My Experience of What White Tantric Yoga® is All About
“White Tantric Yoga® is when you achieve supreme happiness of the soul and bliss in the consciousness and you break all doubts and barriers in your subconscious mind.”
~Yogi Bhajan, October 30, 1972, Santa Cruz, CA
This is the incredible promise of White Tantric Yoga®—to break through our doubts and barriers in the subconscious mind that hold us back in life. For decades I would travel to one-day tantric courses throughout the year. However, the highlight of those years was sharing precious time with my daughter as we drove to the Summer Solstice events in New Mexico, with three consecutive days of White Tantric Yoga®. I have always found this promise to be true! White Tantric Yoga® clears out all the mental clutter in my subconscious mind and opens a profound state of higher consciousness, pure joy, and happiness in my soul!
My first White Tantric experience was in Salt Lake City, Utah, and physically led by Yogi Bhajan at Westminster College. It was 1980 and I had been practicing Kundalini Yoga and Meditation for a couple of years. So, here I am in my early twenties sitting in the presence of the Mahan Tantric, the Master of White Tantric Yoga®. I cannot describe how incredible it was to be in the tantric lines with Yogi Bhajan’s powerful physical presence leading us through all of the tantric exercises. Being in his presence was like getting a giant spiritual booster shot that literally shot throughout my entire nervous system and carried me through the whole year. I stayed inspired, kept up my daily practice of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, and my soul was so alive and present.
In 1987 when Yogi Bhajan was no longer able to physically lead the tantric courses, he found a way to continue offering White Tantric Yoga®. With the help of modern technology and his unique mastery of White Tantric Yoga®, the tantric videos were designed to “hold” the frequency of the tantric teachings. They established a crucial link to the Mahan Tantric, ensuring the integrity and power of the practice. The centuries-old White Tantric teachings were traditionally passed on from one master to one devoted student, but today a tantric course can have hundreds or thousands of participants. We don’t have a Mahan Tantric in physical form, so, the videos were designed to connect the facilitator to the lineage of White Tantric Yoga®. And that is how the blessing of White Tantric Yoga® continues today.
Is White Tantric Yoga® a challenge? Yes, it can be. White Tantric challenges us in so many different ways, because it is cleansing the blocks, thoughts, patterns, and trauma that are locked in the subconscious mind and do not serve us. Sitting in tantric lines in a one-day tantric course can be a challenging day. It is comprised of a series of 31-minute or 62-minute kriyas. These are mostly done sitting in a cross-legged position and applying yogic techniques, such as mudras, postures, breath, and mantras to cleanse and purify the subconscious mind.
During each kriya, the tantric energy flows diagonally through the tantric lines. We are all working together in a state of group consciousness (which amplifies the energy for all of us!). Together, we break down the barriers of the subconscious mind, go beyond our limitations, and reach a deep meditative state of stillness, where our clearest intuition, our purest love, and our highest potential can flow through us. This has always been my personal experience, but I also see it in the people all around me. The tantric energy has swept away the subconscious clutter and there is a “high” at the end of the course, where we feel lighter, more fully alive, and connected!
After I had just finished my Teacher Training Level 1 with Yogi Bhajan in 2001, I came across this book, Anatomy of Miracles by Subagh Singh Khalsa. This book blew my mind! I knew about Sat Nam Rasayan®, but the book explained so clearly how to use this centuries-old yogic healing system. It gave me some tools for my own healing process and daily meditative practice. But more specifically, it gave me tools to use during the White Tantric Yoga® courses.
The one incredible tool I want to share with you is called “Equalizing,” which is about stabilizing your meditative space. It means you notice and observe your sensations and allow all of them, giving each one the same amount of attention. Your thoughts, emotions, any pain or discomfort, the sound of the chanting, the air on your face, the temperature in the room, or seeing your partner in pain are examples of sensations. You equalize all of them by allowing and feeling each sensation with the same amount of attention, no matter how intense or faint the sensation is. By letting go of concentrating on one sensation (like how much your arms hurt), you can get past it by equalizing all of your sensations. I have found this to be very powerful in supporting my partner or stabilizing myself and in finding a meditative space of stillness in the tantric energy.
A Glimpse of What it’s like to Sit in a Tantric Exercise
“The beauty of White Tantric Yoga® is that it is subtle, it is exalting, and it works to give you the mastery of life.” ~Yogi Bhajan
White Tantric is done in pairs facing each other. I am sitting in a long line of couples facing my partner and yogic friend, who is sitting directly across from me. We are all dressed in white clothing and sitting on our sheepskins. Our heads are covered with either a turban or white head covering that covers the entire head to protect our crown chakra and to contain the transformative energy during the tantric exercises. We have done some warm-up yoga stretches and a few minutes of chanting to prepare for the day.
The tantric facilitator arrives and briefly explains how the day will go. We are told to straighten our lines so the diagonal energy of the tantric can easily flow through the tantric lines. We turn our attention to the large TV screen where the first exercise of the day is explained. We will be looking directly into our partner’s eyes, bringing our arms up over our heads in Venus Lock with fingers interlaced, and chanting the first mantra of the day for 62 minutes.
Oh, man! I am already thinking about how hard this is going to be. After what seems to be a very long time, my arms hurt and my feet have fallen asleep. My partner sees my discomfort and I feel his strength and kindness as I look into his eyes. It reminds me to stop focusing on my pain and start equalizing my sensations. I listen to the chanting, feel the air on my skin, hear the noises in the room, see the kindness in my partner’s eyes, and feel my body relaxing and letting go of the pain. A few minutes later, my partner is shifting his legs and looking around the room, not into my eyes. I continue to hold steady in the posture, keep my eyes looking directly at him, and start equalizing whatever is coming up (his pain, my pain, wandering thoughts, etc.). He shrugs his shoulders a couple of times and brings his eyes back to gazing directly into my eyes. It amazes me how we continue to support each other in this way to ultimately find the “sweet spot” where we both can sit in a meditative state of stillness.
Finally, the facilitator instructs us to Inhale! Shake out the energy! And Exhale. Now we can all relax. We have a short break to stretch our bodies, go to the restroom, drink some water, and get back into straight lines so we can begin the next exercise. This will go on with a series of kriyas designed for the day. My partner and I are committed to keeping up with whatever challenges come up during the tantric exercises. We know the tremendous blessing that is on the other side.
It is the opportunity of a lifetime to work on yourself in the tantric energy. You go through the challenges the best you can and you keep up, because you know it is a time of transformation, healing, and victory over the subconscious blocks that hold you back in life. This is about you having an exalted experience of your soul. It can bring more happiness and success in every aspect of your life.
I hope to see you all at Summer Solstice for an extraordinary gathering of global community, rejuvenating workshops, lots of Kundalini Yoga, and 3 days of transformative White Tantric Yoga®. Sat Nam
One response to “My Experience of What White Tantric Yoga® is All About”
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Atma Kaur Khalsa
Sat Nam. Thank you Dharam Atma Kaur for your beautiful writing, capturing the multi layered experience and healing of White Tantric Yoga! The bliss, the challenges, the transformation, the incredible experience of the support of our very own Soul. I also started White Tantric Yoga in person with Yogi Bhajan in 1980. Over the years, my husband, my family, many yoga students have embraced and cherished the healing of White Yoga, so very grateful for it!! We pray deeply for it continuing and its support of humanity and peace in our world.
Humbly yours,
Atma Kaur Khalsa (VA)