Why Soul Gazing is Your New Yoga Practice
Communication occurs on many levels, we know that it goes far beyond talking and listening. We’re referring to what happens when you open up the energy lines between people with the exercise known as soul gazing. It’s been known to give participants an altered state of consciousness by staring into another person’s eyes for ten minutes. Psychologists refer to this as a dissociative state brought about by the lack of sensory stimulation.
Tantrik Micro Meditation Practices: Everything is Consciousness
Join Hareesh Wallis for a 20-minute Tantrik micro meditation where you will seek to actualize the realization that everything is consciousness – and that consciousness is everything.
The Yoga of Soul of Gazing
If the word Tantra conjures up scenes of sexuality, you’re not alone. The introduction of Tantric practices in the West has inadvertently become identified with a practice that’s laced with nudity, sexuality, and occasionally, promiscuity.
The truth is, Tantra may enhance your sex life, but only by deepening your connection to your energy and your body first. Although Tantric practices are founded on the principal of intimacy, intimacy is not purely physical. It’s the act of connecting so deeply that you feel as if you are getting a glimpse into your and perhaps another’s soul.
The Tantric practice aims to expand beyond perceived limitations of yogic philosophy and the asanas. When one meditates it is the space between thoughts where one begins to find a glimpse of inner peace. As yogis, we cultivate that space until the thoughts become less and less obtrusive, and the space between them becomes vast.
The exploration of the subtle energies within the body and their connection to the universe provide the opportunity to understand the purpose of life and the principles of union in new dimensions.
Try this exercise with a partner
Come into a loose, cross-legged position (typically the larger person in Sukhasana first). Your partner then sits on your thighs and crosses their ankles behind your back. Touch your third eye centers (space between the eyebrows) as you both lengthen through your spines. Gaze lightly into each other’s eyes as you inhale and exhale through the nose. Take 5 breaths, allowing a natural synchronicity of breath, with your palms resting on the backside of your partner’s heart. Surrender to the intimate experience of both your and your partner’s heartbeat. Try this for 10 minutes.
EXPAND YOUR CAPACITY FOR INTIMACY
If you’re practicing Tantra Yoga on your own or with a partner, you’re expanding your capacity for intimacy and union. With practice, we’re able to get up close and intimate with the beliefs and behaviors that hold us back from the intimacy we desire. In addition, Tantric techniques are provided to evolve beyond these barriers so that each and every one of us may thrive and prosper.
About the Author
How to Heal a Broken Heart in 17 Different Ways
Losses and pivotal life changes can make us feel as if our world of familiarity and comfort is crumbling away beneath us, leaving us with a sense of emptiness and shaken emotional instability. However awful these times may seem, they can also offer us the gift of intimately knowing ourselves, and the opportunity to grow and learn.
We are at our most vulnerable, our most creative, and in a sense, our most awake and alive during times of emotional pain. Our sensitivity is heightened, and although many of these feelings are extremely painful, our ability to experience this pain also leaves us open to the possibility of truly feeling everything the world has to offer. Excruciating suffering but also the promise of immense joy.
When we think of healing we often think of taking medications, receiving treatments, or long courses of therapy. We often overlook the importance of the little, comforting things we can do to help nurture ourselves through hard times. Like when an important relationship ends or a loved one passes away. These rituals and small comforts are powerful healing facilitators; we only need the courage to turn to them and to trust that we are on the right path.
Try These 17 Ways to Heal Heartbreak
- Journaling
- Talk to a professional
- Write a letter
- Confide in a family member or loved one
- Read a book or watch a movie
- Get artsy
- Treat yourself
- Self-care
- Letting go
- Try something new
- Get into nature
- Meditate
- Make plans
- Spend time with a pet
- Go with the flow
- Avoid social media
- Trust yourself
