The Yoga Tantras that Krishnamacharya graciously brought forth teach us direct participation in Reality and the qualities or nature of Reality. They flush from the living body the restive patterning and traumas that culture and society has put in us. These Tantras disappeared in India & Tibet after the 14th century replaced by authoritarian power structures.

In this powerful episode of The Heart of Yoga Podcast, Mark returns with scholar and heart of Yoga teacher Andrew Raba for a deeply vulnerable & piercing conversation on the core wounds of society: the denial of the feminine, the suppression of sexual wisdom, and the destructive legacy of religious thinking that created world mind.

Together, they unravel the heavy conditioning that shapes our views of intimacy, self-improvement, and the male fantasy of enlightenment. Together they point us back to the radical truth: that the source & the seen are one. With candor, grief, humor and hope, Mark and Andrew explore how Yoga is participation in What is already the case, real & natural.

They discuss…

How the ancient idea of enlightenment has created harmful hierarchies that separate the spiritual from the sexual and the sacred from the ordinary.

The personal and collective consequences of suppressing the feminine, intimacy & body intelligence.

Why intimacy is often the battleground for inherited trauma, shame, and confusion—how Yoga can help us participate in love, the unity condition that is life, without seeking to “fix” or “transcend” ourselves.

Mark’s reflections on sex, relationship, and receiving each other is the only sacred life there is.

The power of whole-body breathing, above to below, inhalation to exhalation, strength to receptivity reconnects us to What is real, beyond religious dogma or self-improvement fantasies and struggles.

They discuss…

How the ancient idea of enlightenment has created harmful hierarchies that separate the spiritual from the sexual and the sacred from the ordinary.
The personal and collective consequences of suppressing the feminine, intimacy, and embodied wisdom.
Andrew’s journey from academic seeker to awakened Yogi, and how one simple truth—the source and the seen are one—transformed his life.
Why intimacy is often the battleground for inherited trauma, shame, and spiritual confusion—and how Yoga can help us participate in love without seeking to “fix” or “transcend” ourselves.
Mark’s reflections on sex, relationship, and receiving the other as a sacred, cosmic act—not as a spiritual obstacle.
The power of whole-body Yoga to reconnect us with what’s real, beyond religious dogma or self-improvement fantasies.

Favorite Phrases:

“Life is perfectly expressing itself through you. What could create a human body? That power is not somewhere else—it’s here, as this.”

“Sex is not something done to get something. It is to participate in what life actually is.”

“Male does not receive female—and that’s the core wound of civilization.”

Resources Mentioned:

Teachings of T. Krishnamacharya

Taoist insights into yin-yang and sacred sexuality

Reflections on world religions, mystic traditions, and cultural conditioning

Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Opening reflection on hierarchy, enlightenment, and the denial of the feminine [00:02:00] Introduction to guest Andrew Raba and his background [00:06:00] Andrew shares his transformation after hearing “the source and the seen are one” [00:10:00] The collapse of the seeking framework and the emergence of presence [00:16:00] The deep cultural programming around sex, love, and spirituality [00:23:00] Exploring karmic patterns, judgment, and self-forgiveness [00:31:00] Reclaiming sex as participation, not transaction [00:36:00] The role of Yoga as a daily reflection and realignment with truth [00:42:00] Mark and Andrew discuss the union of opposites and the healing of gender divisions [00:47:00] Closing thoughts on spiritual honesty, Yoga as participation, and receiving the other