In the Thick of It
Welcome to 'In the Thick of It,' a podcast where candid conversations make you feel genuine understanding and connection. Hosted by Coach & Consultant, Robin Angela Baglietto, this show is a sanctuary for women braving the multifaceted female experience.
Each episode delves into the myriad of experiences that define womanhood today, from the joys and challenges of motherhood to the nuances of career and personal growth.
Robin’s approach is unfiltered, compassionate, and a little bit rebellious. Armed with a slightly foul mouth and a wealth of wisdom, she’s the feminist bestie you’ve always wanted, guiding you through life's thickets with humor, honesty, and a hefty dose of motivation. Whether discussing mental health, relationships, or societal issues, 'In the Thick of It' is your go-to source for encouragement, inspiration, and a much-needed sense of sisterhood.
So, for a dose of real-life stories, actionable insights, and a community that gets it, tune into 'In the Thick of It' and start feeling a little less crazy, a little less broken, and a lot more connected.
In the Thick of It
3. An Introduction to Tantra: The Sensuous Path to Spiritual Liberation
Have you ever stepped beyond the surface of your daily experiences to touch something deeper, something more profound? That's exactly the invitation you'll receive from my enthralling exchange with Krista Nova, a master in the realms of tantra, ritual, and coaching. Together, we unravel the ancient tapestry of tantra, guiding you beyond the common misperceptions of it being purely sexual, and into its true potential as a practice of presence, empowerment, and the celebration of love.
This episode is a feast for the soul, as we traverse the landscape of honest communication, the healing of generational trauma, and the reclaiming of sexual power. Discover the transformative influence of orgasmic energy and the courage required to express your deepest desires. Krista and I discuss the importance of being true to your pleasures and the impact it has on liberating your sexuality, promoting honesty and presence as the pillars of intimacy over mere performance.
Join us on this journey, and let's inspire a more sensuous appreciation of the extraordinary in our everyday moments.
Let's dive in...
Let's connect!
Email: Robin@robinangela.com
Website: robinangela.com
IG: RobinAngela_
Life is so complex, especially for women, and we need a place where we can hash it out, laugh about it and toast to it. Welcome to the In the Think of it podcast. My name is Robin Angela Baglietto and I'll be your host as we navigate the diversity of the female experience. Whether you're here for some inspiration, some validation or a dose of humor, you're in the right place, so let's dive in. Hello and welcome to today's episode. So I'm very excited for today because I have the pleasure of introducing and getting to share space with the amazing Krista Nova.
Speaker 1:Krista is a tantrica I don't know if I'm saying that correctly, but I'm going to give it a go. She is a ritualist and practitioner and coach of tantra, and I met her online, or I found her online in research. I've been wanting to have this conversation for a long time. I know very little about tantra and I wanted to learn more. What I did know was very simple and narrow. I knew I didn't know, but I knew that what I knew was very little, and I wanted to have this conversation here and I wanted to explore more about what tantra is and how it's specifically or especially relevant to the women of today, and so it was just an absolute blessing to meet and find Krista and that she agreed to come on here, and so I am very excited and delighted to share this episode with you, this recording. Just a few days ago I really noticed, or noticing, when I'm not being present and really trying to drop into my body and be more present, and how much more joyful that makes life, tapping into the senses more and especially practicing the power of truth. You know that. You know they say, the truth will set you free. The concepts of what that really means I don't know. Today in this conversation it really resonated with me. So I hope that you walk away with these nuggets, or your own, because there are so many beautiful moments and just great, great, I want to say drops of wisdom, nuggets of wisdom, I don't know. There's some great moments in here that I hope really enhance your life as much as they have enhanced mine. So enjoy.
Speaker 1:Without further ado, I give you today's episode with Krista Nova. Hello and welcome. Oh my God, I am so excited for today's conversation. You guys know I love to like talk about sex, but that's not all this is about, and I'm really excited about this piece because this month, this theme. This topic is all about love and experiencing love in different ways, and I kind of ended last episode by asking you know, can you give yourselves permission just to kind of be curious and get a little bit outside the box? And so I think for a lot of us today's conversation is going to be a little outside the box and I'm thrilled about that, and I hope that you are too. So today I have the absolute pleasure. I'm so excited I get to have a guest on today. I mostly these episodes I do by myself, but not today. Today I get to have the absolutely beautiful inside and out, the wise Krista Nova here with me today. Hello, krista, welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it's really beautiful to be here. Thanks for inviting me to share a bit about this topic that I'm just very passionate about.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad, and so today I wanted to talk about Tantra Now, even at the gate. What's the correct pronunciation of her? Tantra, tantra, tantra. Like how do you pronounce it? I say Tantra, tantra. Okay, when I roll the Rs I sound like I'm saying it in Italian, but it's not. It's not Italian, it's definitely not a two word. So I would love to just start by hearing a little bit about you. I mean, I found you just researching this topic and found your page and the beautiful offerings you have in terms of your workshops, and I was like, oh my God, I want this to hear, I want to pick her brain, I want to hear all the things she has to say. So I would love, just for anyone who's listening, to hear who you are, what you do and just kind of your journey to Tantra and what that means for you, what Tantra is in your definition.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I mean that's a few questions. I know it's like 18 questions in one.
