In this interview, our 4th-year Tantra student Vivienne interviews Tantra teacher Foca Yariv, about death and the perspectives spirituality can bring to the subject, about which Eastern and Western approaches can differ hugely. Foca has spent a great deal of time studying Eastern perspectives on death, to find out what we can actually learn from them.
Foca has held a workshop at Tara entitled “The Art of Dying” almost every year. The title of the workshop is a bit of a loose term, because the workshop is very much about how to live, not only how to die. Based on some fundamental perspectives and ideas found in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Todol, the Art of Dying workshop helps participants understand the nature of death and why the spiritual path could not exist without it.
In this (25-minute) interview, Vivienne quizzes Foca on everything from the Tantric perspective on death to the blockages people face relating to death, to how a change of perspective can fuel spiritual transformation.
While this interview is not a preview of the upcoming workshop, it does provide some hints as to what might be revealed. Listen to the interview, and if you have any questions feel free to post in the comments. We will respond to them!
And if you would like to know more about the Art of Dying workshop, or to sign up, all details can be found here:
“If it wasn’t for death, which is basically the confinement of time, there would be no incentive of transformation. Hence, we can say that this is one of the greatest gifts that is given from the Creator to the creature, because it is mobilising us.”
Foca Yariv, Tantra Teacher