The Senses
We are taking this event beyond a festival with mini-taster sessions in Tantra – instead it is a journey into specific elements of Tantra where some of the best teachers are gathered to impart knowledge and experiences into so you can deepen within this particular aspect of Sex and Spirituality.
This year we are diving into the Senses. In Kashmir Shaivism the organs of the senses are part of the 36 principles of reality which create this reality. Specifically they are called jñānendriyas (sense organs) are ghrana (nose), rasana (tongue), caksu (eye), tvak (skin), and srotra (ear).
“Each sense has the capacity to offer us Satori – spiritual awakening. Behind every sense, is a hidden sense, which is revealed to us as we dive deeply into that sensorial experience with awareness. Behind the outer eyes is the third eye, through which clairvoyance is awakened.
Hidden inside the two ears, is the third ear, through which we can awaken clairaudience. And deep inside the sense of feeling and touch, is hidden clairsentience. If we explore the sense of smell and taste, our olfactory ability is awakened to such an extent, that we can begin experiencing the ability to smell truth or untruth, and our discernment as to what is good for us or what is not serving our best interests becomes very pronounced. When all senses are vividly aware, we discover the phenomenon of ‘omnipresence.’ ” Mahasatvva Sarita
Of course these are more than these 5 obvious senses as we have a whole capacity to inteact and sense not only the external world around us but also the internal world and debate ranges from 9 to 21 various types of senses using various factors for their definition and can include senses such as “lung inflation”, “blood pressure” and even time itself!
For ease we list the 5 most obvious senses below but you can be sure some more interesting experiments with the senses will be available in the festival.
Sight
Sight is related to the element of fire. It is most dominant sense for the majority and is very strongly related to our perception of the world and our thinking. Visulization techniques are frequently used in tantra (as well as NLP and shamanism) in order to use this connection through the 3rd eye. As we look towards different quarents of the eye we are accessing various parts of our brain such as creativity or recal. It is interesting to note the differences from how we look through the eyes – techniques of moving between objective and subjective perception can be very revealing.
Hearing
Hearing is related to the element of Air. Sounds have a profound effect on the body. Studies have shown that sounds can open up our inner pharmacy and balance our physiology. They can help us to be healthier and to actually feel better. Vibrations do not only enter in through the ear but effect our whole bodies. To really hear is an art, it’s easy to simply listen to another and then take our time to say what we are interested in saying but how many of us can really hear, can deeply understand and empathise with the voices in the world around us. Tantra helps us to listen deeper than our thoughts and opinions so we can experience something new in the world.
Touch
Touch is related to the element of Water.
The skin marks the visible limits of the body and it is where we make contact with the world. The skin is our largest organ and makes up 16 percent of our body weight.
With touch we experience much of our environment, temperature, clothing, sheets, rain and so on. We are also trasmitted through our touch – how we touch another, how we touch the world can be full of presence and love, or it can be dead and practical without much feeling involved. Tantra helps us to aliven our touch.
Taste
Taste is related to the element of Earth. The tongue is super-sensitive.Our sense of taste comes from the taste buds on our tongue. These buds are also called papillae. .The tongue is only able to taste four separate flavors: salty, sweet, sour and bitter but combined with the sense of smell a whole world of taste is created. By blocking out the other senses we become much more sensitive to this sense.
Smell
Smell is related to the element of Space. It is one of our most primordial and evocative senses with has a very strong link to memories – the sudden catching of a particular smell might transport us back to long forgotten places and states of consciousness. We are constantly giving off scents (pheremones) without even realizing it. These pheromones train us to recognize and desire our partners. tudies have shown that the loss of the olfactory sense is often accompanied by a loss in sexual interest, so it is a good idea to keep our noses functioning optimally!