Summoning the Void: Locating Inspiration in Sādhana through the “Five Spheres”

In many contemplative traditions, the void is approached with caution, even fear—a space of negation, loss, and dissolution. Yet within the non-dual Śaiva-Śākta Tantrik tradition, the void (śūnya) is not absence but the fertile ground of all possibility. It is the generative source from which inspiration, creativity, and profound transformation emerge.

In this special session, we will explore the evocative imagery and teachings of the Khacakra-pañcaka-stotra (“The Hymn of the Five Spheres”), a tantric text attributed to someone named Śivānanda. Through the lens of Mark Dyczkowski’s illuminating essay, we will unpack the doctrine of the “Five Spheres of Emptiness”—a poetic and subtle mapping of emptiness not as a form of nihilism, but as a series of progressively expansive openings into the fullness of both Self and cosmos.

Together, we will explore how these five modalities of emptiness invite us to dissolve rigid self-structures, soften into the play of energies, and encounter the source of inspiration that arises when we dare to lean into the unknown. This is not a theoretical study alone, but an invitation into a living practice of aesthetic and contemplative surrender, where emptiness is not the end of experience, but its ultimate deepening.

No prior study of the text is required. All are welcome.

Jacob Kyle is a meditation teacher, writer, philosophy educator, and the Founding Director of Embodied Philosophy. His guiding mission is to re-imagine the modern function of the yoga teacher in alignment with the teachings, texts, and traditions of yoga's profound history. He believes that by building a network of teachers who share a commitment to disseminating the deeper teachings and practices of yoga, we can build a world based on wisdom rather than ideology and divisiveness.

Jacob is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, researching Abhinavagupta's Philosophy of Language and Meditation with advisor Diwakar Acharya. He holds an MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from Oxford (2023), an MA in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research (2017), and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics (2007). Jacob is a passionate advocate of Kashmir Śaivism and a devoted practitioner of the Śaiva-Śākta Darśana.

In an age of disembodiment, distraction, and spiritual commodification, the Tantric teachings of kuṇḍalinī offer a unique antidote. They call us back into the body — not as a merely physical site of limitation, but as a temple of transformation. This is not a promise of instant awakening, but an invitation into long-term intimacy with the processes of growth, subtle perception, and inner attunement. Radical yogic embodiment is not about bypassing the world — it is about engaging it from the depths of a more refined and subtle awareness.

Who This Retreat Is For:

Teaching yoga is far more than guiding bodies through shapes or delivering polished instructions. It is a subtle and skillful art that draws upon philosophical insight, somatic intelligence, intuitive observation, and refined use of language—all in service of something much greater than technical mastery: the awakening of awareness.

In this immersive 4-hour workshop, we’ll go beyond surface-level techniques and explore a more integrated and liberating approach to yoga pedagogy—one that reorients your teaching toward the deeper spiritual purposes of the practice. You’ll learn how to teach not just what to do, but how to see, how to say, and how to align your presence, words, and methods with the transformative essence of yoga itself.

Developing a teaching methodology, in this context, is not about memorizing cues or acquiring external polish. It’s a practice of deep listening—to the body, to the room, and to the philosophical foundations of yoga as a path of mokṣa, or liberation. This means cultivating the sensitivity to communicate from a place of lived understanding, where technique serves transformation, and pedagogy becomes an expression of inner clarity.

Importantly, we also offer a reframing of a common critique of modern postural yoga: cultural appropriation. In our view, the more insidious form of appropriation is not what one wears or says from another culture, but what one removes—specifically, the erasure of yoga’s liberative spirituality. When yoga is stripped of its soteriological depth and reduced to fitness, performance, or emotional self-help, it is no longer a living tradition but a borrowed aesthetic. To reclaim yoga as a universally accessible technology for cultivating truth, we must honor its original purpose—not through mimicry, but through sincere transmission.

Whether you’re a new teacher or a seasoned educator seeking to deepen your path, this workshop is an invitation to remember: your method is your message. When your teaching methodology is aligned with yoga’s deeper truths, every class becomes a sacred site of remembrance, inquiry, and awakening.