In ancient times in the Tantra tradition, there were women who were called deva dasis, which means servant of god. In the original meaning of the word, this was a Tantric initiatress. So men who wanted to understand Tantra practise would come and they would be initiated by her, which could include sexuality. The deva dasi would be chosen from the most beautiful girls of the village, trained and then be part of the temple. For example in Khajuraho, there are places were the deva dasis would do their work – little rooms made out of stone – that were reserved for that purpose. As time went on, the term deva dasi degenerated and it became simply the temple prostitute. So men could reserve the favours of such a woman. She was trained, but it was so she could make money for the temple. In that way it degenerated, it became prostitution with a little sacred element.

Khajuraho temples

Then you have the Western goddess temples, which used to do a very similar thing. Men could come and go through an initiation process with one of the priestesses of the temple. There would be a long ritual involved, fasting and so on, then they would go through the initiation. It didn’t have that Tantric element about going into superconsciousness, it was more done to maintain harmony and integrity in the society. It was thought of as very normal that everyone would need a minimum training in the arts of love. That’s not specifically Tantra – if someone is a Tantra practitioner or initiate, they would go through other kinds of initiations that would involve very profound meditations and a long preparation then maybe they would be doing certain Tantric meditations that involved sexuality.

So there’s a difference between the temple arts for the layperson and the temple arts for the initiate – that has to be very clear. For the layperson it would be to live a happy and harmonious life and function in the society as a good lover, which was considered paramount for living a fulfilled life.

Ancient goddess worship

In the Western goddess temples, the arts practised there weren’t anything necessarily to do with Tantra, more the Western style of original goddess worshipping religions. They weren’t teaching Tantra meditations, they were teaching the arts of love as a way of honouring the goddess. I believe what people are now calling the sacred sexual arts is based on goddess worshipping religions and not so much on Tantra practises from the East. In Tantra practises from the East, the focus is clearly on enlightenment – it is a path to enlightenment and it is using all the human being is –sexuality, the mind, the senses, the emotions – and sex is a part of that. But the sacred sexual arts are focused on sexuality and eroticism, so there’s a very big difference.

In ancient tribal cultures, a young person would go through a sexual initiation. Girls and boys, when they reached puberty, would be sent to someone who was very skilled in these arts and they would be taught how to make love. In ancient India also, the priest of the temple would initiate a bride before she was married, meaning he would have sex with her and teach her how to have the best possible love-making experience with her husband, so she was trained and blessed before going into the marriage. But all this has nothing to do with Tantra.

There’s a definite place for sacred sexuality in society, I think it is essential, but it shouldn’t be called Tantra because that confuses the whole concept of Tantra. People start thinking that prostitution equals Tantra – that you go for an erotic massage that has a happy ending and that is considered to be a Tantric massage. You wave a few feathers and a few silk scarves and that is a Tantric massage! This gives a reputation to Tantra that is very inadequate. Since I’ve been teaching Tantra I’ve been fighting against the common belief that Tantra is all about hand jobs! It’s been quite an uphill journey. I’ve been trying to get across that Tantra is a path of meditation that is about the path of awareness and the path of love and weaving them together, and has many, many methods of meditation that include all of the human being. I’ve been constantly putting this out over these past 12 years, and the message has been sinking in, in England, which I’m very happy about, and I’m also aware that Tantra in the United States has been taking a different orientation and that is sex therapy. American Tantra has a different vibe to what is going on in England.

When people start studying Tantra they get very curious about all different kinds of Tantra and they want to taste everything, just like bees going to different flowers, which is very healthy. As part of that process, there’s increasing curiosity about what I would call American Tantra, which is sex therapy, sexual healing and glorified hand jobs! I don’t want to put it down, but for me it’s not Tantra if it doesn’t include the path of meditation.

Love Sarita

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts below.

My upbringing in an egalitarian society with a liberal open minded education, including a great sexual education, contributed a lot to the start of my personal journey. Sauna has sacred roots in my culture, being seen as a sanctuary, a healing room, and a place where nakedness remains natural. The sex education I encountered gave huge importance to the empowerment of me as a young woman and my ability to choose when I would cross that threshold of making love. It also gave me the message from an early age that self pleasuring is a natural way to explore.