Speaker 1:And I'll just sit back and you can talk for the next hour. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:So the first question you're asking is what I do.
Speaker 2:So I work with people in one on one, in couples, working with within the Tantric field, and that is within intimacy and love and relating. These are the parts that I'm usually working with one on one with people, as well as spiritual practices that support that Tantric practice, that supports that. I also offer cup workshops and I run a Tantra festival in BC and all sorts of things. So I there's a, there's a lot of ways that I work with people, but really the idea is to get to the truth of, to that center of who we are, and then operate from the world, from that place of connecting, of feeling ourselves, so we can feel the other. That's really where we're going with that work. The question of what, what even is Tantra? I mean, that's a. That's a huge question in itself and everyone you ask will give you a different answer. Everyone ask will give you a different flavor of that.
Speaker 2:But Tantra is really, it's a living tradition and it's an ancient art of awakening that we use the tools of. You know, love and energy and sexuality and the senses and consciousness, all of these things are used as tools for awakening, and so this is a, you know, it's an ancient path and it's got also two sides to it that I would really like to mention, because when people hear about Tantra they don't realize we have traditional Tantra, a very ancient practice, and you have something called Neo Tantra, and so Neo Tantra is what is really used in the world a lot, especially when we're talking about being in relationship and things like that. So the ancient practice of Tantra it did include some sexuality but it was really about, you know, again, using, using all of these energies for awakening in a very traditional way, using mantra, using Nyantras, using herbs and all sorts of things, and it's a very beautiful practice. So my background, my own sadhana, is more traditional Tantra and then and this is more, this vertical path that just awakens you straight up to God, it takes you really into this, this higher place, quite, quite alive. You're awakening your Kundalini energy this way and when you come into the more Neo Tantra, it's a much more horizontal path.
Speaker 2:So we have the traditional is more like vertical and then horizontal path is more Neo Tantra. Where we have it, it's about connection and it's about healing. And you know, we're living in a world where, like so many are just starving for that connection, starving to be felt and to meet others and and to heal, heal. We have a lot of wounding, you know we've come through now a lot of wounding that has been going through generations and generations. So Tantra also brings us into a place of that healing, and so that's more than Neo Tantra practices, which are sometimes more verbal, sometimes more energetic, sometimes more physical through touch and such. So it's, it's all very vast, but if I can sort of sum it up into that, it's really, you know, the journey back to ourselves and back to love.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, it's beautiful, it's such a beautiful concept. What I love that you explained is that there's that vertical path and there's the horizontal path, kind of the focus areas of it. And so often, I think, you know, when we hear Tantra, we hear, you know, oh, like, I think people think like sex positions or like erotic things, right, and that is true perhaps, but it's such a small piece, or even just a piece of the whole concept of, as you put it, awakening and that's that's a very.
Speaker 2:It's a very small piece and the reason is, you know, in ancient times, like Tantra is is really like everything is divine, everything is holy and nothing is excluded. So of course your sexuality, that's our superpower, that's not excluded either. So many other traditions would say, like you, don't go near that because most people they get too near it and it's pretty challenging. But Tantra is like everything is holy. So why not? In ancient ritual they would ingest, you know, all these bodily fluids into you know, a drop of them into into the wine and drink that you know ritual and say everything within us is holy. So so that's part of the sexuality. It's a small piece, but oh, it's a, it's a sweet juicy piece too.
Speaker 1:And so empowering. You know, most of my listeners are women and my work I'm a coach and consultant and most of my work centers around empowering and advancing women.
Speaker 1:And the piece around sexuality, I find that I, you know, tend to focus on it quite a bit because there are so many blocks around it, because it is so taboo for a lot of us. It's, you know, it's yeah, it's more than just not okay, it's straight up dirty and wrong. You know and I mean some of the women I've worked with you know the shame that they've experienced from their parents. So when you speak to generational traumas, I mean it's not just how you think about yourself and your role in the world, how we feel about our bodies, how we feel about our sexual expression is, you know, grounds for damnation, and so we tend to totally disassociate from our bodies and I think this is such a beautiful invitation or opportunity, or you know path to follow, if anyone is interested in reclaiming that. So could you speak a little bit to how this you know, tantric practices can be empowering for women?
Speaker 2:Certainly, the tantric practice is very empowering for women. We see the body as the temple.
Speaker 2:You know, and we would even say that the woman's body is the yantra of the universe, like this is, everything is like this, this magic. That's a very sacred thing. And the body is seen as, as the temple. The body is holy. So we're like you don't like the worship happens here, right, this is like honoring this temple. So it's not a comparison of the different bodies, but it's saying like that, wow, like what an incredible birth to be in this body.
