Chance meeting of two strangers in a parking lot...

“Our relationships with one another are like a chance meeting of two strangers in a parking lot. They look at each other and smile. That is all there is between them. They leave and never see each other again. That is what life is – just a moment, a passing, and then it is gone.

If you understand this, there is no time to fight. There is no time to argue. There is no time to hurt one another. 

Whether you think about it in terms of humanity, nations, communities, or individuals, there is no time for anything less than truly appreciating the brief interaction we have with one another.

… Time is very precious. Do not wait until you are dying to understand your spiritual nature. If you do it now you will discover resources of kindness and compassion you didn’t know you had.”



H.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Life in Relation to Death

Premier Issue of GARB Magazine: The Modern Devadasi Sisterhood

Read about the modern Devadasi sisterhood & enjoy Bast's article 'WOMEN OF MY WORLD,' in the premier issue of Garb magazine - an amazing dance & fashion publication!


“How did you get such an incredible group of teachers together for this year’s Fusion Temple Dance Festival?” I was recently asked. “These are among the queens of sacred dance!”

I instantly replied, “these are... the women of my world.” In fact, in my semi-hermetic life, these women fill the altar of my mind...


Enjoy the full article & magazine here...

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/633820

Serenading the Divine... Behind the Scenes

I can’t keep the secrets all to myself...


I regularly ask my community about where they are feeling challenged or blocked. I have been amazed at how many times they hold their throats and express a longing for more freedom in this chakra to sing, speak, and express - in front of a group as well as intimately. I often hear, “I was told not to sing... that I couldn’t sing.” The critic had been internalized, and it was a vicious beast. 


Over and over, friends ask, “Can you teach me how to sing... like that?” In essence, to sing fearlessly, in joyful devotion and wild abandon. But it wasn’t always like that for me...
 

I survived a youth shaped with intensive classical musical training. My voice and music were regularly scrutinized. Sometimes I endured being rated by panels at formal adjudications. Music practices and rehearsals felt like military drills. The approach of perfectionism was stifling. I am grateful for the skill I gained and even for the challenge of it all, but my soul was starving for a wilder and more soulful expression.

I had abandoned my music for a while. Though I loved music, it had started to feel like heavy chains. Then some years ago, I fell in love with devotional and ceremonial music of different traditions.

I am ever-deepening in my own healing transformation of liberating my voice and music through the path of bhakti, tantra yoga, the yoga of speech, and traditional shamanic healing modalities.

 
At a point in my healing process, passionate devotion took over so much that there was no more vacant space for fear.


I felt myself breaking through icy layers of self-doubt. My inner-critic was dressed up in a clown outfit and banished to the far corners of the universe. I felt as if my voice had new “wings” as I explored new octaves, harmonies, and delightful new textural and primal sounds. I was in love again... and having FUN!

Apparently, I had tapped into something that others recognized as medicine. And I am answering the call by offering Serenading the Divine: Sacred Music, Mantra, and the Shamanic Voice. I hope you enjoy!

The next Serenading the Divine experience is August 30th, 2013. 

Please join our email list to receive announcements for future teachings.


Love,
Bast
dakinitemple.org

Are you afraid of "too much" pleasure?

Mid-yoga retreat, against the back-drop of this tropical paradise, I watched as one yogini opened her fresh jar of raw chocolate sauce...

 

 

 

 

It was a kind she'd never tried before. The dark, creamy texture beckoned for immediate exploration. 

She opened the lid to the jar, unsure of how to politely proceed to the pool of chocolate heaven waiting inside. "How do I eat this?" she asked innocently.

"Well... You dip your finger in, then... spread it on your shoulder and..." I playfully suggested, we giggled.

She did dip her finger right in to taste it, and cooed with delight over the luscious sensory experience.

She turned to the yogini next to her, and offered her some.

This 3rd yogini smiled, clearly tempted, and said something I will never forget...

"Oh it looks sooo good, but I'm afraid..." she hesitated before continuing, "...that I will like it too much." 

Once she had her hands on that pot of bliss, she feared she might go wild with desire and not want to put it down.


This led me to wonder, how often to we turn away from "too much" pleasure?


An experience of pleasure can be a profound moment to practice presence. Pleasure opens up the gateway to tremendous energy in the body, or shakti. This energy can be channeled into vivid states of awareness, love, creativity, and manifestation through the technologies of tantra yoga. 

Pleasure also has the potential to incite grasping, painful attachment, and a primal fear of being lost in the tidal wave of sensation and energy. We may resist fully surrendering to the experience, feeling that the safe, grounding shore of ordinary consciousness is floating too far away.

