May we taste the nectar of this moment through the senses.

Meditation for the body for you to feel and breathe into all its sensations.

Style: Meditation

Duration: 15-mins

Level: open

Props: 1 block, 1 blanket

Focus: Meditation inspired by a Tantric quote by Daniel Odier.

Location: Lila Familia Production Studio, Vancouver, BC

Opening Meditation

Come to a seat of your choice and close your eyes. Take a couple of deep breaths to ground and arrive in the here and the now.

Your meditation opens with a reading from The Spandakarika, an ancient text of Tantra as translated by Daniel Odier:

“…[the idea of tantra]…is to find the absolute, right there within the every day–not to wait for fleeting revelations and so-called altered states of consciousness. Wonder occurs when we succeed in tasting the nectar of the loving relationship that we develop with each thing or person or object that is before us at this very moment. This is what changes life completely because otherwise, we are always in search of something more. And when we obtain it, we are still unsatisfied. We then seek something even more spectacular, and this is how we end up being continually unhappy.

This does not mean, of course, that we must be satisfied with something that absolutely does not suit us. We must not confuse lifeless resignation with this ideal. If we can communicate completely with all the ordinary aspects of life, we are great mystics. The details then become much less important, as wonder, constant joy, and the sacred tremor are maintained by continued contact with the every day, which ceases to be ordinary at the moment we really taste it.”

The idea of Tantra is to embrace the present by accepting where you are in each moment. This passage asks us to examine all the ways to discover the absolute, the Divine, in the mundane tasks we experience and must do every day.

Tantra embodies all of the body’s sensations to fully experience the moment; unlike the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali through Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Tantra asks us to revel in all that we feel to greet and awaken the Divine within.

For this meditation, sit in or lie down as we explore the senses.

Questions for you to consider:

• Bring your awareness to your skin and examine the sensations you feel on the surface of your skin. What do you feel? Observe the temperature of your skin and as the mind wanders, come back to the temperature of the skin.
• Bring your awareness to your nostrils. What do you smell? How can you become more present and attune to your surroundings through the scents and aromas around you?
• Bring your awareness to your ears. What do you hear? How can you develop your awareness of what is right now by listening to the shapes and sounds around you?