Russill Paul

The foundation for my spiritual life was formed in an ashram (monastery), as a monk. Even though we were Benedictine, that is, Christian, my teacher, an English Benedictine monk by the name of Bede Griffiths, expanded my studies deep into Indian spirituality through Hinduism. Over a 5 year period, I intensely studied yoga, mantra and also Tantra. This type of Tantra is known as Sri Vidya, a secretive, gnostic tradition built essentially upon the spiritual technology of mantra.

During this time, I had many extraordinary experiences, including one of profound spiritual enlightenment that lasted almost three months. As monks, we were celibate. Sexual experience was not a part of our lifestyle; so we learned methods to direct our sexual energies towards spiritual experience and transformation. Towards the end of this five year period, I fell in love, and married. Although after marriage, I gave up monastic celibacy and embraced sexual intimacy with my wife, I continued many of the practices I learned as a monk.

We moved to North America, where, for the past 29 years, I have taught spirituality involving mantra and aspects of sacred sound related to yoga and meditation for which I am quite well known. My wife is into spirituality and health, so I receive a lot of guidance in this area from her, which finds its way into my work. Teaching in the university system in graduate and post-graduate academic programs for almost 17 years helped me develop the analytical and scholastic side of my work. However, I continued my studies in the traditional form, studying the Vedas and Sri Vidya Tantra.

Being part of a New York based record label (1999-2003) gave me wide exposure. In addition, I presented conferences widely in the US and Canada. Later, publishing books, including one on “The Yoga of Sound” with a respected California press, distinguished my work in the field of sacred sound. In 2008, I began to withdraw from the world after the death of my best friend, author Wayne Teasdale. The passing of both my parents, my brother, and my godfather, caused me to withdraw further from travel and teaching and I started to develop online programs along with the very first universities in the US that were experimenting with this new modality of learning. Online teaching helped me maintain a withdrawn lifestyle very much in seclusion and solitude.

As part of my outreach, my wife and I have been taking our students to India, to study mantra, Tantra and meditation with us. We have done this for 20 years and still continue do so because of the authenticity of the experience. This is how we met Remmelt and Carla who traveled and practiced with us in India some years ago. In Jan 2017, I started to practice and teach a special meditation on healing the chakras in India with my students. These particular meditations, along with the timing in my life, started to trigger memories from my early childhood. I did not say anything about these memories to my wife. However, motivated by our common desire to become better teachers, she signed us up for deep hypnotherapy program. After nine months, and a number of sessions, I discovered trauma in my early childhood that included sexual abuse. It was quite a shock initially, and it took me almost nine months to regain my balance. Now, at the present time, I find myself powerfully equipped to address various spiritual conditions in myself and others as a result of addressing my own trauma in a way that integrates decades of studying and teaching mantra and the spirituality of the voice.

A good part of my healing and self-discovery is the special relationship I have with Carla and Remmelt. Their souls touch me deeply, as they do my wife. And both my wife and I feel that our spiritual vision going forward includes working closely with the two of them. Together, we are creating a new model for spirituality that is the prototype of the new millennium. In this model, spirituality and psychology, the ancient and the contemporary, east and west, come together. Being part of Centrum Voor Tantra has helped me discover new ways of healing, enlightenment and transformation that is the current focus in my life. I also find that the extended community of CvT quite special, as is my connection to the people of Holland that I cannot properly explain in words. I was born into a family in India from a father with European and Christian roots and a mother with Indian and Hindu roots. Somehow, I feel this is playing out quite powerfully in my connection to CvT. And I am open to the possibilities unfolding as result of this magical relationship we now share together.

More information: www.russillpaul.com

Russill Paul en het Centrum voor Tantra:
Je vind hier alle informatie over The Yoga of Sound, een groep die Russill geeft samen met Carla en Remmelt.
En hier vind je alle informatie over de Meesterschap in Mantra doorgaande groep, samen met Remmelt.