Tantric psychology

[VagalTone]

Reading about things like arousal reappraisal and paradoxical intention techniques, i can't help but think that modern psychology can sometimes fit very well in more esoteric traditions. What do you think?

[Dannon Oneironaut]

I never heard of those techniques. So you are talking about a synthesis of modern western psychology and eastern Tantric psychology? Very interesting. Buddhist Mahayana Yogacara says that there is the "alaya vijnana" or "storehouse consciousness" which is where all our karmic seeds and latent habitual tendencies are stored. Sounds like Freud's unconscious to me.

[VagalTone]

Yeah, there seems to be many similarities between eastern and western psychology traditions, which doesn´t surprise because they have a common denominator - mind. But what i find specially interesting is that modern psychology has its share of more exotic and surprising, sometimes counterintuitive, approaches in the frontline of treatment. Then there are more buried practices like hypnosis, lucid dreaming..all of which haven some esoteric taste

[Dthoughts]

Man, psychotherapy is some useful stuff. I wish they taught this in school. Could you name some correlations with Tantric practices? Since I am unfamiliair in both. I have to say, those 2 psychological pratices you mention are quite helpful. I am amazed.

[VagalTone]

Man, psychotherapy is some useful stuff. I wish they taught this in school. Could you name some correlations with Tantric practices? Since I am unfamiliair in both. I have to say, those 2 psychological pratices you mention are quite helpful. I am amazed. Yeah, i am not very knowledgeable about tantric and esoteric practices - but i can give you one example. If you find these topics interesting there is no shortage of good books - and they can provide some enjoyment, even ( and perhaps specially ) if one brings a skeptic, curious mind. In all buddhism schools ( and many other religious/spiritual/phylosophical systems ) you are told to investigate your experience and shift your perspective on reality accordingly. But that is not particularly esoteric - it's the conventional approach. But when you reach some understanding, you may be told to reappraise reality and its dreamlike qualities. In mahamudra and dzogchen buddhist teachings, for instance, you train to see reality as a pure energy emanation. Of course this is a gradual process of familiarization, with some potential pitfalls and hazards. Therefore, it´s best not to train seriously without the support of a good teacher, community and environment ( which is hard to find ). However, there's much we can enjoy and learn with the guidance of books. When in the midst of a panic attack, for instance, you also reappraise your physiological sensations. They are nothing else than a natural mechanism, built to help you achieve what you want: run or fight - very different responses. Fight is a general term to mean that you can use that energy according to your will and discernment. If you look to your sensations- and this has neural correlates in the insula and amygdala - they don´t have any emotional charge. This charge is provided only after your appraisal - which is why nonjudgmental awareness ( aka mindfulness) is the heart of buddhism meditation because it teaches you to stop the habit of creating projections, from which arises the absolute sense of self and therefore a good amount of suffering. Oh, and btw, mindfulness - while not being esoteric at all - is a good bridge between western and eastern psychology. Since everything is but an illusion, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one might as well burst out laughing! Longchenpa "Then, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In reference to the seen, there will be only the seen. In reference to the heard, only the heard. In reference to the sensed, only the sensed. In reference to the cognized, only the cognized. That is how you should train yourself. When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress." Buddha