practice to take pleasure from everyday life each and every moment from sources that you thought was impossible to take pleasure from So I am so excited today because I'm chatting with my friend Lynne Holmquist, and she is an international tantric therapist and facilitator and not only that but she produces the Swedish Tantra festival and angst Becca, which is one of the biggest perhaps the biggest Tantra Festival in the world. Hi Lynn. Hello cheffy. And today my my burning passion to chat with you is all it's been planted sense. Beautiful event that you run and it's about pleasure and how pleasure can be a path to the Divine. Mmm. I love that topic. Yeah, just to begin. How did you know? How is your own relationship with pleasure bean? And how did you sort of discover that pleasure could actually be a spiritual awakening? Oh, yeah my relationship to pleasure. I I think it started already when I was in the womb like enough for most people because pleasure is like our Birthright and it's our path from The Unborn until the to the born. We are constantly searching for the maximum pleasure when we are resting in the womb and where we're getting really getting born. So in a way, I think my relationship to pleasure started already there and then When I grew up also very Mindful and physical child. I like to touch things and I like to feel things and I like to discover pleasure in in so many different levels. However, like it is for most people I was shamed when I did so and I was taught that pleasure is something that I have to deserve pleasure is something that comes in a certain format. It's only certain thing. Things that can bring pleasure and those things they need to be discerned and they should be like a reward for something else. Yeah, right. That's a really big one, huh? Yeah, and then there was also this guilt about pleasure like guilty pleasures. Like I loved to indulge in pleasure and some of those Pleasures were guilty pleasure. So I've been struggling a lot with with clearing my Ship to pleasure from from the conditions from my childhood. Yeah. I totally headed. I think that's common for so many people. So, how was your first you remember your first experience when somebody or some event or or a person showed you that pleasure could actually be you know, not only not shameful but virtual or open you up in some way. Mmm, it's also definitely when my Kundalini awakened this this experience. It was the most intense pleasure that I felt ever in my life until then and it happens spontaneously on the bike driving down the hill and it was something that I've never heard about never seen never experienced and something that was so out of the box and I'm like, oh my God, this feels so good and if Like it's my it's my natural self. This is like truth. So this is this coming from so deep inside of me with so much power and I couldn't even question it. Like I was so surprised but my mind couldn't even question it. I just accepted this as as a part of of my true self and I was so amazed by this experience and this experience kept on coming back to me again and again becoming more and more. Tense during the time of my Awakening on this energy. So I definitely remember this very clearly. So for listeners that sort of like wondering what candle any Awakening is lot of people have heard of it. Not sure. Can you explain a little what that means and how how it happened for you? Mmm. So you can look at the Kundalini Awakening in many different ways like first you can look at it on the Traditional spiritual point of view where the masculine and The Feminine inside of you are coming in Harmony and in balance and are spiraling up the spine in a way that awakens your Consciousness and makes you come to a place of self-realization and the self-realization is always pleasurable. It feels like you are plugging into God you're plugging into the source plugging into existence and this experience is Such a pleasurable the ultimate pleasurable experience. I think Hmm. But what happens on a physical level is something that is quite simple is that the connective tissue the fascia in our body? For some reason releases? We have so many tensions in our bodies in our first year due to shame and guilt and blame and pushing ourselves in trying to adapt to people or old trauma. Our mind Fox it makes the body and fasciae the connective tissue really tense. Mmm, and we are not even aware of it. It's more or less like our personality our tensions defines our personality my reactions my behavior the way my mind works the way my nervous system works. So in a way, it's like it's my identity. Mmm. So what happens when when when we have a Kundalini? Awakening it's simply that the connective tissue start to vibrate start to remove these tensions on some people. It's a slow process of many years on some people. It's happening really fast through meditation through Tundra. Some people have it happen really fast through drug abuse, but it creates a deep sensation of orgasm in the body deep pleasurable