Purity is strength. It is health, harmony, and the quiet background of peace. Much of the inner restlessness we feel often begins with impurity. A physical impurity builds up from food or toxins in the body, an emotional impurity builds up from unresolved feelings, and a mental impurity comes from distorted thoughts. When we purify, balance returns naturally.
Through cleansing the body, calming the emotions, and clearing the mind, we return to our original state of peace. After purification, the eyes start to shine, the skin glows, and the heart feels light. Old habits fall away, replaced by clarity and vitality.
From a tantric perspective, purity means that everything is in its right place. When water flows where it should, when thoughts stay aligned with truth, when emotions serve love, harmony appears. Gold is pure when all other metals are burned away. Tantra Yoga helps us bring order back into our being, so that the pure essence within can shine through.
Key Takeaways
- Purity brings balance to body, mind, and emotions, restoring our natural state of peace and strength.
- Tantra Yoga views purification as an essential preparation for higher practices. On this path, we engage with the world and with life experiences fully and consciously, implementing a fast and efficient system of purification into our daily practice.
- The five elements of our beings, or Tattvas, are earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Each of the elements has its own methods of purification.
- Cleansing the body, emotions, and mind leads to spiritual awakening and inner clarity, leading to a natural attraction to what is good for our physical and subtle structure.
What Is Purity?
Purity is the natural state of things when they are free from distortion. Pure love is a love without attachment, without an agenda, without all the things that are not actually love. Pure generosity doesn’t ask for anything in return.
A pure mind can think clearly, a pure heart can love without fear, and a pure body radiates energy and health. On the other hand, impurity brings heaviness, confusion, and inner conflict. To purify is to return to simplicity, to the original essence that was never lost, but only covered.
Two Paths Towards Purity
Throughout history, seekers have approached purity in two ways. The first path avoids impurity altogether. Followers of this path, such as the ascetics of the Jain tradition, isolate themselves from worldly contact. They eat pure food, live in silence, and keep a distance from anything that could disturb their inner clarity. This approach is valid for those who feel called to renunciation.
The second path, the Tantric way, is the one of integration. It embraces life in all its colours: work, love, family, community, and being of service. On this path, we do not hide from the world’s impurities; instead, we engage with them consciously. Yet this engagement requires a fast and efficient system of purification.
If we touch the world, we must learn to cleanse ourselves. Each day brings new impressions, attachments, and subtle toxins, so our purification must exceed our accumulation. If you sweep the floor, the broom gets dirty. And it’s good to sweep the floor, it’s meaningful. In Tantra, we don’t shy away from touching the world.
The Science of Purification
Purification is one of the most important aspects of Yoga and Tantra. The ancient masters understood that before awakening higher energies, the body and mind must be cleansed of accumulated impurities.
For this reason, classical yogic texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita, and the Ayurvedic scripture the Charaka Samhita, describe in detail methods to restore harmony through purification. These teachings are still alive today in authentic Tantra Yoga retreats in Thailand and across the world, where seekers learn to cleanse the body, balance the elements, and awaken inner clarity.
Purifying the Five Elements
In Tantra Yoga, the process of Bhuta Shuddhi, or the purification of the five elements, is considered essential. The five elements, or tattvas: earth, water, fire, air, and space (or ether), are seen as the fundamental building blocks of both the universe and the human body. These five elements are described in Tantra and are identical to the elements described in the Greek and Roman traditions, and in Western and Arabic alchemy.
The Earth (Prithivi Tattva) element relates to everything solid in the body. Purification begins with cleansing the intestines from accumulated waste that continuously interacts with the bloodstream, generating fatigue and dullness. Yogic techniques such as Shankha Prakshalana (the intestinal wash) and gentle herbal cleanses remove these deep-rooted impurities and restore vitality.
The Water (Apas Tattva) element governs all body fluids, especially blood. It is purified through herbal remedies, asanas that strengthen the kidneys and bladder, and water-based therapies like saunas, ice baths, or floatation. Such practices refresh the body, purify the blood, and support inner calm.
The Fire (Tejas Tattva) element governs transformation, digestion, and life force. Dynamic asanas, pranayama, and heat therapies like infrared sauna stimulate metabolism, burn toxins, and awaken vitality. When balanced with cold immersion, they bring a deep harmony between the body’s polarities and renew inner strength.
The Air (Vayu Tattva) element represents movement and breath. Conscious breathing and pranayama practices purify this element by harmonising the flow of prana throughout the body. Through this balance, mental agitation settles, and the nervous system finds its natural rhythm.
The Space (Akasha Tattva) element is the subtlest of all elements; space symbolises openness and harmony. When the lower elements are balanced, inner space naturally expands as a vast stillness where awareness and peace shine without effort.
These elemental practices are often integrated into our different activities, courses, Tantra Yoga immersions and retreats in Chiang Mai, where seekers explore purification both physically and energetically under traditional guidance.
Beyond the Physical
Physical purification is only one layer. Emotional purification releases anger, fear, and attachment while nurturing love, forgiveness, and compassion. Mental purification clears confusion and restlessness, allowing discernment and intuition to arise.
Finally, spiritual purification reveals our essence, the pure consciousness beyond personality and conditioning. Through silence, fasting, self-observation, and meditation, the mind becomes transparent. Over time, old tendencies dissolve, leaving behind a deep sense of freedom and spontaneous joy.
These processes form the heart of authentic Tantra Yoga teachings, guiding practitioners from purification to illumination.
The Natural Attraction to Goodness
When we are pure, discernment no longer requires effort. The attraction to what is wholesome, kind, and uplifting arises naturally. It returns us to our natural state, where goodness feels effortless and joy flows freely. It is the solid ground on which peace, love, and spiritual growth naturally blossom. When impurities accumulate in the body, emotions, or mind, we are easily drawn toward things that disturb our balance.
To walk the path of purity is to uncover who we are beneath all residues of experience. It is to return, layer by layer, to the radiant consciousness that was never lost, only hidden.
This article was transcribed by Tony from the following video:
