What is Tantra Yoga?

While most think of sex when we think of Tantra Yoga, this ancient practice is actually a powerful combination of asana, mantra, mudra, and bandha (energy lock) and chakra (energy center) work that you can use to build strength, clarity, and bliss in everyday life. By harnessing and embodying the five forces of Shakti, the female deity that represents creativity and change, Tantric Yoga suggests we can move through the world with more confidence and contentment.

This really is a start for 10, as the reach of Tantra is limitless, but this will give you a taste of what is possible with a systematic approach to both Hatha & Tantra Yoga.

‘Tantra is the way to discover the infinite potential of your body. the power of your mind, and the beauty of your soul’ ~ Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD

The meaning of the word Tantra

Has many meanings, but let’s start by breaking down the sanskrit word.

  • Tan’to expand or stretch
  • tra’that which protects’

Tantra literally means “that which allow us to safely expand or grow beyond all limitations”~ Yogarupa, Rod Stryker

These limitations can refer to:

  • our limited perception
  • our conditioning
  • our diet
  • our energetic state
  • our environment (social or cultural) to name but a few

The practices you employ to overcome these and any other limitations are, by definition Tantric.

Most ancient meaning of the word

‘To Weave’

Philosophy & techniques that allow us to weave the richness of spiritual experience and the fabric of everyday life into a single vibrant tapestry.

Dissolving the apparent conflicts between the spiritual (the Infinite) and the worldly (the finite) and thereby achieving in both kinds of fulfilment is the heart of tantric philosophy and practice.

Tantra sees the world and everything in it as a manifestation of the most radiant and resplendent aspect of the Divine.

While you are still living in the world and occupy a physical body, you can only realize heaven if you awaken your dormant potential, here on Earth.

Practitioners of tantra develop a systematic approach, working with everything that is available.

  • Physical body
  • Breath, senses, mind
  • Diet, alchemy, astrology
  • Geometry, visualisation
  • Power of intention
  • Deep relaxation, Mantra
  • and of course, yoga & meditation

The point of Tantra

Is that the more you are able to access shakti, the power of soul, the more capable you are of achieving whatever goal you are seeking.

(Shakti is the dormant feminine power that is coiled at the base of the spine, it’s our innate power of transformation)

Least known meaning of Tantra

Is ‘to be touched’, referring specifically to the concept of your heart being touched.

Think of a time you felt a sense of awe, wonder, or profound appreciation for life, when you suddenly saw life as the greatest of all gifts?

Realisation

That moment may have happened as you gazed into your lover’s eyes, heard your national anthem, or throwing your dog a ball.

At that moment, you recognised that while life may be complicated, unpredictable, and full of challenges, you are nonetheless blessed to be alive

Limitations fall away

At that moment all limitations fell away, that is Tantra.

All of the techniques, practices and teachings through the centuries are for the purpose of awakening you to the experience, and enabling you to weave it more and more consistently into the tapestry of your life

Tantra is

The practice to awaken your laten Divine power and to direct that power to live a more fulfilled, balance and joyful life.

Now who doesn’t need a bit of that in their lives?

To close this short introduction to Tantra I will leave you with the words of my Teachers, Teacher, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait as he explains:

‘Tantric masters discovered long ago that success in both the outer world and the spiritual real is possible only if we awake our latent power, because any meaningful accomplishment, and especially the attainment of the ultimate spiritual goal, requires great strength and stamina.  The key to success is shakti-the power of soul, the power of the divine force within.  Everyone possesses an infinite (and in-domitable) shakti, but for the most part it remains dormant.  And those whose shakti is largely un-awakened have neither the capacity to be successful in the world nor the capacity to enjoy worldly pleasures.  Without access to our shakti true spiritual illumination is not possible. Awakening and using shakti is the goal of tantra.’

If you would like to experience the practice of Hatha & Tantra Yoga, you can join us class details can be found HERE

If you would like to hear more about these rich teachings and experience some of the practice for yourself, I share them often in my writings and online.

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