GODDESS YOGA RETREAT

THE WORSHIP OF THE DIVINE FEMININE

We can meet the first Tantric civilization of female matrix more than 7,500 years BC. where the woman occupied a place of honor, both in everyday life and in the religion centered around the Mother Goddess, where sexuality was lived with a lot of freedom, without shame and without sense of guilt, with the awareness that it would have a positive effect on physical well-being, emotional and spiritual of people and of society as a whole. The formidable power of the initiating woman is immense, it consists in the first place in her mental attitude with respect to sexuality which she considers in a spiritual sense. All ancient cultures have traditions that recognize the initiatory power of women: Egypt, Greece, Arabia, Tibet and China. The woman was considered the embodiment of beauty, sensuality and loving vitality, at the same time guardian of the potential creator. Every human being is born from the yoni (female sexual organ) of a woman; every man desires to re-enter this territory of sacred femininity with unlimited sexual contact.

the female Cosmic Energy is symbolized by Shakti Devi and her innumerable "benevolent" or "terrifying" manifestations called Dasha Mahavidya, (Maha = Great, Vidya = Knowledge) the ten Goddesses of Supreme Wisdom or cosmic forces.

Kali is the first of ten fundamental female deities in tantric worship. Kali is the black goddess, terrifying projection of time that devours everything and destroys. Devi is the splendid Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu, lady of beauty and prosperity, is Durga, the powerful warrior, bitter enemy of demons, is Parvati, the one who possesses the three Parva (Wisdom, Will, Action) universal mother and consort of Shiva, is Tara "the green goddess of the saving word".

Each Goddess hides an important reality, a Truth hidden from our eyes by ignorance, each divinity represents a particular type of approach to self-realization. Meditating with devotion on the Mahavidya means recognizing the Divine in everything and within oneself, it means eliminating the illusion that prevents us from contemplating the Light of Shakti in every single entity of existence

The Mahavidya cult is not only the simple worship of the external form of divinity, the superficial idolatry of the figure or ritual act of veneration; the Dasha Mahavidyas represent the fundamental pillars of Knowledge, the ten universal Energies which reside in the microcosm and macrocosm and which regulate their entire existence.

Venerating the Dasha Mahavidya means meditating and invoking these Energies, ,discovering the great mysteries of existence since everything we experience in life is permeated by the immensity of Shakti Devi.

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GODDESS TANTRIC YOGA ®

Goddess Tantric yoga ® was created by Maya Swati Devi after over 15 years of study and research on yoga, on the Indian Tantrism of the Sakta tradition, on the spiritual disciplines of India and on the various forms of Indian and mystical dance.

A teaching method based on the application of tantric yoga principles in the art of dance, which combines a sequence of positions (Asana) inspired by the DASHA MAHAVIDYA of the Tantric Sakta tradition, the ten goddesses of wisdom, purification techniques such as Kriya, Mantra , Pranayama in a fluid continuous movement that becomes a dance.

The sequences are a harmonious fusion of Indian dance to create body awareness of movement and the basic principles of traditional tantric yoga to develop body-mind-spirit perception.

Through this practice we experience the connection with the 5 elements that create the universe - EARTH, WATER, FIRE, AIR, ETHER and the 5 SENSES that reside in our body.

In Natya Shastra's Bharata (around 200 AD), the great Indian sacred treatise on dance and theater that contains complete revelation, these arts were defined as: "The disciplines of contemplation to gain more knowledge and achieve peace".
Yoga and dance are intimately related by the teachings that Shiva gave to the first sages in the Himalayan mountains.
Those who practice yoga and those who dance deeply connect to their SELF and to the divine in its purest form and help us in the experience of stopping the automatisms of the mind - "yoga chitta vrittris nirodha." Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.

"the dancer becomes a yogi who expresses his mastery of dance as in a state of yogic trance".

This is accomplished through regular practice of diverting the mind from worldly attractions and directing energies through one's inner fire and thus recognizing our "divine nature".

Dance and yoga are devotional practices.

Discipline, meditation through practice, subtle energy in our body can be experienced by working with invisible forces, transforming the contrast of duality into unity.
Goddess Tantric yoga is a practice of movements that penetrate the sacred space of an extra-sensory experience, inserting the body into a space of spiritual awareness, protecting it from the disruptive forces of dualism in everyday reality.

YOGINĪ

YOGINĪ: these female figures, with the exuberance of their passionate and free attitude, convey a sense of profound mastery and spiritual power.

Free from the hindrance of their clothes, with a leap the yoginīs take flight, with their flowing hair framing their arched bodies in sinuous dance poses. Their eyes shine with passion, ecstasy and fierce intensity and it is possible to hear the light ticking of their intricate ornaments, or feel the air stirred by their floating rainbow-colored stoles, as they soar in the night landscape. These indomitable Masters show that they enjoy every form of freedom and are endowed with magical powers (siddhis). They are enlightened women capable of provoking a direct experience of Reality with a gesture or a word addressed with precision. Yoginīs permeate tantric literature and can provide testimony to the presence of women in Tantrism - to their historical existence, spiritual liberation and religious significance. The yoginīs are divinities peculiar to Tantrism, a set of religious currents, partly heterodox, developed mainly from the 4th-5th century AD. C. throughout the Indian sub-continent and sometimes also incorporating elements belonging to tribal traditions. 

Mahādevī ("the Great Goddess") has infinite manifestations, as is the illusion that She casts on the world and from which we can free ourselves only by virtue of Her divine grace.

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CONTEMPORARY YOGINĪ

The mastery in the amatory arts handed down from the East has always been the heritage of the Woman. 

Each woman, thanks to her exceptional innate gifts, can spontaneously realize her own Higher Consciousness.

The conscious woman loves her own vital body, full in its harmonious forms that manifest sensuality and vitality, she learns to admire the other women she perceives as allies in the realization of universal love; recognizes in other women the support and complicity to bring the whole society back into contact with the immutable values ​​of love, the strength of nature, spirituality.

Every woman should awaken all the potentialities that characterize her and that can allow her to become a real dynamic force in action, in all areas of her life.

Śakti - female power - the one who shows the way to enlightenment. This enigmatic power is the direct expression of female intuition and is called "the energy of wisdom".