Eighteen Transformational Lessons to Serenity, Radiance, and Bliss
MU KUNDA STILES
Tantra Yoga Secrets empowers readers to overcome emotions, gain new knowledge, and live a more fulfilling spiritual lifestyle.
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Book Details
Price
|
3.00 |
|---|---|
Pages
| 385 p |
File Size
|
3,416 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN
| 978-1-57863-503-0 (alk. paper) |
Copyright©
| 2011 by Mukunda Stiles |
Mukunda Stiles is the director of the Yoga Therapy
Center in California and lectures throughout the U.S.,
Europe, and India. He serves on the Advisory Board of
the International Association of Yoga Therapists and
is the author of Structural Yoga Therapy, Patanjali's
Yoga Sutras, andAyurvedic Yoga Therapy. He lives in
California with his consort, Chinnamasta Stiles. Visit
him at yogatherapycenter.org.
....
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Introduction
These Tantrik teachings rest on a cornerstone of experiential knowledge
gained over the ages by the men and women of this lineage. That knowledge
can only be summarized and pointed to in book form. It is acquired
through steady practice guided by a mentor, spiritual transmission from a teacher
connected to a lineage, and reflections on a timeless text that will transform the
mind. The mind needs to be transformed by each of these three factors. You cannot
understand this writing unless your mind becomes free of thoughts, which
happens when a guru's grace becomes God's grace. This is a crucial element; if
you read this like any other inspirational book without that transmission, you will
not get the full benefit and your awakening will remain incomplete.
....
When pranic, emotional, or mental energy is allowed its full and natural expression,
it becomes neutral or sattvic. In this neutral state, all events of life are experienced as
arising from a spiritual source. This fundamental shift-from an idea about omnipresence
to an actual embodied awareness of the omnipresent nature of the Divinebrings
you home to your Self.
I encourage you to commit yourself to completing the entire eighteen-lesson
course. Without persistence, the transformations achieved in the early lessons will
not produce long-lasting, sustainable results. If you wish more detailed information,
see the recommended reading list on my website-www.yogatherapycenter.org. The
best general book for those from a Hatha background is Tantra: Cult of the Feminine
by Andre van Lysebeth (Weiser Books, 1995) .
I wrote these lessons over a period of several years in response to questions
from my students. These seekers have, in essence, been the source of this book. By
reading and reflecting on this text, your inspirational mind will arise and resolve
self-limiting thoughts, emotions, and energetic patterns that bind you. These eighteen
lessons are specifically designed to reveal your limitations so that you can remove
them by increasing the quality and quantity of your purifying pranic energy. When
you get to a lesson that reveals your self-imposed limitations and lack of prana, you
will tend to stop. That will be the crucial time to continue your practice and move
through the lessons without concern for mastery. This will strengthen your detachment
and discernment muscles and, in time, lead to true wisdom and spontaneously
arising realizations.
Lesson 3 is the most powerful in allowing insights to arise so that illumination
will naturally occur as a result of your reflections and practice. Use it repeatedly to
encourage and build your prana. When suppressed emotional energy is allowed to
build in this way, it transmutes, becoming neutral energy. If you persist, it will harmonize
and be experienced as spiritual energy. Know that these lessons are for the
singular purpose of moving to a higher consciousness.
The course consists of six parts:
Part I : Lessons 1-4 cover how to engage your pranic energy and
use it to transform energy blocks.
Part II: Lesson 5-7 cover tools for Tantra in a yogic context,
deepening experiences to a subtler dimension.
Part III: Lessons 8-10 cover healing sexual wounds by opening to
a devotional relationship with prana as the Divine Source.
Part IV: Lessons 11-12 give my perspective on spiritual awakening.
Part V: Lessons 13-15 show how to deepen your personal Tantrik
practice through the Divine Presence or with another Tantrik practitioner.
Part VI: Lessons 16-18 cover the awakening of devotional energies
of God/dess that can move toward unity and spiritual illumination.
When you start each lesson, mark a date on your calendar that is two weeks out. Begin
the next lesson no later than this date. Regardless of what you experience in your
Tantrik practice, it is enough just to read and reflect upon the lessons to complete
the course. It is common for students to experience blocks from doing the lessons. You
may not experience freedom from your blocks merely from the first few lessons. By
moving on, you will make significant progress in your spiritual sadhana. Complete
this course in as few as eighteen weeks, but not longer than nine months. It is also
important to note that it is not uncommon for Shakti to give lessons out of my sequence.
Sometimes we get the harder lessons earlier and sometimes what seems a simple lesson
doesn't reveal itself fully until later on.
