I had visited Osho Nisarga about seven years earlier when the land had been purchased but building work hadn’t started so I was quite amazed to see how the place had been transformed. Everything was beautifully constructed and sparkling clean in the cool mountain air and, wonder of wonders, you could drink directly from the tap – a rare treat in India. The food was delicious and the temperature just right to eat in the open. My room had been described as being in the attic, but was actually extremely spacious and had a beautiful view of the Himalaya. The only drawback were the sloping ceilings which took me 2 days to acclimatise to and stop giving myself brain-damage as I bumped my head in my haste to change for the various meditations.

The participants arrived on the previous day which happened to be Diwali – Festival of Light – so our group started with a party and fireworks! Next morning after breakfast, we assembled in the lovingly built Mandir (or Buddhahall) and began introductions. The retreat was facilitated by Sarita and Chintan and assisted by Santoshi and Niten with help and amazing sound support from Gong Master Suraj and partner Giselle.

I had just bought a sound recording device before my trip, so I was keen to record the teachings and was doing quite well until I attempted to relocate myself with the extension lead – there was a loud bang, a smell of burning and a little pile of soot on the floor. “Oh, I thought – that could have been me.” After that, I thought I was better off just participating and focusing on dissolving my ego rather than my entire physical being!

We were introduced to a beautiful meditation which we would be practicing everyday after dynamic and before breakfast. This involved gazing at an object and allowing ourselves to dissolve in it, sense by sense. The first few minutes were accompanied by gonging by Suraj on his beautiful Venus and Mars gongs. After the first day, we decided to sit outside facing the river which was just gorgeous. After 40 minutes, Chintan lead us all in a slow Zen Walk along the river path. This was quite a challenge and took us most of the week to synchronise the entire line of 40 plus people.

More meditations were practiced covering the 12 facets of Tantra and after three days we slipped into silence to enable us to go even deeper. During this phase, Prem gave us a beautiful demonstration of Sufi Whirling and facilitated a meditation the next morning.

The silence was lifted for the final three days in time for the Shiva Shakti dance. Some of the Indian guys really went to town and appeared painted head to toe in blue and sporting a trident and cobra. The lovely Keerti was particularly generous sharing his blue paint powder with anyone who came near! And Khirad didn’t seem to mind being stepped on by Sarita who played Kali to his Shiva.

During the retreat we went on two beautiful walks in the surrounding countryside – one where we could bathe in the river and another in the forest. I particularly enjoyed seeing the villages and simple lifestyle – it seemed idyllic but was no doubt challenging in ways other than what we are used to in Europe.

The last few days flew by, and suddenly it was time to leave. Many of us were continuing our explorations by joining the Sacred India Tour which started from Delhi the next day. We were given a beautiful send off with drumming and singing and of course lots of hugging. A beautiful experience, which will stay with me a long time.

2010 retreat photo gallery by Rahi

If anyone else has some photos they would like to share, please add a comment and incude a link to your gallery.

Love

Sidika

Oh to be again embracing and being embraced by the tree where Osho became enlightened…held in infinity as in the arms of the most pure and tender lover.

Sending prayers down the Ganges

Sitting under the stars in a little boat on the Ganges, watching our little flower candles carrying prayers and “let go’s” float with purpose in the current til out of sight.

Sitting with death and feeling the Heavenly Comforter at Varanasi’s burning ghat funeral pyres – so natural, so timeless. Everyone should be able to do this once on their life……Anand Aasta

The special highlight for me was visiting Osho’s birthplace and experiencing meeting the local villagers. It was very touching to be greeted by such warm friendly people. Osho’s house had such a wonderful warm nurturing energy and surrounded by such beautiful unspoiled countryside. The magical soft late afternoon sun made the whole experience feel  like dropping back in space and time…..Shraddha

The stunning beauty of Khajuraho

Actually, the biggest challenge for me was to come away in the first place – to an unknown country , with a group of people I hadn’t met before. There are many highlights to mention, but the two that stand out  were the burning ghats in Varanasi and the sunset meditation in Khajuraho. It was deeply moving and emotional to witness the sacredness in which death is held here. The sunset meditation in Khajuraho -a new experience for me to meditate with open eyes in the darkness with the full moon up. And what a beautiful group of people we were. I’ve made many new friends and the whole tour was a complete adventure. I will always remember this time. Thank you all…….Ian

Total abandonment at Osho's meditation rock

Death in Varanasi – what a baptism into death/life. Life in death – each enfolded in the other. Disturbing for me. I came to India to ‘die to self’ – and I ‘lost’ my passport – my identity. I dipped in the Ganges and let go (Challenge) of old patterns of thought that do not support my journey.

