Bees, Nectar, Tantra What do bees have to do with Tantra? I have been a beekeeper for many years, on and off, as bees and I both tend to move a lot these days. From flower to flower, home to home, hive to hive, we move.
The bees have aided me in deepening into the art of mindful movement.
Moving around bees requires mindfulness, moving slowly, listening intently to the tone of their vibration. One sudden movement, one moment of inattention, and the hum of contentment can quickly turn into a warning buzz of agitation.
This need for presence around the hives mirrors the core teachings of tantra. Both call us to be fully in the moment, our senses alert and heightened. As I practice yoga asana next to my hives (without a protective suit), their tone tells me everything I need to know – are they at ease with my presence, or is it time for me to respectfully retreat? I slow, I breathe, I listen, I know.
This attunement to vibration is at the heart of tantric philosophy. In fact, tantra was originally called mantra-marga, or the path of mantra. Long before modern science confirmed that everything is made of vibrating energy, the ancient tantrikas understood this profound truth. Tantras were then the books that held the truth, the teachings, all of which held in one way or another that there is a continuum of vibration, a weaving or unfolding/ blossoming of one thing into the next without separation.
Our very beings are seen as lotuses, with each chakra, or energy center, a flower that opens and closes in response to our energy, habits, and environment. Using this lovely metaphor, the bees are alluded to as the vibrations that move life from one lotus to the next.
These vibrations may be our movements, our heartbeat, our thoughts, and most especially the words that we use and the tone/ intention/ attitude that our words vibrate with. Our tone, attitude, and usually the worldview that causes those, will ultimately be the energy that we unconsciously vibrate with, thereby affecting our experience of life and what we draw to us.
Therefore, it is taught that when we tend to our vibrations through mantra, movement, breath, and meditation, with intention and praise of the divine in all things as our foundation (worldview), we have the opportunity to expand our experience of embodied life into one of ecstatic, blissful, clear knowing. We remember ourselves as peaceful, loving awareness, embodied and not.
My journey into tantra felt like coming home. For the first time, I encountered spiritual teachings that didn't require mental editing or selective acceptance. It all resonated as common sense, as if I was remembering truths I'd always known deep down. Tantra doesn't ask us to transcend our humanity or judge others. Instead, we are invited to remember ourselves as divine life force energy, choosing to have this human experience in order to know itself more fully. Being a Tantrika reveals the nectar in all aspects of life.
Intimacy with the teacher of life is the Tantrikas practice. All of it, even the hard stuff. We humans are largely inclined to think that bad is bad and that's it - avoid it, ignore it, numb it out, beat it down. Yet, tantra does not see anything as inherently bad. Our greatest wisdom often emerges from our deepest losses, our most painful changes, our perceived failures. Grief becomes our teacher about love and impermanence. Failure illuminates the path to success. When I feel despondent, I turn to the bees and to nature, observing how life turns into life, how dissolution gives way to growth. Nothing truly disappears; it only changes form.
Living as a tantrika means embracing the ecstatic beauty of awe and wonder, even as we navigate the minefields in our environments and minds. It means being keenly aware of what life is asking of us in each moment, even amidst emotional or physical turbulence. This state of being isn't about escaping into bliss but about fully engaging with life in all its messy, glorious complexity.
Sometimes, I find myself longing to stay in those moments of ecstasy, of clear knowing, of blissful connection. But like a bee that must return from the flower to the hive, we're called to move between transcendence and engagement. We're here to learn, to teach, to hold and help, and sometimes to let go and not know. Mystery is part of this experience, inviting us to cultivate faith, trust, and flow.
As I live in dedication to learning and practice, blossoming the lotus of my being into its fullness, I find my center of unconditional loving awareness expanding, becoming more accessible and enduring even through the most challenging experiences of life. The worldview and practices of tantra make it joyful to dance with mystery. And just as a bee immerses itself in the heart of a lotus to find the sweetest nectar, we too can dive deep into the heart of our experiences, discovering the profound wisdom and connection that await us there.
So the next time you see a bee flitting from flower to flower, remember: in its humble, purposeful movements lie many a profound teaching. Like the bee, we are invited to move through life with intention and awareness, finding the sacred nectar in every moment, and sharing the sweetness we discover with the world around us.
Join me if you will, to immerse in the nectarian teachings and practices of Non-Dual Tantrik Saivism, rooted in the Kashmiri Valley, India, blossoming in the hearts and minds of resonant community…
We will immerse at Green Yogi, Telegraph in Berkeley on Thursday evenings for 8 weeks starting September 19, 2024.
My name is lucid dawn, my teachers are Hareesh Wallis, (also Christopher Tompkins, Sally Kempton & others), his teacher is Gurumayi, her teacher was Swami Muktananda. These teachers have handed down the wisdom of the Tantrik masters Kshemaraja and his teacher, Abhinivagupta (950 – 1016 CE) who penned some of the most beautiful Tantrik texts alive which continue to inspire this living tradition. It shows up uniquely through me with my particular lens of yoga therapist, peer counselor, thespian, poet, artist, krtyka/witch, and social justice activist.
