Recently I have been reflecting on how I ended up on the ‘Tantric Path’ – and while I cannot say with full conviction how this happened – what I do know is, that it was not a conscious decision. It was the least conscious, most natural, evolutionary and unconscious decision I feel I have ever made in my life.
Truth be told I even resisted and rejected the word ‘tantra’ up until very recently – I didn’t want to subscribe to another facet of spirituality that wasn’t going to offer me accessibility, evolution, fluidity, liberation, truth. I went seeking another way to name it, and I couldn’t.
Then one day I was reading a book which noted that tantra can also be translated as the ‘continued process‘.
I didn’t choose tantra, tantra chose me.
However, there were two influential themes which have fascinated me and played a large part in my story and unfolding, which have assisted in leading me here.
My Spirituality and the Desire for More
My first memory of consciousness not only being what went on in my head or my body, but that it also moved to and with those outside of me – the earth, the sky and to that unseen, I was sitting on a large rock outside my family home which was nestled deeply in the national park – no neighbours, no infrastructure just a kilometre of dirt road to a small house amongst the native bush.
I would sit there and recite verses from my heart to the trees and the sky. As a child, I always felt deeply about what was outside of me and beyond me. That which I could not see, and that which challenged my intellect and even existence.
I had a deep interest in both mysticism and religion and when I say religion it was more a questioning of its structure. My Grandmother was a reformed catholic nun. We were taught religion in school. I was put into the ‘catholic’ group and read the scriptures. As I got older I was kicked out of scripture classes for asking the teacher a question about sin and referring to its ridiculousness. I went through the teenage witch stage. And while it was a pretty common phase for teenage girls I never felt it was a phase. My mum bought me tarot cards for my 14th birthday which I still have. I would pull them out at parties and do readings, never really feeling the want to do it, instead only a knowing, a remembrance.
When I was 18 I wanted to study the religions of the world and theology. I was fascinated by the many interpretations of ‘God’ the ancient, the mystery and the practices of prayer and ritual.
Because this was all that was available to me at this time, I became a yogi, I attended workshops on spirituality, read all the spirituality books, followed the Instagram accounts – and swam around on the surface of spirituality. All the while never really implementing a devotional practice.
I began to feel turned off by faux spirituality. The facade, the show and the ‘cleanliness’ of it. The bypassing. The hierarchy. And constantly asking – where now, what next? I desperately desired depth and what I know now, the liberation of self, of my truth which I couldn’t find in these spaces.
My Sexuality and the Desire for More
I don’t feel like using this section to recount the evolution of my sexuality in its fullness. Because it’s complex, involved and colourful. I wrote about this here> but in short, my sexuality has always been an important aspect of me, and for me. Around the same time I was questioning my spirituality, I was delving deeper into my sexuality and varying experiences, which really helped me not only define for myself what sex is, but also what it means.
I noticed the limited interpretation and conditioning we have around sex collectively – particularly when we assume its definition is that of two people engaging in a physical exchange and having an orgasm.
What happened from here was an interplay between the both. My spirituality and sexuality. To the point, they felt as one.
Tantra teaches us to embrace the full spectrum of our humanity, honouring both the light and the shadow within us.
What is Spiritual is Physical. What is Physical is Spiritual.
Tantra is inherently mysterious. This is one of the reasons I resonate with it as a practice. Completely surrendering to the unknown.
Tantra not only transcends conventional beliefs of what it actually is, it transcends conventional programming and conditioning of life and existence – what we are taught, what we believe, and how we live.
This is why Tantra can be challenging to define.
Simply it can be defined by two principles: a science of energy and a deep spiritual path for the evolution of the human soul.
To really understand it beyond this, I personally feel there needs to be a level of embodied knowing and practice of its concepts, and perhaps already immersed in it, in order to define it. Additionally, it has many varied interpretations and has and will most likely continue to change and evolve as it meshes with other philosophies and practices and the varied intentions of its teachers and practitioners.
Another reason I resonate with the practice is its fluidity. It is not rigid – it is not a religion, it doesnt have a leader, it doesnt have a right or wrong way of being. At its heart, Tantra celebrates the interconnectedness of ALL existence. “What is spiritual is physical, what is physical is spiritual.”
The tantric path releases our false identities and false programming. Our fear of death, our fear of love, and the illusion of separation keeping us all locked up inside ourselves, and unable to express ourselves. Tantra is a lot about death, mini deaths over and over and over again while we reveal and transform into who we truly are. It is about bringing all of the parts of ourselves together and loving them so that we can truly be whole. It is a life devoted to love, to liberation and truth. And one filled with authenticity and pleasure. It is a life lived in reverence to the earth, with other beings and to the mystery.
The Origins of Tantra
Amongst ancient tantrics, there was already a deep understanding of both, matter and spirit connection (quantum physics) the body and mind connection, long before modern revelations. They too understood that tantric practices can change the state of our nervous system and our brain, altering the way our thoughts and responses happen, that they can expand consciousness, that they can release conditioning that keeps us contracted and living outside of truth, that they liberate the body and unlock our essence.
Many believe the origins of Tantra can be traced back to ancient shamanic and matriarchal societies, where there was reverence for all of nature and the feminine was seen as powerful and superior. From here, Tantra has evolved and adapted to various cultural contexts, from the Eastern traditions in India to its integration into Western spiritual traditions.
Amongst its varied interpretations, modern tantric practices generally remain anchored in fundamental principles.
The essence of Tantra is the Practice of Self-Liberation.
Those who practice tantra do so with a combination of sacred practices and rituals that lead us into the hidden places of our most deepest longing, truest selves and our connection to the source of love. They dissolve the illusion of separateness and allow us to embrace all aspects of life and all aspects of ourselves – including those that are commonly shamed in society or not nurtured as parts of our whole selves such as our erotic and primal selves.
The Essence of Tantra Does Not Separate Mind and Body, Spirit and Matter.
Central to tantra is the unity of all existence – the inseparable connection between the earth and spiritual realms. The connection between us and the divine. The connection of matter and spirit. The body is seen as a sacred vessel from which the divine can manifest and when honouring the body in practice and ritual we can cultivate a deeper awareness of this interconnectedness.
The Essence of Tantra Recognises Sexual Energy as a Potent Source of Transformation.
Sexual energy is life and life is sexual energy. Ancient tantrics believed when sexual energy is harnessed in a specific way it can be used to reach higher states of consciousness.
On a physical level, sexual energy sustains us and nourishes us. It gives us life not only when we are born but throughout our entire lives, regenerating our cells consistently. The practices of transmutation and sublimation change and transform energy within the body and channel and move energy throughout the body in order to nourish our entire being.
Sexual Transmutation is the process of changing sexual energy into another form. Through this alchemical process, we can direct sexual energy to a higher purpose or experience deeper states of consciousness.
Sublimating sexual energy, or in other words, channelling it upward along the energetic network of the body can deeply nourish the body and integrate aliveness at a cellular level.
When we intersect our physical experience with our spirit through this practice we can transform physical desires into powerful spiritual energy.
“When our spirit is at one with our sexuality, we can transform pain and hurt and darkness into the purest form of love, we are no longer fragmented, we become whole”
In a world inundated with distractions and disconnection, Tantra offers a pathway to remember and access our inner truth, liberation, and the sacredness of our embodied existence.