Speaker 2:And even in tantra, a woman's body is revered because she carries the womb, because she brings life. So there's actually, you know, you may find a lot of traditions where a woman is not seen in the same, in the same equality, but actually a woman is like wow, this is a great boon to be born with this, this womb, and to carry life. That actually gives you some special, special powers. So the feminine is very sacred in tantra and so that the whole, the feminine body and all of this. So it definitely through different practices in tantra, we work in many ways with our own bodies and and just, I mean it all starts with the self-love of the body.
Speaker 1:So, and something that, I think, is a hard to block, for that too is like kind of I mentioned that when we first started talking is giving ourselves permission. You know, I think so many of us are raised in you know religions or households or lifestyles where Kind of the we have the opposite perspective, right, a woman's body is shamed and and In wrong. You know we have the stories of Eve and you know you've been cursed essentially, which I, you know I Isn't it. Oh, my god, don't you, I'd like it. A kid unlocked so many, so many things and, yeah, I got it. I got a lord, have mercy on us all.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, a lot of us are raised with this. My body, you know I'm of evil, essentially right and I'm to to know my body is, I mean, you know we have biblical references or things like that. To know yourself, to Indulge in pleasure all, especially in self-pleasure, I mean to explore yourself, is literally wrong. So how does someone begin to like untangle that if they want to feel as you're describing? It's such a glory, beautiful concept. How does one begin to go down that journey?
Speaker 2:Well, it happens in various ways. One has to get to the root of that belief, right Like this. I work a lot with people of all these cultural beliefs about the religion and the culture They've grown up in hasn't allowed them to feel free for the sexuality and then shame is held, it literally lives in our body. So we have to, you know, be aware and to work through that, to open that up and and to invite that into the body and then to just really connect with your body and to start to feel that and to, you know, awaken those energies within you and to know what that is.
Speaker 2:Because our we've been controlled for so long through this, so many people, because if you give, if you give someone shame about their body and you control them with their sexuality, sexes are superpower. So it was most easiest way is to tell people that that's wrong and that's dirty. Well, what's gonna happen if you awaken that? We're gonna have a really, really profound experience on this planet, the more people who are Awakening their sexuality now. So it's just a matter of working with that, of acknowledging that and not taking on those beliefs. So there's not one easy thing. You have to get to the core of the belief and work through that and you have to just claim your body as your own, claim your sexuality, claim your pleasure. It's your birthright. So you really just have to start to work with the body and with your energy To feel that and to welcome that. And when that comes, you know there's gonna be moments that you you hit that space and that the trauma comes up in those places, come up and you work through that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can you speak a little bit more to me? Say it's our superpower.
Speaker 2:What do you mean when you say that I Mean that if, if someone is awakened in their sexuality, they are very Potent you?
Speaker 2:know, our sex. Energy is power, right, and so it's been suppressed through millennia to control, to keep us small, to not have us Doing and living and that aliveness. If you are connected to your sexuality, you have aliveness, you have access to life. You make very different decisions, you know, you're open and you're flowing with life. So that's a superpower in itself and you can. When you're connected to that energy, you can create a lot more in your life of how you want to be and what you would like. When that energy isn't flowing, you're, you're not flowing.
Speaker 1:Hmm, yeah, yeah you do very stale and stagnant and and it's hard to explain why, you know, but it's like so much, such an important, like your power, as you put it, is being repressed. So like, of course, right, so right, hello, like, let's give her permission to roam the cabin here. Um, so, how, like, what are some practices, when you say tantric practices that we can do like, what are some of those Like? Can you give me some ideas of what that means?
Speaker 2:Well, tantric practice looks like many different things.
Speaker 2:If I was to talk about liberating your sexual energy, I would even talk about breathing between your yoni and your heart and starting to move that energy up and to bring it up. Sometimes it's just locked in, it's tight, it's not, it's not flowing Right, or sometimes it's flowing into like some wound that we received in our childhood and it's kind of going into this other orientation of, instead of the pleasure moving through the body, it's getting stuck and it's feeding it some other part of us. So a tantric practice would be more to move, start to move that energy, bringing it up. For example, it's simply into the heart. So if you started to bring your energy breathing from the only up to the heart and exhaling and really you know, breathing it up all through the mouth, I would suggest and doing this kind of breath bringing in some movement and sound. As soon as we have this Breath and movement and sound moving through us, we start to even activate our orgasmic energy a lot more, and so that is also just gonna feel really nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I know that even just hearing that word orgasmic energy I can feel like the women listening to this with a butt's pucker like Right. So like half of the people who listen are like oh yes, girl, tell me more about how we're gonna get into this orgasmic energy, and the other half like a la la, next, next episode, nope, no, no, no, no, no. And so I kind of want to speak to that. I think that I mean.
