Dear Tantra Friends,
Dear Tantra Friends,
My work is to be at peace with all aspects of myself and life. To me this means to be connected, clear, honest on all levels. I consider “you” an extension of “me”. I appreciate the work that you do and I do not want to poo-poo that in any way. Therefore, I have the need to call your awareness to some things. It is often confusing to people when one says that they teach or study Tantra. What is this “Tantra”? Is it a sexual thing? Actually, No.
The name. Tantras are the books, scrolls, texts that hold the information, practices, etc, that are the seed knowledge of the neo-Tantra or sexual Tantra practices. See the links below to connect to the original source texts.
The meaning. The word Tantra itself means to stretch, as if on a loom. Therefore one could also imply; to weave, or to expand. The word yoga, which of course most know means union, or to yoke, join (as in all aspects of ourself) I think gives a lot of permission. The lesser known meaning of yoga is to go where we have not gone before. In the Tantrik tradition yoga means ‘the state of attunement’. This all together very much says ‘Yes’ to me, to you, to the work that we do. Yes, to the evolution of yoga.
The tree. For a healthy evolution It is crucial to know your roots. The sexual practices are about 1% or less of the tree of Tantrik practices, a little tiny branch on the tree. Yes, our world needs healthy sexual practices right now, I agree. Sexual suppression and the resultant wounding that has ensued is a sickness deeply rooted in our cultures. The healing has begun. With integration of all parts, it will deepen.
The honoring. It is time to once again honor our bodies, to honor pleasure as a gift of the Goddess, to be open and clear with communication and learning, and to learn how to channel these energies. It is also a time of great revelation. The feminine has been repressed for far too long and her truths are now being revealed. It is time to bring the Goddess back. This means to me that we need to do some research and learn about where what we are teaching and practicing came from. Let us be sure that we are not being a mouthpiece for the patriarchy and perpetuating diluted truths and straight up lies.
The real deal. Much of what has been handed down to us in the yoga / Tantra world has been extracted from the original tantras by a Goddess suppressing uprising of patriarchy and by westerners who didn't know any better, mis-translating these incomplete extractions.
The teachers. I have been blessed to study these past 6+ years with two passionate, world class male western teachers who are doing their part to shine a light on what has been suppressed, ignored and where we have been misled. These two light beings are rich with wisdom, humility, and integrity. They truly revere the Goddess in all of her forms and are two of a rare handful of people in the world that can translate ancient Sanskrit /Tantrik texts. They are dedicated truth seekers. I'd like to give thanks to Hareesh Wallis for introducing me to the true Tantra. His work has been an invaluable source of inspiration and guidance. Currently, I have been working with Christopher Tompkins who is finishing his PhD on this subject and has uncovered some great revelations. The Goddess is coming back in all of her fullness with the help of these two.
My history. I have been practicing asana and studying the science of Yoga since 1994. I, like at least 1/4 of our population has had some deep sexual wounding; molestation, rape and the ensuing self hatred, fear, acting out, etc... I moved to San Francisco and took my first (Neo) Tantra training in 2000 with a powerful Dakini named Malia Ma. I had just had a baby and during that process, including the bonding with her amazing, honoring Daddy, did lifetimes of sexual healing. When I finally took my official Yoga teacher training in 2007, and was directed to the primary texts of The Yoga Sutras and The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, etc., i instinctively felt that something was missing from the texts. I habitually (like women have to do most often) read past all of the “he” to find myself, and as a modern person, blocked out the strict teachings against sexual energy and even denial of the body itself. I was in a hatha yoga training after all. At this point I knew that sexual energy can both take us to God and be a big problem. I did meet Chris Tompkins in that training and fell in love with Sanskrit via his teachings. It wasn't until my Anusara training in 2011 though, that I was truly introduced to Tantra with Hareesh Wallis and finally found my philosophical yogic home. I have been incredibly blessed and overwhelmingly obsessed since then.
Seeing what our world needs. Meditation has given me much space for reflection and receiving pratibha, which means “instinct, intuition, inspiration”, the knowing beyond words. I can see the big picture, how everything on my path and the (tho sometimes painfully slow) unfolding of the world makes sense. We are learning our Oneness through the pain of our separation. The opportunities are great right now. As I said earlier, it is clearly a time of revelation. A big part of this revelation is the reclaiming of the feminine, for all. Feminine to be clear, does not mean female. (But that's a whole other subject to dive into in another writing)
All areas and aspects of our selves have latent energy. Returning to the Tantra focus here, I'd like to mention Kundalini, as so often Tantrikas do. Kundalini is the movement of life force energy, not just sexual energy. It is not a ‘thing’ laying there at the bottom of your spine awaiting some ultimate orgasm. It is shakthi, spiraling through you, on your breath, 21,600 times a day. Your energy can be more or less stagnant in areas depending on the fullness of your breath, the movement of your body and the movement of sound through your body. Yes! You are alive and have great potential in all areas of yourself to live more fully alive, to vibrate higher, to celebrate life in all its fullness, sexuality included and undistorted.
What to do about it. Watch out for getting hyper focused on any one aspect of yourself or life. The juice is in the connections. The relief, in my experience is seeing the big picture and the way that all things weave together. The true power is in the integration of all parts.
Energy gets boxed in by our words and stories. It is easy to feel that a part of you is sick or dormant if you are told that it is. If your kundalini were dormant, you'd be in a coma. I encourage you to open up to “what else?”. All of you is spiraling with Shakthi as Kundalini descending and ascending your whole life long. All of your experiences, ecstatic and traumatic are rich with energy waiting for you to claim it, name it, & channel it. Your energy goes where your awareness goes, where your mind goes, where your words go. Where are your thoughts going? Choose wisely the ones that you focus on.
Vibrational practices. There are many powerful vibrational practices in the tantras that help to clear stuck energy in the body mind in order to renew ourselves and live our fullest, most vibrant lives. You probably know some already; repeating japa mantra, simply AUM-ing, expressing your self in song or orgasm with an open throat, etc... Do what you know and keep seeking, singing, playing, discovering for yourself. The original practices have largely been left out of modern yoga but are currently resurgent. See ways below to learn more.
Resources. Check out the excellent book, ‘Tantra Illuminated’ by Christopher Hareesh Wallis for history and practices. Look at www.Tantrikstudies.org, for more from him as well as TRUeducation.com for online recordings and ongoing workshops. Find exciting new work, including new translations of things you thought you knew about, from Chris Tompkins at YogaVidhi.org. He has recently translated and compared scrolls that reveal many lost teachings which he will be revealing at upcoming events in the Bay Area and online.
Chris Tompkins and I will also be holding space together, w/live sound science by EEnor, for “Vishuvat”, an Autumnal Equinox day long retreat, immersing in Kundalini on Saturday, September 23 in Lafayette, CA.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1394040103964537/
We will also be leading a retreat to Maui in February with Chris Tompkins as a special guest teacher and EEnor as our sound scientist and musician. There, we will dive deep into the Tantrik Yoga teachings, and many other ecstatic practices. See my website, www.lucidyoga.com or lucid yoga on Facebook for more info on that.
https://www.wetravel.com/trips/exstasis-in-paradise-retreat-to-maui-lucid-dawn-maui-county-28186823
Thank you for listening, for expanding, for being a true yogi and allowing your knowing to be open. May you feel the nectar of life overflowing from your heart. Blessed bee...
