Sadhana: Psychospiritual Tools for Awakening
The Sanskrit word “sadhana” translates as “means of spiritual realization”. In English, there is no good word that corresponds to sadhana (words like “contemplation”, “purification”, “practice”, are vague, poor approximations), and thus we have chosen to use the Sanskrit term to refer to all methods and practices involving psychological-spiritual growth. In this essay we will briefly and broadly cover some of the main techniques and approaches for progressing consciously along the spiritual path and the various forms of sadhana for Self-discovery. **************************
Copyright 2000 by P.T. Mistlberger, All Rights Reserved
First, it should be said that in applying ourselves to a study of sadhana, we are faced with an interesting paradox, one that is frequently touched on in the Eastern schools of spirituality. The paradox is that because our true condition is one of absolute freedom, love, and consciousness -- or put another way, when we realize our true nature and that only God exists -- it is actually true that we “need do nothing” in order to be who and what we really are. And, from this point of view, all efforts of spiritual awakening are doomed to failure, because what we are trying to wake up out of is not real anyway. In addition, any attempt to “work on oneself” must fail because there is, in reality, no separate self to work on at all.
The other piece to this famous paradox is that although we are ultimately only “pretending” to be unrealized, and that the long struggle of the ego is all unreal compared to the final awakening, we still need to make efforts in order to progress and avoid repetitive, unnecessary suffering. So, we essentially need to act “as if”, until we can one day see that we have always been enlightened.
The best metaphor for this paradox is sitting meditation itself. At first, when we begin practicing meditation, it is hard to go beyond the thought that we are attempting to accomplish something. Eventually, with much experience, we begin to see that the sitting meditation itself is not accomplishing anything, other than being a statement or symbolic demonstration of our already enlightened nature. Yes, it may aid in relaxation, focus, clarity, depth of insight, etc., but our fundamental Pure Consciousness has always been there, and cannot be created or destroyed. We have only become aware of what has always been there.
With this understanding we offer the following definition for all sadhana: techniques for realizing what has always been the case, namely that our True Nature is pure freedom, pure love, and pure being, all of which constitute our True Identity as a fully awake Soul.
The origins of Eastern (meditational) and Western (relationship) methodologies
In the Eastern schools of spirituality (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism), the emphasis is always on awakening to our inherent Oneness with the essence of the Source. Though the “Source” is given different names, and at times not named at all, the goal is a complete merging with it (“samadhi”, “nirvana”), leaving no separation at all. Thus, the Eastern approach tends to focus on meditation, and its many forms, as a primary vehicle for merging, or returning, to Source.
The primary Western traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), are all forms of monotheism (one God), and all emphasize a surrendered, devotional relationship with the One God. Although in their more mystical sects, such as Gnosticism, Hassidism, and Sufism, they speak of a profound intimacy and closeness with the one Source, there always remains a trace of separation that allows for a continued relationship with the Source. Whereas the Eastern paths speak of a total disappearance into the Source, the Western ways make a deeply intimate relationship with the Source pre-eminent.
Because of this religious conditioning that people from Eastern and Western cultures have been influenced by, a dual pathway of spiritual “work on oneself” has emerged from the legacies of our ancient spiritual schools, and their organized descendents, the religions. These two pathways are, essentially, the paths of meditation and relationship. A third pathway, the way of purification and transformation via action, is equally valid, and has been found perhaps equally within both Eastern and Western ways.
We mention this as a preliminary to listing the techniques because it is important to understand that people raised in different cultures are often effected differently by the different types of sadhana. For example, the average person from a Western or Levant culture (European, North or South American, the Islamic nations of the Near East), generally needs to undertake some sort of relationship sadhana, in one form or another, at sometime during his or her journey on the spiritual path. Similarly, a person from an Eastern culture (India, China, and the Far East), will need, generally, at some time to explore some sort of meditation method on their return journey home to Source.
Finally, we would mention that there are sophisticated cultures that do not fall under the heading “Eastern” or “Western”, and although many of these cultures were heavily influenced or even destroyed by powerful colonial forces from the larger civilizations, they have had, and in some cased retained, very profound spiritual teachings and practices. These cultures can loosely be classified as “aboriginal”, or “indigenous” and their spiritual way as “shamanic”. Techniques of shamanism, though unique, are closely related to the meditational schools, and as such will be discussed under that category.
The above examples are rough approximations and not meant as any final say on the type of sadhana that a given person should concentrate on. It is mentioned rather to help understand why certain individuals may have difficulty with certain methods. Very often such difficulties are related to cultural conditioning.
Working with this model we categorize the three basic types of sadhana as follows: physical or active, relational, and meditational.
