I knew about tantra when I was in the New Age. Tantra is a system within Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism that is also connected to Kundalini Yoga. (In Buddhism, it is called Vajrayana). It is considered the “short path” to enlightenment but also more intense and dangerous. There are always warnings about it. Sometimes, it is called the “left-hand path.”
One New Age site states this:
Tantra is an esoteric yoga tradition widely practised in India during the 11th and 12th centuries. It is a philosophy and practice linked to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Vedic philosophy…<snip>…Tantric practices help expand human consciousness by working with the body rather than against it. Movement, breath, and a connection to others become a pathway to greater awareness…<snip>…The goal in Tantra is to awaken the inner divine energy, often symbolised as Kundalini, and to recognise the non-dual nature of reality, where the individual self and the cosmic self are one.
Note the word “esoteric” in the description. Esoteric spirituality “refers to inner, often secret spiritual teaachings and practices that focus on mystical experiences, inner knowledge, and personal transformation.” That is from AI on Google but I think it is an excellent and clear summary. The esoteric is a hallmark of occult, Gnostic, and mystical teachings.
Wikipedia’s entry on Tantra includes references to the many esoteric traditions that are involved:
Tanra is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, initially within Shaivism, and subsequently in Mahayana Buddhism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism.[1] The Tantras focus on sādhana, encompassing dīkṣā, rituals, and yoga, within a ritual framework that includes bodily purification, divine self-creation through mantra, dhyāna, pūjā, mudrā, mantra recitation, and the use of yantras or maṇḍalas, despite variations in deities and mantras. They present complex cosmologies, viewing the body as divine and typically reflecting the union of Shiva and Shakti as the path to liberation.
Mantras, visualizations, the use of mandalas for meditation or contact with deities, special esoteric breathing exercises such as pranayama, and other occult practices are used in Tantra/Vajrayana. Tantra is the concept of transmuting the physical into the spiritual by esoteric practices, thus acheiving spiritual enlightenment and/or liberation. Tantra uses the physical, including the body, for spiritual awakening.
Esoteric spiritual practices are inner and inward, secret, and considered to be superior to other practices.
The Unseen Components
Tantra relates to the philosophy of what is called the subtle or invisible body (see Addendum below). The components of the subtle body are unseen but play a fundamental role in Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the New Age (which draws from the first three). Chakras, kundalini, meridians, chi/qi, and prana are terms familiar in the West due to the popularity of Yoga, Tai Chi, acupuncture, Qigong, Reiki, and other Eastern spiritual practices. These are anchored in belief in the subtle body, and form the basis for the labyrinthian healing modalities we see today.
There is also the influence of Vitalism in the West which gave us the life force, life energy, the vital force, auras, biofield, and energy fields, all key components of New Age healing.
The Addendum at the end of this article gives further information on the subtle body and if it comports with biblical truth.
Writings on Walls
I remember meeting a woman in a psychic development class I was taking (when I was in the New Age) and visiting her in her home. She had minimal, simple furniture, but there was writing all over the walls of her living room. I mean every wall, and the walls were covered. I can’t remember what any of it said, or even if I tried to read it, but she told me it was part of her spiritual journey. “You see,” she said with a knowing smile, “I’m taking the left-hand path.” (The “left-hand path” is also used for some occult systems as well.)
Although I found it bizarre, I also was envious, wishing I had the knowledge and teachers for that path. For several weeks and even over the years, I was haunted by the phrase, “the left-hand path” and the walls in that house. I would wonder from time to time if I should explore it, although I never did. As it turned out, what I became involved in was dark enough.
Winds in the Body
Writing the website article on New Age doctors motivated me to write on Tantra. Here is an excerpt from one article that is quite blunt:
“On one level, with the inner Tantric yogas you’re going through the death process while you’re still alive. You’re accessing, releasing (dying to), and cremating kalpas (eons) of karmic obscuration. If the inner winds (lung, prana) that are penetrated and released flow into the wrong channels, psychological instability or insanity can follow. A host of sok lung, or ‘wind disorders,’ await the unprepared practitioner. When we practiced the inner yogas in my three-year retreat, I witnessed these windstorms first hand, and how easy it is to get blown away. When these winds are released properly, they fan the flames of purification. When they’re not, they erupt into a host of inflammatory issues.
