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.

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)

There it dawned on me, and I am in wonder that, at last, this IS ordinary to me. I breathe in the memory of the magnificence of us ordinary extraordinary women sharing our inner wisdom on the beach at nightfall in Corfu.

Actually I am in wonder about it all. When I first did level 7 I was so much on my inner journey that I scarcely noticed the evolution of those around me. This time having assisted with the same group from level 4 my focus was more outward and the joy of witnessing the amazing blossoming of 15 couples has been so inspiring. The bonus is that in revisiting the meditations with my beloved we were really able to recognise the impact that our Soul Mate journey has had on our relationship. We now relate from a place of deep personal honesty and accountability, this deep stream of loving that runs through our relationship allows for each of us to be unselfconsciously ourselves and allows us to be ridiculous joyous idiots when the wind is in the right direction. I didn’t think that sex could get much better than what I had experienced in our 1st level 7, but it did. We found ourselves in a whole new dimension where our bodies totally took over from our minds and we were like dolphins tumbling together in a sea of profound knowing.

I honour the courage and expansive energy of the couples. The magnificent wild and horny energy of the men, combined with their sensitivity and their vast capacity for loving. The vulnerable openess of the women combined with their wisdom and fiery passion. My sense of my own journey is that while I steadily deepen and expand in my relationship with Edwin, it is in the alchemy of group energy that we make our quantum leaps. We are blessed to be in a time where these gatherings can happen, we are blessed that so many are drawn to do this work, we are blessed that souls like Sarita are moving among us guiding us to our ecstatic truth.

Fiona x

There was such a buzz of excitement in the air – this was the first time Osho Leela had ever hosted a Tantra Festival and Wow – what a festival it looked to be! The line up was Sarita, Suta and Tina, Roxana and Vincent, Baba Dez, Jewels, Hanna and Martin, Leora Lightwoman, Jan Daly, Joy Hicklin-Bailey and Rebecca and Rupert!

On the first evening we gathered in a packed marquee (around 200 participants I think – Osho Leela was sold out and had to close bookings a week before it started!). The teachers introduced each other and then lead us into a ritual culminating in Sarita guiding a super powerful lingam and yoni ritual – I couldn’t resist looking round at one point and seeing Sarita, eyes closed, waving her arm, intent on whipping up the energy. After that is was OK good night everyone and see you at 7.15am in the marquee for Chakra Breathing Meditation. As Sarita could only be there for just over a day before she had to leave for the Couples Level 7 retreat in Corfu, she was ‘maxing out’ her schedule. I crawled out of my sleeping bag at 7am and just made it for the morning meditation. Once again the marquee was packed and the intensity of the meditation probably surprised a few people – and all before breakfast!

Sarita at the festival

Then came the Morning Meeting where Deveraj and Neeraj from Osho Leela ran through the schedule for the day and the teachers introduced their various workshops. Some of teachers asked us to bring a partner of the opposite sex – gulp! gulp! or smug grin depending on your circumstances! Luckily it turned out that bring a partner usually meant just walk through the door with someone – it wasn’t that you had to work intimately with them or even partner them at all – just a way of balancing the genders. Later that day, Sarita led the Soul Mate Meditation and then in the evening gave a talk about Tantra and introduced a beautiful Mahamudra meditation complete with live music from the band Presence.

Next morning, it was Baba Dez who held centre stage in the Marquee – and the gaze of most of the women in the place – I’m sure it wasn’t just me! As a marketing person a thought it was OK to take a few pics for the blog etc (I did check first with Dez’s son Ryan who was filming Dez’s European tour). But did I have to take quite so many of this lanky Divine Masculine?? He is a shaman as well as a Tantrika and his magic was certainly working!

Baba Dez - one of many pics!

Unlike most workshops, this one was mainly a talk and then a guided regression and repatterning of the Divine Masculine aspect. I was in floods of tears which continued unabated as the regression ended and Dez asked us to all embody the Divine Masculine and stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and said we’d all become a men’s group. I was all of a wobble after and ended up giving a very gushing testimonial on camera to Ryan after he’d assured me I didn’t look too dreadful!

And on and on we went, riding the tantric ocean for the next four days, sampling the various delicacies available, confronting our wounding, learning to say ‘yes’ (but only when we’d learned how to say ‘no’), being caressed in the Love Lounge, exploding in ecstasy, making sweet new connections and the whole spectrum in between.