Physical or Active Sadhana
Under “Active Sadhana” falls all psychospiritual methods that deal with activity, and in particular, the Physical Body. The sub-categories of these are Yogic, Gurdjieffian “conscious physical labour”, Reichian body-centered therapies, dance, and movement.
Yogic - Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means to “yoke”, or achieve union with. It is an ancient discipline of spiritual practices that developed in India at least by 700 BCE, and probably earlier. Over time, numerous separate yogic paths were developed. The ones relating to the Physical Body, and activity, were known as Hatha Yoga, and Karma Yoga, respectively.
The term “Hatha” translates from the Sanskrit as “forceful”, and hence its obvious association with will-based activity. It is a science of progressing on the spiritual path via the path of mastering the Physical Body. Its ultimate aim is to prepare the body for the more intense energies of profound realization characterized by the last stages of Self-realization. Because of this, Hatha Yoga has been connected to Tantric practices, and the word “Hatha” itself is thought by some to be a combination of Ha and Tha, which denote the male and female principles in union within, the hallmark of Tantra.
In India some schools have regarded Hatha Yoga as a “lower” form of Yoga, but it is also recognized as an important path during the current times, which they have labeled the “Kali Yuga”, or “dark times”. During such an era, they maintain, it is important for the Physical Body to be in good condition, able to endure the intense negativities of these times. In the Hatha Yogic corpus, the Hatha adept is considered purified and possessed of many paranormal abilities, as well as capable of withstanding the powerful energies freed up when Projection is reduced, and eventually stopped, at the deeper levels of awakening.
In Hatha Yoga both postures (asanas) and breathing techniques (pranayama) are essential elements of practice. These eventually lead into the meditative Yogic practices, which will be covered under Meditational Sadhana.
Karma Yoga literally means “Unity through self-transcending action”. It is the path of physical activity, where all actions are dedicated to a purely spiritual cause. In India Karma Yoga was considered a powerful purifier of “negative karma” (guilt reinforced by negative actions), as well as an excellent method for preparing the Physical, Emotional, and Mental Bodies for deeper meditative states.
In the legends of Tibetan Buddhism there is a story that vividly depicts the spiritual power of Karma Yoga. It is the tale of Milarepa (1040-1123 CE), considered one of Tibet’s more renowned enlightened adepts and mystical poets.
Milarepa’s story begins as a young man, when his aunt seeks revenge on a corrupt relative. She has her nephew, Milarepa, trained in black magic by a local sorcerer, and then constrains him to use his powers to wreck vengeance on the offending relative. Milarepa does this by unleashing a hailstorm, and some of the relative’s family is killed and his crops are ruined. Realized what he has done, Milarepa experiences profound remorse, and goes on a search for a teacher who can help purify him of his negative karma. Eventually, he finds the famous Buddhist master Marpa, a no-nonsense disciplinarian who proceeds to subject Milarepa to six years of arduous, back-breaking physical labour. During this time, Milarepa is given no formal spiritual guidance by Marpa, and is also the recipient of emotional and verbal abuse from his master. After enduring this for six years, and on the point of complete exhaustion and collapse, he decides to leave. At that point he is called back and given the spiritual initiations, as he is deemed “purified” and ready by Marpa. Milarepa then retires to a cave to practice the meditations he has been given, and eventually achieves full enlightenment.
The above story is an excellent (if dramatic) example of the purifying nature of Karma Yoga. When activity is dedicated to spiritual growth, it centers around an inner sacrifice that is connected to a willingness to be wrong about something. Ultimately, Milarepa had to be wrong about his self-image of guilt, brought on by his horrendous deeds. His remorse was appropriate and even essential, but his guilt was an impediment to his progress and needed to be purified. Penance in the form of strenuous physical labour is often an excellent way to accomplish this.
Most of us do not have to endure the hardships that Milarepa did. Karma Yoga is essentially service in all its forms, and any kind of practical physical activity that does not harm others, and in specific helps other beings and/or the planet, is an aid to progress on the path. Particularly in the forms of Meditational Sadhana some sort of physical activity is important. The activity functions as a “grounding” for us, enabling us to experience our inner awakenings in a simple, down to earth way, which in turn enables us to properly integrate the realizations into our life.
Closely related to Karma Yoga is conscious physical labor. G.I. Gurdjieff, the enigmatic and powerful Greek-Armenian 20th century mystic, in particular was an exponent of this method, having his students undertake strenuous physical work, such as digging ditches, plowing fields, building buildings, etc., while simultaneously performing mental feats, such as memorization, or holding their attention on certain things, or at certain spots in their body. The idea was to utilized both the body and mind in tandem in an effort to be fully Present in the Now.
