Articles
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Tantric Relationship: Divine Dance of the Masculine and Feminine
- Refining Sexual Energy with the Cobra Breath
Tantric
Relationship: Divine Dance of the Masculine and Feminine
By Lexi Fisher
Article 2
Tantra yoga is often called the “Yoga of Relationship.” Tantrikas (those
who practice Tantra yoga) celebrate embodying the Divine while seeing
this same
Divine Essence in their friends and partners. With this basic premise,
Tantra yoga acknowledges that our relationships are a powerful tool for
spiritual
awakening.
Have you ever experienced
or heard of someone experiencing a love affair
that was very passionate and then after a while conflict began to seep
in? What happened to the Love... to the merging in blissful union? The
attributes of
our partner that attracted us to them now repels us; they now push all
our buttons, and we do not like it one bit! This is the yoga of relationship:
how to navigate these rocky parts while remembering who we are and who
our partner is. This is the practice of Tantra Yoga.
Love has the tendency to bring up within each individual anything unlike itself for the purpose of healing-- becoming whole. Wholeness results as we embrace those parts of ourselves we most dislike. As we practice Tantric exercises to increase our capacity to contain heightened states of arousal we also find places where we resist feeling ecstatic energy moving in our bodies...where we resist receiving support or love. Our edges of resistance are the boundaries of where we have limited ourselves based on old experiences and beliefs of who we think we are supposed to be. Here is where relationships become the crucible for personal transformation. By developing the ability to witness (just being present to) what we are feeling physically and emotionally, we can begin to become free of our old beliefs and old conditioning that have kept us limited in our experience of Love... limited in our experience of our ecstatic potential.
Tantra Yoga offers
very powerful and unique practices to help integrate
parts of ourselves that are being activated as more love, more energy,
moves through us. Specific exercises using breath, sound and movement
enhance our life energy. As we experience ecstatic energy moving within
us we grow to trust it. With practice, our ecstatic energy becomes palatable;
we feel it between our hands and in and around our bodies. While maintaining
witness consciousness, we learn to relax as more and more energy moves
through us. Becoming familiar with our ecstatic energy we begin to identify
with this as who we are, and share this with others. The Divine dancing
within our bodies expresses through us as giving and receiving, leading
and following, expansion and contraction, the masculine and feminine expressions
of LOVE flowing through us to others. Our hearts open, leading the way
as we play in the Ocean of Bliss.
Kuan Yin, the goddess
of compassion, teaches that the greatest illusion
is that our outside is different from our inside, or more simply, that
our outside
reflects our inside. Our bodies and our relationships are just a reflection
of our inner experience. Tantric practice begins with finding our own
inner lover, finding our own most precious one. By honoring this in ourselves
we can then honor this same one in others.
A simple Tantric practice
called “Soul Gaze” allows us to harmonize with a partner when issues come
up, or with ourselves when we feel swamped by what we are experiencing.
Choose a piece of relaxing music, the length of which is how much time
you wish to practice (or you can set a timer). Unplug the phone giving
yourself this uninterrupted time. Commit to not stopping the exercise
no matter what you see, feel, hear, or think. Sit in a comfortable position:
in a chair with feet flat, or on a cushion, back as straight as possible.
Gaze into your partner’s left eye (or your own left eye, if you are doing
this by yourself with the mirror). Be aware of your breath, witnessing
what ever you are feeling, seeing, hearing, thinking, practicing non-attachment.
What you see will change; the face may seem to fade, change color, distort,
even disappear. Witness your feelings and thoughts as you move through
these veils of illusion, the old beliefs and patterns that have kept us
separate from ourselves and others. Your awareness will burn through the
veils, revealing the truth beyond the illusion of separation. Keep practicing
until the music completes, or timer sounds. Complete the Soul Gaze with
a “Namaste”: hands in prayer position at the heart look into your partners
eyes, bowing, acknowledging the light, and the dark within that connects
us all. Take a few minutes to share with your partner or journal if this
was a solo practice. What was your favorite part, and what was the most
difficult or scary part?
A Tantric Puja is a wonderful opportunity to explore Tantric practices
and play in the “Heart Space” that is created as we experience the Divine
Dance of the Masculine and Feminine. Participants are invited to awaken
their bodies with stretching and breathing exercises, still their mind
with meditation
techniques, and then begin to cultivate our innocent sexual energy using
breath, movement and sound. As we relax, increasing our capacity to hold
more energy, we direct it through our bodies enlivening ourselves and
celebrating the bliss of being spiritual beings in sensual, sexual, beautiful
bodies.
www.tantratransformation.com
Lexi Fisher D.C. Certified Skydancing Tantra, and Ipsalu Tantra Kriya Yoga teacher; Network Chiropractor and Wellness Coach (760)327-4041