Tantra Tip of the Day – True Meditation and Self-Inquiry

The Buddha said that the causes of suffering were grasping and aversion. True Meditation supports you in being present and accepting what is. The habit of looking outside of youself to find happiness begins to dissolve. You become more spacious and open. When you are quiet, wisdom has a place to arise. You have laid a foundation for your spiritual practice. True Meditation also involves a second step.

While allowing everything to be as it is frees you from grasping. Adyashanti recommends adding a second step he calls, “meditative self-inquiry.” Adding it your meditation practice will deepen your awareness even further. He came upon this practice on his own, later he learned that it had a long history in India, where it is sometimes called Jnana Yoga.

Ramana Maharshi, a 20th century Indian sage, was a well known teacher of this method. The first question he recommended exploring is “Who am I?” Adyashanti prefers the question, “What am I?” The easiest way to begin your investigation is often to examine what you not. As you recognize what you are not, slowly you begin to discover your true nature is awareness. You discover that this “I” that you have thought of as who you are, is not what appears to be.

Try this: Spend some time today exploring the question, “Who or what am I?” Enter this process fresh, letting go of any preconceived ideas. Stay as present as possible, don’t hurry your exploration, find the deeper truth. Don’t just think about the question engage your full consciousness in your investigation. See what you discover.
http://ramanamaharshifoundation.org/
http://www.adyashanti.org/cafedharma/index.php
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day – True Meditation

In my exploration of Tantra as a path of awakening I find myself guided to what will support my next step. I love that Tantra is an inclusive path embracing what life offers as path to truth. Over the past few months I have been diving deeper into sitting meditation and meditative self-inquiry. I have been reading and listening to Adyashanti, Gangaji, and Eckhart Tolle and while I doubt any of them identify themselves as Tantra teachers all of them speak to awakening which is the path of Tantra.

I love finding new resources that are clear, concise and offer new tools that are simple to use. In True Meditation, Adyashanti clearly describes a form of meditation he developed over many years of trial and error, called “True Meditation.” It is a form of meditation that relinquishes the concept of controlling the mind. It is based on the knowledge that enlightenment is our natural state of, so we need only allow the mind to return to its true nature to wake up. The practice is to sit, relax the mind and allow everything to be as it is. My experience is that this form of meditation is liberating on many levels. You not only discover peace on the cushion but are able to take this attitude into every moment of your life.

Try this: Sit quietly, relax your mind and just allow everything to be as it is. Your attitude is one of innocence and openness. See what you discover.

(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day- Authenticity and Intimacy

You are in the arms of your lover, passion is flowing and your body is feeling good. Suddenly something happens, he says something, she seems distracted or you find yourself lost in thought and your lover reacts. What you do in the next few minutes will determine if you tell the truth, lie or go into denial.
Commonly, when a moment like this arises people choose to stifle their truth, believing if they are authentic they will be judged. This is the moment when you can choose intimacy or separation. If you are making love and you find yourself disconnected from your lover, the first thing is to become aware that you have disconnected. Then see if you can get present again. Let your partner know what is happening. You don’t have to get into a story about it just share the facts.

“I just noticed I am not fully connected to you. Will you breathe with me so I can tune in to you more fully?”

Ask for what you need to be present. It may be to stop for a few minutes and breathe together, to eye gaze, to cry or kiss… Take the time you need to arrive and be fully presence. By showing up and being transparent your lover sees you for who you truly are, not a false projection. By noticing that you had created separation and choosing to reconnect consciously you are deepening the intimacy between you.

What if speaking your truth disrupts the lovemaking and it turns into a discussion? If you find the energy going in another direction then trust the moment. Let go of attachment to outcome and be in the flow. If there is a desire is to deepen intimacy then trust that being open and authentic is more important than an orgasm. As you both learn how to be present, truthful and accepting of what is arising you will discover that the sex improves because aren’t trying to make love and instead are allowing love to flow naturally between you.

What if your lover has a strong reaction and doesn’t appreciate your desire to be authentic and transparent. Isn’t better to discover this early in your relating rather than later you are more invested in the relationship?

Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm,
www.Mandalas.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day – Listen to Silence

Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm,
www.Mandalas.com

"All that you need is just to be silent and listen to existence. There is no need of any religion, there is no need of any God, there is no need of any priesthood, there is no need of any organization. I trust in the individual categorically. Nobody up to now has trusted in the individual in such a way, so all those things can be removed. Now all that is left to you is a state of meditation which simply means a state of utter silence. Even the word meditation makes it look heavier. It is better to just call it a simple, innocent silence." Osho

Try this today: See if you can hear the silence in the world. Listen for it in the space between words, notice it in the space between thoughts, celebrate the spaciousness that surrounds all activity.

C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day – Love Flows Free

Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm,
www.Mandalas.com

Love flows free, when the heart is open.
Love flows free, when given without expectations.
Love flows free, when you are present in the Now.
Love flows free, when each moment is fresh and new.
Love flows free, when shared without regard to “return on investment.”
Love flows free, when you see the Divine reflected in all things, both great and small.

Today notice your relationship to love. How open is your heart? How easily does the love flow in each moment? What stops the flow? What limits your love? How do your expectations block the flow of love? When do you hold back your love, waiting to receive love, before you give love? Look at how you manifest or limit love in your life.

C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day – Sexual Energy, Fuel for Awakening

Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm, www.Mandalas.com

Tantra is unique from most spiritual practices is that it embraces sex as a path to the Divine. It sees the human body as a Temple. The body experiences birth, death, hunger, thirst, pain and pleasure. It is a laboratory for consciousness to play and explore the material world. Tantra uses the body’s sexual energy to expand awareness.

Tantric practices teach you how to move your sexual energy from the root, up to the heart center and then up to the crown, expanding conscious awareness as it moves into the upper chakras. Sexual energy is the rocket fuel that takes you beyond Earth’s gravitational field and into mystical realms. It accelerates the process of discovering that you are not our thoughts, bodies, feelings or beliefs. You are the Divine celebrating in human form, enjoying its ability to experience pleasure, bliss and Unity Consciousness.

In SkyDancing Tantra we use the 3 keys to open the “Inner Flute” and energize the Chakras. They are: breath, movement and sound. Try this:
1) Stand with your knees hip width apart and slightly bent.
2) Breathe through your mouth and into the belly, allowing it to expand.
3) Increase the energy by breathing in as if you are sipping through straw.
4) Allow your pelvis to rotate freely, keeping the knees bent. As you inhale rock the hips back, creating an arch in the back. As you exhale, tuck the tail bone under, flattening the back.
5) Add the PC pump. As you inhale squeeze the pelvic floor muscles pulling them upwards and as you exhale let them relax.
6) Put all the steps together. As you inhale imagine you are breathing the energy up from your root to your heart. Practice this until you feel the energy pulsing from your root to your heart. You can play with speeding up and slowing down your respiratory rate.
7) Once you have mastered connecting root and heart move the energy to the crown. Practice until you can feel the energy flowing from your root to your crown. See yourself as a rainbow bridge of light connecting Earth and Sky.
8) Do this practice prior to making love and incorporate it into your love making.

C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com

Tantra Tip of the Day – Osho’s Tantra Vision

Osho was a 20th century Tantric master, sometimes called the spiritually incorrect mystic. In his book called The Tantra Vision, he shares these teachings about Tantra:
1) Tantra embraces everything as one.
2) Tantra accepts everything as an opportunity.
3) Tantra honors both masculine and feminine polarities.
4) Men and women have both masculine and feminine within them.
5) Tantra understands opposites are complimentary, not contradictory.
6) The union of masculine and feminine energies are a doorway to the Sacred.
7) Sexual union is a healing art that can awaken humans to their Divine Nature.

Do you honor sexuality as a sacred healing art? Make a date with your beloved and spend time together creating a sacred sexual healing ritual. If you are single do a self pleasuring ritual and dedicate it to your own healing or planetary healing. Notice if you have resistance to these ideas and if so, explore what the resistance is. For information on how to do these rituals, see Margot Anand’s The Art of Sexual Ecstasy.

To learn more about Osho go to http://www.osho.com/

C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com