What’s the Relationship Between Tantra and Yoga?
What makes Vira Bhava Yoga different from other Yoga experiences is that we teach our Yoga from the philosophical foundation of Tantra. Tantra and Yoga are both so vast, it is impossible for me to discuss more than a fraction of the teachings and approaches, but even so, I talk about Tantra a lot. Even when not explicitly stated, the world view that I hold and share with others is a Tantric one. Most people have an inaccurate and misinformed idea about the philosophy, and a few people even fear it. Though there is a little kernel of truth in everything, the kernels that most people associate with Tantra are far from the practice and experience of it. So let’s see what I can offer to set the record straight, in black and white, about the sinuous and in-betweenness of Tantric philosophy, and to elucidate the relationship between Tantra and Yoga and how to put it into practice.
The principles of Tantra, though very simple, are sometimes difficult to grasp because they require us to view the entire universe as our individual experience AND simultaneously as something much bigger than us. Because in modern culture we are mired in individualism, we have a tendency to reject possibilities that stretch beyond our personal (and often learned) perception of the way things are. Tantra challenges this by stating that the microcosm is the macrocosm (and inversely, the macrocosm is the microcosm). In layman's terms this equates roughly to “as within so without,” but steps it up to a new level by positing that “as without, so within.” This simple idea challenges us to resist referencing the outside world as the source of our troubles and successes, and to recognize our personal role in the whole. It calls us to turn the lens of understanding back onto ourselves rather than seek to correct the actions of others.
This principle says the way to save the world is to save yourself, to become painfully clear about our own imbalances, imperfections, mistakes, difficulties, and to own them fully.
At the highest level of this understanding, we become 100% accountable to and for all experiences, events, challenges and successes. The world happens with us, as us, from us, through us, but not to us. We engage with this principle in our everyday lives when we observe the unhealthy and unproductive patterns of needing the world to change in order to change ourselves; i.e. once “they” do better, then I can do better, and we take ownership and responsibility for our role in all situations. As I often explain to students, “it’s all about you AND it’s so much bigger than you.”
Where does Yoga fit in? Yoga is a system that supports the integration and application of the philosophy. Through practices like tapasya (heat building) and svadhyaya (self study), we source the courage to face our inner conflicts and own our misunderstandings. We take agency in exploring our ideas, our criticisms, our shortcomings, and our talents. We uncover our subconscious motivations, we seek greater understanding of who we are and our role in the bigger picture. Through the practice of asana (or postures, which is the most familiar and popular tool of yoga today), we are guided to sit with our physical discomforts and develop the determination (Iccha Shakti) to explore them to their source. In asana, we also learn how to develop awareness of our patterns of physical, and often mental and emotional, behaviors, then integrate them as part of our whole experience. We join with (i.e. Yoga) all of the disparate aspects of our individual self, so that we can become an integrated participant in the whole.
Now back to Tantra. Another main tenet of the philosophy is the understanding of paradox. One of my favorite teachings is that “if it is not a paradox, it’s not divine.” Simply stated, in order for us to experience the tremendousness of that which is bigger than our individual self, we must be equally open to the insignificant and mundane aspects that color our existence. We have a tendency as humans to reach for only the feel-good half of the experience equation. If we don’t feel good, happy, peaceful, easeful, comfortable, etc., we classify our experience as wrong or something to be corrected. Tantra teaches that we cannot experience one half of the feeling equation without also being impacted by its opposite. In other words, when you feel sadness in a happy experience, when you feel a sense of loss at the height of love, when you feel afraid when everything is going your way. The feeling of anticipating “the other shoe dropping” is exactly as it should be, according to Tantra. It’s natural and even expected. The Yoga practice is learning how to feel both sides of the equation at once, to join together with the oppositions, and accept them as parts of a whole.
One definition of the word Tantra is to weave. In practice, this weaving looks like knitting together the tools that WORK FOR YOU into an individual approach to practice (Sva Tantra). However, it is imperative to have first developed a clear and foundational understanding of WHO YOU ARE, prior to (or at least while) you are weaving the tools into utilization. Otherwise, you may find that the hidden and shadowed parts of yourself are choosing the tools to the detriment of your own self discovery and integration. This is the reason the practices and philosophies of Tantra get a bad rap. This is where many teachers of Classical Yoga will deem Tantra dangerous, degenerative, or divergent, none of which are necessarily incorrect. Tantra is dangerous as it puts YOU in the driver’s seat. It holds you completely and unconditionally accountable for your actions, experiences, and choices. Whether known to yourself or not, Tantra says that you are the agent of your reality, and every choice, every decision, every reaction, and response along with your inheritance of Karma, Dharma, and Samskara serve as the building blocks of your moment to moment reality. The work in Tantra isn’t to escape or bypass this agency (like in other styles of Yoga), but rather to fully step into the fray and engage with it fully.
