Freedom is on the forefront of my mind right now. We are just passing through our country’s day of Independence yet at the same time we are faced with a threat to many of our freedoms. In response to this many of us are feeling agitated, angry, and a myriad of other feelings that are causing us to suffer.
In the Yoga tradition, we celebrate Moksha or freedom as the main goal of our practice. The scriptures teach us when we connect to our higher self, we can release ourselves from suffering and experience freedom.
In his translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Sri Swami Satchidananda states “There is a Sanskrit saying “Mana eva manushyanam karanam bandha mokshayoho”. “As the mind, so the man; bondage or liberation are in your own mind.” If you feel bound, you are bound. If you feel liberated, you are liberated. Things outside neither bind nor liberate you; only your attitude towards them does that.”
I’ve contemplated this message for many years and as Yogi’s we have a choice to allow the fluctuations of our mind to bind us or not. This is where the practice of meditation and mantra come in, they allow us to quiet the disturbances that pull us away from our center.
Or perhaps just being in the flow in whatever turns you on, dancing, singing, running, that special place where you feel alive, independent, and unconstrained.
As Yogis, when we are in our center, however we get there, we are empowered. We can tap into our intuition, our inner knowing, we can channel the wisdom of the divine and use that wisdom to heal ourselves and others.
When we are faced with a threat to our freedoms, rather than get caught up in a wheel of spinning thoughts and emotions, we can choose to go inward and connect to our true Self.
Once the mind is centered in the self, there we can access the power that we need to either move through the emotions, rise above them to find a place of inner peace OR we can be informed of the right course of action to take to help solve the challenges we are facing and support the causes of freedom.
Join me for a meditation on Liberation & Freedom Tuesday July 26th at 8pm
Many Blessings,
Lauren
