THE DELICIOUS TANTRIC LOVE DANCE WITH SPACE …
… awakens in us in an ideal and gentle way the ability to touch divinely and teaches us all the qualities, that we need for the supreme disciplines of Authentic Tantrism, such as Cashmiry Massage, Egyptian Sexual Magic, Maithuna and the High Art of Tantric Love, as; mental stillness and relaxed serenity, alert presence, increased body awareness, complete surrender to our sensations, the sensitive play with our breath energy, the activation of the power of our pelvis, the awakening of the sacred snake in us and much more …
Tandava is an ancient moving meditation from the tantric tradition of Kashmiri Shaivism. Daniel Odier brought this freely improvised, very slow and continuous dance to the West. It leads us into a deep relaxation that allows our body to tune itself in a very subtle way like a musical instrument, so that it can vibrate harmoniously with the Cosmos. This process of vibrating with totality is called “Spanda” and is innate in us, but cannot manifest itself when we are tense and rigid on an emotional, mental or physical level.
Our body is comparable to a sensitive string instrument, such as a noble Stradivarius. A well-tuned violin vibrates with the vibrations of its surroundings. Too much tension threatens to break the strings – which often manifests itself in our body as pain, pressure and stress, headaches and muscle tension. If they are too loose, the strings will not sound, which can be expressed, for example, in a lack of motivation, weakness, dissatisfaction or depression.
Awareness instead of effort and control
In the tantric scriptures of antiquity it is mentioned that Tandava is the oldest form of yoga and thus the origin of all forms of yoga that we know today.
It begins in a sitting position with a straight spine – on the floor, in a chair or elsewhere – with the perception of our entire body and its relationship to space. Through a special kind of breathing that relaxes us deeply, we sharpen the awareness of our body in space, charge our pelvis with energy and mobilize our spine.
According to the ancient Tantric texts, the first yoginis and yogis adopted – around 8000 years ago – this type of breathing by observing the habits of the tigers. They were fascinated by the ability of these wildcats to go from a state of deep relaxation to a fully active state in a matter of seconds. So they began to imitate them. That was the birth of Tandava.
The breath waves are the basis of this meditation, they carry it and generate every further movement of the body – gently, subtly and unintentionally, without any effort. This is one of the ideas of Kashmiri yoga – no effort, no control, no resistance to space (and the flow of life). Every effort is replaced by awareness.
In the second phase, arms, hands and fingers also take part in this movementare dancing completely independently and explore the surrounding, spherical space. The very supple body follows this expedition and every gesture has its origin in the freely moving pelvis.
Tandava a “delicious lovemaking with space”
From Doing into Being
Slowness is important, because it shuts down the mind like a computer. The brain cannot follow very slow movements and finally gives up any control. It is therefore necessary to find exactly the right point at which the mental “noise” turns off.
In the third phase, the practitioner rises to a standing position and abandons all voluntary actions, to indulge into the unlimited Being. Daniel Odier describes Tandava a “delicious lovemaking with space”, a game with our own (spatial) freedom and limitlessness. We are touching and caressing space, but we feel touched and caressed by it too. The pleasure, delight and spontaneous joy we can feel by doing this, is totally allowed and welcome in the spiritual tradition of Kashmiri Tantrism.
In the fourth phase, the meditator is sitting down again, allowing the vibrations of the dance to reverberate inside of him. He enjoys serenity, silence, peace and tranquility.
After dancing, we are fully alive, feeling harmony and unity with ourselves, our fellow human beings and the whole divine Creation. Out from this unity we then can begin to navigate through the Cosmos, with a wide and innocent heart.
This kind of Yoga is hardly known in the Western World, since the yoginis and yogis who practice it in the areas of the Himalayas, aren’t at all keen to spread it. Therefore there are only few people in the world who teach it.
Tandava does not require any previous experience or special physical skills. The simplicity, ease, and effects of this Yoga is amazing.
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Immersion into the flow of life
Within the first few hours of practice, we begin to taste the infinite subtle vibrations. But freeing our whole psycho-physical system of its barriers – such as belief patterns, viewpoints, projections, conditionings, expectations, concepts and any automatism, takes more regular practice.
When we courageously let go of all the deceptive collaterals, which temporarily reassure us, but prevent us from the awareness of reality, our body will be able to expand into infinite dimensions. Then we will be like carefree children – present and conscious of every moment, enjoying life to the fullest through all our senses, surrendering trustingly into its flow…