The goal of Tantra- What is Spiritual Freedom really?

Why do we practice Tantra? What is the 'goal'?

We might be drawn to it initially with the lure of better sex, more pleasure and epic relationships, feeling more powerful or embodied...

But if we really dive in and go further down the rabbit hole of what the Tantric path offers, we find a different allure in the promises of the teaching.

And that is the calling of true inner freedom and 'bliss'- which is less about ecstatic states and more about a deep contentment and intimacy with life. 

It might not sound as sexy right now, depending where you're at on your journey, but I can tell you, it brings a satisfaction that goes well beyond any peak pleasure state you might be chasing. 

Freedom isn't 'I do whatever I want whenever I want' like we may think when we're grasping for an immature aspect of freedom (A stage we all go through, no shame!)... 

It's not having no responsibilities, travelling far and wide, having dozens of lovers... A lot of us try this way of being (I've been there!) and still end up feeling trapped and unsatisfied.

And plenty of great sages and yogis found radical freedom within the most constricted and challenging life circumstances.

Freedom comes from breaking out of the conditioning that keeps us acting out our patterns, reacting to life rather than responding to it and being limited. 

Which is essentially what modern trauma healing and shadow work is for, and it's all part of the same path and what the Tantrics have been describing for thousands of years. It's a path where we recognize our unconscious drives, reactive behaviors and projections on the world, digest and alchemize them into clear seeing and conscious response, embodying more love and freedom the more we go there. 

Making the unconscious conscious, harnessing the power of our emotions and bringing deeper consciousness to all areas of our life. 

When we're accessing our true inner freedom then we're able to have more choice in the way we respond to things. We're able to take a breath and sense more and more possibilities of what could happen next, and choose a response based on our values and desires rather than our childhood wounding or cultural norms. 

When we're trapped- we just go into our default programming and react to situations- "You made me feel __ when you did that" or 'I don't know what happened and why I reacted so strong to that!'- because you're unable to pause and sense a better option. This isn't your fault, it's just the way humans work until we've changed it. 

We 'overreact' or we numb out and run away, because these patterns are running the show, not our authentic self. 

More and more, the more we do the work, the more we can stop reacting to things and start to see more clearly beyond our immediate responses which are generally based on our upbringing, traumas, preferences and past rather than what is actually happening right here and now.

In Tantra we call these 'Samskaras'- the mental/emotional imprints of the past that get triggered and impact the way we react to something.

We also have 'Vikalpas' which are the stories/narratives we create about life that end up being confirmed from our inner bias. 

Our practice helps us to see through these filters on reality and come into alignment with Truth.

Which opens us up to more possibilities for how we act, think, love and respond to life. 

When we're not ruled by our unconscious conditioning, we have more choice in life and that is where inner freedom comes out.

Freedom actually has little to do with your situation and where you are, but is more about the lens in which you perceive life. 

Do you see things from a negative bias? From unsafety? From a victim state? From a competition to win?

Or do you see things through gratitude, contentment and beauty?

That's why they say the true work of the Tantrika is to 'clean the lens' so they can see clearly. 

And once we work through our mental/emotional 'stuff' then we can start to tap into our more subtle body and transpersonal aspects because we're not stuck down in our complexes and patterns...

And when we're having more freedom and aren't locked in these wounding patterns then we start to feel more satisfied in life. 

We're able to hold more, to 'be with what is' more, to find our true authentic desires and not just the ones our culture told us to want... 

We're more and more able to trust life and surrender to what wants to move through us, rather than trying to compulsively control.

We're more and more able to tune into our deep inner wisdom and intuition.

And even in challenging phases of life, in grief and heartbreak and pain...

We're able to hold it all.

To not collapse and relapse into unconsciousness, but to alchemize it all into growth, evolution and love.

In Embodied Tantrika, we'll be talking more about samskaras and vikalpas in the 'Heart-Mind' layer in week 3. 

You'll learn practices to help you free your mind and digest samskaras that are keeping you locked in patterns and limiting you.

And you'll cultivate a practice that will help you feel more freedom and empowerment in your life.

We start April 17!