“Conscious cleaning” is another effective active technique. It is exactly what it sounds like, dealing with the careful, mindful cleaning of one’s home or other place considered important or sacred. Both conscious physical labor and conscious cleaning are especially effective tools for people who tend to spend much time “in their heads”, such as “thinking types” or “abstract types”. They are also highly effective during times of low energy, unhappiness, or depression.
Reichian body-centered therapies - In addition to Reichian therapy, we will consider Bioenergetics, as well as some other derivatives of these therapies. But first, we will look at Reich’s work.
Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957), Austrian psychotherapist and famous dissident student of Freud, is generally considered the father of modern body-centered therapies. Reich’s work branched out into a number of different areas, but some of his main ideas were “character armoring”, the function of the sexual orgasm, and “orgone” energy. The thrust of his work, which did not receive much welcome in his time, concerned the healing of the “body/mind” split. He was lucidly aware of the role of religious conditioning in promoting this split through sexual guilt and general repression.
Reich’s idea around “armoring” was that we are born unarmored, and develop one of various character structures that have a physical expression, in the form of armoring. One of his contentions was that armored people feel threatened by unarmored people, because their “psycho-physical containment” (rigidity) becomes that more clear when in the presence of those who are unarmored. He cited young children as an example of unarmored beings, many of whom can instinctively tell the degree of armoring an adult has, and will tend to avoid heavily armored adults. Reich’s theory about Christ was that he was an example of an unarmored person, who was eventually murdered by heavily armored people threatened by his message and what he represented.
Reich further contended that the full sexual orgasm was an essential function for a healthy person. He connected this to “holding patterns” or blockages in the flow of Life-Force energy (what he called “orgone energy”) in the body. These in turn were the result of psychological blocks that directly interfaced with the physical energy blockages. In current times it is commonly accepted that the mind and body influence each other, but in Reich’s time this was revolutionary thinking.
Modern forms of “bodywork” largely began with Reich. He used to do active bodywork on his patients, manipulating or pressuring parts of their body in combination with deep breathing, which often caused strong emotional releases in his patients. These “releases” allowed the patient to let-go of the holding patterns and armoring, which often had a positive effect on their ability to experience sexual fulfillment, happiness, and even joy or ecstasy. This form of bodywork combined with emotional-release therapy is now fairly common, with many practitioners of it, particularly in Europe and North America, where the mind-body “split” is perhaps most prevalent.
Alexander Lowen (a student of Reich) and others took Reichian theory further and developed it into a system called “Bioenergetics”. Lowen defined Bioenergetics as the “study of the human personality in terms of the energetic processes of the body”. Bioenergetic work involves postures that increase energetic “charge” and flow in the body, as well as “grounding”, the condition of being in touch with the body and thus present in the here and now.
One of the tenets of Bioenergetics is that “you are your body”. This may seem an odd phrase at first glance for one intent on realizing their True Identity as the essence of All, but seen from a pragmatic stance, it makes great sense, especially for one raised in a culture and/or religion that promotes a mind-body division. The way to heal that division would be to precisely embrace the Physical Body as an aspect of what we are. From the ultimate perspective, this is true anyway. From the psychospiritual perspective, it is an essential step in the healing journey back to Source.
The basic idea of Lowen’s work was that lack of energy is related to chronic muscular tension, which in turn stems from suppressed feelings. Bioenergetics works with the body in such a way that dammed up feelings are released, which in turn frees up the muscular tensions, which in turn liberates more energy and an increased capacity for happiness.
Lowen’s work with depression was revolutionary, and far more natural and effective than many conventional treatments, still current today, involving medication. The underlying Bioenergetic idea about depression is that the depressed person is only weakly in touch with the Present Moment reality of their body. They have repressed feelings for so long that they have become largely desensitized to their sensations - their feelings registering on a physical level.
This repression is a hallmark of a certain stage in psychological development when the Shadow system forms we begin to (effectively) split into two: an “outer mask”, and an “alter ego”. These two polarities are paralleled by the growth of the anger/depression polarity. This is because depression is essentially a form of repressed anger. When anger is habitually not expressed, it turns to resentment, and eventually depression. Thus, the Reichian/Bioenergetic idea is to combine bodywork and deep breathing to release feelings stored in the musculature of the body, as a means to reconnecting the person with their body. This in turn helps them feel more alive, which is naturally aided in the attitudinal shift that is basic to moving out of depression.
