Senior Tantra Yoga Teacher Eleanor Bartolomeo:

Eleanor studied at Shri Kali Ashram for a number of years. She now lives in the San Francisco area where she is pursuing her personal goal of doctoral studies in engineering. She is a registered E-RYT 200™ with Yoga Alliance®, frequently teaches Tantric workshops in and around San Francisco and remains very close to the workings of the Ashram.

Eleanor came to Shri Kali Ashram after serving for several years with the U.S. Peace Corps in Madagascar. [She is fluent in the Malagasy language.] She came for a short stay to learn her asanas or postures of Yoga. However after realizing that there is much more to the science of Yoga, she stayed on in India and persevered in learning.

She performs very advanced asanas and demonstrates superior intellectual ability, both of which abilities she credits to Tantra. During her time at Shri Kali, Eleanor has grown from a quiet, nerdy girl to a strong, intelligent woman with a free spirit. She is one person who will not pander just to be within the group.

Eleanor has become proficient in Tantra and Yoga. She is a skillful and popular teacher, and is appreciated by new students for her clear understanding and ability to explain the Tantric and Yogic philosophies. Students who have attended her classes often comment on the wholesomeness of the experience. She also now reads fluent Sanskrit and knows by heart the mantras and rituals of the Kali tradition, which she practices.

Now, as one of Shri Kali's senior teachers she laughs about her initial idea of yoga as consisting only of asanas! She says, "If I had done a standard two-hundred hour training in any other school, I would have missed out on the actual value of the teachings and practices of Tantra. Like any other science, it takes a little time and effort. It seems sad to me now that so many people think that something like Yoga or Tantra can be mastered in two-hundred hours. I spent four years in University learning how to program a computer - which is in essence a simple machine. How much more effort should it take to understand the programming that runs myself and the universe? Tantra is an amazing, beautiful spiritual science. Through Tantra, I regard things wholesomely, not from just a limited perspective. This gives me success in my relationships, my career and every aspect of life."

"The original science of Tantra is different from the make-believe Tantra that New Age has fabricated to help deal with the limitations of feminism. A true Tantric Goddess is neither a man-hater nor a prostitute. Tantra doesn't teach one to be submissive or aggressive. Tantra emphasizes on one's autonomy and honoring of the self. Tantra as a science teaches one to adopt better values and ideals which naturally wean one from being trapped in the limited views of a politicizing mind-set. It makes us feel wholesome and understand beyond the limitations of the subjective self which frees us from our limited identities and trips. I have seen people come with all sorts of neurosis and walk away healthy and wholesome", says Eleanor. "The whole time that I've spent here has been worthwhile."

"The Tantric asanas taught at Shri Kali Ashram are subtly different from those taught in other systems. They have inner content. It is not just muscle leverage or workout, but a whole science in itself based around energy - pranayama as well. If you read the ancient texts, they considered pranayama as the key to health, long-life, and mastering your inner energy. Yet if you go to a contemporary yoga class, they relegate pranayama to three minutes of playing with your nose at the end of class - if that. Similarly the Tantric meditation: I have seen so many students progress in a very short period of time from being unable to sit still to having a deep, quality meditation [Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana / Bhavana, Samadhi]. Shri Kali Ashram offers understanding of these sciences, not just performance. Bhagavan Shanmukha just has too much information for anyone to do justice to in one website. I still find it remarkable that there can be such a science as what is taught here at Shri Kali."