Tantric yoga facts for kids

Tantric yoga is a religious belief. This ancient practice is actually a powerful combination of asana, mantra, mudra, and bandha (energy lock) and chakra (energy center) work that you can use to build strength, clarity, and bliss in everyday life. By harnessing and embodying the five forces of Shakti, the female deity that represents creativity and change, Tantric Yoga suggests we can move through the world with more confidence and contentment.

The simple principle of tantra yoga is: whatever can take you down can also take you up. The ways in which a man usually sinks in his life are through food, alcoholic drink and sexuality. Tantra yoga uses the same three vehicles to rise up.

Tantric practices, including Tantra yoga, work on the subtle energies within the body to enhance spiritual growth and physical wellbeing. Through the exploration of these energies and their connection to the universe, the purpose of life and the connection to others can be understood in a new dimension.

Images for kids

A Buddhist dhāraṇī (incantation), the Nilaṇṭhanāmahṛdaya dhāraṇī, in Siddham Script with Chinese transliteration.
A modern aghori with a skull-cup (Kapala). Their predecessors, the medieval Kapalikas ("Skull-men") were influential figures in the development of transgressive or "left hand" Shaiva tantra.
Dancing Bhairava in the Indian Museum, Kolkata
Illustration of a yogi and their chakras.
Twelve-Armed Chakrasamvara and His Consort Vajravarahi, ca. 12th century, India (Bengal) or Bangladesh
A stone Kālacakra Mandala at the Hiraṇyavarṇa Mahāvihāra, a Buddhist temple in Patan, Nepal built in the 12th century.
A depiction of the Goddess Bhairavi and Shiva in a charnel ground, from a 17th century manuscript.
The Brihadishvara Temple, a Śaiva Siddhānta temple in Tamil Nadu
Śrī, also known as Lalitā Tripurasundarī ("beautiful in three worlds"), Adi Parashakti (the highest supreme energy), Kāmeśvarī (goddess of desire) and other names.
A Kali Puja (devotional ritual)
A Pujari in front of a Ganesha statue, Brihadishwara Shiva Temple
A meditating Shiva is visited by Parvati
Sri Yantra diagram with the Ten Mahavidyas. The triangles represent Shiva and Shakti; the snake represents Spanda and Kundalini.
The Sri Yantra (shown here in the three-dimensional projection known as Sri Meru or Maha Meru, used primarily by Srividya Shakta sects).