Returning to Love

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Dear Ones,

This month’s newsletter features s a video interview I did three weeks ago for Richard Dugan’s podcast, Tell Me Your Story. In this interview, I talk about the role tantra plays in sharing our light and bringing more love into the world. I really enjoyed speaking with Richard. He’s such a good interviewer—a lot of fun. I think you’ll enjoy it too.

Please click the image below, to see the full interview on Youtube.

Returning to Love Tantra Teacher Coach Santa Cruz Lindy James

I’ve spoken many times in my past newsletters about tantra, the path, and how it’s changed my life. You can find those articles in my inspirations section on my website.

Below is a handful of my offerings. I look forward to seeing you at an event coming up. And, as always, please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

With a big heart and much love,
Lindy Dakini James

The Path of Tantra, According to Lindy James

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My focus on tantra is less about sex and more about energy, embodiment and intimacy. Energy, or chi, is the life force that courses through us and surrounds our bodies in an energetic field. Embodiment is a skill that invites our presence and awareness of the feeling of the chi energy that flows in and around us. Intimacy is the act of sharing our energy with another.

Being fully embodied lets you feel everything—in your body, and also in your energetic field. It is my belief that we had this ability as very young children. And then, as we grew up, we were told to think more, to hold still, to not act on our impulses. While there are certainly benefits in this, it can also cut us off from our natural energy and the pleasures inherent in freely expressing our sensuality. Embodiment feels delicious. While making love, watching a beautiful sunset, dancing unselfconsciously, embodiment gives you the ability to feel freedom and joy in your body, it touches and awakens your heart, refreshing and enlivening your whole spirit.

Learning about intimacy—if you remember looking into an infant’s eyes, they’re big and trusting, if they haven’t had any abuse. They can look right into your soul and you into theirs. I notice when my adult students first try eye gazing with each other, they’re sometimes shocked and scared. I teach a way to gaze where you’re not invading or being invaded by. Where you simply look out these windows to the soul, in an embodied and present manner, listening on the inside, and looking out at the other. Sharing deep intimacy can sometimes be scary, but it is ultimately a worthy endeavor that is deeply satisfying and nourishing.

In this path of tantra, we learn to think less and feel more. This means listening to our inner wisdom and trusting that, in our bodies, we already know. It also means learning to say our truth and risking the disappointment of another. If someone asks us to do something with them, we learn to tune in to our inner feelings before answering. If it’s a yes, we’ll feel it. If it’s a no, or an I’m not sure, we’ll feel that too.

We learn to say no in a most loving, inviting way, which is a beautiful communication skill to have. “When I tune in, I get a no, but I dearly appreciate your asking.” “When I tune in, I’m not sure. Please ask me again later?”

So, when we learn these skills, and reconnect with the ability to feel that maybe we had as a child, we discover how to get our needs for connection and trust and touch met—without necessarily having to be sexual.

Tantra teaches us to open the flow through all the chakras—using the flow of the second chakra, the sexual center, to fuel the body and feed us with oxytocin dopamine, serotonin, the brain chemicals that shift us from depression to joy, from lethargy to activity, that bring light into our hearts. Sounds good doesn’t it?!

I invite you to join my free online class, A Taste of Tantra. It’s simple, it’s gentle, and it gives you a taste of what I’m talking about here. If that whets your appetite for more, I have a Foundations Training that starts on October 12—it’s four half-day classes, meeting once a month. They’re very simple, everyone going at their own pace, completely at choice in all the exercises. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

I started out in much the same way. I took tantra as my path, and that’s how I got where I am now, 30 years later.

Many Blessings,
Lindy Dakini James

My Tantric Walk

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For this month, I want to share more about the path & trainings I’ve taken, how I have build my skills, and how one might build their skills on the path. This time I’m playing with doing it in video log (vlog) form!

Over all these years it just keeps getting better and better. I truly love my work, and I would truly love to meet you, and have you join this sweet community that has been growing here in my home in Aptos for at least ten years.

Please enjoy this video, just for you!

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Love,
Lindy

Slowing Down and Feeding Your Soul

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Slowing down is a practice I am endeavoring to develop. I try to not fill up every moment in my calendar. I intentionally leave space for the unknown, for unplanned time, such as to be in my garden and putter. I even mark in my calendar the phrase “no plans today”. I give myself time to hear my body and spirit’s needs.