Speaker 1:Something I heard about Hunter recently was oh, oh gosh, I'm gonna lose it now, but they said something so beautiful about the truth I think you even said that at the beginning, I think I even wrote it down the art of awakening and of being honest, and I think that that is a huge block, especially for women.
Speaker 1:Something I've talked about in like my workshops before have been you know, we get into, you know, a sexual relationship with somebody and they're like tell me what you want, and it's like I don't really know, like I have been forbidden from experiencing this without shame. And now I'm with a partner and they're like tell me what you want, like I don't know. And so a lot of times we find ourselves acting out scenes that we've seen and not being honest or saying like, yeah, that feels good and faking forever, like the truth is either an illusion, a mystery to us, or we just can't say it because we're afraid of hurting feelings and things like that. Can you speak to how truth comes into play here in terms of, especially when it comes to, like, reclaiming that power?
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean like reclaiming the power is just being honest with yourself about what you need and desire. I would say the truth starts there and often, like we're told, yeah, not even to touch your own body or to know. So if you're going to be with a partner and you want them to bring you some sort of pleasure, if you don't know what it feels like to touch your own self, then you're not going to know. Your partner is not going to have any idea. So the truth is that you need to come into this connection with self and to explore yourself and to and when you're talking about truth, yeah, if you're going to tell your partner that you want to be touched a little bit differently, you can't worry about hurting their feelings in that way. You just have to deliver it in a in the way that is supporting them to understand they're going to be actually bringing you more pleasure, because that's what they want.
Speaker 2:If you're in a loving relationship, they don't want to be. They want to be bringing you the best that they can. And so, just being honest and telling them what you want or need, or having very real conversations, if you're in a sexual relationship, that's not working right. If it's like, if you're going into what you're speaking of performance all the time, there's no, that's not fulfilling and there's nothing more beautiful to a man than a woman who's actually really, really in her pleasure in her body and enjoying the experience. And that might not look like what you're going to see in porn, for example. It could look like you're actually having an exorcism or something. It doesn't necessarily look pretty, but wow, is it potent and is it sexy.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, I love that. Go for potent, not pretty, Like yes, I love that.
Speaker 2:Go for the real, the raw. It looks like so many things, so we have to forget what we've been sold as the image of sexuality and what it's supposed to look like, what it's supposed to sound like, all of those things it's like. What does it feel like in your body?
Speaker 1:That's what it is and giving you kind of again I'm going to overuse that word today but that permission to not know or to explore or to say it. I think I was talking to one woman about this recently, or even on an episode a while back about sex and marriage, and it's like how do you, after 10 years, start something new? How do you all of a sudden be like, okay, it turns out I don't like that at all. That's always that's a tough one, and so having to really own that truth with yourself first and going I have like I'm going to have this awkward, it's an awkward few minutes, but oh my gosh, like the liberation and that, in turn, the power that you will claim for yourself speaking up and speaking your truth, is so worth it.
Speaker 2:It's such a relief when people start to actually ask for what they want and to express it. And there, I think, for many is this moment of like. Why wasn't I always doing that? Actually there's so much when we can just be honest and share about it. That's how it, that's how it expands, that's how we enjoy it even more. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that. Well, you know, and kind of I think you know. Something else you mentioned when you're talking about the traditional path of tantra, which is essentially your route to God, right? Am I saying my articulating that correctly? Yeah, I hear a lot about using tantra for healing. Is that part of your path, of the path that you practice, and you know in your experiences how healing is a part of tantra.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, healing is definitely a part of tantra. I would say people usually come to tantra for a few reasons. They come for, they come for sex, they come for healing or they come for enlightenment. You know you have usually like those are the ideas that are attracting people. But healing is a huge one and usually if someone comes for one, then they discover there's these other pieces because, they're, it's all.
Speaker 2:It's all quite beautiful that way, but healing is yeah, it's an essential part of tantra, for sure. I mean, even in partnership. If you're with a partner, even if you, for example, start to be truthful and communicate about your needs and desires, that's healing in itself. Right there, right, because you're no longer in an enduring place but you're actually in an expansive place. So, right there, that's healing. So, on all sorts of levels. And then you know the sexuality. You know, historically we just have so much trauma being carried with with sexuality, so much shame, so many things. As soon as we can start to go in there and bring some liberation and create just a little more space, that's already healing. So healing just happens on so many levels and generally with relationships. Most of our wounding from our childhood happened through relationship, and so the healing is done in relationship, whether that's with someone you're working with one on one, or your partner, or even a friendship. That's where our healing happens in life.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful, gosh. Wow. So much of our wounding comes from relationships and so it has to be healed in a relationship. That's, that's beautiful. I love that. I've heard before healing needs a witness, and I always kind of appreciated it but never quite understood it. But I feel like that's kind of another way of saying it that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2:That relational piece that we all see.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So when people are, you know, I mean I guess other than sexual trauma or even sexual healing or liberation, you know, for someone who doesn't I feel that they have those things. I mean we all have them, especially with Grip of America. But let's say, somebody who feels like they don't have them, how I mean does taunt or heal in other ways.
