3D rendering - Tantric Goddess Bagalamuki torturing a bad guy. A traditional one looks like that:
In 2023 the world decided to put on its own show of devastation. Around 37,900 people were killed in Gaza alone [verify] and about 17,500 Ukrainian soldiers never came home [verify]. Then there are the children whose lives were cut short — more than 13,000 in Gaza [verify] and around 569 in Ukraine [verify]. Our species has a strange talent for turning disagreements into disaster. (Sources include BBC News, Al Jazeera, Reuters, United Nations.)
Main Question: Can Aggressive Behavior Be Rechanneled?
Here is the problem: the raw, primal aggression embedded in our DNA — inherited from our animal cousins like baboons — could either be unleashed on battlefields or redirected into something else. What if that force could be transformed?
roleplay with real food…
Imagine this: a couple in the throes of passion, where the man, caught in the throes of sexual ecstasy, blurts out "I hate you" instead of the more expected "I love you." If his partner understands that this outburst springs from the deeper recesses of his subconscious rather than his conscious mind, she might not be offended. This is where structured role-play steps in, allowing them to channel these intense emotions into something less harmful and possibly even transformative.
Robert Sapolsky studied baboons fighting for dominance in “A Primate’s Memoir”. He showed how the social ladder, dominance struggles and stress hormones form a system of survival and control. Human biology is not distant from the animal kingdom. Some ant species engage in extreme dominance and control too, such as “vampire ants” (Linguamyrmex vladi) that impale and feed on other insects (Poinar 2017).
This method is not therapy with pink cushions. It springs from the same matrix of inner forces studied by ancient traditions like Advaita Vedānta. It uses the categories of primary (prāthamika प्रथमिका) and secondary thoughts (vaikṛta वैकृत) and the surge of mental scripts (pratyayasarga प्रत्ययसर्ग). In these sessions human actors serve as placeholders enabling projection of fear, anger and frustrated drive onto another person. Sometimes the process is soft. Often it exceeds what typical BDSM does.
Within the sanctuary of the Sensual Liberation Retreat participants (male or female) are freed from normative interactions and allowed to experiment with identity and perception in a safe yet potent environment.
Psychological perspectives
Sigmund Freud saw aggression as an instinctual impulse and the greatest obstacle to culture. He recognized how aggression humiliation and sexuality intertwine in deep psychological conflict. A quote:
“The tendency to aggression is an innate independent instinctual disposition in man and it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture.” — Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents
His work provides an entry point for understanding how ingrained our urges are. By intentionally placing those urges into a container we can begin to redirect them.
Sapolsky also explains how the human brain especially during adolescence plays a crucial role in regulating aggression. The frontal cortex the executive system the brakes on primal impulses can be overwhelmed under stress. Understanding this helps craft practices that do not deny aggression but meet it.
“Human actions are determined by neurobiology hormones childhood and life circumstances.” — Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Inspired by these threads the West Bengal Shakta Tantra lineage behind Forbidden Yoga uses structured role-play scenarios to channel the shadow side of human nature. Think of methods drawn from Shibari in Japan and BDSM in Western traditions but reconfigured. Participants write their own scripts enact them feel the rage the drive the rush and then learn to sit with what remains after the storm.
In our relationships men often struggle to show their vulnerability. Admitting weakness feels like walking through a battlefield. Contemporary fetish porn shows people willingly humiliate themselves but few know how to inhabit that position live. The gap between passive fantasy and active emotional work is what we explore.
While parts of the world sit in yoga studios smoothie bowls and mediation retreats our planet burns around them. Elite self-development retreats spend fortunes to feel safe and elevated as the rest of the world gets crushed under war greed and displacement. Forbidden Yoga refuses to pretend the human animal is peaceful by default. We face what is real.
Can we turn swords into ploughshares – or at least into something more playful? This is the proposition. By channeling aggression into experimental sexuality through structured role play we hope to offer participants a space where they meet their inner violence with consciousness. The blend of rigorous theory and ironic nuance aims at healthier relationships personal growth and a deeper recognition of what lives inside.
Animal Pooja - Sensual Liberation Retreat in Turkey
"The tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man, and it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture." — Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents