Tantra Trip

"Tantra is a combination of two words, tanoti and trayati, which mean 'expansion' and 'liberation' respectively. Therefore, it is the science of expanding the consciousness and liberating the energy. Tantra is the way to attain freedom from the bondage of the world while still living in it."
- From the book "Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha" by the Bihar School of Yoga

To be pretty honest with you... that's not what I thought the word "tantra" meant at all. I'm not going to spell out what I thought it meant, but if you have ever seen the movie "Meet the Fockers" and recall his mom's profession, then I think you'll figure it out. And actually I just looked it up on Wiki and I think my assumption actually is one of many definitions. However for the purposes of keeping this blog at a PG/ PG-13 rating, we're going to pretend I didn't see that and that the above definition is the only one.

I started reading the APMB because Ashiyana, the establishment where I'm getting my yoga teacher certification, will be using it during the course and recommended I get it to bring on the trip. I only just started and came across this definition of Tantra and thought it resonated with regard to my journey. In order to get the most out of a trip like this, you really do have to have an open, expanded mind and I think that the detachment from life as I know it on the day-to-day is going to be very liberating. I plan to keep this definition in the back of my mind at all times in case I ever forget why I'm doing this. Not that I think I'm ever going to be forgetting. This isn't like when you run up the stairs to get something and then get to the top and say "Oh crap, I forget what I came up here to get!" That would be classic me though to land in India this February and be like, "Wait a second, what was I gonna do here?"