Speaker 2:Taunt or heals. In many ways it just helps you, like, even in a solo practice, it's going to help you to just connect to yourself. So now it's. It's how are we using the word healing? Like you're connecting deeper with yourself, you're, you're having more flow of energy through your body into your higher centers. So you're changing, you're transforming, you're developing as a human. Through that, it depends if there's wounding in that place or how that energy is stuck in those places that the healing is going to happen. But tantra is very healing Just people being sometimes in a room with a bunch of other people, when they've been in a house by themselves for days and we're working online and not connecting enough with others, and then they just come into a space and they're with others and just like that in itself brings healing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that authentic connection is. I think we're so deprived, it's missing so much. You know I mean now how I mean this, you know. I mean we're just, we are always on the computer, we're always, we're digital. It's getting more and more. My God, have you seen those goggles coming out that Apple's releasing or that, whatever it's like all virtual reality? I'm like this is terrible. It's make it. This is very scary.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's not what's going to take people deeper into connection.
Speaker 1:And it's not going to heal our problems. You know we need more connection, not less.
Speaker 2:Yeah, connection is really the key right. Humans are really the key for each other, and that in itself will make them come into that place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, and I was going to ask you know, for somebody who is not in a relationship with somebody but kind of wants to explore this or not, like in a romantic relationship, wants to explore these paths of healing and reclaiming their power and all of these things, it doesn't require a partner, right?
Speaker 2:This is something that you can do on your own, oh no, a solo path is really a big part of tantra, right? So sometimes you need to do a lot of work on your own, like if you're not in a relationship, doing solo work is often going to get you into a place that you're going to have that frequency that you're going to start to attract more what you may like. But definitely a solo practice I've spent so much like, like I've had, of course, incredible sexual experiences and in my relationship and all sorts of things and solo practice of tantra is just a huge part. We need to do the work on ourself and connect with ourself, with source and ourself, so we can connect with others, right?
Speaker 2:So sometimes the mistake is that we think like, oh, we're just going to come in and if there's a lot of healing to be done, sometimes it's just not ready because then, you're going back into these loops and back into those triggers and without the awareness of like, how do I, how do I even regulate my nervous system here or before I'm in that place, and how like can I? Can I feel myself? That's a big question. Can I really feel myself?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm curious about how that even relates to two partners, because I mean, I think it's Glennon Doyle who in her one of her books puts it so well that, like men are shamed in their emotions, so they become kind of like disconnected from their heads and their hearts and they're just bodies walking around trying to connect. And then women are shamed out of their bodies, so they're disconnected from their bodies and their heads and hearts trying to walk around, you know, trying to connect. And so we have men trying to show love and connection with their bodies and not their emotions, and women are trying to connect with their emotions and not their bodies. And it's like no wonder there's so much tension, right?
Speaker 1:And so I I imagine so in your practice, you work with couples, yes, and, as I imagine, that's something that comes up a lot.
Speaker 2:That definitely comes up, yeah For sure. I mean, that's really just about embodiment, right? So if we're up in the head all the time, regardless, it's not going to be working, working out. That's the big distraction and in our society that's a big thing that people are spending a lot of time in the head and in this other other world. So it's all about dropping into the body.
Speaker 2:And again, what I come back to is that feeling. So, as couples, there's a lot of practices people can do together so they can drop into the body together. You can have, you can start to bring in like even micro practices into your day that you're more embodied and dropping out of the head, and for everyone it's different. It's like, as I say this, you might realize what helps you get out of the head. Is it that you're going to just dance a little bit? Are you going to move your body or are you going to what? What can you do to actually drop your mind into your body? Because that returns to the bedroom. If you're in, if you're in the bedroom and you're thinking about your to-do list or you're thinking about, perhaps, a performance or whatever it is, you're not you're missing that.
Speaker 1:That's so sexy, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's a big thing is to drop into feeling and in the body, and sometimes there's things in the way of that. So it's also sometimes a work to do to get more of a body.
Speaker 1:So when you say micro practices, do you? I love the example of dancing. I feel like that's a great one for me. I love, I love that I'll be like, oh, I'm just going to listen to some music and I find myself spinning all over the kitchen floor and it's such a like a way for me to feel just like strong and connected to all parts of my body. And what are some other examples that you can think of what ways people can, or even you know, just micro or not? What are some ways that people can drop in their body? I mean, when I say that I my mind goes to, I go to like taking deep breaths, closing my eyes and really just like focusing on going inward. That's how I kind of drop in and really check in. How else would you describe, or do you have any other examples of how people, can you know, get embodied?