It has been a long journey for me to shift from that place of gaining approval for what I’m doing to learning that it is actually okay to just be. I am working through the discomfort of feeling squirmy with the voices that tell me I’m not being productive, that I’m not getting things done as I should. I’m learning to let go of “the shoulds”.

Isn’t Busy-ness Required In Life?

Of course we have to have some sort of routine to pay our bills and be on top of important jobs. Although I find if I’m busy all the time, I begin to miss spontaneity, creativity, insight, and playfulness. These are all elements of a part of our brain which is vastly different from the part that is used for problem solving or pushing to get things done. Yes, I do love it when I get things done. I love checking things off the list. Yet also, I know my worth and lovability is not based on “doing”.

We Can Choose to Be Curious & Tune Into The Motivation Underneath the Busy-ness

Slowing down is not as easy as it might seem for some. As I choose to putter or sit still I may feel some of my old beliefs creeping in, “I must work hard”.  After years of effort, I can now navigate those thoughts and allow myself to enjoy stillness and remain open to creativity. These things feed my soul and give room for insight to blossom. I can pause in wonderment at the beauty of nature.

For me, slowing down means connecting with the stillness inside. It means giving time for my heart and soul to speak to me. Following the path of Tantra has given me the ability to deeply feel sensual energy, the need for boundaries, what pleases my body, etc. These are all ways in which the Tantric path has cultivated the loving relationship between my heart, mind, and body.

How You Can Begin to Learn to Slow Down

So far, I do hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer we’re having. Coming this fall there will be two programs which will be very helpful for slowing down and getting more deeply connected to yourself. My “Tantra Foundations program” is wonderful for those of you that are new or haven’t ever had actual foundational training with Tantra. My “Advanced Tantra program” is for those of you that have the foundation and are ready to dive deeper.

In all my teaching work, I guide my students to slow down into stillness and awareness. On the path of Tantra, we can listen to what the body is longing for and feed our souls. We can consciously open to sensual pleasure and enjoy the bliss without doing anything. We open our body to pleasure for the nourishment of every cell and every chakra.

I have attached a sweet little video that speaks on a soul level to the simple things in life.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Love,
Lindy

How Qi Gong Has Helped Me as a Heart-Centered Tantra Teacher 

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Finding Flow & Balance in More Ways Than One
When I practice Qi Gong I feel a delicious flow that balances my body, mind and spirit. It is like medicine for the soul. When I practice with a group, I feel a united field together that brings a tender simple joy of being. When I practice Tantra I also feel Energy along with a similar pleasure of flow and balance. When I practice with others or my lover it creates a beautiful unity combined with subtle pleasure. Both Qigong and Neo-Tantra are nourishing body, mind and spirit.

When I first began practicing Qi Gong, I was a bit dubious, I couldn’t quite feel the energy “Qi”. But I did like the meditative movements, the strength and fluidity that I felt in my body. I’m not so good at sitting meditation, I am much better with embodied movement. In Tantric lovemaking as well as Qi Gong, we practice quieting the mind and listening to the subtle messages of the body.

Slowing Down Enough to Hear the Body, Mind, & Spirit
To teach our mind to recognize and feel sensual energy or Qi, one must slow down enough to register the sensations we might normally miss. We invite the neural pathways to feel into the body and connect with the felt sense of embodiment. Teaching the mind to let go of constant thinking helps us to learn the practice of awareness which is so special. Qi Gong is sensual but not sexual, it feels delightful, uplifting and is healing as well. Qi Gong and Neo-Tantra can both be a subtle pleasure of slow moving deep bliss.

After some time and a little help from my Qi Gong teacher, I developed embodiment skills that helped me listen on the inside. I have learned a few Qi Gong forms that expand and move energy into a lovely flow. I can now feel Qi, direct it throughout my body, and feel bliss.

Qi gong is a practice from the Taoist lineage. It has many forms that teach about tracking and moving energy. Neo-Tantra has its influences from Hindu and Buddhist views of philosophy. Both are beautiful paths to tune or balance the body, mind and spirit.

This June I have some lovely offerings to bring balance to our body, spirit and mind. I highly recommend the Morning Tantra Practice. These are simple practices that help shift old habitual patterns and create new patterns that support bliss in your life! You can listen to a sample of the Morning Tantra Practice here.

I look forward to meeting you soon.

