PRACTICES & METHODS
I am trained in the following methods, philosophies and practices, which I use in my coaching, workshops, community events and rituals.
Indian & Buddhist Tantra
There are many esoteric or mystical traditions within India. The one I am most connected because of where my family originates from is Tantra. My familial lineages come from what is currently Pakistan but once was India. It was in this region that the beginnings of the practice we know as Tantra today were born.
The practice of Tantra says that everything is always in flux or changing constantly. Nothing in our lives is stationary, even when we think things are “stable” or “unmoving.” In actuality, everything is always moving and changing in every second. Tantra shows us that because change is a natural state of being, we can learn to be fully present with change rather than it pushing and pulling us or keeping us stuck.
Tantra presents a path and many skilled practical methods for practioners of the philosophy to began to see, feel and accept change as a natural state. Tantra teaches us to ride life’s waves. Through continuous twists and turns, bumps and avalanches, we find ways to live inside of the constant flux. It’s like the surfer who learns to catch a wave and remain there as the wave grows larger and decreases. The wave moves, and the surfer moves along with it. If the surfer were to force their body to stay stationary or if they tried to move too much, they’d likely just fall into the sea. As long as the surfer stays with the wave and doesn’t try to fight against it or become engulfed by it, they will simply ride with it, as it is. In this way, the tantrik practitioner is the surfer, the wave is life, and learning to ride the wave with balance and precision is the path.
Tantra is in my blood, ancestrally. It is also a lineage that I have studied and practiced in through Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, which arose when Tantra left India through a guru named Padmasambhava who brough the teachings to the Shamanic Bon tradition of Tibet. Modern Vajrayana Buddhism is Tantra & the Shamanic tradition of the Bon combined. When Tantra made contact with another kind of Mysticism, that is, it became interconnected with the Land of Tibet, This Indian Tantra plus Tibetan Bon created another tradition altogether. Then this tradition made its way to the United States as the Vajrayana that is practiced by the famous Dalai Lama.
The Vajrayana & the 5 Buddha Families
The 5 Buddha Families originates from the Bon tradition but was incorporated into the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. It is an elemental framework that aligns with the 5 elements of Earth, Space, Water, Fire and Wind. Each element then maps to a positive and negative emotion as two sides of the same coin.
Stereotypes
Tantra is full of stereotypes. Stereotypes of mystical traditions are born when dogmatic, toxically masculine traditions become fearful of magic or gnosticism and label them in wider society as “dark” ; that is, they become fearful and shameful of their own sacred feminine, and then commit abhorent acts such as the many acts of witches (divine feminina) being burned.
While dogmatic, hypermasculine traditions can become more angry and violent - enough to expel rage and destroy, the dogmatic feminine can become addicted to fetishizing the sacred feminine. They begin to welcome in passion, but are often unable to control the dark sides of passion. Furthermore, Western traditions tend to hyper-sexify certain mystic traditions. Tantra or Indian Mysticism suffers from both kinds of sterotypes - the hypermasculinity currently on display by the Hindutva movement in modern day India leans to labeling Tantra as “dark” or “black magic,” as part of a way to eventually eradicate it thorugh stereotype. And the hyperfemininity of some North American spiritual types who become obsessed with with sexual liberation through passion, giving Tantra a stereotype of only one of its explorations - sexual union. It then becomes synonomous with sex and selt cults in mainstram American culture, making it a '“weird sex thing” rather than what it is in pure form - a spiritual tradition that is worthy knowing.
Tantra/Vajrayana Resources
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The Ancestral Medicine Practitioner Network is an international association of over 200 ritualists and healers representing more than 20 languages and nations. It was started by Daniel Foor an internationally respected teacher of ancestor reverence and ritual.
Ancestral lineage healing is the method taught by this network that I am trained in. It is the practice of relating directly with one’s blood ancestors for personal, family, and cultural healing. It involves safely establishing relationships with wise and well ancestors and enlisting their aid and participation to deeply heal your lineages reaching far back in time.
If you’ve participated in the various kinds of personal healing work and you’re seeking greater breakthroughs, ancestral healing may be for you. This approach weaves helpful elements from psychology, cultural healing, and spiritual/ritual traditions. Patterns rooted in intergenerational cycles and cultural pain can finally find resolution. Coming into relationship with recent and more ancient ancestors can serve to re-establish obscured blessings, improve relationships with the living, and encourage clarity of purpose.
Ancestral Lineage Healing
Ancestral Healing Resources
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Interplay
InterPlay is a community of people around the world who speak the shared language of a wide and deep variety of play. It is a body of bodies who enjoy contact and connection. InterPlay was developed by Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter starting in 1989 and it has spread around the world.
InterPlay is an active, playful, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body.
