Art of Tantra

“Do your exercises with the tenacity and
zeal of an artist interested in producing a work of genius.
The work of genius is you, and the artist as well.”
Master Kuthumi

Each thought and movement carries the form of “prana,”
the cosmic force that maintains life.
Through yogic exercises called “pranayamas,”
we can capture this energy and nourish all the chakras.

Prana is the vital energy, the cosmic force that maintains life. It consists of negative ions, tiny packets of energy in its pure state, where all force resides: the force of attraction, of repulsion, gravity, electricity, etc. Without prana there is no life because the soul is all force and energy.

This primary principle is found everywhere: in the air, in food, in the water . . . But none of these are prana, only the simple vessel of it. The air—which is seventy-eight percent nitrogen, twenty-one percent oxygen, and the remainder other gases—is the theater where the great character, prana, plays the role of protagonist. It’s brimming with free prana and the human being can most easily absorb it from fresh air through breathing. In normal respiration, we absorb some amount of prana; through tantric yoga breathing we can accumulate a greater reserve in the brain and the chakras to use when necessary.

Prana obeys the mind, thought, and visualization, although its command is thought, the key with which we can open or close the door of energy before us. Prana can be seen in the rays of the sun or in a clear sky over the sea, as if it were tiny sperm that move in the air.

Each activity, thought, and movement of the body carries the form of prana. The nervous force, for example, is a form of energy. Prana is linked with the most dynamic aspect of energy: the negative ions, high velocity particles of energy. On the other hand, positive ions are heavier. A shower can get rid of excess positive ions and reenergize us.

Material is energy in action; everything is in constant vibration at different frequencies, giving the impression of solid material. If we want to get to know prana more and learn to consciously accumulate more in our chakras, the first step is to govern the movement of the lungs, of breathing. Pranayama is the classic yoga breathing exercise to capture prana and nourish the chakras. It seeks to awaken another form of energy, the kundalini, the inner fire hidden in every human in the muladhara chakra.

To govern prana is to govern the mind, which can’t operate without the help of prana, and which quiets if the breathing is also peaceful. As an ancient proverb says, “Learning to breathe is learning to live.”

Turtles breathe four to six times per minute, and humans between fifteen and eighteen times. The turtle lives for a long time, so if we breathe softly, calmly, and slowly, it’s likely that we can achieve longevity healthily and consciously.

Pranayama is the key that allows you to unlock the chakras, activate them, and fill them with luminosity and power.

Respiration is our principle nourishment: although we can go thirty to forty days without eating, we can only hold our breath a few minutes.

The first thing we do after birth is breath, and throughout our life it becomes a vital subject, because our energy level depends on it. If we eat well in addition to breathing correctly, we will be in a state of perfect health.

But Tantra goes a little further, to transformation through energy. Respiration is the thread that unifies the body, mind, and spirit.

Respiration is not connected to the past or the future, only the present. By breathing we can capture the eternal now.

An important fact (unknown in the Western world) about respiration is that it is not connected to the past or the future; respiration is always the present moment, and if you know that breathing and the mind are connected, you will focus both on the present and the now will be eternity.

By breathing you can capture the eternal instant! And the mind that is centered on the present is free of memories of the past and the worries of the future.

Because of this, Zen, Tantra, and Buddhism insist on the present and on breathing.

Adopt a comfortable meditation position (lotus, half lotus, or diamond) and breathe through the closed glottis, practicing breathing in three phases, which will produce a light snoring. You will note the current of air penetrate the trachea as a flow of prana; the flow of energy goes toward the heart and continues its path descending to the sexual center. Hold the breath and forcefully close the two sphincters, both external and internal. This is called the “root key” or mulabandha. You will feel that the tension has prolonged into the genital area, which stimulates the genital glands. Contract and relax the genital area and the sphincters, alternating various times, to activate the sexual center and to train the muscles of the genital region and intestines. The masculine member becomes erect, increases in size, and becomes excited because of the increased blood flow. The woman develops the ability to control vaginal muscles, increasing friction and excitation during contact with the member.

Whoever masters the technique to awaken the kundalini, also awakens their inner master, with the possibility of conquering premature ageing and illnesses.