So where nature fostered an early awareness of something bigger than myself and a sense of divine, intervention introduced itself in childhood experiences: it was when faced with death and human loss in my late teens that my ”spiritual seeking” dived more deeply. It took me into meditation, personal growth work of many kinds and yoga. My earthy spirituality seemed to have created doorways that could now take me deeper.

My path took me to the Findhorn Foundation and the community in the north-east of Scotland in the late nineties and where, a few years later, I lived. That is where I also first met Sarita and Geho. Under their beautiful guidance with my partner at the time I practiced my first Tantric meditations. Much of it felt natural to me and I could see how partly nature and my culture had facilitated a sense of sacred love. Yet also I had some confusion about embracing being a woman as a shadow of the egalitarian thinking can expect men and women to do all the same things. It was a powerful time and I was touched by the teachings that Sarita and Geho were offering. Sarita’s wisdom and love especially felt very meaningful to me as a young woman. In the following years I helped and assisted on her groups as often as I could and then last year I also started teaching Tantra.

I feel very blessed to have witnessed and been part of all these circles of women and men. Thank you for each person I have crossed paths with along this time. I have so much love for our shared humanity. It is all welcomed in Tantra and all can be a gateway to the sacred. Thank you again Sarita, Geho and Supragya for the time and love you put into the School of Awakening. Under its branches new seedlings are growing everywhere.

Heidi is based in London and offers Tantra sessions and Tantric massage. She is also a vision quest guide; leading workshops of personal discovery in nature. Contact Heidi at: heidi@beloved-earth.com

I have to begin by saying that I believe that the Kogi Indians of Columbia are the most refined, intelligent, sensitive and advanced civilization on this planet today. I have been researching them for the past 20 years, since the first time I saw the astonishing BBC documentary, ‘The Heart of the World’ by Alan Eirera. Later, I read his book, as well as two books by Eric Julian, who lived with the Kogi for months on end and wrote about his experiences.

Recently, my friend Jean-Paul, who manages the Indian Ocean Film Festival, let me know that my dream of many years was about to be fulfilled. A real Live Kogi was scheduled to come to London! It was the first time Jacinto, a Kogi Representative had been on a plane, and the first time any Kogi has visited London, a historic occasion! He came in order to let people know about a most phenomenal film which is being made about the Kogi and to help us understand the Kogi message.

Through the introduction by Jean Paul and the kindness of the Gaia Foundation in London, I was invited to attend the small informal gathering where Jacinto Zarabata would be presenting the Kogi message. Alan Ereira, who is helping them with their new film, was accompanying Jacinto, and helping to explain about the Kogi.

For those of you reading this who may never have heard about the Kogi, I will explain briefly:

Kogi Indians in their home in the Sierra Nevada mountains

They are a pre-Columbian civilization, with direct links to the earlier Tairona civilization and who live in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Columbia. They had a whole network of eco-villages and pathways throughout the Sierra Nevada, from the highest peaks to the coastal area. Their villages blended perfectly with the surroundings, with minimal impact on the ecology of the region. The structure of their society was deeply respectful of nature and of human beings. They felt they were placed on this earth to be custodians and protectors of the Mother, of a living Gaia. All was done in accord with Aluna, the mysterious force which is the source of our universe.

The conquistadores came and ravaged the land and killed the indigenous people. The people fled up the mountain, seeking refuge with their wise enlightened beings who act as spiritual guides. These beings are called Mama’s or Mamos. They live in the highest part of the Sierra Nevada. The Mamos devised a way of hiding the Kogi from the intruders and they continued to remain invisible for 500 years.

One day, through divination and experience, they realized that if they didn’t come out of hiding and educate us on what we are doing wrong, the very planet is in danger of being destroyed through our ignorance. They refer to themselves as the ‘Older Brother’ and to the so-called civilized man as the ‘younger brother.’ They invited the BBC to make a film where they could deliver their message. Then, they closed the gate into their world, allowing no one to enter uninvited. They waited 20 years to see if the ‘younger brother’ would ‘get’ the message. Now, they realize that a stronger message is needed since it appears that younger brother is hell bent on self-destruction. They called on Alan Eirera, who made the original film, to help them make a new film, to be called ALUNA (see www.alunathemovie.com)

This time, they have decided that in order to help the ‘younger brother ‘to understand, it is essential that they themselves make the film, and show us, through their own eyes, how the world of spirit and matter functions. They went to enormous trouble to get some of their people trained in film-making. The film will explore their sacred sites and sacred ceremonies, literally, how they are constantly maintaining stability on the earth and protecting her from damage, through their rituals and way of being.

