Explore more Tantra with Shawn Roop of Tantra Quest. Have questions? Reach out!

The Power of Esoteric Business Consultation: A Path to Success Beyond the Conventional
By Shawn Roop, TantraQuest

In today’s fast-paced world, external results often measure success: profit margins, growth rates, and bottom lines. But under the surface of these common markers lies an often-overlooked element that determines sustainable success, the unseen energies that shape decisions, inspire creativity, and foster direction. This is where esoteric business consultation comes into play, offering a fresh and profound approach to unlocking your business’s full vision.

What is Esoteric Business Consultation?

At its core, esoteric business consultation is about aligning your professional path with your deeper purpose. While traditional business advice focuses on strategy, marketing, and financial planning, esoteric consultation goes beyond that. It taps into your internal guidance system, your energy flow, and the unseen dynamics of your business ecosystem.

Esoteric business consulting blends ancient wisdom with contemporary approaches. It involves using wisdom from Tantra, meditation, energy work, and spiritual philosophy to help individuals and businesses unlock their innate truth authentically and sustainably. This isn’t about replacing hard work and action steps; it’s about enhancing them by ensuring your actions are in harmony with your true self and the world around you.

Why This Approach?

You may be asking yourself why a spiritual or energetic approach is necessary for your business. The answer is in how we are wired. Every decision, partnership, and idea carries an energetic favor. If your energy or that of your team needs to be aligned, it can manifest as confusion, missed opportunities, or financial loss.

In contrast, when you are fully aligned, when your purpose, energy, and actions are in harmony—the results speak for themselves. Creativity flows. Challenges are met with calm and clarity. You naturally attract opportunities, and relationships are forged with mutual respect and growth in mind.

There is no shying away from magic or mysticism; these things are useful. It’s about understanding the fundamental laws of energy and how they interact with your business. When we honor these principles, we unlock doors we didn’t even know were closed.

What Happens During an Esoteric Business Consultation?

My sessions at Tantra Quest begin by exploring your current state—your challenges, aspirations, and the dynamics at play. But unlike traditional business consultations, we go deeper. Together, we explore the energy of your decisions, team, and business.

Some of the tools I use include:

1. Chakra Alignment: We have energy centers that govern our lives, including communication, creativity, and power. By understanding which energy systems are overactive or underactive, we can better adjust the energy flow to support your business vision.

2. Shadow Work: Many business leaders unknowingly allow unconscious beliefs and patterns (often called shadows) to drive their decisions. We can ensure they no longer sabotage your efforts by bringing awareness to these hidden influences.

3. Tantric Energy Practices: Using wisdom, focus, and intention, we channel energy toward your business goals. This isn’t about working harder but working smarter—by tuning into the mighty, creative power within you.

4. Visionary Work: The answers we seek are often within us. Through guided meditations and vision work, I help you connect with your inner wisdom and find clarity and action in the direction of your business vision; you know, what started it all for you?

Who Can Benefit from Esoteric Business Consultation?

This approach is for anyone ready to move beyond the surface level of business formula and dive into deeper alignment. Whether you’re at the start of your journey, a seasoned business leader, or someone looking to change your career, esoteric business consultation can help you gain the clarity, focus, and energetic alignment needed to enjoy and align yourself in a more significant way.

If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or out of sync in work or life, it might not be because of more strategy but of redefining energy. By tapping into the unseen aspects that drive your business, you can reach a new level of creativity, success, and fulfillment, and I mean that reach beyond your business. 

Time To Take a Closer Look?

In a world that often prizes external achievements, esoteric business consultation offers a refreshing and necessary shift. It reminds us that the unseen elements of life—energy, intention, alignment—are just as essential as the visible. When we honor both, we create a business that succeeds in the material world and truly expresses who we are.

At Tantra Quest, I help you see your business as a means to an end and a vehicle for personal and professional growth with grace, ease, and elegance. Through esoteric consultation, you can create a business that reflects your highest vision and values—one that is aligned with your true purpose and poised for enduring success.

If you’re ready to explore this path, I invite you to connect with me at Tantra Quest and begin your journey toward an energetically aligned, authentically successful business.

— Shawn Roop, Tantra Quest

Find out more about esoteric business consulting or book a discovery call!

Tantra is an ancient spiritual tradition that originated in India thousands of years ago. At its core, Tantra teaches that everything in the universe expresses divine energy. By cultivating greater awareness and embracing all aspects of ourselves, we can experience a deeper connection to life.  

Shawn Roop, founder of Tantra Quest (http://www.tantraquest.com/), is excited to bring this transformative power to Wilmington, North Carolina. As a facilitator and guide for over 24 years, Shawn is passionate about sharing this wisdom and helping others awaken to their full potential.