Sex in Khajuraho. Ganga’s personal guided tour of the temples and personal chat about non-possessiveness in love was very special.

Birth - total abandonment meditating (Transformation) at Osho’s rock with the sound of Dynamic Meditation in the background. Challenge: letting go of the mind. Transformation: glimpsing the kingdom is within…….Phil Shankland

Definitely Varanasi – deeply touched by the contrast of chaos, noiseness, dirtyness in the town compared to the peace, calmness, quietness at the river Ganga and the burning ghats.

On the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi

Big relief about the natural integration of death in daily life -accompanied by an Indian guide on top of a building near the ghats, I enjoyed a very special meditation watching a body burn. Standing behind the fire source of the burning ghats and feeling the enormous power of the fire and the power of transformation.

Visiting the tantra temples in Khajuraho guided by Ganga – listening to his explanations of the old Tantra rituals and traditions.

Visitng the enormous tree in Jabalpur where Osho was enlightened – getting the message of purification and the value of it for myself and the whole world.

Visiting the Marble Rocks by boat in the moonlight – like an intergalactic adventure – incredible!…..Joy Beate

The endless nectar of the Shiva puja in Varanasi

The puja in Varanasi for Shiva with endless, endless nectar never ending which just reinforced the Tantra group we had done the week before. It just went on and on – this pouring of milk over the Shiva lingam – and at the end placing salt, curd and an abundance of beautiful flowers. Osho’s Buddha tree had amazing earth energy and was the cuddliest tree I ever felt!

The simple house Osho lived in as a boy

And in Osho’s birth place I felt again the intense heat through the ears and cheeks that I had felt in Darshan with Neelam the week before. It has all been amazing!! Good and bad experiences have all created growth and expansion in me….Sophie Churchyard

For me the Shiva Puja in Varanasi was incredibly beautiful and powerful. The chantings by the three priests (with us joining in the best we could) and the many offerings invoked a trance-like state. I felt extremely blessed to be a part of the ceremnoy -though operating my video camera and stills camera was a bit challenging with ghee or milk-covered hands!

Standing at night by the burning ghats was intensely serene and moving.

Listening to Osho’s guide, Ganga, at the temples in Khajuraho was a real transmission  -what a beautiful man!

Sidika soaking up the vibe at Osho's house

Osho’s enlightenment tree opened my heart and brought me to tears – especially poignant when Sarita said that for anyone who hadn’t met Osho in the body (i.e. all of us apart from Sarita), this tree held the same energy.

Marble Rocks by moonlight – beautiful and eerie – I almost expected (hoped for?) a pirate ship with Johnny Depp to appear out of the shimmering darkness!

The last ‘highlight’ was rather unexpected. After narrowly managing to board our return flight from Bhopal to Delhi, complete with 5-Star takeaway dinner in polystyrene containers, the  flight crew amazingly agreed with Niten’s request for us to eat our own food. Niten and I juggled plates and chappatis, curry, rice and dal in the narrow serving space at the back of the plane – ducking between the rest of the flight crew as they simultaneously served up the standard airline food. I negotiated the aisle with laden plates of food, luckily not slopping any over the fellow passengers’ suits. One Indian gentleman in the back row commented, “Never before in my life have I seen anything like this!” I apologise but he appeared amused/bemused rather than annnoyed!

Many thanks to Sarita for inspiring the tour and huge appreciation to Niten and Santoshi for steering us with grace and humour through the chaos and adventure that is ‘part and parcel’ of travel in India….Sidika

Sacred Sites of India 2010 tour party

We began our tour in Varanasi, representing conscious death, a place where people come on pilgrimage to be purged of impurities and meet death as though slipping into the embrace of a lover. In this holy place, the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, they are meeting God while bathing in the river, or being cremated in the fire, or in the continuous flow of music and chanting. I have never seen such a filthy place in all my life, and yet, in spite of this, the transmutation of poison into nectar was luminously present.

