1. Frequencies of energy
Einstein said that if you break anything down to its most basic form it exists as energy. A Tantric approach works with this concept – that everything that exists is part of the one universal energy.
Contemporary scientific studies validate centuries old theories about energy in the body. One of these theories currently enjoying widespread support concerns the hundreds of energy centres, called chakras, present throughout and just beyond the body.
Our thoughts, emotions, sex, love and spirit all exist in our body as different frequencies of energy. In Tantric practice we work consciously with these different energies, opening and clearing their pathways.
2. Living in the present
Being present – in our bodies, in the moment – is key to a fully satisfactory life experience.
Be totally present – mindfullness
The ability to be totally present is what meditation is all about. It’s easy to think you know how to be totally present. However, like most skills worth learning, it takes practice, as the mind is accustomed to wandering. With more practice you become aware of more advanced levels of presence. The rewards of success are awesome.
We can live life playing a tape in our heads that consists of thoughts conjured by our imaginations. Side A replays the past – what happened, what didn’t happen, who said this, who did what and why. Side B concerns the future – worrying or dreaming about what might happen, what we might get, what we might lose and why… We live in the pain stories and then we die!
When we keep the tape on constant replay, we miss out on what is actually happening HERE and NOW! The here and now is the ONLY place that change can happen, as the past and future are not real (although the now helps create the future).
A key principle of Tantra and one of the most effective ways to be in the present moment is breath and body awareness.
Become aware of your breath and feel it in your body, for you can feel only in the present. Actually, one reason we resist being present is to avoid our uncomfortable feelings. When we find the courage to be present with all of our feelings, we discover the myriad gifts they offer. Read more about Emotional Intelligence here
3.Opening the heart
In Tantra we consciously seek to live from an open heart, for through the heart we are able to connect intimately with others, and also to ourselves. We seek to expand into experiences of love
and see what we can learn from them, as hearts are capable of immense healing. Rather than protect our hearts from hurt it is seen as ok to experience the pain involved in loving, for when hearts break is when they can be most open to let love in.
Acceptance of what is
Often we create great pain and struggle when we fight against what is happening in our lives. This keeps us in the limited mind, which likes to see differences so it can judge, label and categorise because this is what the limited mind’s job is. This leads to the creation of good, bad, right, wrong, which is fine if we are experiencing what we want but creates pain when we are experiencing what we label as bad or wrong. The more we can bring unconditional acceptance to what is, the more we access the unlimited mind, the part of the brain largely yet undiscovered, but experienced (often in meditation)as connected to God or Spirit. This allows our heart to be more open and spirit to be more active in our lives.
However there is a proviso here. The mind’s capacity to judge is not inherently wrong, there are times when it is vital to discern and make choices. It is a great tool, just a poor master. And at times we also need to stand up and take action in the midst of acceptance- acceptance is not an act of passivity.
5. Dissolving the Ego
Babies radiate love and emotions, with minimal thought. As we grow up we learn that love and approval are conditional on our behaving in a desired manner. So begun as children and continued as adults we adopt a personality or ego self that thrives on behaving in ways that gain acceptance and attention from others, ways that usually involve being predictable and in control.
This personality is an illusion; it’s who we think we should be, rather than our authentic self. The challenge, and another key principle of Tantra, is letting go of attachment to this false ego self. When we see it and identify it we no longer ARE it. We can still choose to show this part of ourselves but we don’t have to take it seriously as we know it is not ALL of who we are. The reward is reconnecting with our deeper true self, giving ourselves permission to be who we are without restriction or limitation. It FEELS good.
Whether or not we choose to take up this challenge voluntarily, life will continue to present opportunities to address the limitations of our ego self. It is less painful and more rewarding in the long run to make it a conscious process! Because our ego is largely a product of our mind, the process of seeing and letting go of our attachment to this egoic mask means surrendering our limited thinking minds into our hearts.
Letting go of the ego is a painful process, if it is not then you are probably surrendering to a new false self the ego is putting up, rather than your true self, which will work for a while, but ultimately more is required.
The more we practice consciously connecting with our hearts, the more we will be rewarded with the knowledge that when we surrender our ego we are surrendering into the love, wisdom, peace and tranquility that lives in our hearts.
This is the purpose of the ego – to experience being separate from love so that we can know what love is not, and so then be able to know what love is. It is a journey worth taking!
6 Masculine and Feminine as one
Humans possess both a masculine and feminine aspect within us. The masculine is often (though not exclusively) more dominant in men and the feminine is often (though not exclusively) more dominant in women.
Tantra sees the merging of these dual aspects as a pathway to experiencing unity, wholeness and the Divine, not only in man and woman in lovemaking, but also the masculine (awareness) and feminine (feeling) within ourselves. This concept is one way of gaining a deeper understanding our experience.
The masculine aspect represents
- awareness
- clarity and direction
- logic
- the mind- rational and witness
- stability/ability to hold space
- positive solar energy
The feminine aspect is seen as receptivity
- emotion
- creation
- mystery
- the body/wisdom
- change
- negative lunar/earth energy
To experience ourselves as the Divine beings we are, or simply to be more comfortable, confident and loving, we can integrate both of these aspects fully within ourselves. This practice also cultivates acceptance and understanding, rather than division, between the sexes.
7. Non Duality and Tantra
Some forms of Tantra choose to not see everything from a masculine/feminine concept but see everything as already one, for it is believed in creating duality we create suffering by creating separation, seen as a concept of the mind In non dual Tantra all is simply experienced as it is, without judgment.
We use both principles at different times, as both have something to offer.
8. Living life as a choice through practicing conscious awareness – where we take time to reflect on the choices we make in life. We believe we make choices that create our reality, at both conscious and unconscious levels, and seek to bring the unconscious (usually based on the past) into the conscious so it no longer controls us. We take responsibility for our choices, whilst also accepting that in our humanity we are also limited and imperfect and cannot have control over everything, but we always have a choice in how we respond.
Learn how to bring Tantra into your life…
Learning more about Tantra and what its potential is for you is as simple as reading through this website and also checking out our Oztantra Online course,