The footage of the new film, what little I have seen, is simply breathtaking. It is certain that this will be a groundbreaking documentary, and one which has the potential to radically altar the way we see and experience life. Alan has to make it as an ‘independent film’ in order to maintain the integrity of the Kogi, with their own message, undiluted and direct. Alan has to raise a minimum of £1 million in order to do this heroic work. If you know of anyone who may be interested in contributing or investing in this project, please contact: alunathemovie@aol.com.

Jacinto Zarabata, Kogi Mamos

The night after I met Jacinto, he did a presentation on an internet TV station Esoguru (www.esoguru.com).  This station has done interviews with the Dalai Lama, with the foremost Mayan elder, and other people who are instrumental in transforming our world. The program was 2 ½ hours long. I paraphrase here, some highlights:

Jacinto says: “The Mamos learn behaviour appropriate with the plants and about offerings which have to be made at sacred sites. When the Mamo’s voice deepens, he is given a Poporo and in this way is acknowledged as a man.

Alan adds: “The Poporo represents the womb, containing stardust or semen.”

Jacinto: “The Mamo continues his or her training and is given his divining bowl. He learns how to heal the water, the food, the place where we cut wood, or any other material we require to maintain life. The Mamo learns to make offerings to rivers, lakes and mountains. He learns how to carry out burial rites. He learns how to do ceremonies for pubescent boys or girls. They have to know how to make pots for cooking, how to support birth giving, how to prevent disease, and how to help family problems to be resolved. Mamo means, ‘the Sun.’

The Sun doesn’t only shine for one person, but for everyone and everything in the world. This is why Mamos work for the good and the benefit of the whole planet. The sun cannot deny its heat to anyone. It cannot say, ‘I will not give heat to the thief’ for example.

Our people consult with the Mamos about anything we want to carry out, whether that be the sowing of seeds or the building of a house.”

Alan asks: “Before doing anything in our world, should we consult with the Mamos?”

Jacinto: “Yes, it is obvious. Then things will go the way they should.”

Alan: “Are they prepared to help us in this way?”

Jacinto: “Yes, if a new disease is being created, they do healing and rituals to prevent it. For example, we do not have congenital defects as there are in the outside world.”

Question: what food do the Mamos eat?

Jacinto: “Some are forbidden to eat salt. Some are forbidden to eat meat. Some can eat crab but no meat. They eat white beans and potato. Those Mamos who eat nothing, which has blood, are able to look after the animals which have blood.

Question: why are the Mamos concerned?

Kogis collecting water at an ancient pond

Jacinto: “They are concerned about the sacred sites. The snow capped mountains, ancient lakes or ponds, the sources of rivers, and the sites where mining is destroying the body of the mother. The ancestors have never authorized us to channel water into waterways, to create mines or to dam the water, or other activities which destroy the body of the mother.”

Alan adds: “Se’ is a word which means, the law which precedes all of creation. The sacred sites is where se’ is maintained. If sacred sites are disturbed, the whole of creation is disturbed.”

Jacinto: “There are also sacred sites in the body. Eyes and ears, for example are sacred. If we cut it, we feel a great deal of pain. It is the same for the earth.

Alan asks: “How do the Mamos know what is happening in the rest of the world?”

Jacinto: “Through dreams or visions. Some Mamos immediately know what is happening anywhere on this earth. Then they do rituals to help heal this situation. These abilities, were given by the Mother, directly to us, so we can help to protect her from outside influences.

In the gatherings of the Mamos, each Mamo consults their own divining bowl. They work individually and also in a holistic way. The sacred sites also work individually and collectively. In sacred sites, we have the thought patterns of all the Mamos who have existed in the past.

When I get back, I will go immediately to the Mamos. I will tell them everything I have witnessed or thought about. Perhaps I may have had improper thoughts, for example, I may have fancied a woman not my wife, or had some negativity in my mind. This all has to be healed with the Mamos in a process we call ‘Confession’, so I don’t bring this into my family.