Speaker 2:I think movement is any kind of movement really is helpful with embodiment. So, like we said, the dancing, the, you know, dropping your awareness in, like really being able to drop the awareness in it can be. Shaking can be a really great one. And just literally just shake the body, you just bounce your knees a little bit. That helps to clear out whatever you're holding and it helps you to really feel into the body and the mind. Again. It's like, oh, the mind can't possibly keep going, it drops into the body. You're not thinking so much. These sorts of practices can be, can be really good Also, just being, you know, being with whatever you do is a thing. So, even if you're sitting down for a meal and you eat it, it's like being as present as you can with that meal. So instead of thinking what, how are you going to do the dishes after, or where you're going be like, how much can you be with that meal? Oh, what is this? How is this taste, what is this texture?
Speaker 2:Right, so the more you can cut oh, can I smell it? Mmm, you know the more you can be completely with whatever you're doing. That's the key.
Speaker 1:I love that, so going ahead, going behind.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what I'm hearing too is, you know, connecting to the senses and really experiencing the. You know, I think when we hear sensuality, we automatically dive. You know, take it to sex, but sensuality is just that right. It's the art of being in touch, or the moment of being in touch, with your senses. What am I smelling, what can I taste? When am I feeling on my skin? What is my fingers touching? Can I feel my feet and my slippers? You know, like all of those moments, yeah, and all of that will.
Speaker 2:It feeds the whole, the whole piece, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I think part of it too is is experiencing joy and pleasure, and sit like out loud is a foreign concept, I think, for a lot of us. So, like, even just then, when you were talking about food, I had that like thinking about that moment of like when Harry met Sally, or whatever that movie is called, when she's like oh, like, yes, like eating the food, and it's I mean if obviously like at a restaurant, that would be a little alarming. But even if you were just like, oh my God, this is so good, right, if you just like really got into your food, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You didn't get into that, People would be like what the hell?
Speaker 1:are you?
Speaker 2:doing, but the truth is the food would taste even better. This is the truth. Like you bring that in and it's like, and the sound moves energy in your body so soon as you it's yeah, it tastes great.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love you know, can we give ourselves permission again to be looked at a little bit weird and just look around and be like try it, don't just have what I'm having having, have it the way I'm having it, really experience it right?
Speaker 2:That's the key to everything to experience it. There's so much of this. You know this fast forward, or life is supposed to look a certain way, or I'm supposed to sound a specific way, and none of that is true. So just finding what is true for you in that moment and letting yourself enjoy it.
Speaker 1:I imagine that expectations get in the way or a major block in this work expectations. Yeah, like you said, can you enjoy it in this moment? It's like, oh, I thought it would be different. I wanted to do the planners. You know people or like, even like whether it's the bedroom or the food that you're eating, or you know the way that the grass feels on your bare feet, like, oh, it's a little bit wetter than I thought it would be. I mean, like how those expectations can kind of rob us of experiencing what is.
Speaker 2:Yes, expectations definitely can get in the way. In any Tantric practice. There's not one way it's supposed to feel, because we ourselves are different in every moment. So you may do a breath practice in one moment and it's like, oh, I'm in bliss and I'm in ecstasy. This is so nice. You may do that same breath practice the next day and feel sadness coming and feel different emotions coming, because we can't expect it always to be the same. You can't expect that you have the most divine love-making of your life one night and the next day. Maybe it's really beautiful, but maybe it isn't reaching that same state and that's everything. We can't expect to be the same, even when we mix the same ingredients. It's just something a little bit different. So we have to let go of expectation. Expectation is, if you free yourself up from that, wow, everything's way better. The expectation is kind of taking us to a destination and, as we probably all heard, it's the journey, not the destination.
Speaker 2:So we can take away where we're trying to get to, then that's the key.
Speaker 1:Not already just hearing it that way, that expectation kind of focus on the destination and happiness is in the journey. Just even that feels so liberating To give yourself that space to not have it figured out, to not know what you're doing, to not know what's next, because that's what you're not supposed to and that's where bliss is so liberating, so freeing.
Speaker 2:And expectations too. They also give us disappointment, especially when you're communicating with someone and you often realize well, it was me, I actually had an expectation there that wasn't clear and it wasn't stated. Then it's like that's also getting in our way and bringing disappointment. So if we can clear those out more and more, we can get to that place.
Speaker 1:So I love, I'm just thinking okay. So say someone is like okay, I've done a lot of this work and I'm working on getting more embodied and being present and everything. What does the path be on that look like? What has your experience been on that vertical path?
Speaker 2:Oh, my experience on the vertical path. Well, it's been wild and really beautiful and really some of it is really hard to even express really what that looks like. The vertical path that you're talking about is the more traditional path, so you're able to reach some really profound experiences of being human through that I've worked a lot with my traditional teacher on that where you do all sorts of more traditional rituals and use a lot of mantra. In this state you're awakening a lot of your Kundalini energy and you're really going into some interesting realms of consciousness. With that I'd just simply say you get very, very high and it clears out a lot of your old stuff. So in a way it moves a lot of energy. I guess, in being a little vague, we don't usually talk about quite express those states that are reached. There's a little privacy on that sometimes. I guess you'd say yeah.