Based on classical Mahamudra Tantra, Tantra Quest offers workshops, retreats, coaching, and online programs. Its mission is to make it accessible, relatable, and applicable to modern life. Shawn skillfully translates ancient teachings into a contemporary context with humor, playfulness, and a down-to-earth style. 

Whether you’re an individual looking to cultivate more joy and embodiment or a couple wanting to deepen intimacy and connection, Shawn aims to support you in living life more fully. Tantra empowers you to unfold your creativity, strengthen your relationships, and unlock your most profound wisdom by tapping into the wellspring of energy that resides within.

What is Tantra?

It is an ancient spiritual tradition that originated in India thousands of years ago. “tantra” means “to weave or expand into,” and it aims to help practitioners achieve personal growth and spiritual liberation. 

At its core, it sees the divine in everything—ourselves, others, and the world around us. The goal is to recognize the sacredness inherent in all of life. Tantra teaches that the world is not an illusion to overcome; it is real and infused with source. Our bodies are vessels of this energy and are meant to be honored, not denied.

Some key philosophies and principles of Tantra include:

– Seeing the Divine in All Things – Recognizing that all life, including our bodies, relationships, and experiences, is sacred. This leads to more significant presence, gratitude, and joy.

– Honoring the Body as a Temple – Embodiment. Treating our physical form with reverence and caring for our health brings us more fully into the present moment. Tantra uses the body and senses as gateways to the Divine.

– Living with Intention – Bringing mindfulness to each moment and infusing our actions with purpose and meaning. Tantra is a path of consciousness and embodiment. 

Feminine & Masculine Balance: Tantra honors the feminine and masculine energies within ourselves and each other. It aims to find a balance between the two.

– Accepting All Emotions – Making space for the full spectrum of human emotions without judgment. Suppressing feelings leads to suffering, but accepting them helps us heal.

– Connection & Compassion – Recognizing our shared humanity and cultivating kindness. Tantra helps people feel more connected to themselves, others, and the Divine.

At its heart, Tantra is a spiritual technology for living life with greater awareness, intention, acceptance, and connection to life. It invites us to embrace ourselves and the world more fully, in all ways, without reduction.

Benefits of Tantra

Tantra offers numerous benefits that can improve your life, relationships, and sense of empowerment. At its core, Tantra helps you connect more deeply with yourself and others through more significant presence, mindfulness, purpose, and embodiment. 

Improved Relationships and Depth

One of Tantra’s main goals is to foster deeper intimacy and relationship connection. Tantric practices help you better understand yourself and your partner, allowing you to communicate meaningfully and relate. Tantra teaches how to move beyond superficial interactions to experience true union on emotional, spiritual, and physical levels. Partners learn to be fully present with each other, dissolving barriers between themselves. This leads to more fulfilling relationships, passion, and unconditional love.

Self-Awareness and Personal Growth

The mind-body awareness cultivated in Tantra leads to profound self-knowledge and personal growth. As you become more attuned to your body’s energy, you understand your deepest desires, needs, and purpose. By learning to quiet the mind’s chatter, you can access more profound wisdom to guide you. Releasing limiting beliefs and emotional blockages allows you to actualize more of your potential. Overall, Tantra empowers you to live more authentically, purposefully, and joyfully.

Mind-Body Connection 

Tantra emphasizes integrating the mind, body, and spirit. Practices teach you to bring focused awareness to the present moment using the body as an anchor. As you release physical and mental tension, energy flows more freely through you, bringing harmony. Tantric meditation and yoga help unify consciousness with the body so you can tap into more incredible energy. Heightened mind-body awareness also improves health, vitality, and sensory pleasure. 

Empowerment

Ultimately, Tantra is about empowerment – gaining the knowledge and tools to live according to your true nature. You can shed limiting beliefs and express your highest self by getting to know yourself more profoundly. Tantric practices help both men and women cultivate their inner power and use it skillfully. This leads to greater confidence, fulfillment, and the ability to manifest goals. Through Tantra, you reclaim your sovereignty and harness your immense potential for passion, creativity, and purposeful living. The path of Tantra is one of self-mastery and actualization.

How Tantra Quest Brings Tantra to Wilmington, NC

Tantra Quest offers a variety of classes and workshops to bring Tantra’s wisdom and practices to the Wilmington area. Classes are tailored for couples and singles wishing to dive deeper. 

Some of the core offerings include:

– **Tantric Empowerment** – This facilitation helps people reconnect to their inner power. It’s about coming home to a natural state of being. This is an essential aspect of Mahamudra Tantra wisdom.