Love,
Lindy

An Invitation to Hibernate With The Solstice

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Forced to Stop (and Rest)

I was so looking forward to 12 magical days in Mexico at a Buddhist retreat, and wouldn’t you know it… five days into my trip, I got Covid! I would never have chosen to stay in a hotel room to find stillness and cleanse my mind and body.  But life had a different plan.

Before the trip, I had been super busy right up until the second I left. My  thinking was that when I got back, I would stop and take time to be still, let go, and give myself the silence I longed for. I wanted slow rainy days, curled up by the fire with one of my favorite books.

But instead, I was forced to abandon my retreat and hole up in a hotel.

Surrendering to Stillness

After much resistance, acceptance finally arrived. I read a book.  I fasted. All the activity — the busy-ness, the pushing myself, the coffee in the morning to get going, the glass of wine at night to slow down — it all unraveled and stopped.

Of course I felt sorry for myself. I was out-of-my-mind bored, and there was nothing I could do about it. By the end of five or six days, my body reached a cleanse point and my appetite came back. Food had never tasted so good!

Now that I am home again, I’m spending quiet time in my room, kept company by the most beautiful winter sky view outside my window. I’m still fatigued and going slow.

As you may know, winter is the time of hibernation.  In my case, life’s schedule for this precious slow down overrode my own.  I’ve always intended to learn my lessons before life forced them.  But once they come, my job is to surrender.

Guidance Comes Through the Quiet Space

So much in our culture is lost with constant doing. We desperately need time to slow down. The Tantra path requires this slowed down time to listen to our body’s wisdom, our soul’s longing, and our hearts’ guidance for rejuvenation. From this full cup we can give and receive love more fully. We can open to ecstatic energies and embrace life!

During this season, my wish for you is that you may heed the call to go within and resist the fear of missing out. Take the time to go deep into your senses and actually say “No thank you, I’m going to sit by the fire and read my book tonight.” May we answer the call of the Winter solstice (The Returning of the Light) and take the time needed to reflect.

I look forward to seeing you again in the New Year.

Love, 
Lindy James

The Joy of Connection

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Oxytocin, dopamine, serotonin — lovely chemicals that happen in our brain, encouraging us to pursue pleasure and connection.

As we become more and more present in the body, we can notice the felt sense of (the feeling of) goodness in our bodies when we are close to someone.  It can happen with our children, or with our partners and friends.  Non-sexual, consensual connection can feel so nurturing that our walls of protection begin to soften, making possible feelings of joy and bliss.

As you look at the photo (taken during one of my classes) of connected-contented pairs of feet, you can get a sense of what I’m talking about.  The mirror neurons in you can activate as you look at the photo.  Can you sense the joy? The relaxation?

Learning to speak our boundaries verbally and through our body language and eyes, allows us to trust and open to simple connections.

I enjoyed a quote recently that went something like this:  A wall around our heart lets nobody in.  But sharing our boundaries reveals the door to come inside and meet ourselves or another.

A big part of my work is teaching discernment, pace and boundaries so that we can reclaim a sense of safety and trust.  We can do the healing work for deeper woundings so that we can return to a natural trusting openness.  Think of the way children reach their arms up to a care provider to be held, “Up mommy!”  Children are open to feeling loved, protected and held.

Let us reach out to be loved and held.
It’s never too late to have a good childhood.
And I speak from experience.

I look forward to meeting you.
I look forward to the opportunity to share this beautiful work with you.

Love, 
Lindy James

Pleasure, Sovereignty & the Tantric Path

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Healing the rift between s£xuality and pleasure in our world

In a society where s£xuality is considered a sin or used as currency to sell products or the idea of what beauty is, great harm is done to body and soul. This societal sickness is contagious and hurt begets more hurt.

Because we are conditioned by culture, religion and family over our lifetime…our natural sensuality is often confusing and shameful. And yet it is one of the most natural, healthy and inspiring things we can cultivate. Feeling our pleasure is energizing, good for the immune system, and a source of healthy joy!

Tantra teaches us that s£x is a sacred act.

To experience this, we must heal from our cultural views, family hand-me-down belifs and our own self degradation.  Self love is the beginning: reawakening the pathways to pleasure, choosing to follow ‘inner listening’ about when you say yes and when you say no.Often our voice (ability to express) gets shut down in order to not cause trouble, to feel safe. Although this might have been true when we were young, it no longer serves us now; in fact, now it gets in the way. So many behaviors our younger selves developed to feel safe are outdated and can even be harmful.