Many other forms of Body-Sadhana abound, such as Structural Integration (Rolfing), devised by Ida Rolf, which involves releasing stress-frozen muscles by realigning the body’s musculature, and the Feldenkreis Method, created by Moshe Feldenkreis, which utilizes movement and therapeutic touch to increase coordination and flexibility and thereby improve posture. Both Rolfing and Feldenkreis work at improving posture that, in the understanding of the body/mind schools, has a directly beneficial effect on psychological health.
Acupuncture is sometimes dubbed the world’s oldest medical system, apparently traceable back to 2600 BCE. It is based on the idea that the Life-Force (in Chinese, the “Chi”) moves through 14 designated channels (called “meridians”) in the body. Needles are put in at specific points along the meridians to correct energy imbalance or improve flow for healing purposes.
Shiatsu is a Japanese form of body therapy (called “acupressure” by the Chinese) that involves finger pressure on the acupuncture “meridians” and points, the manipulation of which stimulates energy flow and results in relaxation and general well-being. Reiki is another form of Japanese bodywork, a gentle art that involves the laying on of hands and the transmission of energy, while the Reiki practitioner sometimes visualizes certain symbols that aid in the activating of the Life-Force energy.
Other prominent techniques that involve energetic purification and catharsis (emotional release), such as Primal Therapy and Rebirthing, will be discussed under Meditational Sadhana, as they primarily deal with mind-transformation, and only peripherally with the body.
Martial Arts were originally devised in ancient India, and then exported to China and the Far Eastern nations, where they were developed them into several complex systems. Though the original intention of Martial Arts was as a body-sadhana to unify the mind and body, open to the Life-Force (chi, ki, prana), and surrender to the One Will (Tao), in time it became a largely commercialized glorification of aggression and fighting techniques, especially when it was brought to materialistic Western cultures in the 20th century.
The most gentle Martial Art is Tai Chi, a Chinese system of slow, graceful physical movements that promotes a conscious connection with the Life-Force energy. Other systems, such as the Chinese kung-fu, the Japanese karate, judo, and jiu-jitsu, or the Korean tae kwon-do, are pure combat forms, though originally intended to be used only in self-defense, and as active meditations.
Movements and Dance: While Tai Chi, just mentioned, is a Martial Art, it is also a form of “movement”. Movements are ritual dancelike forms that are undertaken as a way to develop mindfulness of the body and Present Moment. Certain forms of Buddhist meditation, such as the “kinhin” walking meditation, are forms of Movements as well.
In kinhin, one walks as slowly and mindfully as possible, being simply and purely aware of the external surroundings and internal conditions that unfold as one walks. This mindfulness with movement is the basis of all Movement exercises. In the Gurdjieff “Fourth Way” schools (derived largely from Middle Eastern and Near Eastern Sufi monasteries), ritual movements are undertaken together in groups, which adds to their power. While the movements are simple and unpretentious, they speak of the primeval power of sacred forms of geometry (see Chapter 25 for a discussion of “sacred geometry”), in the angling of the arms and legs, accompanied by gentle and soulful music (usually piano).
Forms of more aggressive Martial Arts, such as karate, kung-fu, and tae-kwon do, also have ritual movements that all practitioners are required to memorize and perform correctly, in order to advance in grades. In karate these dance movements are called “kata”, and when performed with mindfulness and intensity can be a moving sight to witness.
Dance as a form of physical sadhana is legendary, and the numbers of different forms are almost endless, and certainly beyond the scope of this book to delve into. Some cultures, such as India, deified dance, as in the god Nataraj, who is the Lord of Dance. The 20th century Indian mystic Osho heavily utilized dance as a sadhana for his disciples, encouraging them to dance deeply and passionately before attempting passive sitting meditations. In whatever form, dance can be a powerful way to achieve centeredness and relaxation, qualities important for deeper levels of awakening.
Relational Sadhana
Under this category falls all sadhana that involves relating, whether with “interpersonal processing” techniques (those techniques and methods derived mainly from the “Human Potential Movement” that arose in the 1960s primarily in North America and Europe), or with a deity through devotion (such as all forms of “Bhakti” or devotional yogas), or with a deity through visualization (such as in the practices of Vajrayana Buddhism).
Human Potential Movement methods: What all these methods have in common is that they involve interpersonal relationship “processing”, the term given to describe the dynamics that occur in an intentionally designed “forum” or “vehicle” for understanding human relations.
Some of these forms of sadhana can easily become intense or even explosive, and thus require skilled facilitation on behalf of the therapist/counsellor/guide. We will look at “enlightenment intensive” dyads, encounter groups, Gestalt therapy, client-centered therapy, relationship processing, and Tantra.
