How to Practice Eco-Tantra
Eco-tantra is inspired by ancient Tantric wisdom. This ancient teaching has been adapted to empower practitioners to experience a spiritual connection with the natural world.
Eco-tantric practice is based on the application of three Tantric principles:
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Non-Dual Consciousness
Many religious and spiritual traditions teach that there is a separation between divinity (i.e., spirit) and material existence (i.e., flesh). This teaching causes many mainstream religions to devalue the material world. The consequences of this tradition can be seen across the globe, with the rise of human-centric societies and the industrialised plunder of our environment.
Many ancient Tantras taught that there was no separation between the divine and the material world. That divine consciousness was present in everything. They also taught a variety of techniques that could be used by practitioners to develop our own awareness of this spiritual unity.
Left-Handed Practices
Many of the techniques developed to awaken non-dual awareness have since been labelled as “left-handed” practices. This is because the left hand is associated with impure substances, and left handed practices traditionally make use of “impurities”.
When the Tantras were written, Indian religious culture was built around a concept of pure and impure substances. This doesn't align with the philosophy of the non-dual Tantras, which seems everything as innately divine.
To combat the dualistic model of pure and impure, and to awaken a sense of non-dualism, Tantricas were encouraged to confront so-called impurities and to overcome any sense of disgust or revulsion. This included the ritual use of substances such as meat, alcohol and sexual fluids as well as adorning themselves in bones and engaging in forbidden sexual relationships. Some Tantras even stated that practitioners should drink urine and eat faeces.
These instructions may have been intended to be taken literally, but more likely is that practitioners could use meditation and contemplation techniques to recognise that these “impure” substances were equally as divine as presumed “pure” substances. For example, whilst faeces may poison a human it is an essential food source for other creatures, such as flies and dung beetles.
Ego and Attachment
Left handed practices are designed to challenge and dismantle a socially constructed identity of self so that it can be replaced with a new sense of self, one that is aligned with non-dual divinity. But unless you too were raised in the same religious culture that places a similar emphasis on pure and impure substances, applying these same techniques in a modern eco-tantric context are unlikely to produce the same results. So other techniques are needed.
The non-dual Tantras recognise that ego and attachment present obstacles to the realisation of non-dual consciousness. This is because both ego and attachment reinforce a sense of objectification, separation and differentiation. From a non-dual perspective every individual is wholly divine. There is no greater divinity. Consequently you do not need to possess anything, nor do you need to become anything. You are already complete.
Rather than concerning themselves with the ritualistic use of “impure” substances or activities then, a modern eco-tantrica can focus on rejecting anything that reinforces their ego. For anyone raised in a society that lauds material wealth and status this is a particularly powerful technique, because it is a technique of conscious minimalism.
There is evidence that many of the earliest Tantricas also adopted a minimalist lifestyle, dwelling in caves and forests, rejecting clothing and wandering naked. As a modern eco-tantrica what better way can there be to break free from your socially constructed ego and develop a greater sense of unity with the natural world than to escape to a remote wilderness and frolic in the nude?
Kundalini Activation
The concept of Kundalini can be found in many Tantras. Although other names are sometimes used, Kundalini refers to the subtle energy or divine power that exists within (or overlays) our physical body.
Whilst Kundalini Activation and energy work can be undertaken outside of a Tantric practice, the awakening of Kundalini is especially powerful when combined with non-dual consciousness. This combination is the basis of Tantra Yoga. To be effective Tantra Yoga relies on the integration of several different techniques: visualisation, breathing exercises, postures, sensual touch, and meditation.
Visualisation
Tantra Yoga is based on an understanding of the subtle (or energy) body. The concept of the subtle body became increasingly complex over the centuries to include networks of energy channels (nadis) and energy centres (chakras).
This complex body mapping often incorporated a pantheon of gods and goddesses, and the practitioner would imagine these deities at different points within their subtle body. It can be imagined that, when combined with non-dual consciousness, subtle body mapping equipped practitioners to experience a sense of unity with the god or goddess - in effect, a sense of self-deification.
Within eco-tantra we can use a much simpler map of the subtle body to encourage a feeling of unity with nature. This subtle body consists of a central channel, or circuit, descending down the front of our bodies from forehead to anus and then ascending along our spine to the crown of our head. Along this channel we can visualise five chakras representing the five natural elements of earth, water, fire, air and space.
The earth chakra is located at the base of the energy circuit, at the anus. Water is associated with the sacral chakra, located just above our genitalia. Our navel is the location of our fire chakra and air is located in the centre of our chests, where our heart resides directly behind the sternum. Finally, the element of space is associated with the third eye, behind our foreheads between our eyebrows. Often a sixth chakra is imagined at the crown of our heads, this is where the elements unite and connect us to the all-encompassing Absolute.
The important thing to remember about these chakras is that they don't merely exist in an upright or vertical direction (as often depicted in diagrams), they also spread horizontally, so that if a chakra is activated on the front of the body it is also activated along the back, which is where we feel Kundalini rising from the base of our spine to the crown of our heads.
Pranayama
Within yoga breathing exercises are referred to as pranayama. The term "breathing exercises" is actually a simplified translation of this word as prana can mean both breath and life energy. In other words, whilst it may feel as though we are working with our breath we are actually learning to manipulate our internal energy reserves.
There are various breathing exercises that can be used to activate Kundalini and many of them form the core of Kundalini yoga. However, one or two are usually sufficient when combined with visualisation techniques.