Thanks to the “root key,” the apana is activated as opposing energy to the prana. In this moment, lower the chin to the chest in jalandhara bandha and notice the flow of prana, manifested as a pressure that descends from the throat to the heart and then to the genital region. This exercise will lighten the cardiac work and there will be a slight lowering of blood pressure and heart rate. Here the pressure of the chin on the chest stimulates an acupuncture point that strengthens cardiac muscle. The clash of two opposing forces, apana and prana, produces a type of whirlwind of energy that intensely affects the genital region. Containing respiration now, lay your hands on your knees and tilt the chest lightly forward and pull in the navel as if you wanted to bring it back to the spine. This exercises is called “stomach key” or uddiyana bandha.

Respiration mobilizes the life force, prana. Through retention of breath, we master prana, and with exhalation, we apply its curative properties. The prana corresponds with the kundalini, which governs bodily, mental, and spiritual processes in dreams as well as during wakefulness.

In the organism it manifests:

images As prana:

Through inhalation, in the thorax region.

images As apana:

Through exhalation, in the lower abdomen, intestines, anus, and genital regions, where it controls the development of ovum and sperm cells, as well as orgasms and uterine contractions during birth.

images As samana:

In the stomach and the upper part of the abdomen, where it nourishes the furnaces of digestion and converts food to energy. It stimulates the harmonious function of the organs, the nervous system, and heart beat.

images As udana:

In the throat, controlling the process of swallowing and the mechanisms of speaking and singing, through the vocal chords.

images Como vyana:

Runs through the entire organism and orchestrates all the active forces, or vayu, via the circulatory system, maintaining erect posture of the body and also controlling decomposition after death.

Lower the chin once more to the chest in jalandhara bandha and contract the sphincters. This combination is called the “great key” or maha bandha. Now you will feel an electric vibration like a hot ray of light running up along the central channel of the spine and ending in the third eye. All of the chakras activate through the tremendous passage of energy that charges all the cells. Repeat this exercise seven times. The second chakra corresponds with a center of the body called kanda, which is the point where all the subtle energetic channels of the astral body come together. The kanda is located level with coccyx and about five centimeters above the anus. From this center, the 72,000 subtle channels, the nadis, radiate out to the chakras and distribute energy through the whole physical and subtle bodies. The spiral force, kundalini, which unleashes the sensation of pleasure in the genital region, rests between the kanda and the root chakra. The mysterious force of kundalini awakens through this pressure directed toward the sexual center and kanda, which channels it and sends it toward the brain. Whoever masters this technique awakens their inner master and can conquer premature ageing and illnesses.

1. NADI SODHANA

Polarized respiration of the Sun and the Moon

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Inhale through the left nostril, plugging the right, and then exhale through the right, plugging the left, stop, repeat in the opposite direction. Inhale through the right, plugging the left, and then plug to the right and exhale through the left. This is a complete cycle.

Benefits:

• Purifies the nadis

• Cleans and unplugs the nostrils

• Balances and stimulates the hemispheres of the brain

• Maintains health

• Prevents colds and improves digestion

• Activates sexual energy and helps control ejaculation

• Stimulates intellectual activities

Duration:

Ten minutes every morning and at sundown.

2. KAPALABHATI

“kapala”= “craneum”

“Bhati” = “to shine,” “to clean”

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Inhalation (puraka) for twice the time of the exhalation (rechaka) energetic and rapid.

Benefits:

• Cleans and purifies the lungs

• Charge the solar plexus with prana

• Stimulates the circulation and the throat

• Oncreases body temperature

• Saturates blood with oxygen

• Activates the chakras

• Strengthens abdominal muscles

• Benefits digestion

• Condition nervous system

• The inhalation lowers the volume of the brain and exhalation increases it

• Massages, pumps, and cleans the brain

• Revitalizes brain cells, activates pineal and pituitary glands

• Erases fatigue and toxins

• Eliminates lactic acid

• Combats asthma

• Refreshes the eyes

• Activates Ajna and Sahasrara chakras

• Prepares the mind for meditation

• Acts on the kundalini

• Incorporates more oxygen and eliminates carbon dioxide

The variation is called “bastrika” or “the bellows” and consists of inhaling and exhaling in the same beat and tempo. Here the most important part of breathing comes into play: retention or kumbhaka. By retaining the lungs full, we can have prana inside our bodies more time and close the bandhas.

Duration:

Start with two sets of 40 breaths (inhaling and exhaling counts as one), work up to three sets of 120 through practice. Between sets breathe completely and hold for five to ten seconds.

