“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” ~ Fannie Lou Hamer, American civil rights activist, 1917-1977. (Some sources credit this quote to Martin Luther King, Jr.) When I reflect upon how everything and everyone is interconnected in one continuous web of energy and vibration, I really deeply understand the truth that no one will be free until everyone is free. I recently visited a city zoo and my experience there with the birds got me thinking about freedom.

While passing the rather smallish cages containing pairs of large birds, I really studied their facial expressions and overall energies. As a Reiki practitioner (see my new business page, www.RadianceRisingReiki.com), and as a Raja yogini, I tend to see beneath the surface of people and things. The melancholic look in the eyes of the turkey vultures saddened my heart. The energy of depression around the majestic bald eagles was almost too much to bear. And then, the anguish of despair in the faces of the red-tailed hawks hit a deep chord of compassion in me. Spontaneously, I began talking with them. I said, “Try to make the best of it. Think of Nelson Mandela, and all those years he spent in prison.” I’m a bit teary as I type that last sentence.

So then, after all that, we came to a building in which this pair of blue macaws were chattering away on top of a barrel… and I marveled that they were not at all depressed. On the contrary, they didn’t seem to even know that they were confined in a zoo. It was as if they knew that they were free on the inside, no matter what external environment they might be placed in. It was such a delight to witness their happiness.

Now that is something to contemplate!

May all beings be free inside themselves, no matter what is going on around them.

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of blue macaws in zoo taken by Teja Shankara.

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