Shiva Lingam at Varanasi

The highlight for me in Varanasi was the two hour Shiva Puja which we were privileged to have offered to us. I was completely captivated by the chanting, the presence of the glorious Shiva Lingam, and the very sensuous ritual, where-in we smeared the Lingam with precious scented oils, with ghee, with honey, with spices and ablutions of milk, cleansed and washed it, and finally offered tiers of flowers and fruits. I felt fully blessed through this experience and this quality has not diminished with the passage of time. I felt in those two hours, that we stepped through a transparent veil into another world, another century, another dimension, where devotional love is the ruler of time, mind and all the senses.

Varanasi photo gallery – you can click on each image to enlarge, or choose the ‘slideshow’ option – you can make the images fullscreen by clicking on the icon with 4 arrows.

Sarita

From Varanasi we went to Khajuraho, a series of Tantra temples, representing sexuality and the invitation to allow meditation to be present in all aspects of life, including our most sensual explorations. The temples are simply exquisite, and are maintained in pristine cleanliness, with gorgeous gardens all around. It is a tremendous pleasure to explore them, taking time to be in awe of such masterful artistry. We were truly blessed to be guided by Ganga, a man who was Osho’s tour guide in Khajuraho, where Osho went numerous times. Ganga received a very powerful transmission from Osho on the subject of Khajuraho and on Tantra in general. I could really feel Osho’s presence in Ganga’s words and gestures as he lovingly shared his experiences of being with the Master and receiving his wisdom. Later, when Ganga had become a disciple of Osho and was living in the commune, Osho asked him to go back to Khajuraho and sing Osho’s song, which he has been doing ever since. He runs an esthetic, clean and loving hotel where people can relax into the nurturing ambiance of Ganga and the Khajuraho vibe.

Khajuraho photo gallery

We then journeyed to Jabalpur, where Osho was a student and then a professor in the University. We stayed in an Osho ashram there, which is on the edge of a marvelous forested area with a beautiful lake. The highlight in this place was to meditate on a very big rock where Osho used to go and meditate regularly, between 1952–1960. The rock has definitely received his transmission. The whole group of us who sat there were transported into deep meditation, and then found ourselves in spontaneous, ecstatic celebration.

Receiving the ecstasy of Osho's transmission

We went to the tree in Jabalpur where Osho experienced enlightenment at the age of 21. I believe that none of us were expecting anything in that strange theme park, decorated with huge plastic dinosaurs. And then we met the tree. And in the tree, we met a presence which was so palpable as to be truly astonishing. I have spent years at Osho’s feet, and so am able to recognize his unique fragrance and presence. I experienced that this tree is the body of Osho. Touching this tree, we are touching Osho’s body. Being embraced by this tree, we are receiving Darshan. It was an extraordinary blessing. As we were meditating there, a local television crew came and asked to interview some of us and to take photos and film us imbibing Osho’s sacred presence through the tree.

After that, still drunk on the divine, we made our way to the Narmada River with the famed marble rocks. We stayed in a hotel run by a Sannyasin named Anil. He was an angel with us, taking us to a very moving sunset Puja by the river. After a feast at his hotel, he then took us for a river cruise with the almost full moon lighting our way. To move in silence upstream and to experience the incredible beauty of this place is a darshan in itself. Everything Osho said about the marble rocks is true, it is one of the wonders of the world. We stopped our boat after about half an hour, and clambered out onto some ghostly white marble rocks which were jutting out into the river. Some people meditated, some people slept, and we were all lulled into the very heart of beauty and silence. It was utterly magical. Anil told us, if we want to come back for a longer time, he can take us on a trip to the marble rocks lasting a few days, and we can just be in the nature imbibing the beauty. He also guides people into Tantric experiences using the 64 sculptures at the Yogini temple in his village. When we visited the temple, it was amazing to feel the energy emanating from the deity inside, the only one of it’s kind in the world, a sculpture of Shiva and Paravati on their marriage day, riding on the back of a bull.

