Tantric Meditation: Consciousness and meditation as a way to freedom
What does consciousness have to do with Tantra and why is it so important?
What is consciousness actually? Many spiritual traditions – including Tantra – see consciousness as the fundamental basis of our being. Tantra is originally a spiritual teaching that aims for self-knowledge.
Consciousness is the basis for exploring the question “Who am I?”.
But it is also an essential component for any form of change.
We humans can go through changes on many levels. We can change our environment, our behavior, our patterns, our emotional states, our thoughts and our beliefs.
All areas are interconnected.
For example, if I transform my beliefs, this also has an influence on my emotions, my behavior and all other aspects.
What these levels have in common, however, is that they are subordinated to the level of consciousness.
If we look at the iceberg model, we can guess what is meant by consciousness. The tip of the iceberg, above the surface of the water, represents everything we are currently aware of. The part under the water surface represents the unconscious.
As we can see, most of the iceberg is underwater – and therefore unconscious. This unconscious part controls most of the actions and decisions in our lives. Most of the automatisms that influence our daily lives lie in this unconscious part.
This part needs to be uncovered, learned about. We need to find out how unconscious patterns prevent us from living the life we
The automatisms do not happen with bad intentions. They have a protective function that was important to us in childhood. Today, however, they are often stuck and hinder our free decisions as adults.
As immature children, we don’t yet have the ability to protect or care for ourselves in certain situations. We are dependent on our caregivers and regulate ourselves with their help.
As adults, however, we can become aware of these past patterns, heal them, and create new strategies that are more in alignment with who we really are.
Who makes the decisions in your life?
Consciousness development is all about coming more and more home to your true self and freeing yourself from all imposed patterns and strategies that hinder your own authenticity.
This is not an easy task, because we have to confront ourselves – with the strategies and beliefs that we mostly acquired in childhood and used throughout our lives.
During this process we also come across emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, shame, etc. These emotions have specific messages and show us the way to feel whole again.
As adults, we can learn to understand the messages of these emotions and how to use them in our lives.
As you can see, your consciousness is incredibly important in your life and therefore also has great transformative power.
But not only that. When we get to the core of our being, we can find this inner compass that guides us. It is a place full of deep trust, a place where everything flows, where we can be ourselves. A place where peace reigns and at the same time there is great curiosity, joy and passion for the life that lies ahead.
If we follow this inner compass, we can live in harmony with the big picture, let go and take our place in this world.
It is a place where we can live authentically from the heart – full of love for ourselves, for life and for the world we live in.
How can I strengthen and develop my consciousness?
Meditation is a very powerful tool to increase your awareness.
There are many different meditation practices today, with different focuses. But they all have one thing in common: they serve to bring more mindfulness and awareness into our lives.
Regular meditation practice helps you to quiet the mind and thoughts. You learn to relax the nervous system so you can reduce stress and anxiety in your system. Through meditation you can learn to strengthen mindfulness and awareness – for our body, our thoughts and our feelings so you can better perceive your own intuition and inner wisdom.
In the end meditation is also a tool to find inner peace and strengthen the connection to a higher power or to the divine
Meditation is also essential in Tantra. A meditation practice from traditional Tantra, for example, is Prana Uchara.
If you are interesstet in learning more about Tantric meditation you can find a lik to a meditation pactice in the shownotes.
SO I can only encourage you to take tme for meditation, it doesnt matter what kind, if you already practice another form of meditation regularly then please continue to do it and to develop more awareness and mindfulness.
Tantric Meditation
This meditation is practiced in 3 different stages
Stage 1:
Sit upright in a comfortable seated position that you can hold for an extended period of time – either on the floor or in a chair.
The meditation usually lasts 20-30 minutes. You can also meditate for a shorter time – for example 5 minutes. In the end, regularity is more important than the length of meditation.
At the beginning of the practice you begin by observing your breath. Begin to feel your chest rise with each inhale and feel it sink with each exhale.
Observe the whole process of breathing – starting from the nostrils, through the wind pipe to the lungs and back again. Also notice how the diaphragm – and therefore the abdomen – moves up and down and how the temperature of the air at the nostrils changes from inhaling to exhaling.
The purpose of this first stage is to calm your nervous system and turn your awareness inward to feel yourself more.
The body is allowed to relax more and more.
This phase can last from 1 to 10 minutes – depending on your meditation experience and your current condition.
Stage 2:
In the second stage, we focus our attention more and more on the energy flowing into our body through the breath.
To do this, imagine how the air you breathe in flows through your nose into your body and into your heart.
You can imagine that this air is life energy. Visualize the course of this energy from your nose to your heart as you breathe in and back to your nose as you breathe out.
We direct the focus more and more away from the physical body, towards the energy in our body, the Prana.
This stage can take a few minutes again – depending on your meditation experience and your current condition.
Stage 3:
In the third stage we make a small change in the movement of energy.
As we breathe out, we direct the energy from the heart up to the head and imagine the energy from our crown leaving the body.
The next time we breathe in, we imagine how we absorb energy again through the crown and let it flow into our heart.
We then continue this visualization for the rest of the meditation.
Inhale = absorb energy through the crown and direct it to the heart
Exhale = release energy from the heart upwards over the crown
We can follow this energy with our attention.
To make this easier, there are 3 ways this can be done – depending on what type of person you are.
Visual Type
If you are very visual, you can visualize a small ball of light (like a pearl) coming through the top of your body as you inhale and let it move towards the heart. As you breathe out, this light travels back from the heart to the top of your head and leaves the body.
Auditory Type
Auditory people can work with Mantras. On the in-breath you can mentally repeat the Mantra HAM, which is connected to the heart center, and on the out-breath, the mantra SAH, which is connected to the Crown Chakra. This method can help to focus better.
Kinesthetic type
Kinesthetic people can often feel the energy in the form of subtle sensations – such as subtle shivers running through the body – and then focus on that sensation accordingly.
This is an example of a classic Tantric meditation that can increase our awareness and bring deep inner peace if we practice it regularly.
If this speaks to you, we’d love for you to try it out and let us know what you experience 🙂