Loose and Natural: Tantra in Everything
Without making an effort
but remaining loose and natural
This is Tilopa recipe to break the yoke and gain liberation. I have found these Buddhist principles useful in many things. “Do nothing with your body, but relax” he says, it doesn’t particularly mean to lay down and do nothing, but anything you do can be approached in such way. For example swimming, you have to be loose and natural otherwise you create unnecessary resistance against the water, you can even swim strong and still be loose and natural.
The same happens with a mental task, such as writing, the moment you make an EFFORT to write, not the most fluent lines come out, they come out tense, if you are lucky enough not to get the writer’s block. In the Tantra philosophy (not particularly Tilopa’s) they talk about some winds and channels, and how these channels get tight.
I thought was skeptical when I read it, until I was meditating three hours a day for a few months at some point it just made sense. When you are being driven like a machine by the monkey mind, there is some tension in your body, most noticeable in the chest area where your breath starts constricting. Wou can think of the wind and channel as your breath’s ease of flow depending on the level of tightness in your chest. It is incredible how this can change your voice, perspective, habits, moderation of desires, and personality expression. Following the -loose and natural- principle can be your best tool in a casting audition, or in a business negotiation, as well for swimming, yoga, making love, writing, running, dancing, singing, breathing, and of course meditation So, chill-out, and then think again.
