The Three Tantiens

In The Hara Training, Healing Words and certain Hatha Yoga classes, we worked with the three Tantiens or centers of Dynamic Consciousness within the human instrument. For our highest functioning and well-being, they all need to be empowered and integrated within themselves and with each other. What is usually seen is one is overly developed while the others underdeveloped. 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 is below the navel, The Hara or lower Tantien. This is the deep grounding root that feeds the whole system. According to Yoga, all 72,000 nadis or psychic channels have their roots in the hara or kanda. My Buddhist teacher use to tell me not to get involved with certain people as they “have no hara.” The hara is the home of Ki/Chi/ 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 and teachers, have high levels of Ki and can extend or transmit this power to others, which can seem very sexy, loving, mystical and magical. But this power may not be connected to Love or Wisdom. The Hara is also known as the Kanda in yoga as it is the resting place of Kundalini. It is known as the Kath in Sufism.💥

The second is at The Heart, the middle tantien. This is the center of loving kindness, compassion, acceptance, and deep inner connection with apparent others. This is often developed in a very imbalanced way such as devotion only to certain people, a certain deity,  guru or teaching but not to other life forms. In balance and integration, the Love and Acceptance is All Inclusive and is fed by the strength of the Hara. Love in Action.

The Upper Tantien or Third Eye is between and slightly above the eye brows. It has been called The Center of Christ Consciousness. It is the upper tantien which is the source of deep wisdom, creative intelligence, penetrating insight, intuition, and mystical awareness. This center is too often imbalanced by over-thinking, and collecting knowledge and information, mistaking them for intelligence and wisdom. This happens when the Third Eye is not deeply connected to the feed from the Heart and Hara

So the focus of balance and integration of the Tantiens may be very different for each person. It is an on-going commitment of vigilance and awareness.  

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The Game of Human Life

This is a pointer, not the truth …. and yet –

When we “choose” to play a game of chess, we willingly limit our awareness and capacity to do things only according to the rules of the game of chess. Certain pieces can only move in certain ways at certain times. We become very concentrated, very focused on the game. Our strategies and our opponents strategies become all that matters and the rest of reality fades into the background. We are entranced, hypnotized by the game. It becomes very real.

In the same way IT SEEMS that supreme awareness, to experience its infinite creative possibilities, chooses to become a human instrument – or anything else , perhaps  a slime mold, or star cluster. Because of the way this game is played, each instrument comes with its own genetic predispositions and societal programming. It has certain limitations and capacities, just like a piece in a chess game. It becomes absorbed in the game of human life, usually acting only out of the first 3 chakras of survival, reproduction/sex and power, domination or submission. It invests in the game, not in trying to understand WTF is going on.

If the human instrument has the open program to “wake up,” at some point it begins to question everything and look more deeply. It will find most of the avenues it follows are ulitimately un-satisfying, just another program within the game.

“The greater the doubt, the greater the enlightenment.” – Boshan, Hakuin and other Zen masters

If it is lucky, (grace) it may directly discover that the knot of individuated consciousness it has experienced it self to be (wave), is part of a program of a vast ocean of Intelligent Awareness that is playing a game of creating and discovering infinite possibilities and creating subject /object awareness to enhance the game and hypnosis required to believe it is real.

Most of what passes as science, spirituality and religion, etc is just waves experiencing different possibilities of the game of their wave-ness. They are different Reality Tunnels. Everyone believes their Reality Tunnel is real and argues for it.

The danger of discovering what is actually happening is it may well trigger END GAME. And it does on many levels.  

One who has “awakened” knows the vast currents of the ocean is running its wave-ness and knows the wave and ocean are the same yet different. This has led some to say things like, “The Jiva (individuated consciousness/wave) IS Shiva (Supreme Awareness/Ocean)” or “God dwells within you AS you,” or “THIS is as God as it gets.”

Chess is something humans made up. In and of itself, it does not exist. It needs humans to exist. The most enjoyable way to play chess is to become totally immersed in the game, totally hypnotized by the game, make it very real and important by trying to win.

This is suspension of disbelief.

Most humans are deeply engaged in their personal game of chess, at whatever level they play it, and they seldom question it. 

If they do, the questioning leads to an instability in the game, is threatening to other players and they suggest you get back into line and focus on the game. Get more deeply hypnotized. Embellish your Reality Tunnels, whatever they may be.

For some, it is too late! They have been swept away by the ocean of bliss and yet there seems to be some wave-ness left, like Tony Parsons, Ramana, Nityananda, Nisargadatta, Whitman, Meister Eckhart, Spinoza, etc.

