Inner Freedom

Are you looking for inner peace? Follow this prayer, relaxation, and deeply moving experience in a guided meditation to find inner freedom.

Nayaswami Devi leads a 30-minute guided meditation to help you develop and experience inner freedom.

Nayaswami Devi is a founding member and the spiritual co-director of Ananda Sangha Worldwide, as well as a long-time teacher and meditator.

Transcript

Introduction

Nayaswami Devi:

Hello everyone. 

Today we're going to be sharing a meditation on how to find inner freedom. And this is so important for each one of us to be able to live our lives from the inside out, not being determined by what other people expect of us or what they think of us or if we're afraid they're going to judge us, but just to walk it freely in this world, like a child of God. 

And so, we'll be doing some guided exercises to help us tune into how we can use meditation to find inner freedom. So let's begin with a prayer.

Prayer Before Meditation

Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Friend, Beloved God, Great Masters, Jesus Christ, Babaji-Krishna, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswarji, Beloved Guru Paramhansa Yogananda, Saints of all religions, humbly we bow to you all.

Oh, Infinite Spirit.  Awaken within us—our true Self. Help us find that center of inner freedom, inner joy, inner strength, and bless us with the ability to move through all of life's activities with a sense of freedom, and joy, and purpose.  

AUM, Peace, Amen.

Inspirational Chant - Sri Yogananda

Now, let's do a chant together to help us awaken inner freedom. This is, “Sri Yogananda, Guide to inner freedom, steal into my heart of hearts, banish my delusions.”

Sri Yogananda,

Guide to inner freedom. 

Steal into my heart of hearts. 

Banish my delusions. [Repeated x8]

Guided Breath Flow for Preparing for Meditation

Now let's start our guided meditation for inner freedom by first relaxing the body, and let's now close your eyes and sit up straight.

Be in a comfortable position but with energy in your body, not tension but energy; there’s a difference. Energy is a flowing sense of well-being of life force. Whereas tension is tight, holding on to, and that causes difficulty physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

So let's begin by energizing and relaxing the body.

Begin by inhaling [the sound of inhaling breath and holding the breath in] and tensing the body, and then exhale [the sound of one quick exhaling breath], throw the breath out, and relax.  [Pause]

Let's do that once more. Inhale [the sound of breathing in and holding the breath], feel that you're bringing energy into every cell, and exhale [the sound of one quick exhale]. Let the body relax.

Let's do this one last time. And this time, with the exhalation, just try to deeply relax all muscles in your body.

So let’s inhale [longer inhaling breath and hold the breath in], tense, vibrate and exhale [sound of exhaling], and relax. 

Guided Relaxation of the Physical Body

Now let's do a guided relaxation to release any remaining tension in the body.

Let's start at the feet and feel that your feet are just melting into the floor. Feel as though they are sending down deep roots of energy that will support you and keep you balanced without any effort on your part. Now relax the arches of the feet and the ankles.  [Pause]  You have nowhere to go, nothing to do.  

Now feel that flow of energy, and relaxation, moving up into your calves.  [Pause] Feel a tingling warmth as the body relaxes. 

Now feel deep relaxation all around your knees, the front of the knee, and the back of the knee, on top of the knee. Feel all those muscles and tendons letting go, freeing you from movement.

And feel that warmth of relaxation moving up your legs, your thighs, [Pause.] into your hips.

Feel a deep relaxation in your abdomen. [Pause.]  

Now, feel your entire body below the waist. It’s just free of the burden of muscles and bones, just floating in space. [Pause.] 

Now feel a deep relaxation in the tips of your fingers, flowing up your fingers into the palms of your hand, which are resting facing upward on your thighs. Feel your hands and your wrists, letting go of all tension, all strain from daily activity. 

Feel your lower arms and your biceps now.  Feel as though they're being cascaded, with a flow of energy, and any tension in the arms is just being washed out through the fingertips, and they're resting, heavily, freely, on your legs. [Pause.]

Now become aware of your chest cavity, your lungs, and your heart. [Pause.]  Feel your breathing slowing down, your heart rate slowing down as you begin to experience a sense of freedom from the demands of the body. [Pause.]

Now relax your shoulders. First, the joints of the shoulder, from which the arms fall, but also the back of the shoulder and the muscles leading up to the neck. Just feel the melting, so you are slowly submerging in very pleasant ocean water, very still and calm, washing away all tension. [Pause.]  

Let’s bring the sense of deep relaxation to our jaw and our mouth. [Pause.] Feel as though all words, all need to express oneself for this brief period of time, all these are released. And your lips can just rest peacefully, restfully, calmly, and feel the muscles of your face softening. [Pause.]

