Halloween was my favorite holiday as a kid. I really loved getting dressed up in a costume and walking to school. I only lived a block from Breton Downs Elementary in East Grand Rapids, MI. I was thrilled by the idea of concealing my identity. On the outside, I could be anyone I wanted to be, while hiding who I really was on the inside. It was my secret.

My favorite costume was dressing up as a monster, the more gruesome the better, with a distorted rubber mask over my head, a hunchback covered by an oversized trench coat, and huge green, reptilian, rubber hands with wrinkled skin, large veins, crooked fingers (that I now recognize as severe arthritis), and long black fingernails. I was a scary sight for sure.

Once at school, all of the kids would parade around the halls single file to observe the creative costumes. Even the teachers dressed up in costumes. Then back in our homerooms we would have the big “reveal.” There was something about this that was so exciting and joyous – to come out from behind the mask and be yourself in the presence of others. As I look back, I loved the attention, appreciation, and expressions of surprise on people’s faces when they discovered who was really behind the mask – a moment of truth, a moment of seeing and being seen.
Concealment with the joy of revelation is one of the most fascinating teachings in Tantra.
The term Rahasya means a secret and refers to the nature of the universe. The universe reveals itself by secreting itself. The infinite releases finitude by concealing unity. In other words, the uni-verse, or the one song, conceals its oneness by becoming […]

Although underrated, twists are powerful poses and have many benefits. They open the primordial channel of energy along the spine – the Sushumna Nadi (channel of grace), which puts you in touch with the universal energy within you. In addition, twists purify the internal organs and are the “tonic” for the spine. Given that the spinal column is the home of the central nervous system which carries “biologic wires” of communication to every part of the body, twists work with the nerves and emotions. When anxious, twists will calm you down. When exhausted, twists rejuvenate and restore you.

At the recent Love Yoga Festival in Falmouth, I taught a class on spinal twists and I began the class with Tantric teachings. You can hear a recording of this talk below. Tranquility is our true nature and is the goal and driver of all yoga paths. We want to find the calm within the chaos, the eye of the hurricane. Tranquility is one of the qualities of the great Absolute that resides within.

But most of us have forgotten how to access tranquility. In the speed of today’s technological world, we’ve lost the patience and perseverance that it takes to cultivate true serenity. We habitually try to find serenity in all of the wrong places through addiction to substances, food, sex, money, etc. At best, these superficial outlets can only bring temporary peace but often lead to more pain, suffering, complications, and chaos – the opposite of serenity.
Life’s path is full of surprises. It twists and turns. The journey of the heart is never a straight line.
We can’t stop this from happening but we can choose how to respond to it. You can either turn away from […]