Whenever we reject experience and say “no” to life, these ‘nots’ download as knots in the subtle body, tying up and trapping the wind energy. Tantric inner yoga unties these knots, and all hell can break loose before heaven breaks loose. If you aren’t prepared to say ‘Yes!’ when all this rejected material comes up, you will reject the experience yet again, and it will be thrown forcefully back into your body.
Chögyam Trunpga said, ‘Meditation isn’t a sedative. It’s a laxative.’ And there is no more potent laxative than Tantra yoga.” From “Is The West Ready for Tantra?” by Andrew Holecek
Chogyam Trungpa (d. 1987), who is quoted in that excerpt, was the head of the branch of Tibetan Buddhism that I was studying. Trunpa founded the famed Naropa Institute in 1974 in Boulder, Colorado, and he traveled widely, teaching principles of Tibetan Buddhism. I learned the meditation from his disciples (all Westerners) at a “Dharma house” in Atlanta and attended the lectures. I also read books by Trungpa (Trungpa was known as “the bad boy of Buddhism” for his rather lecherous ways and love of alcohol; when I asked about this, his followers told me that he was being a mirror to others so they could see themselves, or something along those lines – a common New Age idea about gurus). Tibetan Buddhism retains some of the esoteric practices of Hinduism as well as mixing in some from the indigenous shamanistic religion that existed in Tibet when Buddhism entered that country.
My worldview was very influenced by the meditation and books I read, especially Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Trungpa. I later moved into Zen Buddhism but the influences from that time stayed with me.
Warnings
Notice the dire warnings in the excerpt. I heard and read these warnings, and I received similar warnings about Eastern meditation and associated practices. Here are five warnings from the excerpt:
“Those who are not prepared, who impatiently rush to the goodies, or who enter with the wrong motivation, can be damaged beyond their worst nightmares.”
“Tantra is often called the “quick path.” Instead of driving across the continent of samsara to reach nirvana, one boards a supersonic jet. But when things go wrong at Mach 1, the journey can quickly spiral out of control and end badly.”
“Some potential Tantric practitioners would do well to engage in psychotherapy before diving into the fluidity (emptiness) of the Tantric path.”
“‘It’s a very intense way of purifying.’ In Hindu language, you’re working with kundalinī-shakti, or ‘serpent power,’ which lies sleeping in a state of potency at the base of the spine. Be careful what you wake up, especially when it’s cosmic feminine energy, or shakti.”
“If the inner winds (lung, prana) that are penetrated and released flow into the wrong channels, psychological instability or insanity can follow.”
There are even more warnings in the rest of the article.
Subtle Body and Alleged Connection to Healing
Notice the references to the “subtle body” (see Addendum for more information). This concept is a crucial part of New Age healing. Physical symptoms are viewed as connected to the invisible subtle body, and so there must be treatment of that subtle body which entails energy healing, special foods or diets, meditation, etc.
“…in the inner yogas of Tantra, the emphasis is on the subtle inner body. Eastern medical systems target this body for physical health, Eastern meditative systems target it for spiritual awakening. The outer gross body is an epiphenomenal expression of the subtle inner body, so by working with the subtle body and “penetrating the vital points,” dramatic effects manifest in the physical body, along with the correlative gross levels of mind that are supported by that body.”
Reference to Eastern medical systems above include acupuncture, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, reflexology, and others. These methods target the subtle body (“chi” and the “meridians”). Other systems based on these views include Tapping/EFT, cupping (a part of TCM), shiatsu, Tai Chi, qigong, and more.
The term “holistic” and “natural” related to health therapies would include any or all the above and usually do. They are considered natural because what some people would call “supernatural” are viewed as natural by those who believe in and practice such methods. They are attempting to alter the state of the body through manipulation of unseen energies, usually without making distinctions between the natural and supernatural.
If one wants to put Tantra into a more understandable category, the most apt category would be sorcery. The entry on Sorcery in the CANA article on Occult terms is:
Attempted summoning, channeling and/or manipulation of energy or forces to bring about a desired end through visualization; through invocation or summoning of powers/spirits; through magical tools; and/or through rituals. Sorcery encompasses occult techniques based on principles such as “like attracts like” and other principles. Sorcery holds that one can visualize and bring something into the material plane from the non-material plane. Sorcery may include what is known as ritual magick and/or ceremonial magick, a highly complicated form of sorcery involving complex rituals. Some sources of contemporary sorcery are the Kabbala (Qabala), mostly based on Gnostic mysticism & aberrant Judaism; teachings of Taoist occultism; Tantric teachings (Eastern); and the writings of notorious ritual magician Aleister Crowley (d. 1947). In some occult circles, sorcery is a pejorative term for black magick.
