The Three Tantiens

At The Awakened Heart Center for Conscious Living, (once known as The Hara Foundation,) we work with the three Tantiens or centers of Dynamic Energy and Consciousness within the human being.

For our highest functioning and well-being, all three Tantiens are empowered and integrated within themselves and each other. What is usually seen is one is overly developed while the others are under developed. And there are usually imbalances within each tantien. Too much Yin and not enough Yang; or too much Yang and not enough Yin. ☯️ 

The first Tantien below the navel is The Hara. If you put your thumb in your navel and then naturally flatten the rest of your hand down below on your belly, you’ll be covering your hara.

This is the deep grounding root that feeds the whole system. According to Yoga, Zen and certain Martial Arts, breathing from your hara stimulates all 72,000 nadis, meridians or psychic channels as they all have their roots in the hara, or kanda in yoga.

The Hara is the home of Ki,Chi or Prana Shakti, the power center for the whole human instrument. Having a strong hara leads to radiant health, skillful action and deep connection to the infinite ocean of Ki. Some people, such as certain martial artists or spiritual teachers, have strong Ki and can extend or transmit this power to others. This transmission may seem very sexy, loving, mystical and magical but if this power is not connected to the love of the Heart or wisdom of the Third Eye, problems may arise.

My Buddhist teacher Iku use to tell me not to get involved with certain people as they “have no hara.” They dissipate their own Ki through negative thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and relationships.

The hara is known as the Kath in Sufism.💥

The second or Middle Tantien is  The Radiant Heart  Center. This is the center of loving kindness, compassion, acceptance, and a deep inner connection with all beings everywhere. Too often this center is developed in a very imbalanced way with devotion only to certain religions, people, deities, or gurus. When the Heart Center is integrated, balanced and open, the love and acceptance is all inclusive, and is fed by the power of the Hara. The Awakened Heart Center expresses as Love in Action.

The Upper Tantien or Third Eye is between and slightly above the eye brows. It has also been called The Center of Christ Consciousness. It is the source of deep wisdom, creative intelligence, penetrating insight, intuition, and mystical awareness. This center is way too often imbalanced by identification with too much thinking about past, future, worries, concepts, theories, beliefs and ideas. It collects more knowledge, ideas and information mistaking them for intelligence, presence and wisdom. This happens when the Third Eye is not deeply connected to the Heart and Hara.

The focus of the harmony, balance and integration of the three Tantiens is very different for each one of us. To be in balance and integration requires on-going vigilance and awareness. When all three Tantiens are balanced, integrated and in harmony, we flow with an incredible ease of Being in the infinite ocean of the Tao. ☯️