relaxation. And really powerful opening in the brain because the brain doesn't recognize the landscape of your body anymore because you lost a lot of your personality a lot of your tensions that are stored in the body. So it has a great impact on the hormones a great impact on the nerves on the brain. So basically I'm seeing about a physical Awakening like a physical embodying and light moments or Awakening rather than just something through. Through the mind or through meditation. Yeah. Yeah, you know, everything is connected. Like I can't be my Consciousness can't expand further than my limitations and if I have limitations in my body my mind can expand to a certain level if I have the tensions in my energy and my body and my mind can expand into a certain degree. But if all my layers all my all the parts of my Systems expands there is the true expensive expansion of consciousness. So I believe this is something that happens on many levels because it's all connected. Like when we have a Kundalini Awakening expansion happens in the physical field in the energy field in the mind in the greater understanding and yeah, so if we obviously this is very inspiring for people to hear because it's like wow there's this ultimate like a full-body orgasmic feeling Or my personality for where it's all rich sounds wonderful. But what what about people who aren't there yet who making struggling with guilt and shame around pleasure. But that feel you know, like they want to shift that guilt and start, you know, and find a pleasurable path to the Divine or to Awakening. Would you suggest for people who are at that stage in their Journey when they go I see a lot of this when I meet people this urge this longing and the shame also that you're not there that you're not allowing yourself to embrace pleasure. And the first step is just to let go of any struggle and is search any need to experience anything else than what's happening right here right now and to let go of all Shame about being who you are. This may be easily said, yeah. Through through practice of pleasure in the systematic way it will happen and it's a pleasurable Journey. So it's not that you're in need to sacrifice anything. It's simply to practice to take pleasure from everyday life each and every moment from sources that you thought was impossible to take pleasure from so and I used to such as the breath for example, like it's always that Noise, how do you want to breathe? You want to breathe out unconscious you want to breathe conscious. Do you want to breathe as a everyday regular experience or take the opportunity to caress yourself on the inside of the body to allow these breath to be like most intimate touch in the nose in the throat in the lungs and allowing the pleasure from this intimate touch to expand in your body as far as Is it can you know, it's really simple or just to touch things touch yourself touch objects. Hmm and and see how much pleasure can I allow In This Moment from this simple exercise of catching something cutting a leaves Stone a spoon your own skin. And the thing is that the capacity of pleasure in our beings. So tremendous like I remember that I thought I knew what pleasure is. Yeah what it is but time passed and it's just increasing increasing increasing until I'm fucking constantly vibrating of it. And I know this is not the end. I know this is just a preview of what is possible. I love it. So young people basically just Begin by looking around in the world around them and it basically wrapped in a different way start picking. Up things that they might otherwise walk past and just pausing and exploring the Curiosity how they can find pleasure in those sniffles things exactly. I love that already. I think it's an amazing shift just want to backtrack because you mentioned I'm making little notes Here you mention that we need to release shame that releasing shame is a big thing and I somewhere was recently listening to I can't remember who someone talk about shame and they said shame needs to be healed in the presence of others because shame created by others opinions or judgments. And so then it's not so easy to release it alone because we kind of need to be witnessed by people. Wondered if you could speak a little bit about what would it look like? How would somebody really shame for example around their sexual pleasure or body? Hmm? Yeah, I really I really love this. However, I think it is possible to release Shame by yourself, but it's really powerful to do it in the presence of someone else. Hmm and what I love the most is to create pleasuring myself and the more pleasure. I'm able to create a more powerful the the experience and the imprints will become of course like touching myself or masturbating or breathing and creating pleasure in my body. In the being observed by someone else and the most powerful thing. It is during the deepest pleasure to have an eye contact with someone. Hmm, and I'm not trying to hide not trying to perform because also pleasure for some people it's a way to perform. Yeah. It's a way to show how good I am or how good you are and to give you some credits like look how much pleasure you created for me. Mmm buttery. Move all of this and to be just observed and to be seeing in the depth of my pleasure. It is an entrance to God. Yeah. Yeah. Mmm, so I remember just remember I remember the first time this happened to me. Yeah, like I was observed by a man. He asked me to undress in front of him, and I don't know what brought me pleasure in this moment if it was the fact that I'm It's a bit of a like people to see me or I like to people to be present with me, but I felt a lot of pleasure in being nude in front of me and the fact that he didn't do anything. He didn't want to take my pleasure. He didn't want to use my pleasure. He didn't want to give me pleasure. He just observed me being there naked and feeling all of this and what I observed in him when he watched me is I saw that he saw God in Me and through his observation through him seeing God in Me it became clearer it became clear that I am God. And when I realized this when I embodied this God was looking out of my eyes. God was feeling through my skin. God was beating in my heart. God was breathing in my lungs and this Divine pleasure being Divine just filled me up and erased everything that is human about me. Hmm, and I could See God everywhere. I could see it at him. I could see it in the share. I could see it in the sunlight. I could see it in the curtains. I could see him in the dancing dust in the in the in the air like it's only present ha ha ha ha actually, you know, it's very what you just shared is very similar to what I was not similar but reflection of what I was going to say is to heal our shame something I've noticed is it's important to be able to reveal that that we have been ashamed of in front. If something is able to witness it themselves because if you reveal yourself in front of someone else who still carry shame and judgment you can end up putting another layer of Shame back on and in a way, I think that's what we do with Pantera workshops and events is create that space where we can see the Divine in each other and instead of the judgments. Yeah, and obviously you were lucky to just receive that with a weatherman. Hmm. So what I think he describes this quite well when you were talking about Kundalini, there's something about pleasure that leads us home to our true self. Do you think if someone isn't necessarily having a continue Awakening if they start to do practices of pleasure as you're describing you think that will still help them? You find their true self and how would that happen? Definitely definitely, you know pleasure is our Birthright pleasure is guidance towards our truth. Yeah, of course, we need to distinguish between short-term pleasure and long-term pleasure like eating a bag of candy doesn't necessarily bring me to my true self is pending on how it's done of yeah. Yes, if I indulge in the sweetness of the chocolate and I allow myself to open to be filled and to be a really good used into my true self by the shock of yes, but many people use a short-term pleasure to escape the pain. Mmm. So life is life. It contains everything it contains pain it can Tens pleasure it contains love it contains sphere it contains everything and we are are our Consciousness is capable of embracing it all and that's the unconditional love and I believe that this is our true self. This is the source the essence of our being it is unconditional love and pleasure can bring us to this the experiences of unconditional love because pleasure is a guide words that so towards my truth and walking on this path. I have many different choices. What should I choose? Should I choose something that will give me validation in the eyes of someone else or should I choose something that gives me true pleasure. Should I choose something that I think will be good for me in the future or should I choose something that I think is going to give me true pleasure. We always have a choice and if we Dare to choose what gives us true pleasure. We are going to walk the path of Our Truth. Hmm and everything that we see and feel experience. It's going to be our truth and you know something that you mentioned there are just want to go into it a little deeper you mention how it's not about the objects of our plant that we might be using for our pleasure. It's not about box of chocolates, but it's about the attitude or the Consciousness which we bring to to that interaction actually because it's like a religion when you and the chocolate. I think this is really important because what we see is a lot of kind of unconscious pleasure-seeking or had an ism where it looks like people are getting their pleasure, but they don't really taste it at all because it's so much guilt that they just kind of shovel a whole box of chocolates down and don't taste one. Whereas tantric way would be more totally tasting smelling murdering becoming it so deep. It's a completely different way of it's like a conscious head and isn't just pleasure. I hate exactly. So this seems to be an important part that makes a shift of that growth that we're looking for is basically it's the Consciousness that we bring in and that's it that completely changes our relationship to pleasure. Yeah. These aren't what you're talking about and also brings. The opportunity to feel pleasure in in the darkness find pleasure in the pain find pleasure in the sadness because there is pleasure there as well and how allowing myself huh. I was just going to say yeah, but you're just going to tell me by allowing myself by allowing myself to to feel a life the way life is that's brings true pleasure. Hmm, you know recently I discovered the pleasure. In sadness and I realized that I have not been sad for many years why because sadness is an unwanted emotion in our culture. However, sadness shows me the path towards what is right if I did something if I walked another road than my true road I will feel sad. I will feel regret hmm and this sadness and this regrets will guide me back to my path mmm, but I have Not been listening to my sadness. I've been shutting it off and made me step away from my path when I realized oh shit. I have so much sadness inside of me and so much regret and I couldn't relax and indulge in this sadness and feel the pleasure of being alive the pleasure of being able to feel sadness and regret and the pleasure of realizing. Oh, I've been stepping away from my truth. And that's why I feel this and feel. this gratitude and this here this deep gratitude for the pain and for the sadness and the pleasure in in this Soviet you're saying if any of our listeners are have an emotion that they think that is wrong and they're trying to push it away whether it's sadness fear that actually they feel it more fully so that they can find that pleasure of being alive and also wisdom that that emotion is kind of guiding them towards Hmm. Yeah, so I think sometimes the guidance that is so helpful in the temporal world is about feeling it in the body right to really let mmm and breathe into it and just really let it be felt as yeah and also seeing what kind of thoughts is coming together with this feeling this emotion me and my friend Maria here. We have been talking a lot about a jealousy today jealousy as one of the less desired. We insist that we have it is possible to feel pleasure in jealousy when we allow ourselves to feel it and we will look at what kind of thoughts are coming here. Like the thoughts of being less worthy. The thoughts of of being less beautiful. Let's less attractive or or the fear of being left or or abandoned and see how these are. These are all thoughts and it has maybe nothing to do with the realities. Like my inner movie that I create because I don't allow this feeling of jealousy to be and when I allow this feeling of jealousy to be it's actually really beautiful. It's really pleasurable could be mmm. So what you're saying is that this path of pleasure is not only about the chocolate and the smell of the flowers, but actually it's about anything that is alive in our field beginning just like sense. It's about kind of Awakening the senses to whatever is alive. Yeah, it's really great to do experiments around this. You know, I'm really into the BDSM and the pain and the blocking of energy to to allow myself to make new reference points. Can I feel pressure even though there is pain can I feel pleasure even though my my energy is completely restricted. Yes. It is possible. It is possible. What do you think this cumulative if you were going to try and Teach someone what you've learned from your experiments. Do you think it could you put it in words how it is when something say physically painful happens. How do we find the pleasure and that is there a practical guidance? You can give mmm it is basically to relax like all pain. All this Comfort is the opportunity to wake up and be present. That's the signal it sends out into the body like hello. Wake up be present and check if this Pain is a result of danger. If the pain is a result of danger. I will become scared and I will take action. I will run away. I will fight for my life or change the situation. However, most of the time when we experience pain and discomfort it's a mindfuck, but it leads to the reaction of fear. So most people are afraid afraid to 95% out of no reason and this fear. Here is poisoning us poisoning our minds. So what we can do is that we can learn how to detect pain like oh shit. I'm feeling pain right now. Someone slapped me in the face. It's painful, but does it kill me? No, is it dangerous? No, did I choose to to experience this? Yes, I choose to experience this How Deeply can I choose to experience this pain? I can fully emerge with this pain. I can allow myself to surrender to this pain and suddenly this. Pain is transformed into pleasure. Wow, that's a great question. You know what it reminds me of one time. I tried on a scorpion twice like that. And the first time I was in total resistance, I mean, I knew it wasn't going to kill me but it's so painful, but the second time it happened I decided to surrender to the pain. I'm not quite sure I could say I relax but I open to it and and my body was moving and shaking and it was almost any actually became kind of orgasmic and pleasurable effects that I noticed. Long as I was completely open to it. I was in this kind of orgasmic pleasure. And if I had even one bit of resistance to what was happening, I went into paying and that it was up to me to navigate the difference not you know, this little was the same but whether I was resisting it being there or opening to it being there was basically the shift between pain and pleasure of such a that is perfect. And it's such a I think this is so important to bring out what you are just saying right now. and it brings me into like the my my passion was I really want to share with people and it's the moment of being born and being and dying because this is I think the the what am I most fear in women it's to give birth and the most fear in human being is to die, but the fact is now I'm never died so I can't speak from experience, but the fact is that I had experienced like With a with a scorpion but it with a giving birth. Like this is an opportunity to feel fear. It is an opportunity to feel pain. However, if I surrender to it the Orgazmo will come and release it and will be so much pleasurable to to give birth. However, the the smallest thought in the smallest doubt would bring me back into pain. It's like walking on the Razor Edge mmm, but both of my deliveries were pain-free were orgasm. I make and I know that this is the potential for most women and I believe that we will change the generations if we start to give birth to our children in pleasure in ecstasy in orgasm. It will fully change the whole world. Ha ha ha I totally and wholeheartedly agree and so to extend from that to the other topic. Do you think that that's also the way we should be dying orgasmic do anything definitely definitely. That I'm exploring right now in my own sexual lives. Yeah, right. Well, I mean it's gonna get to that. I love how the French call the orgasm Le Petit more The Little Death really is a practicing to to surrender isn't it? And you know, certainly some spiritual teachers have talked about dying as orgasm. But yeah, I guess we won't be here to get the podcast on that one. Yeah Linda. Thank you so much for chatting. On this topping. I think this is such a brilliant topic for people to come on Nate and I love you know looking at how pleasure isn't just about seeking the kind of positive things but also being transformed what we would normally resist into pleasure as by the way life. I think that's so empowering and fantastic. So thank you so much. And so you I just want to say a little bit about you because people are probably like wow. I'll put some links aside. So people can find you and I've certainly been enjoying you did like a kind of Storytelling online. I just like see more of that please and I'd love to put some links into that. Are you going to are you planning to produce more of that kind of wonderful thing? Of course? Yeah. I think that's going to be my new my new thing because people really appreciate it. Yeah. So I'm going to start a podcast with bedtime stories. Oh fantastic. I love it. I shall be listening together with my beloved. We've really enjoyed it. Last one. Great. Well, I'm very happy to support that and yeah, thank you so much for sharing. I know you're off your in Portugal and you're off to do a training right now. So I'm so grateful that you've spared the time for the sharing and I'm glad to talk to you. Yeah. Thank you for your Your passion and your inspiration that you share move to. Thank you.
Pleasure is something that is so often seen as an enemy of being spiritual. So many religions will teach us that you have to choose between following your pleasure or following God. Yet Tantra says the opposite. Tantra says: let pleasure take you home. Let pleasure awaken you. Let pleasure bring you back to your true self. In this episode, I chat with Tantric Therapist Lin Holmquist, who is passionate about pleasure as a way to awaken back to our true self, our divine nature. We cover questions such as: * How is it that pleasure can be part of our awakening? * What do we do with the guilt and shame around pleasure? * How can we heal shame? * How can we awaken our capacity for pleasure? * What is the difference between hedonism and Tantra? * Is the path of pleasure about avoiding pain and negative feelings? * How do we find pleasure in the pain? Plus Lin shares about her own kundalini awakening experience, and how this taught her the pleasure of being in her true self. About Lin Lin is a tantric therapist and facilitator, and produces the Swedish Tantra Festival at Angsbacka. She has been living the tantric life and teaching all over the world in retreats and festivals. Find out more about her on: https://www.theartoflove.nu/ 