The Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra (sometimes spelt in a Hindicised way as Vigyan Bhairav Tantra) is a key Tantra text of the Trika school of Pratyabhijna/Kashmir Shaivism in the Sanskrit language. Cast as a discourse between the god Bhairava and his consort Bhairavi, it briefly presents 112 Tantric meditation methods or centring techniques. These include several variants of breath awareness, concentration on various centres in the body, non-dual awareness, Mantra chanting, imagination and visualization, and contemplation through each of the senses.

In this course, I cover the 8 principle techniques out of 112. I have made guided meditations of all 8 techniques for easy demonstration of how to practice the techniques.

Techniques covered in this course give importance to Breath Awareness and Visualization of Kundalini Energy.

These tantric techniques are preceded by several basic mindfulness techniques to prepare the mind for tantric meditations.

Many teachers of Buddhism and yoga promote and teach the practice of Mindfulness. When practising mindfulness, for instance by watching the breath, one maintains attention on the chosen object of awareness. Whenever the mind wanders away, one faithfully returns back to refocus on the breath.

The term for Mindfulness in Sanskrit is Smrti—to recollect, to remember to be in the present moment, now and in the future. In Tantric practise, one will also remember the nature of the breath, that the breath is Consciousness. As Kabir said: the Divine is the breath within the breath.

Thus we may term Tantric meditation Meaningful Mindfulness; the remembering not only to meditate on the breath but also remembering that the breath itself is Consciousness; the Inner Witness; the Real Self.

This form of meditation has the capacity to take us into a deeper state of silence and spiritual depth than mere Mindfulness. And, when remembering, when having attained continuous mindfulness one attains Dhruva Smrti; that is, one experiences continuous remembering. Remembering of what? The remembering that all objects of one’s attention are Sacred, are Divine, are bliss.