Jabalpur photo gallery

Former maid in Osho's house recounts tales of him as a boy

With much gratefulness in our hearts for Anil, we then journeyed 5 hours by Taxi over abominable roads, to reach Osho’s birthplace. There is an Osho ashram there, run by both Japanese and Indians. It is right on the edge of Osho’s birth village, a tiny hamlet, with houses made of mud brick and cow dung. Crowds of children swarmed around us as we made our way to the house which had been Osho’s home for the first 7 years of his life, the house of his grandparents. The house is abandoned, though it has been kept from complete ruin through the efforts of the nearby ashram. What I experienced meditating in that humble room where he was born, is beyond words. Tears kept welling up in my eyes as I found myself in resonance with the immensity of his soul, born into simplicity and innocence, yet brimming over with enlightened presence. We were guided to the mud, straw and stick hut of a very old woman who was a maid servant in Osho’s grandparents house when Osho was a child there. With ever present raucous laughter, she recounted how he never worked, but simply drank milk, a real lord of the manor so to speak. At the end of our meeting, we found ourselves showering her with money and expressing our gratitude to her for looking after the well being of our master so many years before.

Osho’s birthplace photo gallery

At the foot of the holy mountain

The next day, we came to Pachmari, a hill station, which has many sacred sites and breathtaking views over a vast terrain of wild forests, lakes and rivers. Here, we relaxed in a very luxurious hotel, decorated in a style reminiscent of the British Raj with wonderful vibrant gardens, and a staff ever ready to wait on us hand and foot. This is a great way to unwind and relax after the series of very intense experiences. Today, in the morning, we walked up 1200 steps to the top of a mountain with a Shiva temple on top. The temple was not very interesting, having been left incomplete, but the views as we climb up and down are phenomenal. And to top it all off, an Ayurvedic massage with a 3rd generation practitioner of this art, who is very gifted. This helped to iron out  very sore muscles from the climb up the holy mountain.

Pachmari photo gallery

Stay tuned for more sacred tours, with Niten and Santoshi as guides!

Love

Sarita

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

As news of the dissolution of the School of Awakening breaks, a new life bursts onto the scene…

The (as it turned out) final team meeting of the School of Awakening was scheduled to take place at my house in Bristol on 15 September. The first two days were for the whole team and the final four or five, just for the Tantra teachers to prepare upcoming groups.

The first day, Wednesday, brought the news that Sarita and Supragya had decided to dissolve the  School. We all felt this was a positive move and yet there were of course feelings of sadness at the thought of letting go of our wonderful creation. Most of us finished the day by dancing through our emotions at Leigh’s fabulous 5 Rhythms Class – very appropriate as Leigh is also one of our Tantra teachers.  The next morning, my pregnant flatmate Shanti (another tantrika) woke me at 5.30 to tell me that she thought her waters had partly broken and she was going to the hospital. This was VERY early – only 27 weeks and 2 days (rather than the usual 36 to 40 weeks). We went together to the delivery suite where Shanti was examined and kept in for observation for a couple of days. I left at lunchtime and got back in time for Sarita’s discourse on the difference between Tantra and Sacred Sexual Healing.

Shanti was discharged from hospital 2 days later on Saturday (my birthday) and told to take it easy as she could possibly give birth in the next two to three weeks. Next day Sunday, we were all just about to sit down to a fantastic raw food meal prepared by not one but two Tantric raw food chefs – Niten and Kamla – when the contractions started! With Shanti moaning and groaning and the contractions coming every few minutes – there was not a moment to lose! Kamla helped pack the hospital bag, I called the hospital and Chintan brought his car to the door and off we went.

Two hours later out popped little Indra – a tiny baby boy weighing only 1kg! The lovely midwife caught him, scooped him up and handed him to the waiting team of baby doctors who cleaned him up and attempted to get a tube

Indra's first breaths

down his throat to help his breathing.  ”Ooh – he’s an active one”, they said – he was kicking and mewing like a little kitten. Meanwhile Shanti delivered the placenta and was on her feet a few minutes later to look at her baby son. He was soon whisked off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and we all had tea and toast while his condition stabilised. It all felt very surreal! Half an hour later, Shanti was able to gently touch him in his incubator and so began the long process of premature baby care. I left the hospital about 3am – it was pouring with rain – very appropriate as Indra (the name which her half Indian son had given her in a dream a couple of months earlier) is the god of rain (and war!).

