WHAT IS TANTRA?
by Janet Kira Lessin & Sasha Lessin, Ph.D.
www.schooloftantra.com  schooloftantra@aol.com

Tantra, an ancient spiritual practice and high art form given us by the gods, helps us--their children--awaken, be conscious, feel oneness with each other, remember who we are and experience unity with all that is. Tantra's spiritual psychology that clears chakras (energy centers in the body), heals ancient wounds and reprograms cultural conditioning that has distanced us from those we love.

Tantra involves yoga stretching to heal our bodies, connect our breath and postures, center and balance us. Tantra meditation triggers electromagnetic kundalini that surges orgasmically up our spines, connecting us to lovers and to the divine.  Tantric practices simultaneously make heighten our sense of both individuality and loving oneness with our beloveds. Tantra mandates clear communication, kind relating and sensual mating that soars us in sweet sacred surrender from the depths of our soul to stratospheric heights where we lose ourselves in the beauty of love.

Tantra's centering, the balance of yin/yang, male female, inner/outer, above/below, adult/child. When we center ourselves, we develop an Aware Ego and become conscious of prejudices and judgments towards others. We notice criticisms with which we punish ourselves. We tame our demons and learn how to take personal responsibility for our own baggage and not project it outward onto others in harmful ways.

Tantra's feeling others as we feel ourselves–taking others into consideration when making decisions. Tantra's consensus reality, embracing group mind while honoring individuality and consciousness in each being, respecting and granting all free will and creative expression.

The tantric path is a spiritual discipline, where we practice bhakti yoga (divine service), to the apparent others, the beloveds, our lovers and personalized Gods or Goddesses. They, in kind, lovingly are in service to us, devoted to our healing, well-being and personal growth. In this sacred service We discover giving and receiving are the same.

Tantra's weaving, weaving all the levels of our awareness, called chakras, within us and between us and those we love. Chakras correlate with our body parts, loosely associated where ganglia join; at the bottom of our torso, genitals, belly, heart, throat, brain and neocortex. Our first chakra relates to our perineum, our need to belong, feel safe, secure and healthy, grounded in our material and emotional existence. The second chakra relates to our sexuality and reproductive organs, our need to feel sexual and sensual. The third chakra's our belly, the need to take what's rightfully ours and empower ourselves. The fourth chakra's our heart which guides us to love, cherish, support, heal and encourage ourselves and our lover. The fifth chakra's the throat where we learn how to communicate clearly, kindly, authentically. The sixth chakra's the home of the brain: vision, intuition, intellect where we learn how to receive, share and expand visions for ourselves, each other, others We love, our community and world. In the crown chakra tantric meditations invoke awareness of our unity with everyone and everything.

Tantra helps us rise to broader perspectives, yet stay aware of the wisdom of all our chakras. We encompass more than what we think we
are and expand our awareness to more than our body. We expand our perspective to even more than awareness of us and our darling, more
than the awareness we share with each other and with humans, with everyone and everything everywhere at all-times. We experience unity,
the seamless web of consciousness linking the manifest universe. WE merge with the latent--unformed but constantly arising––reality of
the metacosmic void, identify with divine play that can manifest all forms and appreciate endless diversity while knowing we're one with
it all, in love will all creation.

About the Authors

Janet Kira Lessin, Chief Focalizer for the World Polyamory Association and hubby Dr. Sasha Lessin are featured speakers at the Annual Harbin Hot Springs Polyamory Conference, Celebrate Relationship Choice, May 2-14, 2006 at Harbin Hot Springs, CA. See www.worldpolyamoryassociation.com