It is easy, fun, and life changing. InterPlay integrates body, mind, heart and spirit. It is based on a series of incremental “forms” that lead participants to movement and stories, silence and song, ease and amusement. In the process, you will discover wisdom in yourself and your community.
InterPlay is devoted to fun. It teaches the language and ethic of play in a deep and powerful way. You don’t have to think of yourself as creative in order to do InterPlay. We can teach you that part easily. If you are convinced that seriousness is the path to inner wisdom, then you might want to look elsewhere. If you would like to become a “recovering serious person,” then InterPlay might be for you.
Interplay Resources
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Art of Hosting
The Art of Hosting is a highly effective way of harnessing the collective wisdom and self-organizing capacity of groups of any size. Based on the assumption that people give their energy and lend their resources to what matters most to them – in work as in life – the Art of Hosting blends a suite of powerful conversational processes to invite people to step in and take charge of the challenges facing them.
Groups and organizations using the Art of Hosting as a working practice report better decision-making, more efficient and effective capacity building and greater ability to quickly respond to opportunity, challenge and change. People who experience the Art of Hosting typically say that they walk away feeling more empowered and able to help guide the meetings and conversations they are part of move towards more effective and desirable outcomes.
Art of Hosting Resources
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Justice & Conflict
Restorative Justice Practices
Restorative justice offers a different way of responding to harm and conflict. Instead of relying on punishment as a response, restorative justice seeks to repair harm and prevent future harm by elevating the needs of those who have been harmed and inviting those who have caused harm into a process of active accountability. Acknowledging our interconnectedness, restorative justice invites all those who have been impacted by harm and their community into a process of seeking justice. Collectively, those who were impacted identify the wrong-doing and its impact, surface the underlying causes of harm, and determine a pathway forward.
Beyond the individuals directly impacted by conflict or harm, restorative justice asks each of us to reflect on our collective responsibility for creating conditions that enable and foster harm and tasks us with supporting accountability and creating safer communities. By widening who is responsible and who is capable, restorative justice harnesses the power and wisdom of the wider community.
Transformative Justice Practices
Transformative Justice (TJ) is a political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm and abuse. At its most basic, it seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence. TJ can be thought of as a way of “making things right,” getting in “right relation,” or creating justice together. Transformative justice responses and interventions 1) do not rely on the state (e.g. police, prisons, the criminal legal system, I.C.E., foster care system (though some TJ responses do rely on or incorporate social services like counseling); 2) do not reinforce or perpetuate violence such as oppressive norms or vigilantism; and most importantly, 3) actively cultivate the things we know prevent violence such as healing, accountability, resilience, and safety for all involved.
Justice Resources
The Art of Holding Circle by Kay Pranis
Transformative Justice: A Brief Description by Mia Mingus
Pods & Pod Mapping by Mia Mingus
Hollow Water: A Restorative Justice Documentary about the Ojibiwe Community in Canada
MeToo and Transformative Justice – Part 1 Autumn Brown & adrienne maree brown
MeToo and Transformative Justice – Part 2 Autumn Brown & adrienne maree brown, Miriame Kaba
The Four Fields
The four fields are four different aspects of existence that are happening all the time:
An ecological field (Mossrock), a psychological field (Wildfire), an awareness field (Lit Ocean), an ontological field (Space)
All four cohere together like an ecosystem. They form the context for a contemplative life rooted in the living and dying earth. This includes our emotional states, our sensitive bodies, the cultures, economies, and politics that participate in and ravage the earth—like the mine that you see slowly being reclaimed by moss in the background.
We want our spiritual practices to be responsive to the wonder and suffering on earth and in our psyches, without becoming trapped in that suffering. The coherence of these four fields brings together responsive action and the simple freedom of effortless non-action into a single gesture. Or at least that's the aspiration.
Four Fields Resources
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Elemental Magic
Elemental systems focus on the fundamental forces or aspects of the world.
In Western culture, that is often earth air, water, and fire. Traditional Chinese Medicine (and some martial arts) uses the five elements of wood, metal, fire, earth, and water while the classical Japanese element system is actually earth, water, fire, wind, and void. You can see there’s already a fair bit of variety, but they many hit on those core elements of the world.
Elemental Resources
Moon Root
Moon Root is a program that teaches people who have a uterus how to heal their uterus through ritual, art and cyclical methods. Our bodies follow a cycle. This cycle is most apparent in those who have a regular monthly cycle. By learning about our cycles, we can prevent illness, promote healing, and become more in tune with our lives and our world.
Moon Root Resources
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Disclaimer: Aarti Tejuja is not a licensed therapist. Ordinary intuitive and Aarti Tejuja are not substitutions for traditional therapy nor any medications that any client may be currently taking. If you become a client of ordinary intuitive, we encourage you to continue your traditional therapy and any medications you may have been prescribed.