Tantra Illuminated with Dr. Christopher Wallis

This week’s episode is an archival conversation with Christine Marie Mason, originally recorded in September 2024 for The Rose Woman podcast. Together, they explore the evolution of Christopher’s teaching path, the enduring relevance of Classical Tantra, and the deeper practices that support spiritual liberation. The episode touches on the historical roots of Neo-Tantra and its divergence from Cla...

This week’s episode offers a deeply restorative yoga nidra practice titled Body of Joy . Unlike other guided meditations previously shared on the podcast, this one invites you to lie in stillness - awake, aware, and fully relaxed out of the impulse to move. While yoga nidra is often used as a tool for rest, this practice is not for sleep but for remaining conscious in the liminal space of deep rel...

This week’s episode is a deep and moving conversation with Artur Appazov , returning to the podcast for a second time. Artur shares his perspective on the nature of suffering, how it arises from mistaken identity and resistance to pain, and how it can dissolve through the recognition of our true nature as openness itself. Through inquiry and reflection, he offers a powerful invitation and tools to...

This week’s episode features a reading of six foundational articles on Shaivism, originally written for the Encyclopedia of Religion in the late 1980s. These are: Kashmir Shaivism, Krama Shaivism, Trika Shaivism, and Abhinavagupta by Alexis Sanderson , Pratyabhijñā by André Padoux , and Pāśupata by David Lorenzen . Together, they offer a concise yet profound overview of several key lineages within...

This week’s episode is an archival interview by J. Brown, originally aired on the Y oga Talks Podcast in 2016. In this conversation, we explore the art and science of translating Sanskrit, the influence of Tantra on modern yoga, the legacy of Abhinavagupta, and the subtle difference between speaking about nonduality and directly experiencing it. The episode touches on key themes such as the integr...

This week’s episode is the guided meditation Bhūta-shuddhi, the purification or recalibration of the five great elemental energies in the body. This ancient practice, central to classical Tantric yoga, harmonizes the five great elements—earth, water, fire, air, and space—through visualization and mantra, restoring balance to both body and mind. In this practice, you will be introduced to the esote...

This week’s episode is a conversation with accomplished artist and scholar-practitioner Christian de Vietri about his journey from the contemporary art world to the study and practice of Tantric sacred art. Christian, known for his large-scale public installations and fine art, shares how he came to know and practice non-dual Shaiva Tantra, how this transformed his approach to artistic expression,...

This week, we continue the abridged reading of Alexis Sanderson 's 1986 article, Mandala and Āgamic Identity in the Trika of Kashmir .  Here Sanderson unveils the role of Kāīi-based practices within the Trika tradition, exploring how Abhinavagupta infused the tradition with the transformative energy of  Kāīi worship, elevating the Goddess to a central role in tantric initiation and ritua...

This week’s episode features an archival conversation from about four years ago during the pandemic with J. Brown, host of the Yoga Talks podcast . J. Brown has been practicing yoga for over 25 years and is widely known as a writer and industry-leading podcaster. His signature offering is a deeply breath-centered, therapeutic yoga practice inspired by the TKV Desikachar tradition, aimed at fosteri...

This episode features a reading of Alexis Sanderson 's second article, first published in 1986, entitled Mandala and Āgamic Identity in the Trika of Kashmir . Here Sanderson focuses on the esoteric and ritualistic dimensions of the Trika tradition in medieval Kashmir. In this article, we explore the themes of tantric initiation, the mandala as a tool for self-realization, and the concept of āgamic...

In this episode, we talk to Tina Rasmussen , Ph. D., meditation teacher, Buddhist practitioner, and author of Practising the Jhānas . Tina shares her remarkable path of awakening, which began at the age of 13 and unfolded through profound solo retreats, including a transformative year-long retreat in 2003. She discusses her experiences as the first Western woman to complete the detailed jhāna path...

This episode offers a special reading of Alexis Sanderson 's groundbreaking academic article, Purity and Power among the Brāhmans of Kashmir . Professor Emeritus of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Sanderson is widely regarded as the greatest living scholar of Tantric studies in the Western world. His illustrious 40-year career bega...