"Enlightenment Intensives" were devised by Charles Berner in 1968. They basically synthesize the power of the traditional Zen “koan” (a rationally insoluble problem) meditation with the intimacy of the “dyad”, the term given to describe the form of two people sitting opposite each other engaging in a Self-discovery process. Though the underlying concept of “EI” stems from the Zen tradition, it is not officially affiliated with Zen nor considered a branch of it.
In a typical EI, two people sit opposite each other, periodically posing a koan question. Most common ones used are “Who are you?”, “What is life?”, “What is another?”, or “What am I?” Often sessions involving these exchanges will last entire days, with occasional breaks. The focused intensity of such shared effort can result in the experience of powerful personal breakthroughs, and even direct insights into advanced Levels of awakening. The effect of constantly inquiring into the rationally insoluble question in traditional Zen koan work -- done inwardly and alone -- leads eventually to a direct insight into the true nature of consciousness. In the dyad form of Enlightenment Intensives, the same result can be experienced, with the added factor of experiencing it in the presence of another, who may or may not share the breakthrough. Essentially, this is a form of directly “seeing” the Source while relating to another, even if the other is only bearing witness to one’s revelation and not consciously experiencing it themselves.
Encounter Groups were developed by the pioneer humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers in the 1960s. Rogers was one of the “founding fathers” of the Human Potential Movement, that grew out of a dissatisfaction with Freudian-type therapies and their emphasis on psycho-pathology. The Humanistic approach began to view humans differently, as beings striving to “actualize” and complete themselves, rather than as “faulty” beings needing to be “fixed”. This is a somewhat crude analogy, for it should always be remembered that Freud’s genius paved the way for many of the compassionate, profoundly sensitive psychotherapies that developed throughout the 20th century.
The essence of the Encounter Group is direct, honest communication within a closed group. There are usually some basic agreements, such as confidentiality, no violence, no mind altering drug usage, but apart from that, great freedom is allowed and encouraged, in terms of passionate expression and communication.
The result of such communication is invariably increased vulnerability amongst those in the group, once attachment to “defending” or “denying” has been let go of. The vulnerability, and subsequent intimacy, can be profound, yielding in the participant an experience of being “seen” and acknowledged, oftentimes for the first time in their life.
Such intimacy is achieved precisely because of the open communication. As it has been said, “love (and passion) is a function of communication”. As toddlers there invariably came that time, for most everyone, where we perceived that our communication was being rejected in some way, if not completely (“be seen and not heard”). This is the beginning of the “shut-down” of self-expression, and its attendant birth of denial and repression as coping mechanisms. This is also the beginning of relationship dysfunction, and the damming up of the river of passion-energy that flows so naturally in the very young. This flow of passion-energy permits the young to be “total” in their expressions. The Encounter Group format is a way for one to reconnect with that innocent totality, by freeing up the energy held in place by withheld communication.
Gestalt Therapy was introduced in the 1960s by Fritz Perls, who was himself a student of Freud and Reich. Gestalt work is a powerful and simple tool for entering into the Present Moment via relating. Some of this relating is done in an imaginary form, through “chair work”, which involves sitting in a chair directly across from another chair, in which one imagines the presence of an important figure in one’s life, be it father, mother, relative, spouse, child, associate, etc. After communicating to the empty chair and imaginary presence, one then sits in the empty chair, and imagines that one is the other person, and then communicates with one’s imaginary self still “in” the original seat. This sort of communication can go back and forth for a while, alternating seats, and often yields great insight into the dynamics of the relationship with the individual being worked “with”.
The Gestalt principle of “chair work” can also be applied powerfully to the interpretation of dreams. This simple technique involves recalling elements of the dream (for example, a “car”), and then imagining oneself speaking to the car in the opposite, empty chair. Then, sitting in the empty chair and imagining oneself as the car, speaking back to oneself in the now empty chair that one was first sitting in. This method, strikingly similar to a reenactment ritual played out by certain aboriginal societies, is, in a very basic sense, the only valid method of dream interpretation. That is because it tackles the issue from a wholistic perspective, assuming the dream content to be an aspect of self, which it is, owing the ultimate underlying Unity of all things. Thus, to “Gestalt” a dream is to take “ownership” of its aspects, rather than only analyzing the images as if they somehow were disembodied entities.
The term “client-centered” therapy refers loosely to all traditional counseling styles that involve a more relational approach between the therapist and the client. There is usually direct eye-contact (as opposed to the classic Freudian method of lying the “patient” down on the coach), and much more psychologically intimate atmosphere is developed. Part of this even involves referring to the “patient” not as that, but as a “client”, which is suggestive of a more balanced power-structure between the therapist and the client.
