a tantric approach to life

what the tantrikas, witches, sufis, kabbalists & shamans knew

currently listening

about 9 years ago, i was sitting in a 10-day silent retreat.

its methods were based in buddhism;

the focus lay on witnessing & detachment.

something about it felt off to me.

i remember asking the teacher:

“but why would we want to detach? aren’t we alive to feel & go through the waves?”

looking back, i see that was the moment i realized i was a tantrika.

in buddhism, you learn to sit & observe the river

in tantra, you dive right into the waves

in tantra you choose to step INTO life, you realize that you ARE life.

there is no distance, there is only a full, all-compassing becoming.

this radical embrace of all shades of the human experience felt so right to me.

when we see all layers of life as an expression of the divine, life feels sacred.

picture by lisa

this thought is fundamental to most esoteric / mystical traditions.

most are rooted in the belief that;

communing with life is communing with god.

merging with the present moment is merging with the divine.

in most mystical traditions,

the body is the portal to god,

that means that all emotions & all sensations are too.

in most monotheistic and patriarchal faiths, the opposite is true -

the body is a place of sin & distraction, and so are all emotions.

but the tantrikas, witches, sufi’s, kabbalists & shamans all knew better;

we have a body & feelings for a reason

and to embrace them, is the path to our sacred nature.

picture by lisa

turning to the path of tantra was a full-blown embodied experience of this truth.

it taught me to scream, cry, laugh, dance without any shame.

these teachings support me every day still.

this is why i started teaching what i teach now.

i named what i teach “soft tantra” as it focusses on the softening into reality

a soft embrace of all everything that we go through.

may we remember our body as nature

and may we remember nature as divine.

may we look at our body

and see hills, fields & rivers.

may we welcome our emotions as dear friends

and let them reside safely in our body home.

xxx

jess