A Blissful Life 7/15/25: Your First Step Toward Inner Freedom

I recently began reading ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle, and already, within the first 20 pages, it has cracked something open inside of me. On page 21, Tolle writes, “The single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind.” At first glance, this might sound abstract or even a bit confusing. What does it mean to “disidentify” from the mind, and how does that lead us to peace or freedom?

But, if we pause for a moment and reflect on our day-to-day experience, we might begin to see what he means.

How often do we become completely consumed by our thoughts– worries about the future, replays of conversations, to-do lists, judgments, self-doubt, and stories we spin in our heads? Most of us, most of the time, are living from the neck up. Our minds are constantly narrating our lives, interpreting events, comparing, evaluating, and sometimes catastrophizing. And we assume this nonstop mental chatter is who we are. But, it’s not.

There’s something powerful and liberating that happens when we begin to notice this voice in the head as a voice, and not as our essence. That moment of awareness, the noticing, is the beginning of disidentification. It’s the sacred pause that allows us to step back and say, “Ah, I am having this thought... but I am not this thought.” It’s a subtle but profound shift. In that moment, we stop being prisoners of the mind and start becoming observers of it.

This practice has been echoed by ancient wisdom traditions for thousands of years. In yoga philosophy, the mind is considered one layer of the self (manomaya kosha), but not the truest layer. Beyond the mind lies the witness, the Self, or what Tolle would call “presence.” When we learn to rest in this presence rather than being swept away by the momentum of thought, we create space. We access clarity, stillness, and even joy– not because the circumstances of our life have changed, but because our relationship to them has.

I see this in my yoga students all the time. In the first few minutes of class, people often arrive distracted, tight in their shoulders, and sometimes frazzled. But then something softens. As they move through breath and body, there is a shift. A moment where thought drops away, and being takes over. That’s not just relaxation, that’s presence. That’s the power of now.

Of course, the mind has its place. It’s a wonderful tool for planning, creating, and understanding. But it’s not meant to run the show 24/7. When we identify with our thoughts– when we believe every story, assumption, and fear– we lose connection with what’s real, what’s here, what’s true. Disidentifying doesn’t mean rejecting the mind, but rather seeing it with compassion and perspective. It’s saying, “Thank you for your input, but I’m choosing to lead from deeper wisdom.”

So how do we begin?

We start small. By noticing our thoughts without judgment. By creating pauses in our day where we simply breathe and observe. By recognizing the difference between our inner narrator and our inner presence. By choosing to respond instead of react. Over time, this builds a muscle, a sacred witnessing muscle, that keeps us anchored in now.

As Tolle says, “You are not your mind.” You are the one who sees it. You are the stillness behind it. You are the awareness that holds it all. And the more we rest there, the freer we become.

Join us at Ocean Bliss this summer for yoga, Pilates, and a variety of transformative workshops. Christine Walker will guide a Transformational Breath workshop on Wednesday, July 23rd, and Kayla Kilgallen will lead a Summer Yin & Reiki workshop on Wednesday, July 30th. Reserve you spot at oceanblissyoga.net. Questions? Feel free to call or text me at 917-318-1168.