My Journey

Hi,

My name is Lee. I am the founder of eco-tantra.com and author of The Eco-Tantra.

This site is the culmination of almost five years of personal exploration and development. I want to share some of that journey with you here in the hope that you too may be inspired to adopt some eco-tantric practices, whatever your stage and circumstances in life.

Yoga

I'd been practicing yoga on and off for several years, however, as I got older I found it was an essential part of my fitness regime, to maintain core strength and flexibility. But one thing I always struggled with was the meditation that came at the end of a class. For many years I would ignore the guided instructions and surrender to my wandering mind. It was only with age and maturity that I realised that I needed to integrate a practice for my mental health as well as my physical health.

Since an early age I had suffered from minor bouts of depression, self-doubt and low self-esteem. I had become adept at hiding these low points from the people closest to me, but as I grew older they only became more frequent and debilitating. Meditation seemed to have the potential to improve my mental well-being, but no matter how hard I tried I just could not quieten my mind, allow myself to become "the void" and transcend my physical body. That's when I discovered Tantric meditation.

Tantric Meditation

I had heard often enough that postural yoga was preparation for meditation, so I decided that I would research the origins of both yoga and meditation - to see if there was anything missing from the classes I had been attending.

What I discovered is that much of the postural yoga we learn today was taken and adapted from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, which was itself inspired by (and was a compilation of) Tantric philosophies and techniques. Despite postural yoga evolving from Tantra the meditation techniques that usually feature at the end of a modern yoga class tend to be Buddhist techniques. Buddhism teaches that we need to transcend the material world and experience the underlying void that is true reality. However, non-dual Tantra teaches that everything in the material universe is a manifestation of the divine Absolute, and that nothing is more or less divine than anything else. Consequently, rather than trying to transcend the material world we should be using it as an aid to our meditation.

Kundalini Rising

According to this Tantric approach, the body can be used as a means of grounding yourself in the present and as a gateway to understanding your own inner divinity. Once I incorporated my own body in my meditation practice - through breathwork, visualisation and sensual touch - the results were almost instantaneous. Within a few hours my entire body was aroused and convulsing in waves of energetic bliss.

More research revealed this to be the result of Kundalini energy being activated as a result of my practice. From then on things began to change. I realised that the source of pleasure was not external, it did not result from objectification or external stimulation, it was innate - something we all possess deep inside ourselves. And this recognition - that we all possess this blissful source of energy - resulted in a greater sense of unity and belonging.

Naturism

I also developed an urge to spend more time naked. I would do everything naked - including yoga.

And then, one day, I decided to sit outside and eat my breakfast in the nude.

The sensation changed my perspective of everything around me. Not only could I feel everything at a sensual level, but I was aware of everything too. I remember watching a bee flitting between flowers, burying itself in them, and felt a deep affinity with the creature and its endeavour. I suddenly realised that we were connected - not just intertwined at an ecological level, but connected at a spiritual and energetic level too.

After that I wanted to spend more time outdoors, naked. And I discovered that, when I practiced yoga this way, I felt more energised and connected than ever. Not long afterwards I read an academic paper by Jeffrey Lidke titled "Towards a theory of Tantra-ecology" (which I have shared in the forum) and it was then that I realised that this practice is not only beneficial for the individual, but can also benefit society and and the environment more broadly. This was the foundation of eco-tantra. Since then I have read and researched a lot about ancient Tantra, I have completed courses in Tantra and Kundalini Activation and have experimented with what can be incorporated in my own practice of eco-tantra.

I hope you too are able to put some of these techniques to use and can find some benefits in its practice.