Kylie De Giorgio Interviewed Diane for her “Yoga for Sex” article in the WellBeing Magazine read an extract from this same interview regarding Brahmacharya.
How To Connect With The Divine
To Read Diane’s Interview for the article please click here.
In the classic yoga text The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, one key ethical principle is brahmacharya. This is usually translated as sexual abstinence. Yogic celibates take a vow not to engage in any sexual practice in thought, work and deed in order to redirect the powerful sexual life energy for spiritual purity rather than lose it through ejaculation. Yet there is another way. Katie Manitas of Jivamukti Yoga interprets brahmarchaya as not harming another through your sexual activities. Donna Fahri (Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit) translates the concept as an energy exchange or merging energies with God, “a kind of omnidimensional celebration of Eros in all forms”. Heart of Yoga’s Mark Whitwell asserts that life is about making use of desire, not suppressing it. In The Promise: Love, Sex & Intimacy, he teaches, “Your Seven-Minute Wonder: a gentle pranayama (breathing) exercise with simple asanas (postures), promising greater intimacy in all relationships, especially your sexual relationship, when performed daily for three months.” From this perspective, brahmarchya shows you how to use your sexual energy, making it a consciously joyful act. You can apply all other yamas and the niyamas to the key ethical concept in thought, word and deed. Apply:
• Ahimsa (non harming) through self acceptance and compassion in sex
• Satya (truthfulness) through honest communication of each other’s needs
• Astya (not stealing) by respecting someone’s sexual boundaries
• Shaucha (purity) through cleanliness and simplifying clutter, to allow the sacred to be felt.
• Santosha (contentment) in sex and sexual partners
• Tapas (burning enthusiasm) so sexual desire doesn’t wane, especially when career, children
or hobbies take over
• Swadhyaya (self study) as self reflective consciousness in sex
• Ishvarapranidhana (celebration of the spiritual) through devotion in lovemaking
You can take each of these ethical precepts separately and explore them deeply thought your
sexuality and sexual responses to life.
To find our how to connect with the dive self, tantric experts Kerry and Diane Riley have shared their experience and Knowledge. For more information click here.