Speaker 2:But that looks like all sorts of things being in India, being in these very sacred temples doing all sorts of interesting practices with herbs on your body and your mantras, and all sorts of things.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. Can you explain to me Kundalini a little bit? I've heard this phrase a few times. I go to this event called Spirit Weavers. It's in, or again. Anybody who listens is like, oh my God, just talking about Spirit Weavers again, it's an organization, it's a gathering. I should say it's a gathering of women once a year and several hundred women come from all over the world. It's really an amazing experience. And one of the women there, lizzie Jeff, she's a rap priestess and she's I'm just, I idolize her. I don't like to use that word, but I just look up to her so much, I respect her so much, and in one of her songs I forget the lyric before it, but it says something to the effect of like I forget the lyric before, but then she says come practice Kundalini under the sheets with me, and I've never really known what that meant. Can you help me with that? Sure.
Speaker 2:So I mean Kundalini is our, it's our alive energy, it's our life force, energy that is very it's usually lies more dormant in our root, so in our base, and the whole idea of Tantra is that we want to awaken this energy and move it through our, all of our energy centers, and so we bring it into a place where, through various practices in Tantra, it's alive in you. So once you start to practice Tantra, at a certain point you've awakened your Kundalini and it's alive and it gives you more shimmer in life. Sometimes you have really profound experiences of it where it can happen quite dramatically Some people. It's not through Tantra practice, it just will awaken at some point and it might be really confusing. You might think what is going on? Like who am I? What has happened? Like, oh my God, should I check into a hospital? This?
Speaker 1:is a little horrible.
Speaker 2:Really it could be, if you don't know what's happening when it happens on its own, dramatically, really quickly. In Tantra we work to awaken it. You know, very consciously, with time, through practice, first purifying the body, then stabilizing the body and having it in a good place, that then we can start to awaken it in a great way. And then, as we do that, then we're clearing through the chakras which are our energy centers, and then eventually you know it's flowing quite nicely. Ideally you want it to open up through your crown chakra and experience the one of the heart of Sivan Shakti, the eternal oneness.
Speaker 1:But that is the way. Yes, please Wow. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:We have these experiences through Tantra. This is very much through this vertical path we're working on this way yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, that's. I mean, that's beautiful. I'm like I wouldn't just so I got this book I think I showed it to the very beginning. I was deep into this reclaiming the sexual power you know journey. I should say like four years ago maybe, and and so I read the book of vagina by Naomi Wolf and that, oh my gosh, like really just opened my eyes to so many things and Liberated me in so many ways and just. But you know how everything does the more you learn, the more you realize you have to learn. And so after reading this book, I'm like, oh my god, I need to read these seven other books now.
Speaker 1:Okay, like on this Geeked out path of better understanding why women are the way we are with ourselves and how to go upon this journey of reclaiming our power Individually and collectively. And one of the, you know, tantra, kept coming up several times in in my readings as a path to to this reclamation. This is such a beautiful opportunity for people who want to begin this journey, whether it's healing some things actually related or not, but especially for the women who want to feel more powerful. Even I always say, whether that's the boardroom or the bedroom, right, if you just want to feel more powerful, if you want to cultivate the courage to speak up, to Speak your truth, to discover your truth, to rediscover who you are, all of those things, this is such a beautiful opportunity, a path that can take you on that journey, and so I'm so glad to have discovered it and discovered you, because I think it's gonna be so helpful to the people who are listening to this Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, I'm glad that you feel that way. I feel that way too, that once we can actually, you know, really connect to our sexual energy. As a woman, you know, we're designed to bring life Right and sex creates this life.
Speaker 1:So, what?
Speaker 2:what could be more potent or holy than that really? Mm-hmm and, as women, carrying that within your body. Having all that potential within your body is so. It's not meant to be hidden, it's not meant to be tucked away. It's meant to be your strength and your, your power. For sure, oh.
Speaker 1:I love it. Oh my god, so exciting. So now you work with people on this journey. Do you work with individuals? You work with couples, like what is your coaching look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I work with individuals and I work with couples Okay, so it's full-scale. I work with, actually, men and women with their sexuality, with intimacy, with relationships, and Then I also work with couples.
Speaker 1:In that way, yeah so how do you do that? Is it? Is it as I will? Do you do like individual coaching or do you have like seminars? How does that look?
Speaker 2:I do individual coaching and I also do workshops. I do couples retreats, I do Workshops for individuals as well, just to meet other people and have tantric practice. I also I mean, I organize a tantra festival in BC. Okay, what?
Speaker 1:does that look like? What is the tantra festival? I can that sounds. I'm like I gotta get a plane ticket Where's. How do I do this? Like what? What is that experience like? What is that even? What does that even mean?