I own that “I am a recovering nice girl.”


Deep in my subconscious, I was terrified that I’d lose love if I wasn’t nice.  I was willing to suffer a lot at my own expense while being nice.I did everything to avoid conflict.  When my rational mind examined the situations I was afraid of, it found no real threats.  But to my heart, it felt like life or death. In the realm of s£x, I gave myself away far too many times, and eventually lost the sensation of enjoying intimacy until I found my healing through Tantra.

I still get afraid in conflict, but now I have the tools to step-up and speak my truth with fierce love, even admist my fear.

S£xual pleasure is our birthright.

Let’s take a stand for that and heal the wounds that have taken it away. No one has a say over our pleasure but ourselves.Tantra is one path to reclaiming our sovereignty. And the Tantric community is a wonderful place to be supported with stepping into freedom.

Finding our NO and having someone say thank you is so very healing! Being held in our fears, tears and joy is a dream come true. Through this we find our true YES and the path to sovereignty with our bodies and lives.

With deep reverence,
Lindy James

Is Tantra about S£x?

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Is Tantra about S£x?
A Deeper Perspective on Sacred Sexuality

 

When I first began Tantra, I assumed it was all about s£x, orgasms and orgies.

In actuality, Tantra uses subtle s£xual energy to open the body and the chakra system.  In order to feel these subtle s£xual and sensual energies, Tantra teaches us the art of embodiment — which can be blissfully ecstatic!

Tantra is not a way to bypass the wounds and confusion we may have around s£x. Instead, Tantra is a path to heal and awaken the places within our s£xuality that have shut down or gone numb.  Tantra teaches us to slow down and let go of goals. We learn that it’s important to go at our own pace, honoring our boundaries and those of our partner.

For me, Tantra is a path to clear away the habitual patterns, stories and wounding from the past, in order to find our true essence.  The Tantric path guides us into deep connection with ourselves, and eventually with others, nature and the divine.  Making love can feel like a meditation: slow, present and without a goal – a delicious letting go.

I’ve heard it said that, “Tantra is the quickest way to enlightenment, and the most fraught with danger.”  We will face and embrace that which we might usually flee from or cover up.  This path is one of courage and trust.  It is a healing path.

How do we walk the Tantric path?

The short answer is: witness our beliefs and bring ourselves back into the present moment.

Tantra may look like it’s about s£x, but it’s really about connection.  We connect with all of the chakras to be open, awake and alive.  We become so embodied that we can notice when we are offline or disconnected.  Then, Tantric practices bring us back home, back into a place of trust.

Regular practice is so important for building sensitivity to the subtle energies we work with in Tantra.  This is why I suggest my guided morning tantric practice and monthly classes in community, either online or in person.

It is my joy to be on this Tantric path, to love and guide anyone who is willing to walk.

Blessed be.

Love,
Lindy

Love Blows Open My Heart (Again)

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Love Blows Open My Heart (Again)

When my son was two weeks old, I remember being shocked at the sheer intensity of my feelings.  The love for my husband at the time didn’t come close.

The love I was experiencing for this new being was so massive that it felt like I could be killed by it.  Like I might die from how big the feelings were!

It was a strange sensation of simultaneous Vulnerability and Joy.  
Love had blown open my heart.

Then this spring, my son had a son.

I met my grand baby when he was four days old.  I visited again when he was one week old, and just now at his six week mark.  I felt incredible love for him, even before he was born – like we already knew each other.

Love had blown open my heart — again!  

My son

My grandson

Allowing the heart to expand in love.

The heart is a tender place.
We never know when love will arrive at our doorstep.
We never know when our heart will expand to new heights and new depths.

The vulnerability of opening to love is a big deal.

Love this big is a dance.
A dance of patience and holding.
A dance of trust.
And of impermanence.

We never know when love comes, or when love will go.

In my work, I often find that love moves through me.  There’s a welling up of care for the people who come to my events or for the people I work with.  This love is tempered with a kind of letting go as I acknowledge that each of you are on your own path and I have no control.

I don’t know if my grandson will live until a ripe old age, beyond my lifetime.
He could go tomorrow, we never know.

When love blooms big in my heart, I use the moment to ground and feel.
And I keep feeling.
I keep allowing love to guide me.

I look forward to being in the bubble of universal love with all of you.
When the time is right, we shall see each other again.

Love,
Lindy James