– **Mystic Tantra** – This is an esoteric path of Tantra, known as the Siddha Path. Explore the mysticism and magic that flow from the understanding that we are more than we know and our daily impact is a gift once realized. Mantra (chant), Mudra (Energy gesture), Yantras(Sacred art), and understanding the stories of the deities point to a depth of self-knowing that makes life easier.

– **Tantric Embodiment** – Embodiment classes blend breathwork (pranayama), mantra, mudra, and asana(body positions that create energy) to help participants become fully present and alive in their bodies. 

– **Tantric Connection** – Learn the basics of giving and receiving a life well lived on all levels. This is about purpose, relationships, communication, actions, and beingness. 

Workshops draw from different Tantric traditions to offer a blended approach. Mahamudra and Saraha Tantra, Kagyü lineage, Kashmiri Shaivism,  and Tibetan Buddhist Tantra inform shared experience. The focus stays on direct inner nature versus dogma. Humor and playfulness are infused into all offerings.

Mahamudra

Mahamudra Tantra has a rich history dating back over a thousand years in India and Tibet. It’s considered one of the most profound traditions within Tantric Buddhism. “mahamudra” literally means “great seal” and refers to the nature of the mind itself. 

Some fundamental principles of Mahamudra include:

– Recognizing the innate purity and perfection of one’s mind. Mahamudra teaches that our true nature is inherently free of conditioning and limitations.

– Bringing meditative awareness to everyday life. Rather than separating meditation practice from daily experience, Mahamudra emphasizes being mindful in every moment.

– Using pithy methods like pointing out instructions to realize the mind’s nature directly. Mahamudra doesn’t rely on elaborate visualizations or complex rituals.

– Embodying compassion as a natural expression of realization. Compassion arises effortlessly as we awaken to the open, luminous nature of the mind.

Shawn Roop skillfully incorporates Mahamudra principles and practices into Tantra Quest’s offerings. Whether working one-on-one or with couples and groups, Shawn points students back to the wisdom within. He emphasizes meditation, mindfulness, and embodiment exercises to help people recognize their innate wholeness. Shawn firmly believes Mahamudra has liberating methods to free people from suffering and limitation. His lighthearted, down-to-earth approach makes this ancient tradition accessible to modern spiritual seekers.

Tantra offers a powerful path to fully embodying yourself through reconnecting with your body and senses. Our modern society often leads to disconnection from our physical selves. We spend so much time in our heads that we lose touch with our bodies. 

It provides wisdom that helps you return to home and inhabit your body. Through mindfulness of sensation, breath, and movement, you can reawaken your vitality and aliveness.

Tantric embodiment utilizes all five senses to deepen one’s experience of being in one’s body. Mindful breathing brings awareness to the sensations of each inhalation and exhalation. Conscious movement, like yoga or dance, gets one out of one’s head and into the wisdom of one’s body. 

Sensory experiences engage sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch to immerse you in the present moment. When you remove distractions and focus on your senses, you tap into a world of pleasure and joy already within you. Your senses become portals for receiving the gifts the world has to offer.

This awareness allows you to overcome disconnection and reclaim your body as a source of power, freedom, and delight. By listening to your body’s innate wisdom, you can access deeper states of presence, creativity, and bliss. Tantric embodiment leads you back home to yourself.

Humor and Playfulness

Tantra teaches that we must not take ourselves too seriously on the spiritual path. There is great value in maintaining a lightness of being and a sense of humor as we explore deeper aspects of ourselves. 

Shawn Roop emphasizes humor and playfulness in his Tantra teachings. He understands that laughter, joy, and not taking things too seriously are key ingredients for personal growth and embodiment.

According to Shawn, humor helps relax the mind and body, releasing tension and opening us up to receive the wisdom. Approaching Tantric practices with a sense of play and curiosity allows us to be more present, less judgmental, and more in tune with our truth in each moment. 

Laughter and play remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. They help us maintain perspective, presence, and joy on the Tantric path of self-discovery. Tantra teaches profound lessons, but true wisdom is laced with lightness.

Shawn encourages humor and playfulness during Tantric workshops and as a daily approach to life. Not taking ourselves too seriously, maintaining perspective, and embracing innocent joy are integral aspects of Tantra. We can open our hearts more fully to the teachings with humor and lightness.

A New Journey in Wilmington, NC

Shawn offers a holistic path of personal growth and spiritual connection that is now accessible to people in Wilmington, North Carolina, thanks to Tantra Quest. Through practices rooted in ancient wisdom traditions like Mahamudra, it teaches embodiment, empowerment, and living life fully. 