Speaker 2:That that means like wow, so much love actually that's. It's like this, like just this huge field of love with people, and it's heaven, it's heaven.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a few days of heaven and we call it the heart of Tantra festival and what's beautiful there is that I do invite Various practitioners because in Tantra there's many flavors, right, so it's always good, you know, you can check out this teacher or this and see what you resonate with at a festival. You have an experience of having many facilitators that you can sort of taste these different workshops. So, especially when you're new to Tantra, it's really great to go and just explore in this field and there's a very safe container Set. We have an emotional support team because, of course, when you go into that field that we can be Triggered, which is part of it. You want to be triggered, you want to learn about yourself, but then you also want to be able to keep yourself in that window of tolerance and not not go too far out. So we have a, you know, support team and it's just really beautiful.
Speaker 2:People come, they do practice. There's movement practices, there's dance parties, temple night, you know, there's yoga's in the morning and then so many workshops and you get to enjoy nature and humans and People are just meeting completely authentically. People come there. Often it can be a first experience, but people just come, you know, open the heart and just feel. There's just that welcoming of Community and people being together and connecting in the same ways. Very beautiful.
Speaker 1:I love that. Oh my gosh, I think you know spirit. We were just it tries to kind of do that. It's very, it's so yin energy, it's so slow moving, it's so just in one with nature. And it's always kind of alarming for me to leave because, like you, get into your after five days of just Literally tapped into yourself and doing only what you wish, when you wish, and everything's okay because everything is.
Speaker 1:Sacred an expression of you that's beautiful and loud, and and so to then get in your car and like have giant trucks, like Like drive by you and stuff. Like when you start to get to civilization. It's very startling. It's like oh right, I'm surrounded by yang in this world. This world is very yang and my world has been very in Um and so that, but I just, oh, it's such a I'm so. I think that's such a beautiful thing that you offer, and so you organize this.
Speaker 2:Yes, I, I co-organize it with one other friend. Yeah, we've been doing it for about 10 years. It's the heart of tontra festival.
Speaker 1:It's near by the undertaking.
Speaker 2:It is a massive undertaking, yeah Project, but it's a. It's a passion project, you know it's like, and there's a community. We've been doing it for about 10 years, so there's a Community around that and it's a nice way for people to come together and then other people to meet new friends and it's really, really beautiful. It's a big job, but I love it.
Speaker 1:I know that feeling and I think that's just amazing. I always think about that at these, you know, gatherings and, like god, everything from bathrooms to, like you said, I mean you've got to have emotional support, you've got to have these people who can guide you through if, if you unlock something and, like you said, you want to unlock it, that's great. That's the journey, um, but processing it is. It needs, you know, healing needs a witness, right, like you need support to walk you through those conversations, all those little nuances to have to think about, um, and I, I bow to you, sister, that is no easy feat.
Speaker 2:Very impressive.
Speaker 1:So how do people, if they are interested in learning more specifically from you, how do they connect with you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they can connect with me through my website, krista kristanova. It's, it's one, that's one, krista kristenova. They can also find me on instagram at kristenova tantra, or facebook kristenova tantra.
Speaker 1:Very nice, awesome. I'm like I said, I'm very excited and I um do you have any book recommendations If anybody wants to start there? Do you have anything like that or a podcast or anything that you think would be helpful for people If they want to start exploring on their own?
Speaker 2:A book recommendation. One of the books I like to recommend, if you want to get just inspired of what tantra can be like, is tantra quest by daniel oda. It's it's a story, but it's a really beautiful book. In in that way, what I would say in in tantra Otherwise, is you never find one book that just has all the secrets. It's such a, you know it's like, oh, there's this book with this piece and this with this piece. It's very, it's very much like that. But if you want to dive into a great tale, I'd say the tantra quest is really great.
Speaker 1:Awesome, thank you. Well, I mean, I'm like I said, I'm deonix, said, and I cannot wait to hear from our listeners of like, how, what, what landed with them and how, how you know what this, how this opened them up. Um, because I know that that is like whenever I reached out to people and been like what do you want to hear more about? It's like my instagram box is like sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, and it's not necessarily, you know, it's because we're so Unlock emotionally and you know, um, physically, that People are looking for ways and permission to liberate themselves, and so I'm. I think this is conversation is going to be so helpful. It's been very helpful for me and I've been on this journey for four years, so I am so excited for everyone who's listening and I cannot thank you enough for sharing your wisdom and and and being patient with my very naive questions. Um, because I know you've been, you've been a gem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I loved your questions. They're really beautiful and. Yeah, I hope that whoever is listening gets to receive some, some gem in there that will inspire them to explore and to Embrace your sexuality and really Come come into this journey.
Speaker 1:Yes, reclaim your powers, your superpower. I love it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much, chris. I appreciate you and to everyone listening, thank you.
Speaker 2:Have a beautiful day and I'll talk to you soon, yeah, and thank you, robin, for having me today. It's really a pleasure to chat with you. I really love the way you're holding this space, thank, you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, chris, thanks, thanks. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I hope it serves you well. Be sure to check out my ever-expanding library of free resources at robinangelacom. I hope you have a beautiful day. Stay true to yourself and I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