The Yoga of this principle is to understand yourself clearly, a job which NEVER stops. Because we have been gifted with innumerable blindspots to our own being, we must always be interrogating our perceptions. We work with our discoveries through the tools of practice, interrogation, awareness, integration, and engagement. These tools support us in being attuned to what’s “true” about ourselves, as well as what’s “false”, helping us to understand our contribution to EVERY experience. When we accept the “truth” of who we are, and engage with the world from that “truth” in every moment, then we are practicing Yoga. Though classically in Yoga and Tantra the tools are prescriptive, in Tantra they are not limited to only that which is prescribed. A teaching that leads us to the next definition of Tantra.
Tantra means to stretch or expand, instructing us to expand beyond the perception of limitation. Here again, we are called to stretch our awareness beyond our individual perception and question all of the limits that we place upon ourselves. Why do we need the feeling of security? Why do we think that our way of seeing the world is correct (or incorrect)? What if there are possibilities that exist of which we are unaware? When we become bound into a binary understanding, right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, etc., we become blind to the infinite possibilities that populate each moment. When we bind ourselves into our perceptions of “truth,” which are often learned from others who are bound and afraid, we limit our ability to experience the full potential of experience. In turn, we begin to “believe” what we are told or taught about the necessity of limitations, even when it conflicts with our innate understanding. The most challenging aspect is that often our personal identity is attached to our understanding and expression of our limitations.
When we become attached to our fear and doubt, and put our trust in outside authorities to tell us what to do, we become locked into a specific idea of the world and extremely resistant to ideas or experiences outside of these limits. Ultimately, we can lose the acuity of our own intelligence to guide us. We are in this misunderstanding deeply at the current time. Expanding beyond our perceived limits is the recipe for liberation (samadhi, according to Yoga), and in my opinion, is the simplest and hardest work of Tantra that can be applied through the practice of Yoga. The courage it takes to dismantle our perceptions is immense. To interrogate our foundational belief systems is unmooring, uncertain, and often terrifying. Encountering the places that we have denied or even disrespected ourselves in an attempt to align with what we are taught often leads to deep grief and sorrow. Yet, when we can stay this course of this practice, we find that we are innately intelligent, powerful beyond measure, worthy of our own trust, and guided from within in every moment if we can allow it. We can loosen the ties to our fixed identity and become adaptable, empathetic, understanding and compassionate. We can evolve, change, and grow.
These discoveries pave the way to strengthen our boundaries, not by putting up walls, but by anchoring into our center and orienting inward. Salvation, sacrifice and self denial cease to become the guiding principles of righteousness, and are replaced by accountability, awareness, honor, respect, and potential. We can trust ourselves to venture into new territory, we can evolve old systems and adapt our understanding. We can trust in ourselves and align with our values. We can respect others' perceptions without having to diminish them. We can act with agency instead of impotency. We can prioritize our needs and care for others more deeply because of it. We can make our entire lives our Yoga practice, using discernment to identify the tools that work for us, and put the tools into practice in each and every situation.
At Vira Bhava Yoga, we practice and teach these principles in multiple ways. First, we ask you to learn the rules so that you can be empowered to break them. We teach you principles of alignment, safety, and anatomy of asana, and then remind you to honor every body as unique with its own inner compass. We teach you ways to sequence your classes wisely, and then dare you to experiment with different techniques and approaches. We empower you to develop your own voice by experimenting with the tools we offer and recognizing what works for YOU. We encourage you to disagree with us, and support the generative inquiry that comes from difference. We teach the practice of Yoga as an invitation to enter your life rather than to escape it by slowing down your movement, provoking self inquiry, and asking lots of questions. We don’t provide answers, and if we do our jobs well, you leave with MORE questions than when you started. We question authority (ours, yours, and others’), we probe the edges of comfort and safety, and encourage you to take risks. We teach Yoga NOT as what you do on your mat but as a lifestyle, and we ask you to practice it in this way. We fill up your Yoga toolbox, and give you opportunities to explore what tools work for you, but attach to no outcomes. We educate that Yoga is the experience of YOUR innate intelligence, and that inspiration comes from within.
Lastly, we teach Yoga as a practice self accountability and responsibility. We will NOT tell you what to do, but we will offer guidance, opportunities to explore, and suggestions. We will not give you scripts, or demand compliance. We will not fail anyone at Yoga, because you cannot fail at being who you are. When lived, Yoga is not a practice, Yoga is who you are, and we do our very best to provide for you the opportunities to experience this directly. We will encourage you to gather all of the tools and use them, and we will support you in learning how to trust yourself to do so.
At VBY, we understand Tantra as a lens through which to view the world, and Yoga as the way we can put that view into practice. These brief explanations are only the tiniest fraction of the philosophies and practices we teach. If you want to know more, be supported and guided through your own direct experience of them, or if you are just curious, join one of our online programs, and stretch beyond what you perceive Yoga and Tantra to be.