The key benefits of a Tantric approach include increased intimacy and connection in relationships, embracing sexuality in a sacred context, finding inner peace, and achieving a sense of wholeness. It helps people connect with their bodies and intuition, bringing more awareness, joy, and love into everyday life.

Shawn Roop shares these timeless teachings in a fresh, humorous, and down-to-earth way. These ancient teachings don’t have to be mysterious or intimidating. The Tantric path can lead to profound transformation and bliss with an open mind and heart. 

If you’re curious to discover more about how it can positively impact your life, contact Tantra Quest today. Shawn Roop is excited to guide you on this embodiment, empowerment, and connection journey. Begin your Tantric adventure and awaken to your highest potential.

Introduction

Today, more and more people are turning away from the harsh realities of life and seeking a more natural way of living. Tantra is a spiritual practice that can help you cultivate love, compassion, and peace in your life. It helps us connect with our true nature as human beings and experience true happiness. According to Tantra, every living being is made up of energy that flows through our bodies in certain patterns or channels called nadis. Nadis are like rivers flowing through the body. These rivers consist of five types of energies prana, apana, samana, vyana, and Udana. The body has seven main chakras or energy centers, each connected with one of these five nadis (energy channels). When these chakras are unblocked, it increases your overall health and well-being. Working with a Tantra Teach near you can help you map this.

Today, more and more people are turning away from the harsh realities of life and seeking a more natural way of living.

Tantra is a spiritual practice that helps us reconnect with nature and our true selves. It teaches us how to cultivate love, compassion, and peace in our life. Tantra helps us connect with our true nature as human beings.

Today, more and more people are turning away from the harsh realities of life and seeking a more natural way of living where they can be at peace with themselves and their surroundings. Tantra provides them with this opportunity by allowing them to experience oneness with all creation through meditation, yoga, or other spiritual practices such as chanting mantras (or sacred sounds), performing puja (prayer ritual), making offerings at shrines, etc., which help release negative emotions such as anger, hatred, etc., while cultivating positive ones like love towards oneself & others.

Tantra is a spiritual practice that can help you cultivate love, compassion, and peace in your life.

Tantra is a spiritual practice that can help you cultivate love, compassion, and peace in your life. It is also known as Tantric Yoga or Shaktism.

Tantra is a way of living your life that helps you connect with your true nature as a human being and experience true happiness. The word “tantra” comes from the Sanskrit root tan, meaning “to expand.” Thus, Tantric Yoga means expansion of knowledge through meditation and other practices such as visualization techniques (yogic kriya) related to deities such as Shiva or Shakti; chanting mantras; performing puja rituals; devotion to one’s guru (master); service work (seva), etc..

It helps us connect with our true nature as human beings and experience true happiness.

Tantra is a spiritual practice that can help you cultivate love, compassion, and peace in your life. It helps us connect with our true nature as human beings and experience true happiness.

By meditating on the chakras (energy centers), we can balance the energies within us, leading to a more balanced state of being. Tantra teaches us that everything in this universe is connected by an energy field known as prana or chi (qi). By practicing tantric meditation techniques regularly, we can learn how to harness these energies within ourselves so they become part of our daily routine without putting any effort into it!

According to tantra, every living being is made up of energy that flows through our bodies in certain patterns or channels called nadis.

According to tantra, every living being is made up of energy that flows through our bodies in certain patterns or channels called nadis. These are like rivers flowing through the body and consist of five types of energies: prana (active), Apana (receptive), samana (digestive), vyana (circulatory), and udana (nasal). The body’s seven main chakras or energy centers are at corresponding positions along these nadis. A disruption in any one of these chakras can lead to ill health or disease as well as emotional disturbances such as anger, jealousy, etc.

Nadis are like rivers flowing through the body. These rivers consist of five types of energies; prana, apana, samana, vyana, and udana.

Nadis are like rivers flowing through the body. These rivers consist of five types of energies; prana, apana, samana, vyana, and udana.

Prana is the energy that flows up the spine and into your brain. It’s responsible for your thoughts and feelings.

Apana travels down from above your navel to below it, helping you eliminate waste products from your system, such as urine or feces.

Samana is located at the chest level and helps us digest food by warming it up before it enters our digestive tract (stomach).

Vyana travels all over our body, including inside organs like the liver & kidneys, etc., bringing nutrients & oxygen to these areas so they can function properly too!

Udana moves up through the crown chakra at the top of our head, where we connect with Spirit/God/Source Energy – whatever name feels right for you!

The body has seven main chakras or energy centers, each connected with one of these five nadis (energy channels).