3. COMPLETE RESPIRATION

Covers the lower, middle, and upper parts. Works on the physical, emotional, and mental plane. Inhale, hold, and exhale for twice the time as inhalation. You can breathe counting mentally to seven to inhale, and twelve or fourteen to exhale.

Benefits:

• Activates circulation

• Benefits the heart (those with cardiac problems should not hold their breath)

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• Activates and regenerates endocrine glands

• Develops will power

• Calms the mind

• By increasing prana it also increases intellectual and sexual energy

• Access the power of accumulated prana (psychic cures, transmission of energy, telepathy, premonitions, clairvoyance, los siddhis)

• Unites prana and apana

• Increases the electricity of the body in the energetic column and the chakras

Duration:

From five to twenty minutes

4. ABDOMINAL BREATHING

Inflate and deflate the abdomen like a child. Abdominal breathing is the first thing we do upon being born.

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5. CIRCULAR BREATHING

Circular breathing or the tantric circle is a breath-meditation that dissolves the limits of the body and awakens energetic sensitivity. It is a breath that connects the inhalation and exhalation in the mouth, without space between them, performed in the same period of time. You can do it alone or with a partner, which awakens the bond between you two.

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Benefits:

• Awakens the sensation of physical and spiritual unity

• Activates energy in the meridians

• Broadens the borders of the mind

• Prepares you to enter a deep meditation

• Provides peace and silence

• Leads to orgasm without penetration

Duration:

Twenty to forty minutes

6. CLEANSING BREATHING

With this practice, you clean stale energy out of your body and recharge with new prana, very useful if you’ve been with people with negative energy, or for living in a polluted environment (inevitable these days whether because of household appliances, smog, or automobile fumes).

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Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. The best posture is either shavasana or sidhasana.

Benefits:

• Cleanses the meridians

• Cleans and unblocks the solar plexus where heavy energies stagnate

• Charge the chakras with prana

Duration:

Ten to twenty minutes

7. RECHARGING RESPIRATION

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Standing, legs squared with shoulders, breathe quickly and energetically, like a bellow in the nose, letting your body move from head to shoulders, arms, and hands, shaking as if you were covered in flour and wanted to get it off. Do this dynamically while breathing at the same quick rate. After five to ten minutes, stop and do seven complete breaths, visualizing your whole body surrounded by light. You will obtain a very high level of energy for the rest of the day.

Benefits:

• Fills the nervous system with vital energy

• Activates the chakras and kundalini powerfully

• Cleans the nostrils

• Irrigates the brain with blood and prana

• Benefits memory

• Allows the physical body to maintain health and vitality without tiring

Duration:

Three to five minutes every day for the first week. Work up to ten minutes. There is no need to go any longer.

8. RESPIRATION FOR THE CHAKRAS

This is an important exercise to activate and cleanse the chakras. Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, visualizing each chakra in its circular form and color. Do seven slow, deep breaths for each chakra. Continue in order, visualizing the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white, and violet. Bring energy from the sexual pole to the brahamaranda, the site of the divine in the top of the head.

Benefits:

• Activates all the chakras, purifies and cleanses them, and elevates the kundalini

Duration:

Twenty to forty-five minutes. You can do three cycles, arriving at the seventh and starting over.

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9. SURYA BREATHING

Solar respiration

Plugging the left nostril, inhale and exhale only through the right nostril, which is usually most active on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, and during the dark half of the lunar cycle, waning and new.

Observations:

Pranayama should be done at dawn or dusk, on an empty stomach. It’s preferable to shower before to eliminate impurities, and to have an environment of concentration and comfort. Use a meditation posture with legs crossed or folded, but the most important is to keep the spine erect but not rigid. You can do it seated in a chair with the feet flat on the floor.

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Benefits:

• Activates the left hemisphere of the brain

• Warms the physical body

Duration:

Seven cycles.

10. CHANDRA BREATHING

Lunar respiration

Plugging the right nostril, inhale and exhale only through the left nostril. Normally respiration through the left nostril is strongest on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, and when the Moon is bright.

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Benefits:

• Activates the right hemisphere of the brain

• Refreshes the body and is good in the summer

• Affects the sympathetic nervous system and bodily functions

• Activates the influx of Shakti, the feminine principle

Duration:

Seven cycles.