Aside from the many energetic practices that can be used to bring balance, five yogic paths are there for the Ego. Each has their own typical traps. To keep it simple, we combine these with some good daily habits that prevent imbalance. With our main energetic practice and the seed-based practices we can move forward easily. Daily habits are mostly in tune with the rhythm of day and night and with the moon cycle. Eating, practice and also entertainment must be adapted to each other....

The Ego is the true hero of Yoga and most essentially resides within our soul. The soul is the subtle energy body that moves from one body to the next in the process of reincarnation. Understanding the largely subconscious complexity of our Ego attachments, we may understand the need for many lives to bring about the final goal of enlightenment. The ancient seven steps towards enlightenment teach us how through the effort of practice we can quite rapidly attain the state where we have already...

The power of Time is the power of change, which is the power of the life force (Prana). It emerges from the bliss (Ananda) of the Self. It manifests in so many forms which to some degree we can either stop from changing or balance to reach a more neutral form. Breath retention (Kumbhaka) is a major practice used to slow down or stop mind and calm down our entire system. It is in the Prana that we feel our emotions, which are present as 9 different emotional essences (Rasas). There is a need...

The power of ethereal space relates to the five elements of which our body is made. These elements are generating our basic desires for security, pleasure, status, love and understanding. When we take good care for our body as a good mother would, the elements are balanced and our desires become more easy to manage. Likewise our emotions will be more harmonious. This rest upon a variety of practices relates to the Doshas in our food, working with the senses and physical exercises. Sharing...

The Powers of Sound, Space and Time manifest from the Self to create the Universe, while also offering us so many practices to return to the feeling of the Self. The power of Sound thus manifests as the power of Aum and other seed sounds, the powers of mantra, beat, tone, music, thought and desire. The Power of Space is infused with the care and sharing in motherly love, including also the work of calming and withdrawing the senses, pacifying desires, as well as balancing our bodies through...

The Power of Sound may help us to find our inner silence, especially if our emotions are somewhat troubled and making it hard. We are sound frequencies ourselves and by producing sound, we can change our emotional frequency. The science of Sanskrit holds incredible understanding on how sounds affect us. The seed sounds, chakra sounds and mantras brought forward by the yogic tradition offer us many ways to work with our energy and this especially to resolve any subconscious blockages. Sounds...

The most essential understanding in Tantric Advaita concerns the seeds or potentials that are hidden within the Self, from which the entire universe manifests. They are based on the ancient trinity of Sat-Chit-Ananda, from which the powers of Time, Space and Sound emerged. These seeds also offer us the principal energetic methods to regenerate the feeling of nonduality. They provide us with a unique insight into the origin of all Yogic and Tantric practice, at all times allowing us to retrace...

You are that blissful Self-awareness beyond duality. You really ‘get that’, yet it is hard to keep feeling it. Tantric Advaita may be just what you need.    This is Part 1 of an 8 part series on Tantric Advaita. Supported by numerous backers on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, this video is part of a communication project on Tantric Advaita. It also includes the book 'Tantric Advaita - Energizing Nonduality' - - find all details here :...

The lady asking me this question meant that while she has not much to complain about her boyfriend in general, in bed he is responding in a rather primitive fashion. When some sexual interaction starts, he is very rapidly aroused and finishes quickly, leaving her quite unsatisfied. Hence, the reference to a 'Neanderthal in bed'.  To my experience, many couples have these kinds of issues when it comes to sex and many women especially complain that men are bad at sex. This basically happens...

Ancestor rituals are very easy and useful to do. In modern culture this has been mostly lost, while in ancient cultures it was always a main aspect of the spiritual practices of a community. The best time is on the morning of a new moon, when the gate is wide open and the ancestors are also in the most calm mood. It only needs to take 5 minutes in which we greet the ancestors, wish them well, offer them some gifts and may also ask for support. The gifts should contain the five elements :...

Solar and lunar energies are an essential duality in Tantric science. The solar energy which is more rational and action-oriented tends to be more dominant in males. The lunar energy which is more emotional and feeling-oriented is generally more dominant in females. Some women are more solar than some men and vice versa, so everyone is free to be however they want. The true balance that we seek in yoga is between the solar and the lunar, as we are half male and half female anyhow. The...

Marijuana is known to be used quite a lot by many Sadhus in India, so one might wonder if there is a spiritual use of it. The answer is that there are some interesting spiritual opportunities in using Marijuana, but there is definitely no need for it. It all depends who is using Marijuana or other Cannabis products, with what intent and how.    Many householder yogis will eat or drink Cannabis products rather than smoking Marijuana, which is obviously better for health. Addiction to Cannabis...