The body has seven main chakras or energy centers, each connected with one of these five nadis (energy channels). The root chakra is located at the base of your spine, connecting with the earth’s energy. It is violet and associated with survival instincts, grounding, money, trust, and security.

The sacral chakra sits below your naval area, near your reproductive organs. It corresponds to pleasure, creativity, relationships, and emotions–the things that make us human! This second-largest chakra corresponds to the orange color and controls our sexuality and our ability to feel joyously happy when we should be sad.

The solar plexus houses feelings of self-worth or confidence, so this third largest center often gets injured if someone attacks our self-esteem or makes fun of us for no reason at all! It’s the area of intellect and ego. It’s also our daily battery source.

The Heart chakra is about connection and attachment. It is housed in the heart area of the chest and its prime directive is to make connections and manage the expansion of these connections. The heart chakra is simple and innocent. It doesn’t know heartache; it feels only when it’s denied its chance to flow and connect freely. The color is a smoky green.

The Throat chakra is the center of communication and hearing. It’s super valuable to express yourself and be heard, but it’s also important to hear things in return, giving importance that communication is effective and landing well. In Tantra, this is a very important point in life. The chakra also governs our actions in life. The color is sky blue.

The sixth chakra is in the 3rd eye, just above the brows. The chakra allows us to see out and in. Its how we view the world and also how one finds introspection. The area also is the part of us that is intuitive and psychic. This is a big part of Self Trust and knowing. The color of the chakra is indigo/deep purple. This is not the area of logic; that’s the 3rd Chakra, the belly.

Last is the crown Chakra, the 7th energy center in the body. This is your spiritual passport. It’s where one accesses cosmic and spiritual experiences and knowledge. The color for this area is all the colors and no color simultaneously. Its shadow is the energy that is uber accepting and has no judgment. Everything is always right and OK.

When these chakras are unblocked, it increases your overall health and well-being.

The chakras are energy centers in the body, connected to the five nadis or energy channels. When these chakras are unblocked, it increases your overall health and well-being.

One can also improve their relationships at home or work through tantra as well as on a global scale as well; this is possible because tantra teaches us about mutual respect for other people’s differences from us without judging them based on these differences alone.

Tantra can also help you improve your relationships at home or work and on a global scale. This is possible because tantra teaches us about mutual respect for other people’s differences from us without judging them based on these differences alone.

Tantra helps us understand how our thoughts and actions affect others by making us more aware of ourselves and our surroundings.

Conclusion

Tantra practice can help you cultivate love, compassion, and peace in your life. It helps us connect with our true nature as human beings and experience true happiness. According to tantra, every living being is made up of energy that flows through our bodies in certain patterns or channels called nadis. These rivers consist of five types of energies; prana, apana, samana, vyana, and udana. The body has seven main chakras or energy centers, each connected with one of these five nadis (energy channels). When these chakras are unblocked, it increases your overall health and well-being. If you want to increase your experience of Tantra, find a teacher who feels aligned with you and your path. Tantra Quest is based in San Diego, but Shawn Roop, the founder, can work with you remotely on Zoom or phone. He also offers private sessions and retreats. Reach out to find out more.

Are You Neglecting Your Own Needs?

Nowadays, our attention is constantly getting pulled in a million different directions at once. Our jobs, friends, and family all expect a lot from us, and, more often than not, we heap the heaviest expectations upon ourselves. This usually leads to increased stress, worsened physical and mental health, and a weakened feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally.

We give, and we give until there’s little to nothing left. We neglect our own needs, pushing ourselves to sacrifice sleep for work, our happiness for that of others, and our precious time. Plus, what are we offering others if we are depleted?

So, how to prevent this or stop it once it’s started?

In this article, we’ll help you take charge of your life and stop neglecting your own needs.

Signs You’re Neglecting Your Own Needs
If you have a pattern of sacrificing for others, making sure everyone else’s needs are met before your own, sometimes at your own cost, you’re neglecting your own needs regularly.

Similarly, if you constantly feel desperate for a break, tired, weakened, and drained, you’ve likely been neglecting your needs.

How to Stop Neglecting Your Own Needs
If you’ve noticed the above is true of you, it’s time to start caring for yourself. For many in this position, it’s difficult to start putting themselves first occasionally, and they often feel selfish.

We’re here to assure you that taking care of your own needs is not, in fact, selfish. Think about the safety videos you watch on airplanes; you must secure your mask before you can help someone else because if you’re not safe and perish, how can you help anyone?

The same applies to your health and basic needs: how can you expect to help others if you’re weakened and drained? You have to take care of yourself.