This week’s episode features an archival interview with Jacob Kyle, yoga and meditation teacher, writer, philosophy educator, and founder of Embodied Philosophy , an online educational platform for wisdom studies and contemplative practices, as well as host of the Chitheads podcast . The conversation explores the role of the scholar-practitioner in bridging the gap between rigorous academic schola...

This week's episode is a guided meditation centered on a simple yet profound somatic inquiry: What might it feel like to listen with the whole body? We are invited to listen to the whole of experience, cultivating presence by tuning into the vibrancy of awareness. Through gentle attention, we explore what it means to listen, not just with the ears, but with the entirety of our body. The meditation...

This episode features a conversation with Kiran Trace, a renowned teacher, speaker, and author who has helped thousands of people worldwide on their path to awakening. Kiran has developed a powerful set of tools to support people in freeing themselves from suffering and integrating their spiritual awakening into daily life. Her own journey began with a radical, spontaneous awakening—with no prior...

This episode concludes our reading of Chapter Five of Abhinavagupta's Tantrasāra . Here, we learn about  The Rite of the Phonemes , or varṇa-uccāra (also known as varṇa-vidhi ) in Sanskrit, exploring teachings on two of the most significant bīja mantras of the Trika lineage, the seed syllables of dissolution and creation. These mantras are uniquely powerful by virtue of their inherent vibrati...

This week’s episode features an archival conversation with Ben Joffe and Katherine Bennett , exploring what it means to practice tantrik sādhanā in today’s world. We share personal stories about our journey as scholar-practitioners, discussing how to balance academic rigor with spiritual practice, and how to integrate philosophical study with lived experience. The conversation touches on the criti...

In this solo episode, we talk about one of the most fundamental aspects of tantric practice which is the alignment of view, practice, and goal in the non-dual Shaiva Tantra tradition. Our practice must be empowered by a view of reality that aligns with our ultimate goal, because without this alignment, even the most diligent practice may not lead to the desired outcome. Traditionally, the threefol...

In this week's episode, we welcome Dr. Shamil Chandaria , a philanthropist, entrepreneur, technologist, and academic with interdisciplinary research interests spanning computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and the philosophy and science of human wellbeing. His PhD from the London School of Economics focused on the mathematical modeling of economic systems, and he later earned an MA...

In this episode, I was interviewed by Ralph Cree for his " Evolving Spiritual Practice ” podcast. Ralph, a seasoned traveler with extensive studies in Central Asian and ancient Indian religions as well as the world’s shamanic traditions, also has a profound interest in psychedelics and entheogens. Our conversation explores the core themes of my latest book, " Near Enemies of the Truth ," addressin...

In this episode, we continue with the scriptural reading from Abhinavagupta's "Tantrasāra," specifically with the second part of Chapter Five, titled "Illumination of the Individual/Embodied Method (ānava-upāya)." Here the focus is on the practice of prāṇa-uccāra, the elevation of the life-force.  In this chapter, Abhinavagupta presents some esoteric teachings in the form of homologies, assoc...

This week's episode features Dr. Ruben Laukkonen , an accomplished researcher in meditation and altered states of consciousness. With a PhD on insight experiences from the University of Queensland and postdoctoral work on the neuroscience of meditation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Ruben now serves as an assistant professor at Southern Cross University. His research investigates some of the rar...

This week's episode revisits a conversation with Adam Keen from the Keen on Yoga podcast . Originally recorded in mid-2023, this discussion offers a personal glimpse into my journey, complemented by rapid-fire questions about Classical Tantra, neo-tantra, and hatha yoga, among other topics. We delve into the nuances of the Yoga Sutras, reincarnation, the process of digesting experiences for resolu...

This week's episode features a conversation with Josh Schrei , a writer, teacher, and lifelong student of cosmologies and mythologies, particularly those from the Indian subcontinent. Throughout his life, Josh has explored the animate spaces of the imagination through teaching, meditation, yogic practice, wilderness immersion, art, music, and public speaking. He is the founder of The Emerald podca...

This week's episode is a meditation practice in which we focus on fully feeling all the subtle sensations in our body, from the pelvic floor to the crown of the head. Beginning from a place of grounded awareness in the body, we are invited to explore the physical and energetic realms of our being. The practice gradually moves through our energy centers emphasizing direct experience over visualizat...