In Vajrayana Buddhism, deities are sometimes portrayed as male and female couples in sexual embrace, called yab-yum (Tib. “Father and Mother”) images. They represent symbolic union of wisdom (female) with active compassion, or method (male), the two necessary elements for achieving awakening. As yidam in Vajrayana and as gods in tantric Hinduism, practitioners visualize these images in meditative deity-yoga, while manipulating the winds, channels, and chakras of the inner “subtle body.” More rarely, tantric union is practiced physically between a yogin and a consort, sometimes as part of an abhisheka initiation.