The Shakti is the feminine we know through human gender, animals, birds, the powers of nature, and the cosmos. Yet, the Shakti is also something beyond it all, something profoundly mysterious. 

The aspect of Shakti beyond the visible world, yet essential to all life, is the Ultimate Shakti. In other words, we consider the absolute, ultimate reality of all life and consciousness as feminine.

This Ultimate Shakti is not something we can speak about, as there are no human language references. For this reason, we turn to Sanskrit mantras, the twilight language, the language of Yoga, and enlightened consciousness. 

Specific Sanskrit mantras related to the Ultimate Shakti can elevate our minds and hearts beyond our egoic conditioning. The patterns found in ancient mantras connect us to birdsong and the rhythms of nature in ways that are inexplicable to the mind.

Our Yogic Mystery School specializes in Sri Vidya, the way of auspicious wisdom. Hindus revere this path as it upholds the authority of the Vedas while integrating Yoga and other powerful practices. 

In this tradition, the Ultimate Shakti is Sri Lalita Tripurasundari, whose beauty fills all realms. Shakti is feminine and, on this path, She is the Supreme Being. How important it is for the world to realize, recognize, and acknowledge that the feminine, too, is an aspect of the Absolute Divinity.

Through the philosophy, theology, and cosmology of this unique path, we approach the Absolute Godhead as feminine and with great reverence so that we may know her power, her beauty, and receive her knowledge and love. However, it is not easy to cut through the layers of illusion that confine us to ego consciousness and its projections of the Shakti.

To know the Ultimate Shakti, we rely on human effort fed by divine grace, which comes directly from this unseen source that is also the womb of all creation. There are also practices of mudras (hand gestures) used in combination with mantras (mystical sounds) to approach this mystery of the Ultimate Shakti. 

When the seeker is ready, all of these elements can come together to reveal this holy mystery. The soul needs to be ripe enough, for this is no ordinary experience.

Presently, there are 120 lessons in the program, even before the course formally begins. However, you cannot go by the number of lessons, nor can you go by a lesson's length. Whether 30-minutes or an hour and a half, a lot depends on how a particular student engages with the teaching. You may want to pause some lessons, or divide others into sections, and some you may want to revisit more than once.

Another factor is the level of ambition you have with the teaching and the methods. For instance, if you want to pronounce the mantras correctly, it will take more time, energy, and attention to detail. Those students who care less about mantra pronunciation will not require attention to detail. Others may want to master the mudras. Some may wish to spend more time on the mystical aspects, understanding some concepts, such as the tattvas, better.

In other words, many variables will determine the amount of time you spend on each lesson. We have discerned that six months is sufficient to grasp the core teachings of this program. Some students may require a bit less time, others a bit more. If you need time beyond the six months, we have an extension policy you can opt for once the program ends for you. At this juncture, we, in our decades of teaching and course creation, have discerned that six months is ample time to complete this program. It would be best to commit your time and energy, and enthusiasm to consistent study and application.

You can always begin with self-study and then reach out for support. Most programs in our Yogic Mystery School are, by default, self-study programs.

Our core methodology is a tripartite combination of healing, enlightenment, and transformation. For these three aspects to integrate, we need to address the whole person. Otherwise, we end up seeking to fulfill a concept.

We are essentially an esoteric school, not an academic school. In other words, we value the mystical over the dialectical process, which is the logical discussion of ideas and opinions generally favored in western learning.

Our preference does not imply that we cannot engage in a process ourselves. Having come out of the university system teaching for 15 straight years at the graduate and post-graduate level, we are competent with the academic and dialectical process.

While the logical, mental process of analytical thinking and reasoning is valuable, it does not support authentic enlightenment. Neither does it heal or transform.

For Tantra, in particular, answering head-originating questions offers little in the way of actual transformation. Tantra is an alchemical process.

Many web-based teachers are happy to engage in "answering questions" to establish their expertise. However, the instructor can neither see nor serve the whole person through such an approach.

