Tantric Temple - Intro - The first thing a student needs to know

It is easiest for the Tantric student to begin with learning the philosophy before moving onto energy practices in meditations such as the Kundlini Awakening Meditation. The philosophy allows the mind to grasp the physicality of moving energy through one's body, and exactly what one is doing to one's self. The Duality of opposites is a common philosophy in many pagan belief systems, so it's not difficult for most people to adapt that balanced awareness to physical energy movement. However, it is this philosophy, and how it is delivered, that differentiates Traditional Tantra from all non-traditional forms.

My interpretation of Tantra begins with dualism, the God(dess) dichotomy, seeing the Male as Matter, and the Female as Energy. All humans carry this duality within them, a material side and a creative side. The beginning exercises of Tantra aim to make the student recognize, analyze, and balance these two poles. Most of these exercises are done with all clothes on, so they can't really be considered "sexual" although they will tend to influence the student's sexuality in a balancing way.

The second philosophy of Tantra is that it is about Experience. Everything in life is an experience. We are incarnated to get the most of our physical bodies, and that includes eating, smelling, touching, seeing, and hearing. If you stop right now and look around the room, you experience more from this moment than if you continue reading this. See what the lighting does to the colors of the room. Feel your clothing on your skin, whether your eyes are dry, if your toes are cold. Experience this moment. Look at things like you never have before, sniff the air, hear the noises in the room. That is what Tantra teaches.

Kundalini energy is the cornerstone of Tantric practices. In ordinary waking life, we can sometimes feel the minute stirrings of this energy as shivers up our spine. Kundalini itself is said to be one of the greatest energy highs ever! To awaken it, there are special breathing techniques that help you take the energy from your sexual center, up your spine, and move it through the rest of your body, allowing it to pervade into the etheric realms. In awakening the Kundalini serpent one creates an energy field that can manifest some very powerful results. Because of it's intense effects on the human body, it would be unwise for me to print an actual kundalini meditation here without a lot of caveats. If you attempt this meditation, be aware that Kundalini has very odd physical side effects in people who are not ready for it.

To awaken Kundalini fully, one must go through an intense process of clearing out old emotional baggage, and the energy attached to the physical body, usually known as Chakra clearing. Chakras are psychic energy organs, designed to receive and transmit energy from our environment to the mechanisms in our brain. In Tibetan Tantra (the style I prefer) there are 7 recognized Main chakras, with secondary chakras on hands and feet, and even smaller ones throughout the body. When a chakra is "blocked" or "stuck", it means it is filled with energy and is not functioning as it is supposed to for your best interest. This can lead a person to react instead of act, and one becomes a victim of one's environment, rather than a willing participant.

The Chakra clearing is what makes Tantra such a powerful mechanism for change, even before the student learns anything about partnered rites. It is during this phase that the student is practicing White Tantra.

Once the philosophy is learned, and the Chakras cleared, and Kundalini empowered, the student learns to balance his/her own personal Duality between Shiva (material) and Shakti (energy forces). In these meditations, he or she is also building up the sexual abilities, such as control of the orgiastic state. To control the orgiastic state is to keep control of your body while it is at "maximum capacity" power. This is important because it allows for the raising of the student's vibratory rate, which is one of the keys to spiritual freedom. Most of these meditations involve self-stimulation, and are done alone, in the privacy of one's own temple at home. A typical trained Tantric (male or female) can continue sexual union for hours without orgasm. So, these exercises are an important prerequisite for partnered rites, or Red Tantra. You can test how powerful this energy is by trying the following exercise the next time you are sexually aroused.

Whether you are alone or with a partner, as your arousal level grows, relax your physical body rather than tightening your muscles or arching your back. As your arousal grows, you will find that your energy feels different. This is only a very small sample of what Tantra can do.

Finally, when the student has accomplished all of this, he or she will begin a series of rituals for two, which do not include sex, but can be done sky clad. It takes the typical student about 18 months to get to this point in the training, although individual results may vary. Many students who are interested in just sex drop out way before this point, so that only serious students get the secret training that leads to Sacred Union, or Maithuna.

Once these steps have been taken, the student is ready to partner with another Tantric in a Secret ritual that joins both of the participants as the One that is Everything.