Question: What practice can people do in their own homes?

Jacinto: “We can meditate. We can purge our mind through a process of confession. Between husband and wife, they can speak of every thought, which they have had and everything that has happened during the day. We have to reflect in the evening on how we may have lost the thread and allowed negativity to creep in.

The powerful people of this world, the magnates, can reflect on what they are doing and its implications through this process of ‘confession.’

Question: is there is crime in the Kogi world?

Jacinto: “We do not kill each other. Sometimes, there is some stealing. If this happens, the Mamos search for the source of why this person did such a thing. It could have come from far in the past, even from the grandparents. The person who has stolen will go through a healing process till he becomes whole again.”

Question: How do Kogis view death?

Jacinto: “There are Kogi Mamos who specialize in the various kinds of death. They will do healing on the dead person. They bring back to life all who have died so they can be part of nature. Their life will continue in another generation. It is important to heal their death, so it doesn’t continue into other generations. “

It is my sincere wish that the message contained in this blog can spread far and wide, supporting the wisdom of the Kogi to be heard by one and all. We need to hear this message, and act on it, for the good of ourselves, for our children and for our planet.

Love,

Sarita

My heart has been sprung open, my joy for life enflamed and my desire ignited by his tale of a humble gamekeeper and his aristocratic mistress.

I speak of course of DH Lawrence and his most infamous novel , Lady Chatterley’s Lover (see left: Sean Bean and Joley Richardson from the 1993 BBC series). For those of you that don’t know the story, it goes something like this: Lady Chatterley is an upper class young woman, married to fellow young aristocrat Sir Clifford, who got paralysed from the waist down in the First World War. They had one month of married life together before his injury. The main action of the book begins two years later, when she is becoming worn out and numbed by life with her husband, who lives solely in his mind and has nothing but contempt for the working men over whom he rules (he’s the local mine owner).

Then she meets Mellors.

Mellors is her husband’s gamekeeper, who has himself been scarred by life. He has shut himself away from human connection, though is still a passionate and tender man under the surface. They begin a love affair and their desire for each other sparks the life back into them, finding not only each other but a love of life, and the guts to stand up for their own truth.

My love affair began  by a chance watching of a DVD of the BBC series, made 18 years ago, which caused a stir because of its explicit sex scenes, some of which I remembered from watching it then. What hadn’t stayed in my memory was the tender beauty of the way the love affair between Lady Chatterley and Mellors, was portrayed, which touched my heart as surely as the sex stirred my loins (I can quite see why a nation of women wanted to meet Sean Bean in the woods after this!!)

I was inspired, and so got the book. What I wasn’t prepared for was an even more touching, beautiful, life-affirming experience, as Lawrence expresses to us, through these gorgeous characters, his passionate love of life, and his disregard of the will of industrialised society, that seeks to take away all our connection to all that is natural, alive and free.

His descriptions of their love-making are surely some of the most divine in the English language, take this as one example of many:

“…all her womb was open and soft and softly clamouring like a sea-anemone under the tides, clamouring for him to come in again and make a fulfilment for her……and she felt the soft bud of him within her stirring and in strange rhythms flushing up into her, with a strange, rhythmic growing motion, swelling and swelling till it filled her cleaving consciousness. And then began again the unspeakable motion that was not really motion, but pure deepening whirlpools of sensation, swirling deeper and deeper through all her tissue and consciousness, till she was one perfect concentric fluid of feeling. And she lay there crying in unconscious, inarticulate cries, the voice out of the uttermost night, the life-exclamation. And the man heard it beneath him with a kind of awe, as his life sprang out into her….And they lay, and knew nothing, not even of each other.”

How delicious!

In some ways Lawrence was still a man of his time – there’s little in the way of foreplay in the early sexual encounters and there’s a subtle fear of women detectable in novel. But for me this doesn’t take away from the expression of sexual and human freedom which he portrayals so fervently.

Reading these words of passion stirred something deep in me, calling me to connect to my rootedness, to my flesh and bone existence, to my longing for a 100% man, to my desire to be utterly woman – dissolved and surrendered to existence – realising that I’ve never really allowed a man deep into the core of me.