Those who have had personal instruction from me, or who have an active Tantrik
practice, will likely move through these lessons more quickly than others. Remember
that spiritual awakening proceeds in its own manner, free of the sequences that are
formed by the mind. You can more quickly review those lessons that you have received
personally from me. If the name of a practice is familiar, but you did not learn it from
me, be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully, as subtle-body anatomy distinctions
do vary from one school of thought to another. I strongly encourage you to do
the practices precisely as given here, as this will maximize your progress.
Tantrik Yoga, like all yoga paths, is an effective means of living a more fulfilling
spiritual lifestyle. You cannot realize its full benefits, however, unless you receive a personal
practice (sadhana) from a teacher who has been trained and authorized by their
own teacher to uphold the blessings of the lineage. Both Classical and Tantrik Yoga
are given from a lineage, not by teachers in isolation. These lessons and the author's
spiritual mentoring consultations are available to you as my spiritual teachers have
given them to me and directed me to share them with all who are motivated. If you
would like me to serve you, you are welcome to schedule sessions via phone, Skype,
email, in person, or by contacting me at www.yogatherapycenter.org.
If you find that some of the Sanskrit terminology used in these lessons is unfamiliar,
consult the Glossary at the end of this book.
Table of Contents
Devi Puja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
PART l Engaging Your Pranic Energy ........ . . . • . • . 1
Lesson 1 The Energy Body and Tantrik Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Tantrik Yoga Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Seeking Energy with Yoni Mudra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Yoni Mudra Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Lesson 2 The Five Elements and Sensuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Elements and Sensual Awareness-Nyasa Puja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Return to Your Source-Yoni Mudra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Lesson 3 Yogic Anatomy and Sacred Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Tantrik and Ayurvedic Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Chakras in Theory and Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Creating a Sacred Space-Puja . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Lesson 4 Healing with Prana and Emotional Energy Expression . . . . . . . 55
Cultivating the Tantrik Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Pranic Breathing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Feeling the Five Pranas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Seeking Prana's Openness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Continuous Tantrik Pranayama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
PART ll Tools for Tantra ................ .. . . . . 73
Lesson 5 Transforming Sensuality into Prana . . . . . . . . .75
Signs ofP ranayama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Fixed Gazing- Tratak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Involuting the Chakras through Shambhavi Mudra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Lesson 6 Tantra Prana Bodywork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Theory of Tantra Prana Bodywork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Tantrik Bodywork Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Prana and Divine Mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
On Divine Love and Kashmir Shaivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Congratulations! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Lesson 7 Tools for Tantra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Mantras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Yantras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Tantrasanas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Bhadrasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Tarasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Virasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ill
Samasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ill
Swastikasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Padmasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Siddhasana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Tantrasana for Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Mukunda's Tantrik Yoga Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
PART lll Healing Sexual Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 29
Lesson 8 Sexual Health Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Healing Life and Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Prostate Massage-Ganesh Kriya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Breast Massage-Karuna Kriya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Self-Breast Massage-Karuna Kriya Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Dialogue with Mukunda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Lesson 14 The Colorful Paths of Tantrik Yoga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Yoga and Tantrik Partner Practices 262
Tantrik Partner Agreement 0 265
Clarifying Your Personal Path 266
Choosing an Appropriate Partner 268
Preliminary Guidance 270
Tantrik Practice for a Couple 271
Preparation for Lesson 15 273
Dialogue with Mukunda 274
Lesson 15 Devi/Deva Communion 278
Sharing Your Love 279
The Requisite Mind for Devi/Deva Partner Practice 280
Indian and Tibetan Tantra 283
Summary of the Devi/Deva Partner Practice 287
The Secret of Tantrasana Partner Practice 292
Congratulations! 293
Dialogue with Mukunda 294
PART Vl Toward Unity and Spiritua1111umination 309
Lesson 16 Tantrik Secrets-Beyond Duality 311
Secrets ofYoni and Lingam Mudras 312
Wrapping Yourself in the Stillness of Etemity- Shiva-Lata-Mudra 313
Opening to the Breath of Love 314
Dialogue with Mukunda 317
Lesson 17 God/dess Consciousness 320
Integrating Yoga and Tantra 320
What Is the True Self? 326
Puja for Devi/Deva Communion 331
Shiva Puja 331
Shakti Puja 332
Shiva- Shakti Dharana 333
Dialogue with Mukunda 333
Lesson 18 Spiritual Illumination 337
What Is Spiritual Illumination? 337
Cultivation of the Infinite 343
Continuing to Deepen Your Sadhana of Love 345
Dialogue with Mukunda 347
Appendix: Attainments for each Tantra Lesson 351
Glossary of Yoga and Tantrik Terms 353
Recommended Tantrik References 362
Screenbook
....
First published in 2011 by
Red Wheel/Weiser, LLc
665 Third Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107
Printed in Canada
Cover design by Jim Warner
Cover photograph and author photo by Chinnamasta Stiles
Interior photos by Sraddha Van Dyke ; © SAYVA
Typeset in Garamond