Tantra Immersion

A Year-Long Journey with Grace Bryant

HYBRID COURSE – WEEKLY ONLINE CLASSES AND QUARTERLY IN-PERSON GATHERINGS

+ AN IN-PERSON 4-DAY SILENT RETREAT (MID-YEAR – DATES & LOCATION TBD)

Fall 2024 – Fall 2025

Begins September 12, 2024

Ends (tentatively) September 25, 2025

Meets Thursdays 9:30am-12:30pm OR 6-9pm PST

Silent Retreat (Tentative Dates): April 25-28, 2025

Location: Western Washington

Tantra Immersion: A Progressive Journey Inward

The Tantra Immersion is a holistic course that creates the conditions to reveal our true nature. You’ve felt that gnawing that says there’s more than the material world, more than we’ve been conditioned to do this life. Or perhaps you’ve been on a spiritual path for a while but haven’t yet deepened into your own embodied faith, embodied knowing. Come find what you’re looking for, the possibilities and an embodied and integrated spiritual path can offer.

The teachings of Tantra give us specific practices, techniques and understandings of how to find the deep questions and answers from within, and how to orient ourselves toward a more holistic life. This course offers a life-changing journey where fundamental spiritual topics are introduced in both theory and practice. This includes tantric yoga, meditation and esoteric knowledge of the intimate inner workings of the physical body, energies and chakras (energy centers), emotional patterns and tendencies, mindfulness and exploration of consciousness – including subconscious tendencies and expanding our conscious awareness, – as well as the revelation of our deepest nature, our Self.

The Tantra Immersion offers gifts of deep relaxation, letting go of daily stresses, creating a whole new set of conditions for personal transformation, and an opening to realize the sacredness of the body itself. Learning to become aware of subtle energies, the chakra system and the potentiality of kundalini energy allows a profound body-emotion-mind rejuvenation. The transformative practical nature of this program can jumpstart the process of deep purification on physical, psychological, emotional and energetic levels. While practices deeply affect our human development, a contemplative attitude and an awareness of our spiritual essence are foundational to the teachings.

This immersive, five-module course is based on the teachings of Hridaya Hatha Yoga which was founded by Sahajananda in Europe. They stem from classical tantric teachings and jnana yoga, direct knowledge of our Divine Self, and are oriented towards uncovering who we really are. Hridaya Hatha Yoga is a unique practice which teaches us how to open to our limitless energy and consciousness. What we consider to be just “our energies” are revealed as being universal, unlimited and available all the time. Ultimately, the practice opens our Hearts deeply, bringing the perspective of Advaita, the vision of non-duality into everyday waking life. 

Details:

Weekly online classes: Our class meets Thursdays, either from 9:30am-12:30pm PST (morning cohort) or 6pm-9pm PST (evening cohort).  Our weekly classes, 8 or 9 per module with a 2 week break between modules, are 3 hours and include connection time, teachings and practice. We aim for at least 1 hour of practice per week from the 3^rd class of Module 1.

In-person practice days: Three or four times during the year, cohort members will be invited to join for a full-day of connection and practice held on a weekend day in Western Washington. This is an optional part of the course, as cohort members are located around the world and are not expected to travel. We will create a practice space that meets the accessibility needs of our sangha (spiritual community). Students are also encouraged to meet with other practitioners in their area.

Silent Retreat: A Silent Meditation & Yoga Retreat will be held mid-year for our sangha. Students are strongly encouraged to attend this retreat or any other retreats Grace hosts throughout the year. The retreat will tentatively be April 24^th-26^th (3-days) (or April 24^th-May 1^st, 2025, 7 days) in Western Washington. Exact dates and location will be given at the start of the course. Registration and payment details (separate from the cohort cost) for the retreat will be announced at the start of the yearlong cohort.

Office Hours/Mentorship: Students enrolled in the current cohort will have access to no-cost office hours with Grace to support their practice and spiritual development. One complimentary 45-minute 1-1 session per module (total of 5 per year) are available. If more individual support is desired, students are welcome to schedule coaching/mentorships sessions at Grace’s sliding scale fee. This 1-1 support is optional.

Written Teachings: digital coursebook will be offered for each module.

Notes:

Accessibility: The practices in this class are accessible for most bodies and abilities. As our focus is on much more than the physical body, practices can be modified to fit practitioners’ abilities. Grace is happy to offer individual modifications as needed. Please contact them if you have questions about accessibility.

Sexuality: This course is nonsexual. There are no intimate or sexual teachings in the Tantra Immersion. We do talk about sexual energy in a few of our weekly topics as a means to become more empowered in our own being.

Cultural Honoring: Tantra Yoga is a tradition that comes from the Indian subcontinent and is at least 1000 years old, with roots 3000+ years old. While the teachings Grace offers are as close to traditional as possible, there have been many interpretations of these teachings throughout the years which have often leaned more toward appropriating than honoring Tantra. There has also been a capitalistic and patriarchal tint to the teachings which underlies how they have been translated and handed down.

As a committed anti-racist and queer person, Grace has spent the last 18 years through study and immersive personal experience sifting through what’s been handed down in their lineages and finding the deepest basis of “Truth” they can access. This path is what they offer in their teachings: a path that both honors the traditional teachings and is aware of the oppressive ways they have been inaccessible beyond white-bodied, spiritual circles for the last 100 years.

Grace is always open to questions and critique about their interpretations and are actively working to update these teachings to be more aware of oppressive narratives, underlying patriarchal interpretations, and societal bias. This is a work in progress and will be for a long time to come. Your participation helps to keep shaping the teachings for the 21^st century and beyond.

