Article 2
Tantric Relationship: Divine Dance of the
Masculine and Feminine
By Lexi Fisher
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.
Lexi Fisher D.C.
Certified Skydancing Tantra, and
Ipsalu Tantra Kriya Yoga teacher
Network Chiropractor and Wellness Coach
(760)327-4041
www.tantratransformation.com