We have discovered that the most effective support for our students is the one-on-one private coaching process. It needs to be personal because of the privacy of the coach as well as the student.

Of course, we cannot make it mandatory for students to go the private coaching route, so our programs are, by default, self-study. However, you can understand why we do not engage in answering process-oriented questions through a text-based system.

Tantric study and the Tantric process require one-on-one interaction for best results. Try at least one private coaching session. These interactive, power-packed processes are recorded on audio and video and provided to you for lifetime learning and self-development.

About Students and Sacred Texts, Tantra, Ultimate Reality, Yogic Mystery School, and the Teacher.

We study many sacred texts in our Yogic Mystery School. One of these texts is the Lalita Sahasranama included in the course Ultimate Shakti. The Lalita Sahasranama is a set of 1000 names of the Absolute Godhead as feminine. While one might find these names in books or on the internet, there are particular and peculiar aspects of Tantra related to these names that one will not find in the public domain. We teach methods and concepts from the authentic tradition while at the same time maintaining a democratic teaching style that seeks to empower and educate the student. We specialize in helping our students become teacher-healers in their own right.

Secret teachings remain hidden in the language and terminology of sacred texts, which is how the Tantric tradition has operated from its early years. For this reason, there is a deliberate method of obfuscation and disguise. The problem with this method is that it leaves many aspects of the tradition open to interpretation. The result is that of the blind leading the blind: students may study Tantra from teachers who teach from their head rather than from experience born of self-transformation.

Our method in Yogic Mystery School does not demand secrecy from our students. Nor do we ask students to surrender their minds or hearts, or identity. Our approach is part democratic, part academic, part mystical, part psychological. We make a conscious effort to avoid spiritual bypassing, a condition rampant in spirituality worldwide. We place a tremendous value on personal healing and vulnerability that includes the teacher. We also place great importance on transparency and truthfulness. None of us want to be deluded by ignorance masquerading as wisdom. So we encourage our students to remain sharp, aware, and discerning.

The Lalita Sahasranama is only one of many sacred Tantric texts we study in our Yogic Mystery School. The study of texts needs to be accompanied by spiritual practice, discipline, self-evaluation, introspection, and, most of all, awareness and relationship with something more than oneself and one's self-consciousness. In our Yogic Mystery School, we want students to develop their relationship with Ultimate Reality without mediation. The role of the teacher is to educate, empower, and guide, not substitute himself or herself as the Absolute Reality.

In the program Ultimate Shakti, we concentrate on the first 108 names of the Lalita Sahasramana. We also learn the 108 names of Durga. Another text we study is the Durga Suktam. And we tap into the Devi Mahatmya. Sacred texts are not all we are learning. We are engaged in powerful practices and developing our perspective, as well. Our specialty is the chanting of the sacred Sanskrit texts properly to awaken the Shakti. So we do provide meaning, as well. And the depth of understanding we provide, along with the etymology of the Sanskrit words, is extremely rare, if not a hundred percent unique.

We are not seeking to provide quantity but quality. Nevertheless, for the student who desires much, much is given. Our constant reminder is to ensure that we are becoming better humans. Are we transforming our negative behaviors and habits? Are we experiencing genuine spiritual reality? Are we handling life well? Are we thriving? Are we improving our relationships? What is the use of knowing esoteric practices and Tantric cosmology if beneficial results are not showing up in our work, our careers, our health?

The discovery of wholeness, wellness, holistic mind, emotional healing, freedom from trauma, all this is why we study and practice Tantra. We recommend health coaching and the brain-mind connection with Asha, my wife, and partner, who is also my coach for those who want the full range of what we offer. Asha has helped me immensely with my spiritual bypass. I often joke that I was the poster boy for spiritual bypass. I have only recently woken up from this condition, and I do not take it for granted. All of the students in our Yogic Mystery School are deeply committed to discovering and rectifying spiritual bypassing. Without these efforts, Tantra, or any spiritual method, can be fraught with delusion.