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Tantra, an ancient spiritual practice and high art form given
us by the gods, helps us--their children--awaken, be conscious,
feel oneness with each other, remember who we are and experience
unity with all that is. Tantra's spiritual psychology that
clears chakras (energy centers in the body), heals ancient
wounds and reprograms cultural conditioning that has distanced
us from those we love.
Tantra involves yoga stretching to heal our
bodies, connect our breath and postures, center and balance us.
Tantra meditation triggers electromagnetic kundalini that surges
orgasmically up our spines, connecting us to lovers and tothe
divine. Tantric practices simultaneously make heighten our sense
of both individuality and loving oneness with our beloveds.
Tantra mandates clear communication, kind relating and sensual
mating that soars us in sweet sacred surrender from the depths
of our soul to stratospheric heights where we lose ourselves in
the beauty of love.
Tantra's centering, the balance of yin/yang,
male female, inner/outer, above/below, adult/child. When we
center ourselves, we develop an Aware Ego and become conscious
of prejudices and judgements towards others. We notice
criticisms with which we punish ourselves. We tame our demons
and learn how to take personal responsibility for our own
baggage and not project it outward onto others in harmful ways.
Tantra's feeling others as we feel
ourselves–taking others into consideration when making
decisions. Tantra's consensus reality, embracing group mind
while honoring individuality and consciousness in each being,
respecting and granting all free will and creative expression.
The tantric path is a spiritual discipline,
where we practice bakti yoga (divine service), to the apparent
other, the beloved, our lover and personalized God or Goddess.
They, in kind, lovingly are in service to us, devoted to our
healing, well-being and personal growth. In this sacred service
We discover giving and receiving are the same.
Tantra's weaving, weaving all the levels of
our awareness, called chakras, within us and between us and
those we love. Chakras correlate with our body parts, loosely
associated where ganglia join; at the bottom of our torso,
genitals, belly, heart, throat, brain and neocortex. Our first
chakra relates to our perineum, our need to belong, feel safe,
secure and healthy, grounded in our material and emotional
existence. The second chakra relates to our sexuality and
reproductive organs, our need to feel sexual and sensual. The
third chakra's our belly, the need to take what's rightfully
ours and empower ourselves. The fourth chakra's our heart which
guides us to love, cherish, support, heal and encourage
ourselves and our lover. The fifth chakra's the throat where we
learn how to communicate clearly, kindly, authentically. The
sixth chakra's the home of the brain: vision, intuition,
intellect where we learn how to receive, share and expand
visions for ourselves, each other, others We love, our community
and world. In the crown chakra tantric meditations invoke
awareness of our unity with everyone and everything.
Tantra helps us rise to broader perspectives,
yet stay aware of the wisdom of all our chakras. We encompass
more than what we think we are and expand our awareness to more
than our body. We expand our perspective to even more than
awareness of us and our darling, more than the awareness we
share with each other and with humans, with life itself, or even
with the Earth. We feel our oneness with everyone and everything
everywhere at all-times. We experience unity, the seamless web
of consciousness linking the manifest universe. We merge with
the latent--unformed but constantly arising––reality of the metacosmic void, identify with divine play that can manifest all
forms and appreciate endless diversity while knowing we're one
with it all, in love will all creation.
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Re: WHAT'S TANTRA + WHAT'S TAO by David
Gersten
(Forwarded from OneTantra)
Dear Janet, Sasha, and Jivana,
Thank you for tackling something that many of us think we
already understand. Defining Tantra reminds me a bit of defining
The Tao. I created a transformational tool called Connex, which
has 310 cards in it. Each card as a word or 2 on it. I very much
wanted The Tao in the deck, but Internet definitions defined it
as "That which cannot be defined." Not helpful to me. The day
before I had to go to press with the cards, I met with a new
patient who just happened to be a linguistics professor,
specializing in Asian language. I asked for his definition,
because "That which cannot be defined" is not useful to Connex.
His definition was this: The Tao, meaning the Way, is about
non-striving. It's about Everything as it is in this moment
being perfect."
I do agree that tantra is very much in line with the bhakti
path. Tantra, yoga, and meditation are closely related.
Actually, Patanjali's 8-fold path is useful:
1. Yamas, and
2. Niyamas have to do with human values, character, and social
values
3. Pranayama (breath control)
4. Prathyahara (sense control)...
5. Yoga asanas
6. Concentration
7. Meditation
8. Samadhi
Steps 1-4 are the foundation, and not where most of us start. I
think of Yoga asanas, meaning "union" as being "union of body
and mind."
In this context, I think of "meditation" as "union of mind and
spirit," or ultimately "the merging of the subject and the
object of meditation." Mind disappears completely in deep
meditation.
Practices of yoga and meditation lead to the same place of
no-mind.
Tantra is sooo similar...a union of body, mind, and spirit in
which many of Patanjali's steps are part of the whole.
Whichever road we take to the mountaintop, the mind/ego/desires
ultimately disappears completely. Tantra can be seen as a total
life path, but so can yoga. I see tantra as a path to union that
does not ignore the physical body. Through the body, the body is
transcended in tantra.
I like Jivana's simple definition of: being here now, no shoulds...letting
go of the egoic mind, to be at peace in this perfect here-now
moment...
This last part of Jivana's is the meaning of The Tao.
Tantra provides a vision of human potential, and then it
provides tools and attitudes to stumble into the Now, weaken the
grip of the mind and strengthen the path to unity.
My words still fall short of a short, clear definition of tantra.
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