The last evening was for me, one of the highlights. Osho Leela is famous for its cabaret shows – greatly enhanced by its outrageous dressing up cupboard (actually a room). The MC for the evening was Niraj who with his usual aplomb and wit did a fabulous job of introducing some top class acts. My absolute favourite act was Meg and two friends from the Love Lounge who did a pastiche of the morning meeting with Deveraj (Deja Vu) and Niraj (Mirage) from Osho Leela (Oh so Lulu). The hilarity grew, as each Tantra teacher was introduced and their idiosyncrasies exploited mercilessly! I was rolling around helplessly by the end of it.

Finally, the end of the festival arrived – super-charged, joyous dancing in the morning meeting followed by a beautiful closing ceremony. Tents were packed up, addresses swapped, tender farewells, passionate farewells and promises to meet again.

And we will meet again – Osho Leela has already set the dates for next year’s festival…and it’s going to be longer!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Osho Leela tantric apples - enjoy!

Love

Sidika

So – were you there this time? If you were, write a comment if you will and say how it was for you.

Most people think that if one is spiritual, one cannot be a powerful business person and vice versa.  Well I have to say that the best way forward in business is to embrace spiritual practices.  I, for one, came from a corporate sales background.  I worked in the health care sector for about 7 years.  Then one day, my career life suddenly came to an abrupt halt!  In hindsight, I was pursuing the wrong life mission.  I was driven and motivated by money-oriented goals (which I discovered later on, weren’t even mine!).  When my life fell apart, I was led towards the spiritual side of life, and believe you, me, it was not on my agenda.  I was forced to revisit my goals and purpose in life.  In a round about way, with heels kicking, (lthough still remaining in the health and well-being sector), I am now a holistic therapist, a coach of well-being issuesand a facilitator/teacher.

Since having done my very first Tachyon course with School of Awakening, I found myself flowing much more easily through life.  I remember Sarita explaining to me at that time, that once I was connected to Source and energy is flowing endlessly through me, I would be clearer about my mission and purpose, and abundance would be created with this flow.  Eight months later, I found myself relocating to England to live.  I stopped kicking and screaming and took on the flow…flowing into the direction of what I am meant to be truly doing.  And when I am within the flow of what I love to do most, I find that manifesting my goals is quite easy, as I am totally aligned and nothing is in my way of manifesting those goals.  When something gets in the way, then I clear the way and keep moving through it to achieve it or I revisit my original intention.  I am constantly reviewing if I am living my highest purpose.  So flow is easy, we just need to align to it.

David Wagner’s invention of the Tachyonization  machine is a beautiful gift that gives us an amazing tool to help support us on our life’s journey. Using these powerful methods, combining the modern with the ancient, we can easily achieve this flow.  Existence has given us this cutting edge technology to help us accelerate towards our highest good.  We do not need to meditate and do practices for umpteen years to get to our true purpose in life.

I first learnt about Tachyon in School of Awakening Tantra groups, as I witnessed Sarita using the tools to support the participants in between their deep processes.  I was amazed at the efficacy of these tools. I took my first Tachyon workshop in between my Tantra training.  And I was profoundly affected by the shifts within myself when I went back into my next tantra group.  I attributed it to the use of the tool that I had acquired at the Tachyon workshop. I was able to drop deeply into my meditations much quicker and the overall experiences were euphoric.

The idea of combining both methods together happened when I took over the organizing of the Tachyon groups for the school and was well immersed in the whole topic of Tachyon.  About three years ago, I suggested to Sarita this idea and here we are today, with our launch in less than two weeks!  We’ve called this new group “Infinity: Power of One”. It’s a course that presents the best of both worlds of tachyon and tantra and is a gift to anyone who wishes more to accelerate towards excellence in the true sense! The group is in London on 25-29 September and will be co-facilitated by Sarita and I – we’re both so excited (watch our video!) and can’t wait to see you there – it’s going to be phenomenal!

In Love and Joy

Qiming

For more information on Tachyon with School of Awakening see our Tachyon webpages

For our new Tantra/Tachyon combo group “Infinity: The Power of Now” in London on 25-29 September read more here and for further details please contact Tanja Gower:

tanja@schoolofawakening.com

Tel:   0777 567 5729

For more Tachyon information from David Wagner, the inventor of the Tachyonization process see his website

You might particularly enjoy several videos where David talks about how to protect you and your home from harmful electromagnetic fields.

Here are some articles about how Tachyon works and its beneficial effects:

Science and Spirituality Merge – Tachyon as an energy amplifier

Joyous Life as a Super-conductor

Attunement with the Cosmic Flow

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