Scholarship for BIPOC participants and future participants: The container for Tantra Immersion is open to all people. And, there is a loud cry from People of the Global Majority (BIPOC/PGM) to have containers that are not white majority. This has been hard to find in Western spiritual classes and communities.

The Tantra Immersion has an ongoing scholarship fund to support members of our community, prioritizing People of the Global Majority. All current registration fees include a 5% offering to this scholarship fund.

In addition, you are welcome to offer donations directly to this fund by sending them via Venmo to @KarissaGrace-Bryant with the memo “Tantra Immersion – Scholarship Fund.” (Other forms of payment are welcome, contact Grace for more info.)

If/when there is enough interest, a PGM/BIPOC cohort will be offered. Please contact Grace if you’re curious about this offering.

Grace Bryant (they/them) loves inviting people into the shadows, discomfort and fun of dismantling our inherited and created conditions. Some of their favorite avenues include the holistic path of Tantra, emotional and energetic awareness, sustainable community building, and anti-oppression grounded in a core center of Self-awareness. Grace has been a whole-life educator for two decades, integrating drama, music, movement, meditation and yoga, mindful living, creative play, teamwork, conscious collaboration, anti-oppression, community building, youth development and leadership. They have been leading spiritual retreats since 2009. Grace offers intimacy, relationship, spirituality and life coaching through touch & bodywork, energy work, emotional awareness and mindfulness. They are exceptionally grateful for all of the communities, mentors, colleagues, and badass people in their life who inspire creativity in the chaos, and who have taught them so many tools of radical acceptance, and personal and collective dismantling with Love.

Curriculum:

The curriculum of the Tantra Immersion Yearlong Course includes:

• Hridaya Yoga principles and the stages of practice; a comprehensive explanation and esoteric significance of each technique
• A deep investigation of the Tantric energy systems
• The Self-Enquiry Method
• The intimate power of the Spiritual Heart and a how-to guide for living with an open heart
• Purification techniques for the physical, energetic, emotional and mental bodies
• Cultivating a holistic attitude towards awakening and integrous living
• Yogic practices for the awareness, control and channeling of energy
• Pranayama – the control of the energies using the life-force of breath
• Concentration and meditation techniques
• Supporting one another with community connection and accountability

Module 1

Sept 12 – Nov 7, 2024 – 9 classes (no class 10/31, 11/21 or 11/28)

Module 1 contains 9 weekly classes. Each class includes a foundational teaching of Tantra, exploration of our daily life awareness, and practice technique. The teachings and practices deepen as we progress, creating a holistic approach to integrate Tantra into our whole lives – both in our time on-the-mat, away from life’s demands, as well as in the midst of our relationships, work, community and personal growth.

We highly encourage a commitment to a daily practice for everyone in this course.

Module 1 begins at the basics with questions like, “What is Tantra? What is Yoga? What is Nonduality? What do they mean in my life?” All of our techniques are rooted in the message of the Consciousness of Oneness, and our highest priority is to offer this message, beyond dogma and biases. Students are encouraged to listen from the heart, to experiment with the teachings and to remember that we’re always pointing to the depth of uncovering our limitless being.

Module 2

Dec 5, 2024 – Feb 6, 2025 – 8 classes (no class 12/26 or 1/2)

Module 2 is an 8-week course which continues where we left off in our awakening to the spiritual heart, Hridaya. We’ll dive into a deeper unfolding of the subtle anatomy and chakra system, looking at each level of consciousness through the intimate lens of our 21^st century lives. We’ll also keep learning purification rituals and lifestyle choices recommended in this timeless tradition.

Deepening body-, breath-, mind- and heart-based techniques will continue our personal growth, spiritual transformation, and the arising of faith based on your lived experience. The foundation unfolds to support your personal daily practice, create community connection, and understand the necessary views of Tantra through the embodiment of body, breath and heart. Weekly practice in class is prioritized in this second immersion module.

Module 3

Feb 27 – April 17 – 8 classes

Module 3 is a journey into the body through the knowledge of Ayurveda, the constitutions or doshas, the three universal energies or gunas, and cleaning/purification techniques or kriyas. We’ll get very familiar with diet according to yoga, tantra and Ayurveda (including a cooking class!).

Deepening body-, breath-, mind- and heart-based techniques will continue our personal growth, spiritual transformation, and the arising of faith based on your lived experience. The foundation unfolds to support your personal daily practice, create community connection, and understand the necessary views of Tantra through the embodiment of body, breath and heart. Weekly practice in class is prioritized in this second immersion module.

Module 4

May 8 – July 3 – 8 classes (no class 5/22)

Module 4 is a journey through the yamas, the universal principles of living from the yoga & tantra traditions. Each week we’ll cover one of the five yamas and end with a dive into karma yoga, the yoga of surrendered action in daily life. This course will inspire you to look at how every thought, word and action can be in alignment with our deeper values and bring awareness to the shadows of unconscious motivations.

We’ll also learn new on-the-mat techniques to refresh and invigorate our practice, as well as practice on our mats each week at the end of class. We set the intention to deepen together as a sangha, spiritual community, and continue chipping away at our conditioning in order to bring consciousness to more and more of our lives.

Module 5

July 31 – Sept 25 – 9 classes

In addition to learning the Niyamas, the second half of the yogic life virtues, Module 5 will also present a more in depth look at pranayama, spanda, yoga nidra and, of course, new practice techniques. This module will complete the series of Tantra Immersion, hopefully leaving more questions than answers and an even deeper quest of self-discovery and self-realization.

As always, we will connect each week in community online, share our learnings and questions, support one another with a practice or accountability partner, and spend some of our time together on our mats.

Frequently Asked Questions