Tantra likes to invert norms, and it is no different when practicing breathing techniques. Many yogas teach that the inhale is an ascending breath and the exhale is a descending breath. But in Tantra this is reversed, so prana descends on the inhale, from the third eye all the way down to the anus, and then it ascends on the exhale along the length of the spine until it reaches the crown of the head.
This combination of visualisation and pranayama can be done at the beginning of any practice to align your mind-body to the intention of the practice.
Postures
Yoga asana - or postural yoga - is widely taught and practiced all around the world. But Tantra Yoga doesn't focus on mastering the perfect posture, gaining strength or improving flexibility. Instead postural yoga is used to align breath, body and mind, to awaken dormant Kundalini energy and to heighten non-dual awareness.
Any postures can be used, providing they combine conscious breathing with both movements and stillness. In general, elevated postures, such as mountain pose, heighten spiritual awareness and a sense of unity, seated poses encourage grounding and are especially useful when meditating whilst balances improve mental focus and stability.
Rather than being an end in themselves, yoga postures should be seen as preparation for more meditative practices.
Sensual Touch
Kundalini is often mistaken as sexual energy. There's good reason for this; Kundalini Activation is often accompanied by sexual arousal and what is perhaps best described as an “energy orgasm”.
Whilst the realisation that the source of sexual pleasure is internal and does not require any external stimulus whatsoever, this is not the purpose of awakening Kundalini. In reality, this is a re-balancing of latent energy.
As humans much of our energy becomes stored and trapped in the sacral chakra. This chakra is associated with water - or within our bodies, sexual fluids - as well as being associated with lust and desire. An abundance of energy in this chakra often leads to craving, objectification and a sense of incompleteness or inadequacy.
All of this sounds quite negative, but it should be remembered that this energy is essential for us to experience the material world as sensual and physical beings, even if our true reality is one of divine unity. The problem is not the chakra itself, or the energy held there, it is the imbalance.
When Kundalini is awakened this energy is stirred and released and, through the yogic techniques described, is distributed through the subtle body. Many ancient Tantras viewed this as an alchemical process where sexual fluids were moved through the subtle body from the sacral chakra up to the crown of the head and transformed to spiritual enlightenment. This resulted in “edging” practices, where arousal was purposely stimulated but the energy (and fluids) generated was retained and moved through the body to experience a deeper, spiritual bliss.
Meditation
Meditation is an overriding principle of Tantric practice. It unites all of the techniques and can be applied in any situation.
Tantric meditation is different from the Buddhist form of meditation that is usually taught. The aim of Tantric meditation is not to transcend the material world, rather it is to experience the material world as part of yourself.
The key to Tantric meditation is being grounded in the present. Nostalgia or shame about the past as well as fears or ambitions for the future are distractions that reinforce the illusion of separation.
It can be seen how the other yogic techniques of breathing exercises, postures and sensual touch can be used to align yourself with the present. In this state an awakened Kundalini can lead to an experience of sensual unification with an ever present force, binding and uniting the entire manifest universe.
The Tantric Mandala
The Mandala - sometimes referred to as a yantra - is a geometric diagram of recurring and self replicating patterns. If you haven't seen one before, a spiral is a good example. If you visualise an infinite spiral you can imagine that however you view it - whether zoomed in to view it microscopically or from far away to view it in its entirety - it looks the same.
This is the same for a Mandala, except, within Tantra, it is more than merely a geometric tool to assist meditation, it is a map of the entire subtle universe. The Mandala can be conceived as a huge web spanning all of existence with every thread being an energy channel (or Nadi) and every juncture being an energy centre (or chakra).
But because it is a Mandala it is a recurring and self replicating pattern. In other words, this mandala is made up of infinite other identical mandalas. Each point on each Mandala is itself a Mandala. Our bodies are Mandalas within the universal Mandala, and the chakras that we perceive within our own Mandala bodies are themselves mandalas.
When we activate and unlock the chakras in our own subtle bodies then, and begin to move and manipulate Kundalini energy through our own Mandala bodies, we are activating and unlocking a chakra within a much larger Mandala. And just as the energy must be balanced within our own bodies so it must be balanced in the much larger bodies within which we sit.
This is the fundamental philosophy that underpins eco-tantric practice. Whilst we may (and do) experience physical, mental and emotional health benefits associated with the practice of eco-tantra, we are also channeling our unlocked energy outwards, into the environmental Mandala. The hope is that, through our practice, we can begin to rebalance the energy that fills and surrounds us, healing both ourselves and our environment.
Summary
The practices outlined above can be thought of as threads. Each thread can be practiced in isolation. You can privately challenge socially constructed norms, reducing objectification and embracing a minimalist lifestyle; you can practice Tantric yoga in a class; you can be naked in the confines of your home.
But, like threads, they are stronger and more powerful when they are woven together.
So, if you can, why not go wild camping, relying only on what you can carry. Practice yoga by a river, preferably undressed. Or spend ten minutes meditating naked at the foot of a tree.
These practices are not new, they are not a secret. They have been known and practiced for millennia, taking on different forms and names to accommodate the social context in which they arose. But what is clear is that we, as humans, have an essential role to play in the maintenance of our environmental Mandala. It is a role we have neglected for far too long and one we must reclaim before it's too late.
So do it your way. Do it in a way that works. But do it knowing that you are redefining your self, your relationship with the natural world, and your spiritual potential.