Relationship Processing is a general term given to describe many, many therapeutic techniques developed through the last thirty years of the 20th century, usually involving the use of the “dyad” structure (two people seated opposite each other). Though the methods created have been many, they generally involve the “clearing” of unexpressed thoughts and feelings, resulting in greater understanding/intimacy/forgiveness with the person being “cleared” with.
Though Relationship Processing can be used between any two willing individuals, it can be an especially effective and powerful tool for improving “primary” relationships (between spouses or lovers). However, the irony is that couples usually prove to be the least disciplined in actually using such techniques, due to a psychological reason that is related to security. Once two people are in primary relationship, regardless of the degree of harmony in the relationship, they usually acquire a certain sense of primal security (again, unrelated to relationship functionality), that actually makes them lazy when it comes to doing “clearing” work. They somehow assume that the relationship will magically handle such problems. The tragedy is that many “failed” primary relationships may have survived had the “work” been properly done.
The Tantra that we mention here, under “Relational Sadhana”, has been referred to by some as “Red Tantra”, as distinct from “White” or “Divine” Tantra, which involves solitary work (Meditational Sadhana). This Red Tantra has its origins in the Tantric mystery schools of northern India, many of which were eradicated by the Muslim conquests of the end of the first millennium.
The main focus of most rituals and forms of Red Tantra is conscious working with sexual energy. During intercourse, the male withholds ejaculation in order to prolong the act, thus making possible the arousal and raising of the “kundalini” energies in both. This is similar to forms of Taoist alchemy and Hermetic “sex magic”. The basic idea is that the sexual force is the most powerful of all naturally occurring forces, and if harnessed and mastered can be a direct avenue to full awakening.
In addition to the energetic-physical discipline practiced during the sex act, the conscious invocation of various deities is sometimes utilized as well. A common and powerful practice is to regard one’s lover as an emanation of the divine while making love, i.e. for the male to continuously remember that he is making love to an aspect of the “divine feminine”, or a goddess, and for the female to continuously remember that she is making love to an aspect of the “divine masculine”, or a god.
There were many highly esoteric and occult Tantric practices in the old north Indian schools, some involving complex rituals dealing with the mixing of various bodily fluids, and even corpses, but what has been adapted for modern Western societies is a more simplified version, dealing with the energetic blocks and interpersonal dysfunctions typical for current times. Many modern “Tantra” teachers may not be all too familiar with the Sanskrit language or the historical roots of Red Tantra, (to the chagrin of some scholars), but what they have utilized and are working with is usually passably “Tantric” in flavor, being focused on the need to exhalt the divine principle through the physical universe, and especially the body.
Thus, Red Tantra is the path of realizing the divine through “immanence” par excellence, promoting the long suppressed truth that the body and its senses are purely neutral, and thus innately innocent. This understanding has been offered by the ancient Hindu texts as critical for the age of “darkness” that we currently inhabit. And, such an understanding is crucial for the healing of relationship and the development of the capacity for intimacy under any conditions.
Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of heart-centered devotion. It deals with the whole process of emotional surrender, trust, and (usually) some form of service with a spiritual teacher or master. On occasion, the “master” may in fact not be physically alive, either in the case of a historical personage (for example, Jesus, Buddha, or Krishna), or a recently departed teacher. However, the process is always similar, being a literal “affair of the heart”, much like a passionate romantic love-relationship with a primary partner, minus the physical component (though, in certain Tantric schools, there may be a sexual relationship as well, between teacher and consort/student. However, these relationships are complex and subtle, and require a mature, accomplished approach on the part of both, as well as a cultural context in which this is accepted).
In the devotional path, the relationship with the teacher eventually transforms into a relationship with the Divine, through the vehicle of the teacher. Thus, what is being cultivated is a profound trust, which eventually translates into a deep realization of one’s inherent innocence. Through the love-affair with the Divine, a merging with the Divine happens, and a profound awakening to one’s True Identity can occur.
Thus, Bhakti Yoga is the path of “emptying” oneself out, in order to allow the always-present activity of Divine Grace to descend into the form of the body-mind. Because we are conditioned to believe in the reality of the limitations of the dimension we inhabit, it is difficult for most to directly surrender to the Source, and thus the next best thing is utilized, which is the surrender to the Source through the form of a teacher/master. In certain forms of Tibetan “Guru Yoga” the practice is to see the “Lama” (teacher) as a manifestation of “Buddha-mind” at all times, and through such constant mindful remembrance to catalyze the inner awakening of their own Buddha-mind, which is ultimately seen to be the exact same as that of the teacher.
