As part of my research of Hands-on residency, I have been reading the Netratantra, its a Śaiva tantric text composed around the ninth century. What I really find fascinating about this text is how the mapping of cosmological structures onto the body provides a framework through which practitioners understand themselves and their place in the world. Chapter 7 (sūkṣmadhyāna) describes the body (divyadeha) as a network of subtle centres, channels and divine powers. Through these structures, the body of the practitioner is presented as the site in which cosmological and divine forces are made present and accessible. These descriptions shape how the body (and the world) is understood and experienced within a particular tradition. What I have been questioning is how different understandings of the body shape the way we relate to ourselves and others. If the body is conceived not as an isolated entity but as something fundamentally connected to larger networks of forces, what possibilities does this open for thinking about connection today? How can we create bodies that are more connected to one another?

The Amṛtasiddhi, the earliest haṭhayoga text, presents the body as a microcosm of the cosmos, a model that is later incorporated and reworked across the haṭhayoga corpus. Its opening chapters describe the essential constituents of the body and the aspects to be mastered, including the central channel (madhyamā), the moon, sun, fire, bindu, mind, rajas and guṇa. Within this account, the body contains the elements of the cosmos: Mount Meru, the worlds, sacred sites, deities, planets, rivers and the elements. The body thus becomes a complete cosmological map in which geographic and sacred elements coexist. These descriptions are not merely symbolic representations of the body but also shape how the body is experienced within a particular tradition. The mapping of cosmological structures onto the body provides a framework through which practitioners understand and experience the world. . Here you will see a bit of my process as part of the @handson.projects residency. I am experimenting with different combinations of oxides, I like the depth they create. This is an unexplored territory for my practice. Lets see where it takes me.

This new body of work begins with the study of different conceptions of the body found in tantric and haṭhayoga traditions. I will be working closely with Sanskrit primary texts from the 9th to the 13th century, tracing how different traditions imagine the body in relation to the cosmos. The tantric body is understood as a microcosm of the cosmos, i.e. everything that is in the universe is inside the body. I’m curious to see how these ideas shift once they move through the material. 🌪️

Regina Torres Thompson is a London-based Mexican artist working primarily with ceramics. Her practice explores the body as a shifting and unstable site of transformation, combining material experimentation with philosophical and conceptual research. Through sculptural forms, she investigates embodiment, hidden systems, and cosmological understandings of the body. She is currently undertaking a professional ceramics diploma at City Lit and is a resident artist at Culford Studios in London. Before turning fully to the arts and humanities, Torres Thompson completed a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she engaged with formal logic and mathematical structures that continue to shape her approach to research and problem-solving. Her long-term practice of Aṣṭāṅga Vinyāsa yoga led her to the study of classical Sanskrit and yoga traditions, informing both her MA in Textual Traditions of Yoga and Meditation at SOAS, University of London, and her current MA in Indology at the University of Hamburg. Torres Thompson has exhibited and sold work through platforms including the Margate Ceramics Market at Turner Contemporary, ST.ART Gallery, Casa Ágape, Warbling Collective Gallery, Culford Studios, and various North London Makers Markets. Alongside her artistic and academic work, she co-founded El Cuerpo del Yoga, a Latin American feminist research collective dedicated to critically exploring yoga, body politics, and decolonial thought. Website: https://reginatorresth.com Instagram: @reginatorresth.arte