I'm Mark, your host at Fantasy Farm
A little biography so you can get to know me a little
I am a Franco-British gay man, initiator of this project and facilitator of the workshops at Fantasy Farm.
After a career as a sales executive, I decided to focus on my own physical and mental health which will lead me to the care of others.
My teachings were acquired in India, Thailand and France. Over the years, through encounters, I was able to acquire skills and experience in the fields of massage, yoga, spirituality and permaculture. After 12 years of sharing my life between Paris and India where I practiced my activities as a yoga and massage teacher, I decided to create a place to life and practice combining my passions. Here are the details:
Massage and caring for others:
After many years of being massaged in Paris and India, I decided in February 2010 to follow an AMPT (Ayurveda Massage and Panchakarma Therapy) training course at the PVA clinic in Kattampaly in northern Kerala. I completed this training with two Kalaripayat training courses. To deepen my technical knowledge and broaden my skills, I decided to learn Thaï massage with a training course at the Sunshine school in Chiang Maï in 2015, followed in 2016 by two training courses at the WatPho school in Bangkok (2016).
I started massaging professionally in Paris in March 2010. Initially, I only offered traditional Ayurvedic massages and treatments. A year later, I decided to start offering erotic and sexual treatments, tantric massages for men, tantra workshops and training for for men and male couples.
Yoga in all its forms :
My approach is based on body structure, adjustments and personalized adaptation. Added to this are the energetic and spiritual dimensions.
Since 2014, I have been teaching naked yoga classes for men in Paris and during retreats in India, and yoga for everyone as part of Fantasy Farm. I came to Yoga having some body wear and tear. Physical yoga practice helps me maintain support and flexibility which are essential to accompany the passing of time.
The yoga that I have mainly studied is Hatha Yoga, a tantric approach, revealed by Swatmarama in the 8th century. I have followed two Hatha Yoga teacher certification training courses, the first in 2010 at Rishikesh YogPeeth, the second in 2014 at Rishikesh YogDham.
I completed this with the teaching of Béatrice Millerand (pranayama and subtlety), Usha Devi (Iyengar), Peter Goss (adjusted Vinyassa), Bernadette de Gasquet (sheathing, breathing, APOR certification).
I tested various other methods such as Osho's active meditations, Kundalini yoga practices, methods inspired by Feldenkrais and Ashtanga.
Spirituality:
What I can bring in this area is listening and proposing techniques that allow you to advance on your own spiritual path.
For years I studied texts, mantras, visited temples and met sadhus outside the temples. I visited the sacred places of Hinduism, Buddhism and certain sectarian movements. I attended the conferences of many gurus.
The various methods of preparation for meditation fascinated me. I tried Vipassana. I continued with the Kriya Yoga training taught by Mataji of Parmath Niketan, which was a real revelation. Subsequently, I did retreats at Sadhana Kendra and Ajatananda ashram.
My readings are those of Mircea Eliade, Devdutt Pattanaik, S.Radhakrishnan, Rama Venkataraman, Michel Angot, Lillian Silburn, Jidu Khrisnamurti, WeiWuWei, etc.
The most important is to deepen one's self-listening, to remain faithful to one's own path. The techniques as well as my references go in this direction of individual experience, freedom.
Tantra:
A word that arouses many fantasies, yet simple and complex to unravel. One of the definitions is that of weaving.
It is essential to remember that Hatha Yoga is the approach to Yoga proposed by Swatmarama in the 8th century, a tantrika.
The yoga that we can therefore practice is tantric in its essence. It would therefore be enough to practice this method with this philosophy in the heart.
In a very simplified way, Tantra integrates and transcends the Hindu religious approach associated with yoga, the austere principles inherited from the time of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha).
Reading the Vijnanabharaiva Tantra is essential to understand. Lillian Silburn of the CNRS has made a translation of it, she has provided her enlightened comments: https://archive.org/details/LilianSilburnLeVijnanaBhairavaTexteTraduitEtCommente1961Pdf
The spiritual dimension is the heart and soul of the Vijnanabharaiva Tantra as is the case with other tantras.
My journey led me to this text to understand why I did not understand anything about it. Reading it confirmed to me that instinctively, my life path was following this path. For me, it is about realizing one's true nature, using all the tools of yoga, in our intimacy, eroticism and sexuality.
I was also able to taste other approaches: Osho, Body Electric, the dance of the 5 rhythms, drum trances, mantra repetitions and of course tantric massages for men as well as tantra workshops and training for men.
Ecoqueer permaculture:
Meeting with Vendana Shiva, staying on her farm school made me understand the concept of permaculture, its close link with yoga. I continued with internships in Auroville and in the vegetable garden of a Zazen monastery. I created Fantasy Farm, its meadow, its orchard, its vegetable garden, its greenhouses with all these inspirations and experiences in mind.
Reading essays on queer ecology and the permaculture manuals of Bill Molinson and Patrick Whitefield complete my knowledge base.
I subscribe largely to Harry Hay's radical faerie philosophy, which allows me to incorporate ritual, ecosexuality and festivity.