Front page of the local newspaper! I couldn't resist telling the guy at the checkout in Tesco's that he was my flatmate's baby - he and his male colleague were clucking over the picture and asking how long he measured as the queue built up behind me!

Today, just over 2 weeks later – little Indra has made the front page of the local newspaper, the Bristol Evening Post in a fund raising article for the Premature Baby Unit at St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol. I’m happy to report that mother and baby are both doing very well!

I couldn’t resist sharing this story  - partly as it goes to show how ‘spot on’ Sarita is when she says that Sex, Birth and Death are never far apart! What a week that was!

Shanti and her baby

Lots of love – especially to Shanti and Indra

Sidika

If you would like to support the appeal to raise £1 million to expand the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Michael’s Hospital Bristol, please visit their appeal

Last week I attended my first Tachyon group. It was lead by Sarita and Qiming and combined together Tachyon and Tantric meditations for the first time. I originally came across Tachyon at the Osho ashram in Pune, India when my friend showed me her Tachyonised necklace. I think it was the same year when I met David Wagner, the inventor of the Tachyonization process, who was giving a demonstration in the ashram. It sounded fascinating but I didn’t jump in at that time. Many years later, I experienced the restorative effects of the Tachyon cocoon during lunch breaks on Sarita’s Tantra courses at Croydon Hall – quite amazing!

A little more time went by and I had my most quantifiable healing with the cocoon. I was on a 5 day residential Tantra Course with another Tantra teacher and had arrived with an upset stomach – OK let’s be blunt – I had diarrhoea and was feeling pretty untantric. I’d come straight from a voice workshop so it was probably a clearing from that but that was small comfort at the time. As the days went by, I seemed to get weaker and weaker and was not really enjoying myself so much – not so easy to be sitting in Yab Yum where too much relaxation may have been unfortunate!

Anyhow, after 3 or 4 days, the lovely Tanja (who I didn’t really know at the time) asked me in the evening if I was still feeling bad – I nodded bleakly and she whisked me up to her room and put me in her cocoon  while she went off to the party downstairs. Ah what bliss, I began to feel myself being worked on by the Tachyon energy and soon fell asleep. I woke up about two hours later, felt slightly alarmed that perhaps I’d overcooked myself, folded up the cocoon, went back to my room and went to bed. Next morning, I felt like anew person, full of energy, no sign of upset stomach and extremely relieved to be back in the Tantra groove.

And now finally here I was in my first Tachyon group and eagerly awaiting my very own Tachyonised Vortex pendant which I had been assured would align my chakras. I’d been having a bit of a rough ride over the last few weeks so I was looking forward to the energetic support offered. The other participants came from far and wide  -Norway, Poland and Brazil were well-represented – everyone with their different story of how they had first encountered Tachyon.

Sarita and Qiming told us of the coming delights of the group – great anticipation and excitement. “OK, that’s the good news”, said Sarita. “Now for the bad news – the Tachyon pendants haven’t yet arrived and appear to have got lost in the international post!” Tanja and Qiming’s husband Gordon were doing their best to trace them but unfortunately Tracking numbers didn’t translate from one country to another. Always one to see the opportunity value of a ‘problem’, Sarita explained how valuable it was to experience some of the exercises without wearing the pendant and then notice the difference when we did them again with our pendant. She explained that sometimes people got lazy and just expected the Tachyon pendant to do all the work for them, whereas in reality we still had to do the work of transformation for ourselves, with the Tachyon there to enhance and provide a sustained support for the energy work. Everyone seemed remarkably unphased and raring to go pendant or no pendant.

The first day included a fair amount of information on what Tachyon energy is and how it derives from the Zero Point Field and interacts with the ‘subtle organising energy fields’ around all matter. The SOEFs ( a term coined by Gabriel Cousens of raw food fame) are essentially a blueprint or matrix for all matter. I absolutely love this kind of stuff and get really inspired exploring the territory where spirituality and science meet. We looked at the chakra system and how when this is fully open to the descent of divine energy, this is known as being vertically aligned and how trees and plants and most animals are naturally in this state – it’s only in humans and sometimes their pets) were things begin to go awry. The Tachyon pendant helps pierce open this channel and keeps us in vertical alignment.

Sarita explained about the concept of bifurcation – the way life repeatedly switches between order and chaos. In the chaos (or bifurcation) phase there is a choice – a reassemblage to a higher order of evolution or a breakdown into entropy and lower levels of order – it’s all a matter of consciousness. Disease occurs where bifurcation has led to entropy. This period on our planet is also a bifurcation point culminating in the changes in 2012. Tachyon speeds up the bifurcation process and helps us move through our ‘stuff’ – i.e all that is preventing us from living to our fullest divine potential. The various meditations and practices which we would be learning during the group would help us to handle this increased transformational load. I must admit, I had a slight wobble at this point – “Didn’t I already have enough going on already without speeding it up?”, I asked myself.

At the end of a very full day I travelled back on the bus with fellow participant Sam – we had a great time discussing energy, metaphysics and shamanism. Next day we did some beautiful Tantric meditations and began our entrainment practices with the trees, bushes and flowers in the garden.

Here's a tree I would love to have entrained with - isn't she gorgeous!

Entrainment is a process where you come into resonance with something and literally become it – I was already familiar with it from my shamanic studies (where it’s known as grocking) and also through one of the meditations in theVigyan Bhairav Tantra Online Meditation Series. Even so, I did find it quite challenging at times – Oh mind, please be a servant and not the master! Coming into resonance with a tree which is naturally in perpetual vertical alignment, helps us to access that space ourselves. I think I need to divorce my computer for a while and go and live in the woods for a bit – there’s some beautiful woods close to where I live in Bristol and I always feel immensely nourished when I walk there – now I understand better why.

Over the next few days we explored several more Tantric meditations including some of my favourites from the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. A particularly powerful one for me was one practicing The Great Law of Magic which can be stated as “Live the results and the cause will follow.” Sarita asked us to choose one strong desire and then write down what we would be feeling once we had achieved that desire. I wont say here what my desire was (big clue: to do with relationships!) but what I imagined I was wanting through the fulfilment of this desire was to feel ‘relaxed and joyful’. At first, I thought this sounded a bit tame, but it was what came to me spontaneously and the more we continued with the exercise expressing these particular qualities, the more I realised how profound and yet obvious was this insight. I am a self-confessed workaholic and can be a wee bit serious at times. In my early days in the Osho ashram, I was a zealous practitioner of Tibetan Pulsing ( a bit like sustained Shiatsu) and the organ I resonated was Lungs – which in the positive expresses joy and in the negative takes on too much and gets stressed (i.e. opposite to relaxed!). Here was a clear message to me – a useful filter when presented with choices- will this new opportunity bring me joy and relaxation or something else – perhaps more ego-fulfilling, but ultimately less nourishing? Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that (or is it??) but I feel quite excited at the prospect of a new joyful and relaxed me!

I found some of the practices we learned to help us deal with bifurcation accelerated by Tachyon quite demanding. We did some very powerful work on dissolving the ego using a technique invented by David Wagner – something which I will continue to use – as naturally some of my ego escaped! All of this work was hugely nourished by the delicious raw food lunches which arrived everyday and the exquisite raw chocolate cake in the afternoon tea break! Other highlights of the group for me were the party and Qiming’s demonstration of the various Tachyon products available. Finally we came to say goodbye, and were all wearing our beautiful new Tachyon pendants (which arrived by courier at the venue at the same time as the original order meandered it’s way to Qiming’s house!). I’m sure I saw a glint in Sarita’s eye when she kissed me goodbye and said, “Ah Sidika, I’m looking forward to hearing about your bifurcation processes!

For the next four days I found myself on a Tachyon honeymoon – feeling very peaceful and relaxed. A big bifurcation blip on day five, precipitated by some weird dreams and soothed by a couple of self-applied mini Colour Light Therapy treatments (thanks for the suggestions, Kamla!) and then OK again the last couple of days – the process continues! I do really sense a shift in my core to a more self-compassionate, relaxed way of being….something which I hope will blossom in the Tantra Meditation Retreat in Dharamsala next month. Hooray – back to India after an absence of more than six years!

For anyone else who participated in the Infinity: Power of Now Tachyon/Tantra combo group, remember to email Sarita with your experiences – or perhaps even put them as comments on this blog. Happy processing!

Love and alignment

Sidika (newly Tachyonized version)