I know, the word selfish might want to jump in here. OK, let it. Let’s look at the word selfish. What if being selfish meant caring for you so you can share with others? Start putting yourself first every once in a while. Don’t take on as many responsibilities when you need a night off to recharge. Take a pass on cooking on a night when it seems daunting or even impossible. Say no when you don’t have the time or the ability to stretch yourself any thinner.

How to Prevent This from Happening
Awareness is everything. If you’re lucky enough that this hasn’t become an issue for you yet, be proactive in preventing it from happening. Take care of yourself; ensure you’re relaxing daily, eating well, exercising, going to the doctor regularly, etc.

When you need a break, please take it. When you’re already stretched thin, tell someone no; it’s OK not to take on more than you can handle to help someone.

The best and most important way to prevent this from happening is by listening to your body. It will always tell you the truth. If you find yourself overly stressed, overworked, or emotionally exhausted, allow yourself time to relax and recharge. You don’t have to kill yourself for your career, and you aren’t the only one who could help the person asking.

It’s important to take care of yourself.

Our attention is constantly getting demanded from and pulled in a million different directions. Between all our technology, social media, constant news updates, demanding careers, and instant gratification, we can’t get a distraction-free moment for ourselves.

We tend to prioritize all these things over our health and needs, which results in our slow downfall. It’s OK and even necessary to prioritize yourself on occasion. When you’re at your best, you can do more and better work for your boss, friends, or family.

Take charge of your life and stop neglecting your own needs. Your body and nervous system will thank you.

Tantra is not interested in your acts or your need to change the world. That is your ego. Tantra reminds us that all is well. Stop and return to the vast beauty of this moment. There, the activity ceases, and your true action comes forward. This is not something one does to be busy; it flows in the pristine moment.

Much of the stress and misery of life today comes from the place of doing. “I have to do this, because if I don’t…” or “If I don’t do this and that, I won’t achieve…” The act of responsibility and achievement is a social need. Society needs you trained in guilt and eager to please nature to keep things moving. There is no need to look inward and feel because the navigation has already been set. Who needs to have inner awareness?

This has become very expensive. It’s come at the cost of the soul’s true being. Many will defend this price tag. They will make up many reasons why they have to do things. This is still a situation where self-esteem is being held back in favor of guilt, fear, and ego. Nothing has to be done to reach the lustrous self or self-worth. Do nothing and let go. The system will correct its self very easily.

Feel into it. Does it make you uncomfortable, the energy of not doing anything? We have been guilted into feeling this way. Do voices of resistance to the concept of letting go of doing flood your mind? It’s OK. Just hear them. Once you are ready to face where they came from and how little it serves you, they can be dropped, again, without doing anything. It’s all a self-remembering.

I mean, what happens if you really let yourself stop the doing that others need?  Would you still go to work today? Would you stay in the relationship? Would you flow your passion? Would you allow yourself to learn that new thing that makes no sense? Let the mind have its doubt, fight nothing. You might get to a place where there is so much emptiness that you will feel like you have to do something where you can’t not do something. Just feel it all and be the witness. No activity is needed. Many will stop, breaking under the weight of the “have to.” The addiction runs deep.

There is you in there. You feel it. It’s ready to bloom. This movement is like the sun rising and falling. It is like a tree that grows or like a bird that sings the morning song. All without the “have to” but rather just a natural flow. You are complex and have much movement. This is only about stopping and hearing your song that quietly plays in the background.

Shawn Roop is a Tantra teacher, speaker, and author. He is the founder of Tantra Quest and is based in San Diego, CA. He is available to support your unique path with sessions, events, and workshops. 

Tantra can have this fog of mystery around it. On the one hand, it sounds like a super sex cult-like system, yet if one looks a bit deeper, Tantra can be a complicated path of ritual, yogic wisdom, and religious dedication. In the West, Tantra has become a weaving of many things. Teachers offer everything from sexual healing to spiritual liberation, all under the umbrella of Tantra. Being that I also teach Tantra, I recognize that massive wisdom is available to all of us at any moment. I wanted to create a more simplified way of receiving this Tantric wisdom. These are seven keys or paths to allowing Tantra into your life every day.

One of the central teachings of Tantra is the simplicity of living life. How can we get out of our way and allow the fantastic magic of life to unfold? 7 keys of Tantra can support the unlocking of doors that allow for an effortless understanding and experience of Tantra. Behind these doors, you will find what has kept Tantra alive since the fifth century and ensured that the philosophy is still relevant today.

