Embodied Awakening Practices in the Vijnana Bhairava

September 5, 2013

So often, we compartmentalize our lives, with the spiritual stuff over here and everything else over here.  The more I’ve noted this tendency in myself, the more I’ve tried to bring the same open awareness to tasks such as shopping, work, and doing the dishes that I bring to reading sacred texts and meditation.

I’m always on the lookout for teachings that understand the essential unity of all existence, whether it manifests as the transcendent or the banal. When I first read a translation of the Vijnana Bhairava—one of the key texts of non-dual Kashmir Shaivism, the tradition from which Indian Buddhist Tantra evolved—I was delighted to find that its 112 dharanas, or practices, ranged from the subtle and obscure to the sensuous and embodied.   In other words, its techniques for meditative awareness encompassed all of life.

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite Sounds True authors, Sally Kempton, to record a new program called Doorways to the Infinite: The Art and Practice of Tantric Meditation.  In this program, to be released next spring, Sally explores the practices of the Vijnana Bhairaiva, unpacking the deeper meanings of the dharanas and offering guided meditation practices that evoke their unique flavors.

Each of the Vijnana Bhairava’s verses—which are presented as a conversation between the  supreme lord Shiva and his consort Parvati—offers a doorway to expanded consciousness.  Some are concerned with the space between breaths, the ascent of kundalini, and mantra practice—familiar subjects for spiritual practitioners.  Other dharanas focus on the taste of food, on touch, on sexual ecstasy.

Still others point toward immediate realization of the Self as pure consciousness.

These dharanas prove that the ancients knew what we are rediscovering today—that spirituality is not something apart from all the other aspects of our lives.  In Tantric teachings, the human body is a mirror of the cosmic body.  When we have a felt sense of this unity of body and spirit, there’s no more gap between our spiritual lives and our ordinary lives.  All life is spirit, and everything is our path to awakening.

mitchell_blog_sally

Sally Kempton

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Sally Kempton (1943–2023) studied and taught the wisdom of yoga for 40 years. A highly regarded teacher of meditation and spiritual philosophy, she wrote the popular Yoga Journal column Wisdom. Known for her gift of making yogic wisdom relevant to daily life and for transmitting deep states of meditation, she taught retreats and teleclasses internationally. Sally is the author of Meditation for the Love of It (Sounds True, 2011).

Author photo © Cynthia Johnson-Bianchetta

Listen to Tami Simon's interview with Sally Kempton: Invoking the Goddesses of Yoga

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Embodied Awakening Practices in the Vijnana Bhairava

So often, we compartmentalize our lives, with the spiritual stuff over here and everything else over here.  The more I’ve noted this tendency in myself, the more I’ve tried to bring the same open awareness to tasks such as shopping, work, and doing the dishes that I bring to reading sacred texts and meditation.

I’m always on the lookout for teachings that understand the essential unity of all existence, whether it manifests as the transcendent or the banal. When I first read a translation of the Vijnana Bhairava—one of the key texts of non-dual Kashmir Shaivism, the tradition from which Indian Buddhist Tantra evolved—I was delighted to find that its 112 dharanas, or practices, ranged from the subtle and obscure to the sensuous and embodied.   In other words, its techniques for meditative awareness encompassed all of life.

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite Sounds True authors, Sally Kempton, to record a new program called Doorways to the Infinite: The Art and Practice of Tantric Meditation.  In this program, to be released next spring, Sally explores the practices of the Vijnana Bhairaiva, unpacking the deeper meanings of the dharanas and offering guided meditation practices that evoke their unique flavors.

Each of the Vijnana Bhairava’s verses—which are presented as a conversation between the  supreme lord Shiva and his consort Parvati—offers a doorway to expanded consciousness.  Some are concerned with the space between breaths, the ascent of kundalini, and mantra practice—familiar subjects for spiritual practitioners.  Other dharanas focus on the taste of food, on touch, on sexual ecstasy.

Still others point toward immediate realization of the Self as pure consciousness.

These dharanas prove that the ancients knew what we are rediscovering today—that spirituality is not something apart from all the other aspects of our lives.  In Tantric teachings, the human body is a mirror of the cosmic body.  When we have a felt sense of this unity of body and spirit, there’s no more gap between our spiritual lives and our ordinary lives.  All life is spirit, and everything is our path to awakening.

mitchell_blog_sally

Invoking the Goddesses of Yoga

Tami Simon speaks with Sally Kempton, a teacher who has practiced, studied, and written about meditation and spiritual philosophy for more than 40 years. With Sounds True, Sally has authored Meditation for the Love of It and the recently released book Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga. In this episode, Tami speaks with Sally about how we can seek guidance and blessing from a goddess, the role of imagination in invoking goddess energy, the light and shadow sides of each goddess, and the relationship between goddess energy and the awakening of Kundalini in the human experience. (69 minutes)

Meditation and Kundalini Awakening, Part Two

Tami Simon speaks with Sally Kempton, a meditation teacher who has immersed herself in the world of meditation for over four decades and has earned a reputation as a highly experienced, gifted, and insightful meditation teacher. Sounds True will be releasing Sally Kempton’s new book Meditation for the Love of It, and the audio program Beginning Meditation. In the second part of this two-part episode, Sally discusses “having a love affair” with meditation, what it means for meditation to be one’s beloved, and kundalini awakening. (48 minutes)

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Author photo © Kim Williams

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  • Sidonie says:

    Reading your post upon awakening this morning has brought a bright smile on my face and sense of well being… I feel the warmth in my heart beckoning the familiar. Yes, I find spirit in the ordinary; it’s the way I’ve been experiencing life so far. Thanks very much for sharing!
    Much love & many blessings, xxx

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