According to Abhinavagupta, a master of the Tantrik lineages, there are three skilful means to liberation, or Upāya, of which one is śāmbhava upāya. He first outlined this framework in Tantrāloka around 10 centuries ago. The first is the Embodied Means (ānava upāya), which focuses on practices that use the body, breath and imagination, focusing …
Battling Spiritual Materialism: That Time I was Kicked off an Online Summit
Recently, I was invited to appear as a presenter on an online Summit that was focused on raising consciousness. Turns out it was likely all about spiritual materialism*. When the invite showed up in my inbox, from people I didn’t know, I went to check out the material, check out their website, and see who …
Waking Up and White Supremacy. Do your Work.
This story begins with a black woman in London, an essential worker, a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister… She’s one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have died of Covid-19. If it weren’t for this new disease, she would likely still be alive. And possibly, if she wasn’t a black woman, …
Awakening – what is it?
There’s a lot of terms that get thrown around all the time in spiritual circles… yet often there’s no examination of what we’re referring to by those terms. To that end, I’d like to start a new series focusing on The Basics of Tantrik Teachings, and in particularly focusing on explaining words. (Happy to take …
When the Land Heals • Experiences at Haramara Retreat Centre
My first encounter with Haramara Retreat centre, nestled on a tiny peninsula of land beside the Pacific ocean tourist town of Sayulita in Mexico, was intensely challenging. I was there to lead retreat with a skilled facilitator, who also happened to be my now-ex partner. In between leading a retreat in New Zealand in May, …