The bees have aided me in deepening into the art of mindful movement.
Moving around bees requires mindfulness, moving slowly, listening intently to the tone of their vibration. One sudden movement, one moment of inattention, and the hum of contentment can quickly turn into a warning buzz of agitation.
This need for presence around the hives mirrors the core teachings of tantra. Both call us to be fully in the moment, our senses alert and heightened. As I practice yoga asana next to my hives (without a protective suit), their tone tells me everything I need to know – are they at ease with my presence, or is it time for me to respectfully retreat? I slow, I breathe, I listen, I know.
This attunement to vibration is at the heart of tantric philosophy. In fact, tantra was originally called mantra-marga, or the path of mantra. Long before modern science confirmed that everything is made of vibrating energy, the ancient tantrikas understood this profound truth. Tantras were then the books that held the truth, the teachings, all of which held in one way or another that there is a continuum of vibration, a weaving or unfolding/ blossoming of one thing into the next without separation.
Our very beings are seen as lotuses, with each chakra, or energy center, a flower that opens and closes in response to our energy, habits, and environment. Using this lovely metaphor, the bees are alluded to as the vibrations that move life from one lotus to the next.
These vibrations may be our movements, our heartbeat, our thoughts, and most especially the words that we use and the tone/ intention/ attitude that our words vibrate with. Our tone, attitude, and usually the worldview that causes those, will ultimately be the energy that we unconsciously vibrate with, thereby affecting our experience of life and what we draw to us.
Therefore, it is taught that when we tend to our vibrations through mantra, movement, breath, and meditation, with intention and praise of the divine in all things as our foundation (worldview), we have the opportunity to expand our experience of embodied life into one of ecstatic, blissful, clear knowing. We remember ourselves as peaceful, loving awareness, embodied and not.
My journey into tantra felt like coming home. For the first time, I encountered spiritual teachings that didn't require mental editing or selective acceptance. It all resonated as common sense, as if I was remembering truths I'd always known deep down. Tantra doesn't ask us to transcend our humanity or judge others. Instead, we are invited to remember ourselves as divine life force energy, choosing to have this human experience in order to know itself more fully. Being a Tantrika reveals the nectar in all aspects of life.
Intimacy with the teacher of life is the Tantrikas practice. All of it, even the hard stuff. We humans are largely inclined to think that bad is bad and that's it - avoid it, ignore it, numb it out, beat it down. Yet, tantra does not see anything as inherently bad. Our greatest wisdom often emerges from our deepest losses, our most painful changes, our perceived failures. Grief becomes our teacher about love and impermanence. Failure illuminates the path to success. When I feel despondent, I turn to the bees and to nature, observing how life turns into life, how dissolution gives way to growth. Nothing truly disappears; it only changes form.
Living as a tantrika means embracing the ecstatic beauty of awe and wonder, even as we navigate the minefields in our environments and minds. It means being keenly aware of what life is asking of us in each moment, even amidst emotional or physical turbulence. This state of being isn't about escaping into bliss but about fully engaging with life in all its messy, glorious complexity.
Sometimes, I find myself longing to stay in those moments of ecstasy, of clear knowing, of blissful connection. But like a bee that must return from the flower to the hive, we're called to move between transcendence and engagement. We're here to learn, to teach, to hold and help, and sometimes to let go and not know. Mystery is part of this experience, inviting us to cultivate faith, trust, and flow.
As I live in dedication to learning and practice, blossoming the lotus of my being into its fullness, I find my center of unconditional loving awareness expanding, becoming more accessible and enduring even through the most challenging experiences of life. The worldview and practices of tantra make it joyful to dance with mystery. And just as a bee immerses itself in the heart of a lotus to find the sweetest nectar, we too can dive deep into the heart of our experiences, discovering the profound wisdom and connection that await us there.
So the next time you see a bee flitting from flower to flower, remember: in its humble, purposeful movements lie many a profound teaching. Like the bee, we are invited to move through life with intention and awareness, finding the sacred nectar in every moment, and sharing the sweetness we discover with the world around us.
Join me if you will, to immerse in the nectarian teachings and practices of Non-Dual Tantrik Saivism, rooted in the Kashmiri Valley, India, blossoming in the hearts and minds of resonant community…
We will immerse at Green Yogi, Telegraph in Berkeley on Thursday evenings for 8 weeks starting September 19, 2024.
My name is lucid dawn, my teachers are Hareesh Wallis, (also Christopher Tompkins, Sally Kempton & others), his teacher is Gurumayi, her teacher was Swami Muktananda. These teachers have handed down the wisdom of the Tantrik masters Kshemaraja and his teacher, Abhinivagupta (950 – 1016 CE) who penned some of the most beautiful Tantrik texts alive which continue to inspire this living tradition. It shows up uniquely through me with my particular lens of yoga therapist, peer counselor, thespian, poet, artist, krtyka/witch, and social justice activist.
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