There are practices found within Tibetan Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism and Western ceremonial Hermetic Magick that involve the visualization of deities. The ritual and practice of these are often complex and highly secret, but the principle is similar to that of Bhakti Yoga, in that the visualization of the deity gradually results in the activation and awakening of the “wisdom-energies” associated with the deity that are found within the practitioner. Though this method is largely a solitary practice, it is still “relational”, involving a direct relationship technique with a non-physical energy form (the visualized deity), and thus merits classification in this category.
Prayer is also a relational practice, involving as it does the intense, inward focus on an outer archetype or deity. Prayer is similar to the visualization practice just mentioned, but is usually simpler in its method, and primarily concerned with one-pointed intention. Of all forms of sadhana undertaken by humanity over the millennia, prayer has probably been the most commonly and frequently used. Because of this, it is also the most commonly and frequently misused, owing in part to the potential inherent in its method for abdicating responsibility, and then feeling justified in harboring anger when the supplications appear not to get answered. However, as a practice for purification and opening of the heart, it can be very potent, if correctly applied with the proper motivations.
Meditational Sadhana
This is the category most typically associated with what is loosely called “meditation”. The English word “meditation” is not a good description of what this form of sadhana actually involves, being connected to “contemplation” and various forms of thinking. The Sanskrit term “dhyana” is a more pure and direct definition, being specifically classified as being “above intellectual activity”. From this understanding, we can proceed with listing the various methods that come under the title of meditational sadhana. They are, concentration, shamanistic techniques, mindfulness, witnessing, shikan-taza, koan work, zikr, self-remembering, ritual invocation, altered states, and “therapeutic meditation”.
Therapeutic Meditation: this heading encompasses those “human potential” methods that are not strictly concerned with the body, or with relatedness. Though they often involve the cathartic release of feelings and “negative” energy, their end result is almost always a state of inner quietude that is remarkably similar to the state achieved through the passive meditation methods. Some of the main ones we will consider are Rebirthing, Holotropic breathing, and Primal Therapy.
Rebirthing was “created” by Leonard Orr in the mid-1960s. It is a deep-breathing technique that Orr claimed was transmitted to him by the mysterious legendary Himalayan master Babaji, though the way Orr first began using it was prosaic: he “accidentally” began doing it while one day lying in his bathtub. In the method, the deep, full conscious connected breathing is done while lying in a horizontal position, with the breathing maintained for about 40-60 minutes.
The first people to experiment with Orr’s Rebirthing method often had dramatic results, some of them consciously “reliving” their physical births, hence the name “Rebirthing”. However, over the ensuing decades many thousands of people were to use the method, and very few ever consciously remembered their births, thus the title “Rebirthing” became something of a misnomer. Because of that, it has been known by several other terms, some of them being “conscious connected breathing”, “Vivation”, and “breath integration”, but the technique in all these cases has been virtually identical.
Holotropic Breathing was developed in the 1970s by the Czech/American psychotherapist Stanislav Grof, who was also an expert in the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. Holotropic Breathing is essentially an offshoot of Rebirthing, the basic difference being that it can be done standing or with a partner (as opposed to Rebirthing which occurs lying down with the eyes closed), and the deep breathing is usually done accompanied by music (as opposed to Rebirthing which is done in silence).
In a similar way to Rebirthing and Holotropic Breathing, Primal Therapy (created by Arthur Janov in the late 1960s) accelerates the healing of the Mental and Emotional Bodies, by vigorously re-activating old, repressed material in the unconscious. Where Primal Therapy differs from Rebirthing and Holotropic, is in its focused interest in the early years of life.
The original form of Primal Therapy devised by Janov became informally known, over the years, as Primal “Scream” Therapy, and indeed the book that made Janov well known was the classic entitled The Primal Scream. Over the years, many other forms of Primal Therapy branched off from Janov’s system and developed on their own, often absorbing the teachings of other systems, much like Rebirthing developed in ways that at times were distinguished from Orr’s original method.
Primal Therapy is typically conducted in isolation, sometimes for a duration of a week to two weeks, with daily contact with the therapist. The isolation deepens the opening of the unconscious mind by limiting distractions. The emphasis of the work is on emotional and energetic release and catharsis, with a view toward reliving and reintegrated painful past traumas Ż in particular the “birth trauma”.
Primal Therapy, more than any other method, emphasized the importance in healing the birth trauma. Janov’s foundational idea was that the most dangerous tendency in humans in that of repression. He believed (with credible data to back him up) that repression was the cause of most serious physical, mental, and emotional illness. Thus, the function of Primal Therapy is to correct the faulty programming that occurred in early age, in particular during the birth experience, that resulted in the repression of pain, feeling, and life-energy.
Shamanic Trance work, called “Techniques of Ecstasy” by the historian Mircea Eliade, is a vast area that can only be briefly mentioned here. In a basic sense, it involves the oldest spiritual methods known to humanity. These methods are solitary, and often involve concentration and focus, as well as inner visualization, and guided imagery. One of the most common, found in many cultures, is “bridging” work between different worlds or dimensions. This will frequently involve the use of the drum, and a sustained rhythm, while the shaman or initiate “journeys” to another realm of consciousness, usually to receive a message or teaching, and sometimes to “retrieve” something, such as a non-physical object of even someone’s “soul”. While some shamanic systems employ the use of psychotropic plants as an aid to bridging dimensions, many do not, instead requiring great sincerity and discipline on the part of the practitioner.
Passive, solitary meditation methods are legion in number, and we will only mention the more well known ones here. Self-remembering is a method that involves the constant remembrance of “oneself”, in particular a holding on to the ongoing conscious awareness of one’s fundamental Presence. At first, this can seem like an intellectual effort to constantly remember “I am”, but with practice the “I” recedes into the background, and “amness” is left, which is revealed to be a state of being, not an intellectual effort Ż though the effort is required initially.
Self-remembering is similar to God-remembering, where the task is to constantly remember God, or whatever symbol of the Absolute one is working with. This is very close in nature to Guru Yoga, constant rememberance of the Guru as a vehicle for the Divine, except here there is a direct attempt to merge identity with God and self through the God-rememberance, without the intermediary form of a human teacher.
Chanting, in its many forms, involves the repetition of mantras, or melodies, which results in a “one-pointedness” of mind, and an opening of the heart. These are some of the best ways for preparing for meditation, or ending a meditation session, and are very common with organized groups of meditators, as in monasteries, for example.
Concentration is not strictly speaking a meditation, but as an acquired mental state it is often a useful foundation for deeper, truer meditation states. One of the most common forms of concentration involves visualization, in particular the visualizing of a certain shape or color. The idea is to learn to sustain, with the “inner eye”, the shape and/or color, and in so doing experience a merging between subject (consciousness) and object (the visualized image). This “merging” is effectively a kind of absorption, and as such is a deeper state of consciousness than the concentration that led to it.
Mindfulness is typically associated with Buddhist practices, but actually it encompasses a wide variety of meditation techniques that have to do with observing the Present Moment in as much detail as possible.
Vipassana is one of the most well known mindfulness methods. Hailing back from the times of the Buddha, it is a quiet, passive technique that involves the close witnessing of the rise and fall of the breath, usually localized in the area of the nostrils, or the lower belly. While simply following the breath with one’s awareness, other physical sensations are noted, and let go of, on a moment by moment basis. If the mind becomes active, then the idea is to simply note the thoughts without judging them, and return to the passage of the breath when possible.
Kinhin is a Buddhist method of mindful walking meditation. Here, one walks as slowly and with as much awareness of each step, as possible.
Self-observation is a method that was popularized by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, involving the constant monitoring of one’s reactions, thoughts, feelings, etc., especially in stressful social situations. The idea is that without awareness and the ability to self-observe, we are prone to manipulation by others and societal systems, and thus are not much better than a machine.
"Koan" work is another Zen method, involving intense focusing on an intellectual conundrum, a question that cannot be rationally answered (“Who are you?”, “Where does the universe end?”, etc.). Over weeks, months, or even years of focusing on the question, an inner “revolution” eventually occurs, involving an opening of intuition and a tacit understanding of the answer to the question, which involves a transcending of the question itself. Such an opening is referred to in the Zen tradition as “satori”, or “kensho”, meaning a direct insight into the way things are.
"Shikan-Taza" derives from Zen Buddhism, and means “simply sitting” in Japanese. It is a method (known by other names in other traditions) that involves just that, simply sitting, doing nothing, other then remaining aware and alert. Such a method is, in theory, the closest one of all to “enlightenment”, in that it reinforces the idea that we “need do nothing” to realize our enlightened condition, which already exists prior to any technique of method we may ever use.
In the end, all methods (physical, relational, meditational), are tools for waking up and remembering our True Nature, but the tools in and of themselves are insufficient and ultimately must be dropped. It is important to mention that, but the reality is, most everyone requires the tools, for the simple reason that the ultimate tool is very rarely properly used. What is this “ultimate tool”? Intention. In the end, it is intention that takes us Home -- the one-pointed awareness that nothing other than the true Source of consciousness is going to suffice -- and the tenacity to stick with that awareness. But until the flame of this intention and awareness burns constantly within us, sadhana -- psychospiritual tools for awakening -- are important and necessary.
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