science, amateur radio, electronics, puppetry and fine art/antiquities.

During the early1960's Nik managed and produced English Rhythm & Blues groups and helped pioneer commercial radio in England through his involvement with Radio Caroline, the first "pirate" commercial music station. During this period Nik helped organize and arrange numerous tours and promotions of European and American musical acts.

Nik moved to Ibiza , Spain , where he developed inventions using solar energy. By early 1964 he became entirely focussed on Tantra, finding that its' traditional teachings offered relevant solutions to life's mysteries. He dropped out of the business world and focussed on his own art work, exhibiting drawings and paintings in Spain and England , before travelling overland to India .

Between 1966 and 1974 Nik spent most of his time in Asia, visiting remote areas of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand and Indonesia, building up his knowledge of the customs, beliefs and spiritual practices of Hindus and Buddhists. He researched Oriental medicine, alchemy, art, sculpture and mysticism, studying with Hindu yogis, Buddhist lamas, doctors and Tantra experts.

Nik worked with Ajit Mookerjee, author of the important books "Tantra Art" and "Tantra Asana", and helped organize his Tantra art collections and the first large "Tantra" exhibit at London's Hayward Gallery. In 1968 Nik was formally initiated into traditional Hindu Tantra by Durga Das Shastri, a Bengali Siddha yogi. Following this he studied Tibetan Tantra with Dudjom Rinpoche, the Gyalwa Karmapa and Lama Kunzang Rinzin, Indian alchemy (Rasayana) and Ayurvedic medicine with Dr. Bindu Joshi, Tibetan iconography and art with Lama Anagarika Govinda and was furthur initiated into the Shakta Tantra tradition by Gangotri Giri ("Gangotri Baba"), a Siddha yogi and medical doctor with much experience in traditional Tantric arts and sciences. Nik's relationship with Gangotri Baba has continued to the present.

In 1968 Nik filmed at the Kumbha Mela festival in Hardwar (with Kenneth Anger) and went on to lead a "magical mystery tour" across North India, filming important sequences in Khajuraho, Benares and at Tantric pilgrimage sites in West Bengal. The result was his movie "Tantra: Indian Rites of Ecstasy", produced with Mick Jagger and Robert Fraser, which was finished and first released in movie theaters in 1969. This fim, now on video, features worship in the Golden Temple of Benares, rare Tantric artworks, a day and a night with Durga Das Shastri in the Great Cremation-ground at Tarapith culminating in an initiation, and an authentic Tantra "Maithuna" ritual. The soundtrack, entirely recorded on location in India, is an initiation into traditional Tantric Mantras and devotional songs of the Hindu Tantric tradition.

Nik helped organize the first World Conference of Scientific Yoga (New Delhi, 1969), and published the first issue of "Chakra: A Journal of Tantra and Yoga" at the same time. Nik's first book, "Tantra Yoga" was published in 1970. This and subsequent publications such as "Karmapa: The Black Hat Lama of Tibet", "Tibetan Tantric Charms and Amulets" and "Sexual Secrets: The Alchemy of Ecstasy" have been well received and translated into many languages.

Nik is a connoisseur and collector of fine art and antiquities from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. He has been a consultant and agent for museums, galleries and private collectors for the past thirty years, and owns one of the largest Tantra photo and reference archives. Tantric Art is his primary interest and illustrations from his archives are featured on this Web Site.

In 1997 " Spiritual Sex: Secrets of Tantra from the Ice Age to the New Millennium" by Nik Douglas was published by the Pocket Books division of Simon & Schuster (ISBN 0-671-53739-3). In 1998 Nik participated in the Canadian television mini-series " The Look of Love" . Many of his images from his Asian erotic art archive were used in the " History of Sex" television mini-series which first aired in the summer of 1999; others are scheduled to be included in the forthcoming " Sex Files" television series. In December 1999 an entirely new colorized " 20th Anniversary Edition of Sexual Secrets: The Alchemy of Ecstasy" was published by Destiny Books (ISBN 0-89281-805-0). Celebrating the sale of over one million copies of this title, it features a special full-color illustrated Preface by Nik, entitled " New Discoveries on the Origin of the Secrets" , which introduces startling new evidence of Tantric and Taoist origins in archaic Indian tribal and Chinese Neolithic societies.

Nik is currently working on; an art book about the early Taoist jade cultures of North-eastern China; a series on spiritual art in different cultures world-wide; and a new book on Tantra for the popular market. " Spiritual Sex" is currently being updated, reformatted and expanded ready for re-release by a new publisher during 2000.

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