For those deeply engaged in the game of life, those who keep pointing out that it is just a game and that it really doesn’t matter if you win, lose or take a nap, so you may as well relax, have fun and enjoy it, are often asked to shut up, leave the room and go far, far way!  The game must go on! 🤣

Skepticism

Healthy open-minded, open-hearted skepticism is a very good thing. And yet too often skepticism becomes a form of narcissistic encapsulation that says,

“Within my understanding and experience, if I can’t find personal evidence for this, if it is not within the range of my experience, understanding, concepts or beliefs, if it is not the way I choose to see things, then it can’t possibly be so. Therefore anyone who has an experience or a capacity outside the range of my understanding, outside the range of my experience must be a fraud, deluded or a liar.”

Do not mistake this for skepticism. It is narcissistic encapsulation.

The question to ask ourselves is, “Am I being skeptical… or am I just being narcissistic?” Hmmmm.

It is often wise to abide simply in not knowing.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” ~ Shakespeare -or someone else with the same name.

Freedom from Knowing

From my experience, finding ourselves pessimistic and nihilistic are part of the process of full awakening. All of our views, hopes, beliefs and philosophies go out the door. We are left helpless, hopeless, without meaning and purpose. I suspect anyone who fully awakens goes through this, maybe sometimes for years. And too many stop here. Half-baked.This point is half way around the circle and still being encapsulated by the circle. It is the Ghost’s Cave.

If we then somehow set aside our philosophical, mind-created stance of pessimism and nihilism, fully admit “we” ultimately don’t know anything, then a profound opening may happen and we effortlessly live in wonder, delight and astonishment.

At the level of our thinking conceptual mind, there is a profound not knowing, not concluding about anything. Anything that can be said about This is not IT, including saying it is “This,” is “IT.” There is silence.

In spite of rivers and mountains now once again being rivers and mountains, there is absolute freedom to Be. Outside the encapsultion of the circle.

Satsang With Tom. Being Together

Everyone is welcome to satsang.

Sat = Being. Sangha = group of friends. We are friends Being together as we are.

This satsang is descriptive, not prescriptive. I don’t know what anyone “should” be doing about anything. The only rule we have at satsang is be kind and respectful to everyone. Including yourself. Including Bonnie and me. Satsang is a safe space for all of us.

One of our devoted students at The Awakened Heart Center, Myrna, who had spent years teaching in India, once wrote me a beautiful letter saying I was everyone’s Kalyanamitra, or spiritual friend. I am your friend. You are my friend. I am not a guru, enlightened master, neo-advaita teacher, avatar, adept or any such thing. I do not represent any lineage, tradition, or teaching.

I abide in not knowing. What is shared in satsang is not something that can be known by our minds but is rather realized and felt in our Hearts.

I call what I offer “sharing.” This sharing is an expression of my own recognition, insights, experiences, and understanding that come from over fifty years of training with many different gurus and teachers in both the enlightenment traditions and human potential movement. Although many things are shared, what is always pointed to is self-evident if one is willing to honestly look without prejudice.

What is shared is an all inclusive view. It is a smörgåsbord of pointers and upayas (skillful and effective psycho-physical-spiritual technologies.) People come, take what they want and leave the rest for others. There are no “shoulds,” here. What may deeply resonate with one person may not resonate at all with another. And that is OK.


People who come to satsang have all sorts of backgrounds, experiences, views, interests and issues. Some have been coming to satsang for decades while for others it is their first time. They come for many different reasons. During the week people often send me questions or topics they’d like discussed in satsang. They remain anonymous if they wish. It is their satsang.

We enjoy Being Together As We Are. This is satsang. With great love and respect, I welcome you to satsang. 🙏❤️🙏

“When awakening happens, the mind’s need to understand disappears into the unconditional love and acceptance of the Heart” ~ Tom Thompson

Consider This

This is not a trick but an honest investigation.

Are you intelligent? Do you have intelligence? Is your body intelligent, running the many functions it has to, to keep you alive and reading this? Is your body more intelligent than “you” are? What is running your life when you are deep asleep at night? What is it that designs and implements the amazing dreams you may have? Is it you? I hope you have had amazing, life transforming dreams. Do you know how to do what your body is doing right now? What is living you? Is your body intelligent or are you the only one who is intelligent? Is it possible you are not the most intelligent being in your body? Is it possible that there is an intelligence greater that your own living you? Is it even possible that you are not the most intelligent being in the universe? Is that even possible? Is it possible that there may be someone or something more intelligent than you are right here now?

If that is even a possibility, consider for a moment what that means? Consider what it means if it is possible that there is an intelligence greater than our own. It could mean that we do not know what is really going on. It could mean we really don’t have it all figured out. It may mean we are very encapsulated within our limited maps of reality. We secretly pretend we know something even if we claim we don’t.

Could it be there is an intelligence greater than our own? Is that possible? How would we know? Are we intelligent enough to even recognize it? Perhaps not. How would we know unless we set aside our maps, opinions and positions? Are we willing to step out of our narcissistic encapsulation and take a fresh look with open eyes, heart and mind? It is possible that something more intelligent than we are may be everywhere? Is that even possible? How would we know? It is actually very simple if we are willing to be perfectly honest. ❤

Solipsism –

In true awakening, solipsism is blown apart, not realized. There is no longer a self- obsessed “me,” to be a solipsist .