Surrender

Surrender is the first key. The word alone might conjure associations of giving up and maybe even losing. This is far from the truth in the Tantric context. Surrender is more about letting go of control. It invites us to understand that we are playing out our divine role in life. When we seek to control, limited vision can create life path decisions based on fear or lack. This is also about surrendering to how amazing you are on all levels. Rather than giving up something, it allows the pure nature of your connection to everything to flow- the Nestea plunge into life. This is not blind surrender, which brings us to the following key.

Awareness

The second key is Awareness. This is our entire ability to show up in life. We are waking up to every moment and being fully present. This is the Tantric version of the ‘Power of Now.’ Sexually speaking, this key is what makes sex magical and unforgettable. Bringing more Awareness to each moment of life offers a rich fullness, where we begin to experience life from the witness’s point of view. As we become more present, cause and effect become more critical as we see our actions have reactions. Awareness supports surrender as we find the inner trust to let go while remaining aware of the ripple effect of each movement. It makes surrender much more natural to accept.

Movement

The third key is movement. Moving our bodies is moving our energy, which supports the flow of life. Surrendering to the Awareness of each movement unlocks the opportunity that our life force has to move with grace and ease. We move energy or stop energy- each is important. By stopping energy, you build up and pool life force. You can spread this juicy energy across your whole body or environment by proceeding. Tantra speaks of movement as something that is going on at every moment. It is not just about your physical movement but also about your emotional movement. It is all energy. If your body stays at rest too long, moving is more complicated. The same is true with emotions. Staying fluid is so important. This is your rhythm of life, so dance!

Breath and Sound

The following two keys, breath and sound, support free, aware movement in life. Too many take their breath for granted until it is lost or interrupted. Think about those summer days playing in the pool or lake, seeing who could hold their breath the longest. Those seconds seem like forever. Placing focus on our breathing pattern brings a massive and tangible shift in our life experience. Each exhale is surrender; each inhale is Awareness as we move energy. The breath is one of the fastest ways to regain balance or clarity at any given moment.

The more you awaken to your breathing, the more Tantra can offer you. Each breath is a chance to live and to die. Change is possible at times. Each breath is a new opportunity to realize how everything you seek is right here. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do, breathe.

Where did our sound go? Over time, our politeness and societal upbringing have caused a decrease in our use of sound. Tantra asks one to reclaim one’s voice, not just with words but with sound. Any sound requires breath, movement, Awareness, and surrender to be released. Breath is the fuel that moves sound. The vibrations that sound rides on penetrate the core of our energy. We are sound beings. The more sound one can make, the more energy they are moving. If you add Awareness, the sound takes form. Keys on the piano are just noise unless played with tempo, tone, and intention, and then it becomes powerful music.

Intention

The sixth key of Tantra is intention, which holds the first five keys together. Intention can be a foreign practice for many, as we have been taught more about goals. The release of goals creates such freedom. There is never a place to go, only the enjoyment of the journey. Doing is released. It’s about simply being. A deep knowing takes hold, a trust in the big picture.

The setting of Intentions is a very feminine practice. Tantra is a Goddess-based tradition, so the feminine is known to be the foundation. Intention is the clear mindset that comes with surrendered Awareness to move energy, charged with the breath, and activated with sound. With conscious thought, you can find bliss in each moment. Your intuitive ability begins to find form and function. Random energy spikes decrease, slip away, and life becomes more straightforward. Our true nature takes hold, and the beauty inside begins to spill out—division and separation in our being become less. There is a rise in the spirit and a connection to the body all at once.

Acceptance

The seventh key is acceptance. Tantra is the path of non-duality, and this key holds the potential for liberation beyond any other. Acceptance says yes to all things. There is liberation from discipline, a welcoming attitude that all acts are divine. Non-judgment cuts the binds that hold in right or wrong, good or bad. Here, the foundation of surrender creates safety and trust with an awareness of our actions. We breathe in that trust and Awareness as we exhale with sound, fully letting go of our intention and allowing ourselves to unfold in the journey.

Acceptance opens the doors wide and releases old patterns. Each key alone is easy to practice but placed together; they create a flow. Success and safety, healthy concepts of sexuality, emotions, and creativity, personal empowerment and health, friendship and romance, honest, creative communications, wide-open intuition, and connection to your source become so simple and powerful.

So the seven keys of Tantra are Surrender, Awareness, Movement, Breath, Sound, Intention, and Acceptance. You can use these keys for work, sex, health, love, communication, psychic ability, or spiritual practice. Tantra supports us in living a free, full, rich, and fantastic life. All the tools are in front of you. Tantra accepts you as you are and accepts your growth as well. Are you ready to get out of your own way?

