THE HEART OF TANTRIC YOGA WITH CARLOS POMEDA (IN-PERSON + ONLINE)

The Heart of Tantric Yoga is a three-morning teaching series on Classical Tantric Yoga and Kashmir Shaivism, led by the scholar and former monk Carlos Pomeda. It is part of the Yoga Conference San Francisco at Hotel Kabuki, and it is open in person or online, with recordings for everyone who registers. It suits students of yoga philosophy, meditators, and anyone curious about a vision of yoga that embraces daily life rather than stepping away from it.

The conference theme is Love in Action: Yoga for Healing Ourselves and the World. Carlos Pomeda's sessions take up that theme through the Tantric view that our bodies, relationships, emotions and the natural world are expressions of one indivisible consciousness, not obstacles to awakening.

What to Expect

The series runs across three mornings, each from 8:30 to 10:00 AM Pacific time, and each session builds on the one before.

Awakening to the Sacred in Everyday Life opens the series. Carlos introduces the foundations of the Tantric tradition and the non-dual philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism, including its historical development and its essential teachings. Participants explore the relationship between Cit (Consciousness) and Śakti (Creative Power), and how recognizing our innate wholeness can support a life of greater joy, purpose and compassion.

Awareness, Energy, and Embodied Practice turns the philosophy into practice. The session looks at the relationship between awareness, breath, prāṇa and the subtle body, with meditation, mantra, visualization and contemplative practices. The emphasis is on practical ways to notice habitual patterns of perception and to develop steadiness, resilience and creativity.

Love in Action: Living Tantra in the Modern World closes the series. Here the teachings meet family, work and community, and the session considers how a sense of shared consciousness expresses itself as compassion, ethical action, generosity and service.

About Carlos Pomeda

Carlos Pomeda is originally from Madrid, Spain, and has spent more than 40 years in the practice and study of yoga. For 18 of those years he was a monk of the Saraswati order, known as Swami Gītānanda, including 9 years of traditional training and practice in India. He became one of the senior monks of the tradition and taught meditation and philosophy to tens of thousands of students around the world.

He pairs that training with two Master's degrees: one in Sanskrit from U.C. Berkeley, where he has also taught, and one in Religious Studies from U.C. Santa Barbara. He is currently working on a book on karma and the journey of the soul, an updated history of yoga, and a new translation of the Śivasūtra, an important text of the Kashmiri Tantric tradition. Carlos lives in the US and travels widely to teach retreats, courses, seminars and lectures. He is known for the breadth of his knowledge, the clarity of his teaching, and his humor.

The Setting

In-person participants gather at Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco, California. Those who prefer to join from home can attend online.

Before You Go

When registering, choose either the in-person or the online option. Registrants receive a receipt and a confirmation email. Recordings are sent automatically to everyone registered, so if the morning hour does not suit your schedule you can still take part by watching afterward. Holders of the Full Main Yoga Conference ticket can attend Carlos's daily classes as part of it.

Workshop registrations are not refundable, though a ticket may be transferred to someone else. If you have trouble registering in Safari, try another browser.