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Ipsalu Tantra is a path of healing–a way to recover from the traumas and emotional scars of a 20th century upbringing. It is spirituality for the 21st century.

It heals the “inner child”. The lessons you learned as a child are often locked in your body-consciousness, unavailable to your mental consciousness. Ipsalu Tantra brings those memories to light where they can be dealt with consciously. It lets you return to the loving, joyful person you were born to be!

Ipsalu Tantra increases energy and fires creativity, using the power of sexual energy, Sexuality is not an obstacle to spiritual growth. Rather, it is an integral part of spiritual development. But in the West, guilt and shame have created massive barriers between your self and the Divine. Ipsalu Tantra provides an antidote. It lets you recapture the childlike innocence with which you came into the world. In a series of processes, you gradually shed the psychic blocks that prevent you from freely expressing your energies, and reconnecting with pure love.

What is Yoga, Really?
Yoga means “union”. It comes from the same root word as “yoke”. Its goal is union with the Divine – uniting your limited “self” with your larger, all-encompassing “Self”, in essence, discovering your True Self.

In the West, Yoga is thought to be an hour of asanas (poses) that is good for your health. Sessions might start with a bit of meditation and maybe a mantra, and they’ll end with some relaxation and a bit of meditation. But in between, it’s all about stretching and strengthening the body.

Even in India, it can be that way but not necessarily. In a book called Shivananda Buried Yoga, Yogi Manmoyanand comments “I had the notion that Yoga would take me closer to God. Surely anything as serious as finding God should have a process far more respectable than performing mere physical exercises” (p. 13) and “Yoga practices are a derivation of early tantric practices. One needs a good understanding of Tantra for the successful application of the Yoga Sutras. It is Tantra that provides us with knowledge about the human body, its subtle channels, its energy dynamics, and above all…the seat of ultimate energy” (p. 80). Yoga classes can be a lot more varied, treating mind and body, heart and soul, addressing the whole person, not just the muscles and sinews, with other practices that lead toward enlightenment.

Ipsalu Tantra is like that. Because it follows a pattern of bodily movements and energy-flow exercises, you’re rarely sitting for very long. When you learn things, you immediately put them into practice. When you’re doing movements, you might do some Yoga asanas, some Tai Chi movements, or just dance, expressing yourself.

Then, when you sit, you might do some mind-calming, energy-flow meditations. Or you might work on building the “Kundalini”, the powerful energy potential that sits, coiled, at the base of the spine.

Kundalini is intimately tied with sex energy. But it can’t flow unless you’re feeling physically secure and safe. You need to feel you’re “in charge” of your life. Your heart has to be open and loving. You need to feel that you can express yourself, and know that you will be heard. You need to be able to calmly witness whatever happens, and simply “be there”, present in the moment.

For those familiar with those concepts, I have just listed the 7 major chakras. So while Kundalini is intimately connected with sex energy, it is also connected with everything else that makes you a complete, whole person.

In the West, we were taught at an early age to be ashamed of our bodies, and of virtually every bodily function. That training continued when we began to grow into our sexuality. So, in the West, there are more “energy blockages” in our internal systems than in many other cultures.

Ipsalu Tantra, fundamentally, is about energy flow. So there are physical practices, mantra practices, and emotional exercises, all designed to allow energy to flow freely. And there are practices designed to restore the gift of our sexuality, in full measure, so that we can express ourselves freely in that area, as well.

Essentially, Ipsalu Tantra is an energy-flow practice that treats the whole person. Some of its more powerful practices, in fact, help to surface thoughts and memories locked up in body, bringing them into conscious awareness where they can be understood and dealt with in a space that, once the emotion is experienced and witnessed, allows for forgiveness and understanding.

It is powerful, deep healing of the “inner child”.
Eric Armstrong