Healing in shamanistic and animistic cultures involves sorcery through the use of mind-altering plants, rituals, and the summoning of spirits (often thought to be dead ancestors). Energy healing is a form of sorcery because the concept is based on an unquantifiable energy that can be summoned, channeled, and/or manipulated. New Age healing and most methods of what is called alternative/complementary/integrative healing (usually termed “holistic” or “natural”) use the principles of sorcery, knowingly or unknowingly, Spirit contact is always involved in New Age healing and energy healing, knowingly or unknowingly.
ADDENDUM
The Subtle/Invisible Body
The “subtle body” or the “invisible body” of the New Age which is based on Hindu as well as Taoist beliefs and on Vitalism. Sometimes, it is called “the energetic body.” New Age healing almost always incorporates these views, especially treatments based on Eastern beliefs: Reiki, TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine), acupuncture, reflexology, Tapping, and ayurveda. New Age healing also draws from Vitalism.
The subtle body plays an essential role in Yoga, since the kundalini flowing from the base of the spine upwards into the invisible chakras is a key component of Hatha Yoga as is the pranayama, breathing exercises based on belief in the invisible prana.
“Prana is not only the basic life-force, it is the original creative power. It is the master form of all energy working at every level of our being. Indeed the entire universe is a manifestation of prana. Even kundalini shakti, the serpent power or inner energy which transforms our consciousness, develops from awakened prana.” From “Understanding Prana” from Yoga International
Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, Naturopaths, “natural healers,” acupuncurists are likely to use one or more of these methods from Eastern belief systems or from Vitalism.
Hinduism >> kundalini, chakras, nadis, prana
Taoism >> chi, meridians, the five elements, “winds”
New Thought Vitalism >> Life force, vital energy, plant essences (not physical), aura, biofield, polarity balancing
The invisible or subtle body also included the “biofield” around the body, which includes the aura or is sometimes equated with the aura. This field supposedly can be balanced and treated as well in a practice sometimes called polarity, which also treats the inner invisble body. As one article states:
Polarity Balancing is based on Polarity Therapy founded by Dr. Randolph Stone. It is a wonderful system of energy healing based on Ayurvedic Medicine. Polarity Balancing utilizes the power of meditation, gentle hands-on healing techniques, positive thoughts and attitudes, healthy nutrition and exercise to assist people in achieving a sense of well- being in their lives. The Polarity Balancing Healing System re-connects the subtle energy patterns of the body. These subtle currents get blocked due to many different kinds of stress.> From “What Is Polarity Balancing?” (Stone was a chiropractor, osteopath, and naturopath)
Aura polarity is balancing the alleged aura:
“The aura is a force field of electromagnetic energy that surrounds the body. When a person is healthy and balanced, their aura reflects their condition by being smooth with all parts of it being alive and having a clear color and free movement.
If a person is experiencing disturbance, it is reflected in the aura. The aura may change color or become cloudy or thicker….<snip>…
Physical illness can be reflected in the aura —….<snip>…Many times, a weakness in the auric force field will indicate a high potential for illness or injury in the area of the weakness. If the aura can be brought into balance, the physical manifestation of the weakness may be avoided.” From “What Is the Aura?”
This article on kundalini talks about the subtle body:
“To understand kundalini we also need to talk about the subtle energetic body. Ancient yogis, and especially the Tantrikas over a thousand years ago, studied the flow of energy through the body in great detail through experimentation (by practicing and refining different yoga techniques). And, like the Chinese healers who developed acupuncture, they mapped out the energy channels in the body. Tantrik yogis identified three main channels in the energetic body: sushumna, ida, and pingala. The sushumna is the primary channel running along the spine. The ida and pingala form a helix shape, crisscrossing the sushumna. Each intersection of the ida and pingala nadis forms a chakra. Kundalini energy rises up the sushumna nadi, through the chakras. You may think of the chakras as way stations along the path toward awakening.