Shawn Roop founded Tantra Quest, a school of Tantric Wisdom based in San Diego, CA. Offering personal growth and wellness since 2000, Shawn uses the teachings of Mahamudra Tantra as a foundation. He gathers wisdom from other amazing systems and practices from around the world to support people in living a life well-lived. He holds classes in the 7 Keys of Tantra and provides private sessions for empowerment and life change. 

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So how do we handle this powerful emotional experience? To love or not to love, that is the question. No, Love on. Yet there are ways to love while maintaining sobriety and creating a wonderful relationship adventure.

The first step is to turn love inward. Your heart is an infinite well of love. Many people take one direction: outwardly sharing their love. Turn that love inward first. This will allow you to be filled with love before sharing it with others.

Drop old stories and examples of what love is. There is a part of your love that may be held back due to outdated beliefs you may have about what love is. What is needed is to step into your style of love without the pollution of what we have learned from others about the way love is supposed to be. Feel into what is alive and fresh. Stay in this moment. Love is there, naturally.

Love without agenda or needs. Take the needs out, and watch your experience of love open to a whole new level. Needy energy can create false love. People often are worthy of their need to be loved, so it seems logical that if you love others, you will get your needs met. Well, not always. In fact, loving for the wrong reasons often becomes emotionally expensive and may even hurt. Let your love flow free without the agendas.

Release the idea that love is in limited supply. More love is going on in a human being than we know what to do with it. The idea that it has to be shared carefully creates a power dynamic that harms the quality of what we feel. The pain around love is this need to try to get it or limit the number of people we share it with. Just be loved. Doing love goes against the natural flow. Become the love. Seeking it or being a miser wastes energy and emotional health. Just love, there is enough to go around.

Free yourself of the idea that love belongs to you. Too many seek love for safety. To use love this way makes it unsafe. Why? Because love is a crazy experience. There is no safety in it at all. So, releasing the idea that love belongs to you frees you to really feel the depth. It calls you to wake up and be alive with love. That’s all it wants: to live and breathe with you. Love loves to be contemporary.

Love is a free radical in life. It will do its own thing and take you to really hard places unless you are willing to integrate it with the rest of who you are. Isolating your love creates this issue. Love is a part of you. Love yourself, drop the old examples, release needy energy, embrace how much love you have all the time, and become alive and fresh with love. This is how love and Tantra can play well together.

The release of addiction is a wonderful freedom that I see many enjoying on the path of Tantra. Why? It’s simple.  Tantra supports the return of your true nature, rather than second nature or habit. Many replace one “bad” habit with a new “good” habit, but it is still a habit and not our true state. One who finds self love and accepts their natural state of being finds liberation and freedom from the bondage of habit. Tantra has not offered me practices that create more habits, but rather has shown me a way to just be, with skill. There are no mistakes, so I have been shown that there is no need to practice. Again, we are talking about just being.

The major keys are awareness and surrender. These are huge ideas, but can lead to really wonderful and insightful ways of being. We grow to be dependent on our routine, but we have the right and ability to choose the action we take at any time, where nothing we do is about habit. Habits will always, to varying degrees, offer conflict to our natural state.

So be aware of where your habits are. Look inside to see if you are really free or in the box of your auto-programing. Do you agree to the auto- program? Is it yours? Or is it the input of years of others offering you a way of being. Are you aware of what you hold as your own values or concepts around the life you are living?  If you said no, then you have offered yourself the first step toward freedom in your life. It’s right there. The courage to make change in your life is here. If your life is full of old, stale ideas and you are no longer in the know as to why, there’s a good chance that you have become identified with your habits.

Addiction and Tantra are two topics most people don’t use together, but since Tantra is the path of “yes!”, it can be an important concept to address when learning Tantra. Without awareness and grace, it can become a hard path very fast. Tantra is a powerful system, and with its wisdom comes great responsibility to yourself. It is possible to tread this path with passion, clarity and elegance. This is the way of Tantra.

In Tantra, many people are connecting to the body on a deeper level. Part of that experience naturally leads to listening to the body by going with Gut Feelings. Many people say they trust their gut, but their gut may not be telling them the truth. “The gut”, like many other aspects of self, is a system of learned behavior,  which includes things that have been taught to us by others and societal beliefs. Something that you identify as a gut feeling may not even be yours!

Many ask “What is this feeling?” A deeper question would be “who’s feeling this?” Trusting your gut means trusting the you, the person you are. In order to truly be able to trust your gut, no change is needed, only acceptance and really knowing yourself. This is where the truth lives. Drop all the other stories that are not part of your true essence. Dissolve identification with other people who may be feeding you fear or other emotions. Release your living in the past and dreaming of the future. Meet yourself, as you are today.

You are more wonderful and interesting than all that other stuff!