If you’re a Tantra Geek like me, you have read, or have attempted to read, the ancient texts of the Tantrik traditions. As beautiful, profound and fascinating as these texts called “tantras” can be, they present a number of interpretive problems for sincere, contemporary students.

I have not told this story in full publicly. But I find myself living in a time and place in which many people are skeptical of or are rejecting the possibility of Guru. Other people long for a spiritual guide, but are afraid of being hurt.

I have received a heartfelt request to write, from a woman’s perspective, about the child abuse and rape testimony against senior Swamis in the Satyananda Yoga lineage.

The Ayurvedic tradition of healing makes use of many common herbs and spices. But the ground spices you buy  in the supermarket, even if they are organic, have impaired potency. And they just don’t taste as good as hand-ground spices.

Ramblings of a Tantrik Renunciate at Large

You know. Renunciates. Those oh-so-spiritual folks sporting shaved heads and orange robes, or natty dreads and tattered loin cloths.

These are the names of the six realms or lokas in Sanskrit.  The realms represent the six styles in which human beings lose touch with their real nature and experience suffering, aka, karma.

These are the names of the six realms, or lokas in Sanskrit.  The realms represent the six styles in which human beings lose touch with their real nature and experience suffering, aka, karma.

These are the names of the six realms, or lokas in Sanskrit.  The realms represent the six styles in which human beings lose touch with their real nature and experience suffering, aka, karma.

These are the names of the six realms, or lokas in Sanskrit.  The realms represent the six styles in which human beings lose touch with their real nature and experience suffering, aka, karma.

These are the names of the six realms, or lokas in Sanskrit.  The realms represent the six styles in which human beings lose touch with their real nature and experience suffering, aka, karma.

GOD • TITAN • HUMAN • ANIMAL • HUNGRY GHOST • HELL

These are the names of the six realms, or lokas in Sanskrit.  The realms represent the six styles in which human beings lose touch with their real nature and experience suffering, aka, karma.

Susan Fauman, Ayurvedic clinician, shares some of the wisdom about daily conduct and food that Ayurveda offers to ease our transition into autumn.

In 1936 in Varanasi, Anandamayi Ma announced her desire to give Gayatri mantra initiation to two of her female disciples. This would be the first public initiation of women into the Gayatri mantra in hundreds of years — and it was captured on film.

Many people claim that marijuana is harmless, and they make reasonable arguments in favor of its recreational use. But when we investigate marijuana as spiritual practitioners, the View is a little different.

We generally believe that spiritual awakening means we get to realize our deepest longing. Depending on what you currently think your deepest longing is, that may or may not be true. But if you keep practicing, you certainly will encounter many, many moments when you do not get what you want. What is the benefit when your teacher, or life, blocks you from getting what you want?

Using spiritual teachings to support ego – oh, let me count the ways! This is especially attractive to teachers. My personal golden rule: Teach only what I have actually realized through practice.

Have you heard of the phenomenon of the “Guru’s hint?”

The most obvious “hint” is when your teacher says to you: “I suggest you do this,” or “You may want to do that.” Your teacher is inviting you to a deeper level of surrender. The hint is an opportunity. But it is an opportunity that recognizes your free will.

Susan Fauman, Ayurvedic clinician, shares some of the wisdom about daily conduct and food that Ayurveda offers to ease our transition into winter.

If you have a spiritual name, try to use it in your everyday life. Names are invocations. Each time a person says your name, it is a blessing  for you and for them. Together, you invoke the wisdom virtues inherent in that name.

Siddhasana is a profoundly relaxing and steadying, but also energetically dynamic seated posture. It means “the accomplished pose” or “seat of the Siddha.”