In Sanskrit, ‘kundalini’ means “circular,” intended to invoke for the Tantrikas, who were the first to name it and work intentionally with it, the image of a coiled snake, the serpent of the transcendental realm at the base of the spine where prana transmutes into pure Consciousness. Early in his life, the great yogi saint Ramakrishna experienced the awakening of kundalini shakti as a “serpent power” lying asleep at the bottom of the spinal column, then rising along the sushumnā nadi and through the other six chakras. As it rose up the sushumnā nadi, “he saw the different lotuses of the chakras blooming as he entered a trance state.” From “What Is Kundalini” by Atha Yogānuśāsanam
Notice the word “tantrik” and see the above section on that. As always in these views, the body reflects the flow of energy, so taking care of the body also effects the subtle body:
“In terms of lifestyle, any lifestyle in which you are introducing more blockages and impurities to the free flow of energy in the body will impede the flow of kundalini. For example, an unhealthy diet, an agitated mind and nervous system, and stress will make kundalini either inaccessible or erratic. Finally, everyone will benefit from performing practices that will first stabilize the physical and energetic body, preparing it for greater values of kundalini, and then incorporating practices that will encourage more kundalini to awaken, rise, and flow.” From same article as above
Similar ideas are behind TCM and acupuncture:
“To support its practice, TCM draws on various philosophical concepts including Qi. This corresponds to an individual’s vital energy or life force, the free flow of which through the body’s meridians is evidence of good general health (2).
Embodied in the Tao symbol, Yin and Yang reflect the concept of duality. These two forces are not opposed but complementary and interact continuously in all aspects. Thus Yin represents femininity, the moon, darkness and cold, while Yang symbolises masculinity, the sun, light and heat. These two concepts are primarily involved in the work of energy-rebalancing…<snip>…
How does this relate to Chinese medicine? This theory is transposed to human physiology, with each Movement corresponding to an organ (4). So the Liver is Wood, the Heart is Fire, the Spleen and Pancreas are Earth, the Lungs are Metal and the Kidneys are Water. This concept extends to organ spheres, vast areas of ‘affinity’ specific to each organ. A particular organ is thus associated with a season, a direction, an emotion and even a flavour (this varies depending on the school).” “Tao and Traditional Chinese Medicine.” (Source)
And:
“Herbal Medicine: Herbal formulas are often prescribed based on the Zang Fu organs involved in the condition. For example:
Gui Pi Tang (Restore the Spleen Decoction) may be used for Spleen Qi deficiency with accompanying Heart Blood deficiency, manifesting as fatigue, anxiety, and insomnia.
Xiao Yao San (Rambling Powder) is commonly used to treat Liver Qi stagnation, especially when there are symptoms of emotional tension and digestive issues.
Acupuncture: Acupuncture treatments are designed to regulate the flow of Qi between the Zang Fu organs. For example:
The Liver governs the smooth flow of Qi, so acupuncture points on the Liver meridian may be used to relieve Liver Qi stagnation.
In the case of Lung Qi deficiency, acupuncture points such as Lung 9 (Taiyuan) might be selected to tonify Lung Qi and improve respiratory function.> From “Traditional Chinese Medicine: theory and principles”
Notice how intricate and complicated it all is. Everything is based on spiritual concepts which are connected to the body. None of it is true, so I suggest not spending time on this. It is merely to give examples and to demonstrate that the methods being warned about are not based on truth or facts, but rather on spiritual concepts outside of biblical truth.
The above translates into the New Age something like this:
“Energy healing is a holistic practice where healers channel universal life force (or healing energy) into a patient to help balance, heal and remove blockages from the body. Flow, balance, harmony and vitality within the body can be restored and maintained during a treatment. Energy Medicine includes a variety of holistic healing modalities like: Reiki Energy Healing, Light Therapy, Acupuncture, Reflexology, Thai Massage, Tapping, and more.
Everything in this universe is composed of molecules that are vibrating at various frequencies. The molecules located within our bodies are constantly vibrating and radiating positive or negative, balanced or unbalanced, opened or closed frequencies. When our organs are misaligned energetically and radiating low-vibrational frequencies, it can materialize into physical ailments, like pains, sickness and disease.” From The Growth and Wellness Therapy Center
Note the term “holistic” being used in the above. The “holistic” label should be “poison” instead because it always includes elements of occult, Eastern, and/or New Age beliefs. “Holistic” has become a catch word that implies health and wholeness but it is actually a term for pagan spirituallly based practices.
The fact that molecules may vibrate has nothing to do with energy healing. There is a conflation here of invisible life force energy with measurable vibrational frequencies. This is confusing and misleading. The life force relates to occult beliefs. If research leads to healing based on vibrational frequencies of molecules, then that is called science and will be based on objective data. It is not supportive of New Age healing.
The terms “holistic, natural, non-invasive” claim to give “balance.” But behind the rosy picture being painted are principles of shamanistic sorcery.
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