Writing this book more than 80 years ago, Lawrence was dismayed by the inhumanity of the society he lived in then, which still rings very true for us today. Although he had a brilliant mind, he knew that to live only in the mind created misery, and his manifesto called for an embracing of life, sex and the body. He said:

“Doing the dirt on sex is the crime of our times, because what we need is tenderness towards the body, towards sex, we need tenderhearted fucking.”

That most people still know this book for its use of ‘obscene’ words and that it’s somehow a byword for ‘dirty sex’ shows our society still hasn’t embraced tenderness towards the body or sex, despite sexual images being everywhere.

If you want to be swept away on a tide of passion for love, life and sex, spend a few days with Lady Chatterley and her lover, still as raw and relevant now as it was back when affairs between ladies and gamekeepers truly were forbidden love.

Malika x

Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is, “why did Uezu San drop Aisho?” Strangely enough, he didn’t explain why. So all explanations are only conjecture. One of the basic truths I have learned is; love does not try to change a person, but rather accepts this person as he or she is. And so it is that when he announced he was letting go of our combined work, I searched in my heart, and found only gratitude for what we had shared. I wrote a poem and read it to him.

We then did our last healing circle together which was deeper than ever. Afterwards, people were commenting how deeply touched they were by the healing, and Uezu San commented, “It is the combination of yin and yang which makes it so powerful. This transformation will be with you forever.” When he was leaving, I wept in his arms. And that was it. Below, I offer the poem I wrote for him, and by so doing, I invite you to peek into my heart and soul.

Beloved
Lion of God
You are divinely wild
To be near you is to know heaven while on earth
Your voice echoes in the inner sanctum of my heart
Calling me to be Love, each moment
With your touch
You tune my instrument to the sound of the universe
And the strings of my soul vibrate in ecstasy
Together
We have known the merging of sun and moon
And the delicate flower
Born of the union of East and West
We have tasted the nectar of working as one
And beyond all this
My lord,
It is you
Who has given me the ultimate gift
It is your touch
Your presence
Your magic
Which has opened me all the way to source
In that moment of sublime surrender
I abandoned all of my being
Into your hands, the hands of God
And remain,
In deepest gratitude
And in radiant love
Thank you for being
Thank you for sharing
Thank you for your courage

Love,
Sarita

A symbol for the Aisho flowering of consciousness

I had a wonderful time at the Osho Leela Tantra Festival last week (10-15th August), even though I was only there for a day – watch my video blog and hear all about it!

Love Sarita x

First of all – why do it?

Well we’ve got some great videos up already and are planning to make lots more and some fun ones too. As soon as we put up a new one, if you are a subscriber, you’ll be notified by email and will be one of the first to see our new video – and of course share it with your friends!!!

There are 3 options:

1. If you already have a YouTube account

Sign in to your account on http://www.youtube.com/

In Search box at top left, enter ‘schoolofawakening’ no gaps

Click on one of our videos

Click on Subscribe button above the video and follow easy instructions.

Watch your email Inbox for the latest video offerings!

2. If you already have a Google account, e.g. a googlemail or gmail email address

Go onto https://mail.google.com/mail/ and sign into your account.

In the top menu, click on ‘More’ and then ‘YouTube’.

In top right, click on ‘Create Account’ and follow easy instructions.

Sign in to your account on http://www.youtube.com/

In Search box at top left, enter ‘schoolofawakening’ no gaps

Click on one of our videos

Click on Subscribe button above the video and follow easy instructions.

Watch your email Inbox for the latest video offerings!

3. If you don’t have a Google account

Go onto https://mail.google.com/mail/ , click on ‘Create an Account’ at the bottom right and follow easy instructions. (You can do some great things with Google – including online calendars!)

In the top menu, click on ‘More’ and then ‘YouTube’.

In top right, click on ‘Create Account’ and follow easy instructions.

Sign in to your account on http://www.youtube.com/

In Search box at top left, enter ‘schoolofawakening’ no gaps

Click on one of our videos

Click on Subscribe button above the video and follow easy instructions.

Watch your email Inbox for the latest video offerings!