There is no “my” consciousness – or anything else for that matter.A true teacher points out and helps one investigate what is essential and true. They do not program one with beliefs, philosophies or concepts. Quite the opposite, they pull the conceptual rug out from beneath ones’s feet over and over again.

When awakening happens, one awakens out of all of this as it is all human constructs. Many, if not most, get stuck in the Ghost’s Cave, the desert, existential despair, the emptiness and meaningless of it all. This is also where the solipsist view and philosophy may arise to protect the now seemingly “enlightened” “me.”

Because there are no longer any concepts or beliefs to cling to and seeking has apparently stopped, without a good teacher they think they are at the end of the road when in fact they are only half-baked.

This is a time a teacher can be essential.But the final truth is it all happens by grace, including finding a teacher who actually knows what they are doing. And yet, as Ramakrishna pointed out, the winds of grace are always blowing.

Infinite Intelligent Energy

KUNDALINI SHAKTI is the infinite intelligent energy in an individuated form living us as us. We don’t awaken Kundalini, She awakens us. The concepts, beliefs and practices around Kundalini are cultural but the dynamic living experience of Kundalini is not.

It seems like awakened Kundalini is very similar to having another sense. You can’t explain what it is like to see to someone who hasn’t opened their eyes. Once their eyes open, it takes time to process and make sense of the absolute astonishment of what is being seen. Or they can close their eyes again.

Kundalini takes us out of ourselves into the infinite field of Being and returns us transformed. Something has been realized that can not be expressed in words, beliefs or thought and yet It has been expressed as Being Love Bliss Consciousness. This realization is available to anyone who is willing to open their eyes, lets go and lets Goddess.

All there is, is Being being free.

Being freely becomes entranced in the story of “me,”

or Being freely drops the story of “me.”

Being may freely become a Parsis, Muslim, atheist, scientist, prostitute, bus driver, born again Christian, terroist, narcissist, politician, yogin, liberated being or you.

Being may spend decades practicing spiritual disciplines and getting nowhere since there is nowhere to go, or Being may spontaneously wake up to realizing all there is, is Being.

Being freely believes in religion, spirituality, karma, reincarnation, enlightenment, NDEs, OOBEs, life after death, ETs, astral travel, golf, conspiracy theories, chess, Big Foot, Walt Disney, and always Being right and making other people wrong.

Being freely disparages religion, spirituality, karma, reincarnation, enlightenment, NDEs, OOBEs, life after death, ETs, astral travel, golf conspiracy theories, chess, Big Foot, Donald Duck, and always Being right and making other people wrong.

Being may get very sick and sadly die at an early age of 3 or Being may live to be a 116 year old yogic saint.

Being freely becomes confused, depressed and has existential despair.

Being is all inclusive. There is nothing outside of Being as Being has no outside or inside, no beginning and no end. Being is infinite. Seamless. And yet Being freely takes every apparent form and expression, being everything and everyone. Freely.

You are Being freely being you. Just as you are right now you are perfectly Being you. And you are doing an exemplary job! Gassho to you!

Some people get all nervous and twitchy when I write things like this and want to argue with me about it, making them right and “me,” wrong. And that is OK. I am really good at Being wrong.

So hopefully to help those Beings relax a little, it is useful to remember once again that all words are little conceptual prison cells and at best can only Be pointers to Being. The truth spoken is a lie.

And please remember –

You can’t Be Being wrong. And Being can’t Be you wrong. Being loves you and is you as you just the way you are!

“Enlightenment is an accident. Meditation makes you accident prone.” ~ Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

MEDITATION is completely natural and practical as over 50 years of scientific research has shown regular meditation enhances over-all health, a sense of well-being, longevity and the higher functions of the brain along with greater Emotional Intelligence. The reason many people don’t like to meditate is because it actually works. Within the stillness of meditation, the neurotic process of the “autobiographical self,” temporarily or even permanently disappears, which is the last thing a “me” mind really wants to happen. As there is no “me,” in silence, the natural way of being begins to fully emerge.

HAVING TAUGHT MEDITATION to thousands of people all over the world for the last 50 years, I can honestly say the default mode for most people is one of a voice in their head (the “me”- mind) fixated on the worries and concerns of the past, present, future, work, money, relationships, dying and death. This internal dialogue also fabricates all sorts of stories, theories and philosophies about them. Natural Meditation develops meta-awareness so attention can notice this and gently release that fixation.

Because of the brain’s neuroplasticity, over time meditation shifts the default mode from one of distress to one of resting as the vast open sky of effortless, choiceless, silent awareness. Experience is no longer filtered through the neurotic process of the “me” mind and there is clear seeing instead. This is the natural way of being pointed to in all of the great awakening traditions such as Taoisim, Zen, Kashmir Shaivism and Dzogchen.

Resting free and easy without fixation, fabrication or rumination is meditation.