Without knowing practical ways to fully experience, digest, and finally release the pleasure, this source of delight can become painful - even before we experience it. Some may begin the process of nostalgia or clinging even before the first taste. 

Holding fear and stranded without practices to ground and guide you through pleasure, you may indirectly block yourself from experiences of deeper pleasure, or quite directly - in the case of the chocolate-fearing yogini.

Of course I advocate indulgences which are healthy in moderation!

And yet, it is important to honor our emotional and physiological thresholds with these sources of pleasure.  There is a time and a place for ascetic retreat, restraint, renewal, cleansing.



Be it pleasure from a sensory experience, relationship connection, or any other source... Enjoy these:


3 Possibilities for Surfing the Wave of Pleasure


• Allow the pleasure to be a portal into mindfulness

Notice your breath, thoughts, sensations, energy, desire. Notice every nuance possible about the experience. "Make love" to the experience with your attention.

• Take your time. Slow down. 

• BREATHE. Slow and deepen your breathe. Savor the experience with your breath.

Breathe in, receive the experience fully. Breathe out, release the experience fully.


And that's just the tip of the ice-berg... I hope to see you in person at our teachings to share more wonderful, complex technologies and personal support.

In the end, the yogini finally tasted the chocolate. Eve tasted the apple. And the exploration of consciousness began.

Dive in!

Love,
Bast
dakinitemple.org

Clubs or Fiddles?

 

 

The Ambiance of Love
~ Hafiz

 

We all
Sit in His/Her Orchestra,

Some play their
Fiddles,

Some wield their
Clubs.

Tonight is worthy of music.

Let's get loose
With
Compassion.

Let's drown in the delicious
Ambiance of
Love.

Beyond "Purity" & "Impurity"

"All this talk of purity & impurity ~
These are just opinions. Beyond them
Are the astonishing energies of creation.

Rays of light from a trillion suns
Illumine the altar of your sky.
Rolling blue-green oceans
Sanctify the air you breathe.
In this moment, you are inhaling their blessing.

Who are you to call any of this pure or impure?

Find the center around which everything revolves ~
Stand here and be flooded with joy.



~ from the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra: 
The Radiance Sutras

Translated by Lorin Roche

ALCHEMY: Partner Yoga & More

ALCHEMY: 

Partner Yoga, Kundalini Kriya, & Tantric Shastra 

is featured in the latest issue of 

LOVE + LIFE iPad magazine! 

Tis so sweet to feel receptivity to this beautiful work... 

Our next teaching is February 24th! Register early @ dakinitemple.org
 

Article:

The Dakini Temple in San Francisco specializes in sharing the most sacred of the yogic arts with the general public, Tantra.  And, their Alchemy Tantra Partner Yoga teaching presents a unique perspective on an ancient practice, offering an authentic way for couples to connect.

The bliss-filled Dakini Temple is tucked away in the hills of San Francisco with a private address only given out once you’ve scheduled your class, workshop or retreat.  This discretion provides a true sanctuary for participants, students and staff.

Bast and Tyler Neilson have been offering the teaching of partner yoga for about 3 years to the public.  In Tantra, the path to deepening your practice and getting to know yourself is through a shared practice.  Learning to breath together, move together and synchronize your focus together, creates a synergistic and simultaneous process of enlightenment.

In speaking with Bast, I understand just how much she’s dedicated to the authentic practice of Tantra.  Some people practice Tantra to have a better relationship, and some practice to have better sex; however Bast, is one that stays true to the integral nature of the practice.  “In traditional Tantra, having "better relationships" is never the main goal. Liberation and devotion to the Divine are the primary aims and these are to be the pure motives that make all the bliss and relational harmony possible,” say Bast.  She continues, “Still, better relationships are certainly a lovely side-effect or secondary aim.”

In the teaching, participants are guided through yoga practices as partners.  Asanas (moving Hatha Yoga postures), tantric meditation, pranayama (breath practice), kundalini yoga (internal tantric yoga for channeling passionate/ creative/ sexual energy), Thai massage inspired touch, and assisted yoga are just some of the components you’ll experience as a couple. You, as partners, will enhance all your senses, cultivate passionate energy, and refine your relationship within this integrated yogic path.

The next Alchemy Tantra Partner Yoga teaching will be held on Sunday, February 24th, 2013.  This class if for those who’ve already have some experience with yoga and want to deepen their practice with a partner.