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