Freedom in Bondage ~ Rediscover Your Personal Power

COVID19 has irrevocably changed our lives forever. It has changed the way we live in the world, the way we move in the world, the way we see and interact with each other in the world, how we earn a living or lack of, how and where we eat, what we eat, how much we pay for the food we eat, and how we pay for the food that we eat, where we pray, how we pray, and so on. The list can go on and on, but for the purposes of this blog @pranavahyoga, one understands fully the meaning of “irrevocably changed.”

There are lots and lots of new barriers and limitations being constructed during COVID19 in America and worldwide. We now see window glasses -similar to bank tellers- being placed in stores and mortuaries for fear of contracting COVID19. We are standing further apart than ever before, 6 feet is the rule ~Americans were comfortable with 1.5-2 feet before. We are not allowed to interact with other human beings as intimately as we once did not too long ago due to social distancing protocol, masks, gloves and stay at home orders. There are restrictions on how we can shop, when we can shop, and what we can shop for, etc. If you thought we were a society of rules before COVID19, well, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Now Americans are starting to get tired of other people telling them what to do, especially while those other people are not being affected by COVID19 in the same way as your average American ~for one they still have jobs with full salary, and recently gave themselves a raise ~ and money is mostly perceived as security and freedom.

Americans and indeed people all over the world are starting to protest the extreme limitations placed on their lives, liberties and pursuit of happiness- some feel like they’re in Bondage. Human beings, Americans are born free, with free will, that is the True nature of Spirit, and that’s why they are protesting these unnatural limitations and restrictions. I as an American totally get it, but I’m here to tell you, your feeling of frustration and bondage is the result of your own free will with which you were born (not the freedom that was fought for by your forefathers) with that you have used, as a tool, to bind yourself. Now before you get mad at me, please let me finish my thought: No one has the power to take your freedom. Hear that again and sit with it for a second ~ No One Has the Power to Take Your Freedom.

If another person limits your physical freedom, you still possess the freedom of thought, feeling, intuition and spirit: you’re a conscious being. You may be hungry or frustrated right now, but still a conscious being with the capacity of experiencing total freedom. We all sleep every night, most of us 7-10 hours, 1/3 of of our lives. Do you feel bound when you sleep at night? No, you’re free to fly or see friends or relatives, visit places of distant past or places you’ve yet to see. You’re free to rest in arms of Universal Consciousness. You posses complete and unfettered freedom in your sleep ~according to your thoughts or freedom of thought. Well you say, “Yes ok, but what about the other 2/3 of my life when I’m awake? My sleep is probably the one thing that has improved with COVID19.” I understand, I’m sharing your experience every step of the way, the point is, if you’re physically limited you still have the capacity for Freedom and free will.

What about freedom of thought? The mind, it is integral part of our everyday lives, in fact we may view it as necessary tool to live a free life. But sometimes the mind gives us anything but Freedom. Our minds can be our best friend, other times our greatest enemy. Sometimes it runs amok from topic to topic, is the source of great worry, anxiety and or frustration. Other times it is calm and enjoys life. What makes the difference between worry, frustration and happiness? Our Minds. What does the mind do? It thinks, it thinks lots and lots of thoughts: thousands of thoughts in a single, waking day, most of them repetitive and unconscious. Now you may say, “well I can’t control what I’m watching on TV or internet, no one consults me before posting their visions on the tele,” but you can control what you choose to watch or not watch. You also have a choice about what subjects to contemplate quietly, in discussions with others or not. While most of our thinking happens on unconscious level, what seeps from the well of the conscious mind to the unconscious mind is in your hands and your choice to some degree. It’s a practice I can teach you with Yoga. Yoga trains our minds so that it becomes more of a friend than an enemy, but it needs to be trained, gently. You have the freedom to choose your thought. Forcing the mind does not work, the issues will pop up in veiled and other manifested ways. Gently, lovingly training the mind is key in Yoga.

What about our emotions? They’re tied to our thoughts like heat to a flame, depending on the feeling one ascribes to a word, person or thought, we react according to our feelings. Most of our actions are inspired through our feelings. We don’t take time for a second thought, we move, and sometimes it helps us and other times we wish we could take it back or “a do over.”~ As some of you know, my mother died a few days ago. She “fell down” in the rest home she was staying in (still not sure how it happened), and that fall sent her to the hospital injured and bruised. There were a series of other events in the hospital that lead to her death. The nurses a few days into her stay said were could not visit her, but on the day of her death after a series of phone calls, one of the nurses let it slip to my brother, that in fact we could visit my mother in person for 15 minutes. The head nurse was throwing up more barriers, probably just doing her job, but my brother and I knew our legal rights, even in this time of COVID19. When I closed video chat with my brother, without showering, brushing teeth, in my slippers, I hopped into my car with my little old aunt and we flew to the hospital. I don’t know why, but we had to see her right then, not the next day or day after, and I’m so glad we did, so happy to say goodbye person, to kiss her, see, smell and touch her body ~to smell the body I smelled on my first day in this world~ and she smelled so sweet! I was so happy she did not die alone in this world where healthy members of her family were restricted from seeing their dying mother. We stayed not 15 minutes, but 1.5 hours, until we were asked to leave. Our emotions, according to our thoughts inspire actions, sometimes good, sometimes regretful. Yoga trains our thoughts and minds, and in doing so, we are in control of our emotions and experiences. With our Yoga training we can learn to act from wisdom, from the wisest and most intelligent part of ourselves. Yoga is the path to Ultimate Freedom, in any situation. I accepted the possibility of not seeing my dying mother in the hospital, but I wasn’t home everyday brooding, “fighting the system.” I accepted the perimeters we were allowed to work with, and gently and lovingly controlled my mind through Yoga. And I dare say it was my physically immobile unconscious Mother who orchestrated those last moments of her life. She finally understood Freedom, but we don’t have to die or be close to death to experience Freedom.

If you would like to experience more Freedom for yourself, please join me via zoom for a virtual yoga class on Monday May 11th. You can sign up on our home page www.pranavahyoga.com or on instagram @pranavahyoga.com. Thank you, Om Shanti. ~

Happy Mother’s Day to All, Love to All, Peace to All, Freedom to All

~Carolyn