Session 1

Please do not distribute further.

*you can rewind by using cursor on the status bar

00:00 The Beginning (technical and formal issues)
​12:45 12-fold Lower Belly Breathing (exchanging the 
20:00 Wprowadzenie do zajęć Miejskiej Tantry [wycięliśmy element rozmowy w kręgu - nie będziemy zostawiać w nagranych materiałach tych rozmów)
26:40 Taniec (w zwolnionym tempie, z ziemią, pauza, ciało jako podmiot) 
39:30 Otwieranie Serca 
57:30 Metta dla Siebie (Miłująca Dobroć) 
01:11:00 Praktyka z Partnerem: Pokłon 

Recommended reads and ​additional materials:

After each session we will post below a list of additional materials, exercises and bibliography. We will include additional tips and hints, which can help to broaden your perspective on Tantra, deepen your practice, help to eliminate errors and direct your tantric discipline at home. Sometimes we will include links to guided practises etc. If you have any questions then please contact us. 

Contents:
1. 12fold Lower Belly Breathing (changing stale Prana)
2. Marici Mantra
3. Dance
4. Opening the Heart
5. Metta
6. Bow
7. Further reading

1. 12fold Lower Belly Breathing (changing stale Prana)
This technique comes from Tibetan Buddhist Tantra and is included in Somatic Meditation (Robert teaches Somatic Meditation). Somatic Meditation is a system developed by dr Reginald Ray (tantric master) along with bodyworkers and therapists. You can find this technique in many of his audio programs (for example: 'Awakening the Body'). We've included it in our YouTube channel but only in Polish (below): 

2. Mairici Mantra - OM MARITSE MUM SVAHA
Sometimes you can find versions, where instead of MUM there is MAM or instead of SVAHA there is SOHA. Some systems stress that one should make E in MARITSE longer - there should be double E (EE) actually (but not EYE). 
You can check pronounciation with the recording.
Female deity from Asia connected to this mantra is Marici (or Marice) - in Tibet she is known as Odser Chenma. She is a female symbol of light. If you are interested in arts then you can look up her images (like thangka paintings) in Google Graphics.

3. Dance - these are the tracks, which we have used for dancing:
Carbon Based Lifeforms: Gryning 
Carbon Based Lifeforms: Hydroponic Garden

4. Opening the Heart -basic practice for opening the heart. It is very important as it prepares the ground for cultivating somatic empathy. Short (lasting several up to 15 minutes) sessions are sufficient. The most important thing is to keep regular. It is good to be mindful of the chest in daily life. Not only is this a good mindfulness practice but if you notice that your heart is closed or the chest is full of tension then you can do a few deep breaths into the centre of the chest. 

If you are familiar with the 7 chakras model and would like to work not only with the heart centre or chakra but also with other chakras then you can apply this technique for all 7 chakras (using the right color according to this system). It looks quite similar with other chakras with the exception of the highest and the lowest: mouth at the back just behind a given chakra. When it comes to the crown chakra you can inhale from the back of the head (at the height of the 3rd eye), from the level of the throat or if you need more force/impetus then even from the level of the heart. As for the root chakra you can inhale from the level of the belly. If you have any doubts then you can ask us for clarification.

The interesting thing is that this particular and very popular chakra system has emerged just hundreds of years ago (sixteenth century; you can read about this in the following simple article on chakras here), though it has developed from older systems. Colors of the rainbow connected to the chakras are a modern invention. Malcolm Smith a Tibetan medicine doctor and a teacher of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism and Dzogchen (who also studied classical yoga with its masters) suggests that chakras and channels are related to veins, arteries and important organs and anatomical structures present throghout the body. We visualise them in various ways and in the course of thousands of years many systems have developed (in different tantric cycles there are from 3 up to hundreds of chakras). Chakras though they are related to physical organs are not physical organs but tools. By visualising and directing attention and energy in the body we are able to work with them at the subtlest levels. This is the reason why chakras and various visusalisations working with them might be completely different but at the same time have their functions. 

5. Metta –practice of cultivating kind intentions towards oneself and others (tip: using relaxing music often helps when doing this practice). You can develop Metta towards other people and increase the difficulty level (starting with the person you love/like, then practising by wishing all the best for someone with regards to whom you are indifferent, then you cultivate loving kindness towards an enemy and finally you extend loving kindness towards all beings). We will train in loving kindness towards Other later during this course but according to a different format. If you are interested in the format from the 1st session then you can just use all these intentions but instead of wishing them for oneself - wish them for another person (and gradually increase the difficulty level - maybe during one meditation session or maybe develop this practice in the course of several sessions). 

6. Bow - we took this format from Margot Anand, though our understanding of working with visualisation comes from Somatic Meditation and our practice of Buddhist Tantra. Also the idea of "Perfection" instead of "Divinity" is inspired by our practice of Dzogchen (which developed in the world of Buddhist Tantra but is not a tantric system per se). 

​7. Further reading (sometimes we will include more books but for now let's start with the first one):
Chogyam Trungpa - “Work, Sex, Money” - this book presents daily life from the perspective of Tantric Buddhism.