The Leela game is also called Maha Lila or Gyan Chaupad, the game of self-knowledge. Leela is not just a great tool for learning all about life and your own path through the 72 squares of the game board and the many snakes and arrows that fill it. Especially the snakes and arrows will teach you what are the best ways for you to move up and which errors are the most likely to take you down. It also imparts some very deep spiritual messages and the more we play the Leela game, the more these...

If we have no teacher or the teacher is not available, we can still teach ourselves by being good students. Any outer teacher will only push us to the inner teacher, which is the Self. Teachings are anyhow but an introduction to a subject that we can only really master through our own experience and practice. If we see ourselves as a work in progress and do the work, then progress is assured. Once we have found a practice that really suits us, we focus entirely on mastering it. The...

Nobody likes anger, but still we usually understand little about it, so ancient Vedic Rasa science can teach us a lot. Many feel powerless even to stop the feeling once it comes. And yet even just by understanding how the Rasa of anger depends on the fire element in the body, we can find many ways to cool down. Anger also relates to how we deal with other emotions and especially with our expectations. We can learn to defend ourselves more peacefully by being straightforward and without...

Samadhi is the state of really deep meditation, when we are entirely absorbed inside. In that state which is truly beyond words, we are no longer aware of sitting somewhere in meditation. Whatever happens there happens naturally, supported by the divine power of the Self. Such deep meditation brings about profound changes in our personality, where a shy person can entirely lose that shyness, etc... In Samadhi, the identification with the Ego is temporarily lost and as a result when we emerge...

The 7 steps to enlightenment are known in Vedic culture as the Bhumikas and also Ramana Maharishi brought them to our attention as guidelines to the process of spiritual growth. That is important especially as each step has its own rules. For example, step 2 is called Vichara or self-study and it does require to read books, listen to lectures etc... until our intellectual level of understanding has reached a level where the questioning can stop and we can enter the stage of practice in step...

Nobody wants to be depressed and yet depression ultimately is revealed as a choice that we can make if things go wrong. Ancient vedic science offers us a vast body of knowledge on this Vibhatsya Rasa, the essential emotional energy involved in depression, which can be translated as a feeling of disgust. How to get rid of depression first of all means to see the truth of the self-loathing and low self-esteem that it holds. It makes no sense, it has no purpose, it doesn't solve a thing, rather...

This class brings you the direct experience  of the truth of non-duality, which is the foundation of all yoga and spirituality. 'We are all one' is more easily said than truly understood or actually felt. The study of this truth is the main practice in Jnana Yoga, even if intellectual understanding is only at the start of it. Through a series of introspective questions called Vichara, based on the teachings of Shri Ramana Maharishi and Nisargadatta Maharaj, the class leads you to the core of...

This ancient Leela boardgame teaches us about life, yoga and the chakras. As I was taught through this game by Harish Johari and played it daily for years afterwards, I learned so much. Most importantly, the snakes and arrows on the gameboard should be closely watched so that one can learn also what most often takes our energy down or pushes it upwards. This Gyan Chaupad or “gameboard of knowledge as it was originally called, holds layer upon layers of significance both for our mundane lives...

We discuss one Mahavidya per session, this time working with Baglamukhi, the beholder of speech or the Word, the power of truth that defeats any opposition to the truth, whether inside or outside. Baglamukhi takes the demon by the tongue and her club breaks his skull,  destroys his thinking. The goddess silences any opposing forces within & without : one tickles the other. She brings truth in speech and thought. Baglamukhi is the power of positive intellect to turn around anything. She is...

The Hindu goddess Kamala (or Kamla) represents the power of sharing our light. She shows how ultimately whatever (spiritual) wealth we have acquired through our yogic practice is freely shared in order to fully attain its fruits. Showing the Varad mudra of prosperity sharing coins, Kamala's light is wealth in abundance, as all growth in nature depends on solar energy. The goddess teaches us how to be a light to the world, to be engaged but not stained by it, which is the nature of the lotus...

The Hindu goddess Dhumavati is the beholder of smoke or void, the power of not knowing. Dhumavati is the eternal grandmother, the hag who sees only smoke, darkness, void. She is the widow, energy without consciousness, Shakti without Shiva. Dhumavati appears as old, crooked, troublesome, restless, chaotic, depressed and is associated also with dementia. Her crows represent black magic, the dark forces. This goddess brings true knowledge through suffering. From acceptance of darkness Dhumavati...

The Hindu goddess Tripura Bhairavi represents the power of Fire, which offers Purification. Tripura Bhairavi especially deals with the nine impediments of mind, blocking us on the yogic path. This Fire is the greatest terror of the universe, devouring all impurities. It is our will power to do the hard tapasya or exercise needed for spiritual transformation. Control over mind is necessary if we want the Ego to relax and abide in the awareness of the Self. Tripura Bhairavi gives us the...