Add your Comments and Share

…..And, please feel free to add your comments to the videos by typing in the ‘Respond to this video’ box below the video and to Share with your friends on Facebook. To Comment and Share, you will need to be on YouTube itself rather than watching the embedded video on the website. To access YouTube from the embedded video, start playing the video and then move your mouse to near the top of the screen and hopefully the title will magically appear! Then just click on the title. Alternatively, look to see if we’ve added a direct ‘Share’ link below the video.

One final thing…remember to click on the little icon with 4 arrows at the bottom right of the YouTube video to see the Full Screen version – much better! [Just press your 'Escape' button to exit Full Screen mode afterwards.]

Have fun!!!

Love

Sidika

Much later as a rebellious eighteen year-old two very significant spiritual experiences occurred which were to cast their mark upon my entire life.

The first was a sudden dropping away of my faith in Islam as it was taught to me. This happened during a conversation with a fellow student where I simply realised with intense suddenness and amazement that I no longer believed in the faith I had grown up with. What further surprised me was that nothing had been taken away from me that my inner mood of reverence to the source of life flourished yet had lost its outer form.

The second experience was that before I ever heard of it, Tantra claimed me! Zen mind, beginners mind, they say – indeed this was the case for me. One of my first sexual experiences took me into the most intense and cosmic orgasm; an experience so expansive and pleasurable beyond anything I had ever anticipated. I could make no sense of it until a few years later I came across a book by Osho and upon reading about Tantric practices I exclaimed yes! This is what happened to me. So how could I not take up this scent and walk the trail to Tantra? Fifteen years later in 2004 I met and fell in love with Vincent, within months we were on retreat with Sarita and Geho. I had found my way back.

Now six years on having begun to teach Tantra, I look back and see that mysterious hands have guided me each step of my way to this path that all my life experience adds up to this quite naturally. And yet I was the last to know.

Since 1994 I have nourished myself with spiritual practice. Early on it was meditation and Qigong, then Shiatsu and Rudolf Steiner Pedagogy. This was supplemented with my then “bible” Louise Hay’s –You Can Heal Your Life, as I began the journey of helping myself recover from the raging violence and emotional neglect that also characterised my childhood.

This process of healing led me to the Barbara Brennan School of Healing. The four-year training was to become a healer but the path was to be healed. From the depths of my being the woundedness, pain and misconceptions of reality emerged. Yes it was chaotic and extremely challenging yet I could feel myself come back to life.

During this time I was teaching at St. Paul’s Steiner School in Islington, London. To be immersed in a community where the care for the child was so impeccable and imbued with reverence was a balm to me. Five years into this part of my journey I met my husband Vincent and this relationship, combined with Tantra, took me deeper into layers of my being I had been completely unaware of.

Today, nourished by a further three-year study in Non-Dual healing with Jason Shulman – a study which is informed by Zen and the kabbalah and is deeply Tantric, I feel surging creativity and joy as I mould new life from all these experiences.

Roxana runs a healing practice and teaches Tantra workshops in London with Vincent. From September she will be holding a fortnightly women’s sacred circle. From next year she will be teaching levels one and two of the seven level Soul Mate Tantra for Lovers.

To learn more about her work take a look at www.healingwithroxana.com

June 2010 by Roxana

What can I share with you of this retreat?

Silence.  A new found depth of meditation of being.

Love. Once again being shown that this is the fabric of my existence, of existence itself.

Death. Opening and releasing a little more of the ego’s clutching.

Union. My tears flowed freely all week, waves of the relief of returning home, a home I now see that I had never actually left, a home that it is impossible to leave, where could we possibly go that is away from the embrace of the divine?

Grace. Healings, held in the arms of two awakened masters.

Community. Being with the 60 or so participants each sharing this thirst for union with God.

Hospitality. The gifts so freely showered upon us by our open-hearted Norwegian friends.

Song. Raising our voices in poetry and praise.

Dance. Of course, where Sarita leads the party soon follows!

Vincent and I will be integrating these gifts for many months so rich was the experience of this retreat, I urge you all to taste the liberation offered through the presence of this unique combination of two awakened masters. In true Tantric style they embrace so many opposites in their teaching together.  Such a profound transmission of Shiva and Shakti, yin and yang, western woman and eastern man, classical solitude of meditation and Osho’s radical richness.

Roxana teaches levels 1-3 of the School of Awakening Soulmate Training for couples, and also her own Tantra groups in London.