What is Tantra?
Tantra is an ancient body of practices and philosophy that chart a path of personal transformation and spiritual attainment. It is sex and body positive, honoring the physical along with the spiritual.
Emerging from the mists of prehistoric South Asia, it has, over the millennia, woven together threads of the highest and most abstract of Vedic wisdom with the magic and earth-based intuitions of tribal shamans.
About Pǎo Shan's Tantric Journey
Păo Shan is enthusiastically committed to integrating life energies. He spent two and a half years living full-time in a Zen Buddhist Monastery in Michigan, and was lay-ordained as a Sotō Zen Monk in 2021. The mind-training Păo Shan received throughout his time there allowed him to discover a clarity of negotiating with his existence as consciousness, simultaneously experiencing both itself and the human form it currently inhabits. He discovered his practice also needed to fully include our shared innate, human, sensual and erotic life-force energies.
His direct connection with Indic Tantra began in 2020, when he met his tantric teacher, Swami Ravi Rudra Bharati (formerly Rudolph Ballentine, MD), founder of Dancing Shiva Tantra Monastery & Healing Center in Black Mountain, NC.
Păo Shan presently facilitates group exploration through his Meet-up Group, The Himalayan Tantra Men's Healing Tribe (see below), and also offers private sacred-intimate sessions where meditation, sexuality, conscious touch and body energy connection, the healing power of pleasure, and the integration physical, mental, and erotic energies are celebrated and explored within the spiritual container that Indic Tantra provides.
My Method
Each one-on-one session I offer is rooted in intentional ritual, conscious breath, and mindful touch. I provide a welcoming, grounded environment where you’re invited to explore your relationship with pleasure and presence. Sessions are held in my private studio or can be arranged in your space upon request. I curate an atmosphere of reverence - what I call a sacred container - for deep self-exploration and intimate connection with your inner landscape.
Through the combined practices of breath-work, sound, and touch, we awaken and circulate your body's energy. Drawing on foundational elements from Tantric bodywork, we will co-create an experience that may increase your capacity to feel, receive, and expand. By releasing conditioned layers of shame, fear, or guilt, new pathways for joy and freedom become accessible.
Prior to every session, we’ll co-establish our personal boundaries and shared agreements. Your autonomy and consent are central throughout our time together. Each session may unfold differently - bringing joy, vulnerability, release, or laughter. However it manifests, the experience is a step closer to your authentic self.
My Services
Personal Coaching or Body-Based Session
Tailored to support your individual intentions, these one-on-one sessions are designed around your personal journey. I provide a compassionate, confidential, and consent-centered space for you to uncover and embrace your truest self. Whether you're looking to articulate your desires more clearly or simply want to feel more connected to your body, we’ll craft a session just for you.
Body-Based Work:
Step away from the demands of everyday life and surrender to a restorative experience. With breath-led awareness and touch, I’ll guide you through a session that supports deep relaxation and nervous system unwinding. We’ll begin with a conversation to identify areas in your body asking for healing and attention.
Coaching Conversations:
Explore the themes of pleasure, embodiment, longing, resistance, and self-discovery. These dialogues are a space to speak freely about the things often left unspoken—whether you're facing blocks, confusion, or simply seeking clarity. With tools from somatic practice and intuitive inquiry, I support you in moving toward deeper alignment and wholeness.
For Details and Booking
Reach out to Pǎo for pricing information. Body-based sessions are held in my private home studio, and usually last 90 minutes. Coaching Conversation are held either in-persoon or online, and usually last 60 minutes. Session length can be customized depending on your needs.
The Himalayan Tantra Men’s Healing Tribe is a group of men who are interested in cultivating and exploring erotic energy, understanding the spiritual dimensions of their sexuality, and enjoying connection and camaraderie with other like minded men. We host daytime, evening, day-long and extended weekend gatherings. Events and sessions are offered both in-person and online.
Dancing Shiva Tantra Monastery & Healing Center
Dancing Shiva Tantra Monastery and Healing Center is the home of Pǎo Shan's tantric teacher, Swami Ravi Ruudra Bharati. It is nestled in the misty Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina just east of Asheville. Its focus is authentic classic tantra, emphasizing the inner marriage between each person’s inner Shiva (“masculine”) and Shakti (“feminine”).