Now bring your attention to the eyes and the muscles around the eyes. Feel as though you are gazing far off into space. We don't need to be watchful for changes in the moment. But feel that you are gazing off into infinite timelessness. [Pause.] 

Relax the muscles of the skull  [Pause] and the brain. Feel that all thoughts are drifting away [Pause.] and that you are resting, in this deep relaxation, with a sense of freedom. Nothing can harm us. All the world is our friend. [Pause.] 

"How to Awaken Mental Freedom" by Paramhansa Yogananda

Now continue in this deep, relaxed state. And I'd like to read to you some words from our guru, Yogananda, on how to awaken mental freedom.  

“Sit still with a straight spine. Cover up your fidgety eyeballs with the sheets of your eyelids. Hold them still. Then loosen your mind from the consciousness of body weight. Relax the nerve strings that are attached to the heavy muscles and bones of your body. Forget the consciousness of carrying a heavy bundle of bones tied in the thick cloth of flesh. Rest.  

Free your mind from the consciousness of a beast of burden. Do not think of your body load but feel your soul untied from the constant material quality of heaviness. Mentally race in your fancies, airplane, above, beneath, left, right, to infinity, or wherever you want to go, feel and meditate on this, your mental freedom from the body. Dream, dwell, and feel this body above-ness. When sitting still, this consciousness of freedom will constantly increase.” [Pause.]

Let's just sit quietly for a few minutes feeling, tuning into these words of Master. [Pause.]

It’s helpful to keep an inward focus by mentally watching the breath—the slow movement of inhalation and exhalation. The more we relax, the more deeply and slowly our breathing becomes, coming from the abdomen, diaphragmatic breathing, and you can mentally repeat Hong, H O N G, with the inhalation and Sau spelled S A U, with the exhalation.

But remember, as our Guru taught, enjoy the pauses between the inhalation and the exhalation, and the exhalation and the next inhalation. Don't control it, but just observe it and watch, and in those pauses, feel your freedom, even from the breath. [Long Pause.]

Releasing Mental and Emotional Chords Binding the Mind

Now in this deep, calm, relaxed state, let's also release any mental or emotional chords that are binding us.  [Pause] Let your mind release all mental preoccupation, all worries, all concerns, all anxieties, fears, and even plans for the future.

Mental freedom is based on deep faith that God and the Great Ones are protecting us and guiding our life. So release all of these thoughts, all fears. Feel that you're just, as you sit floating in space, that these burdens are floating away. Drifting as though, in their own orbit away from you. Feel how free you are.  [Pause]

Swami Kriyananda wrote a beautiful chant, “Rise Oh My Soul in Freedom,” Nothing to Fear Anymore. Just feel your mind is free of all worry and anxiety.  [Pause] And let’s return now to watching the breath and feel in the pauses the mental freedom of releasing our mental preoccupations. [Longer Pause] As Master says in his beautiful poem, Samadhi, “Spotless is my mental sky, below, ahead and high above.” 

Releasing Negative Emotions of the Heart

And now, finally, let's bring our attention to the area of the heart, of feelings,  [Pause] and try, if you can, to sensitively release any negative emotions. [Pause] 

Feel your heart is like a beautiful crystal orb, sparkling with light, with no shadow.  [Pause] 

Feel this crystal orb above your heart, is radiating love and goodwill to all. [Longer Pause] 

Feel the inner freedom of letting divine love flow through you without any reason, without any cause, without any blockage, just flowing through you, carrying you on waves of joy and love for all. [Pause]

Try to release any attachment that you have to anyone or anything. Nothing is yours. No one is yours. [Pause] You are free in yourself; [Longer Pause]

Please take a deep inhalation, [soft sound of deep inhalation] gently bring energy into the body with a very light tension, and exhale [soft, gentle sound of exhaling the breath] and relax. [Longer Pause]  

Feel your inner freedom — mentally, emotionally, physically, and most of all, spiritually. You are a child of God. Everything that He has, you have. [Pause] Own your own birthright of divine freedom and joy. [Longer Pause]

Closing Prayer for Awakening Our Inner Freedom

Let’s close with a prayer. 

Heavenly Father, Divine Mother, Friend, Beloved God, Great Masters, — Jesus Christ, Babaji-Krishna, Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswarji, Beloved Guru Paramhansa Yogananda, — Saints of all religions, humbly we bow to You all. 

Beloved Guru, awaken us to our own inner freedom. Let us not be bound by fears and attachments.  Let us know the joy of resting in Thee. 

AUM, Peace, Amen.

 Soft music playing.