FREEDOM Starts Within

FREEDOM Starts Within: A Journey from Outer Pressure to Inner Strength

We live in a time of endless choice, yet many of us feel strangely unfree.
Our calendars are full, our feeds never stop, and every day seems to demand a version of ourselves that isn’t quite true.
What happened to the spacious feeling of being alive — of choosing, breathing, and acting from the inside out?

This introductory talk is an evening to stop, reflect, and rediscover what freedom really means.
Drawing on the timeless insights of Stoicism, Plato, Buddhism, and Hindu wisdom, we’ll explore how inner freedom begins the moment we stop fighting what’s outside and start understanding what’s within our reach.

You’ll learn to:
✨ Distinguish between what you control and what controls you
✨ Recognize the “inner prisons” built from fear, pressure, and attachment
✨ Begin reclaiming the quiet confidence that no circumstance can take away

This one-night experience is both complete in itself and the doorway into our 6-week immersive workshop that follows.
If this evening feels like a breath of fresh air — if something in you stirs with recognition — the workshop continues the journey, step by step, from understanding to daily practice.
Each week deepens a different layer: self-knowledge, living together, and building a future guided by meaning.

Join us for this free evening — bring your questions, your curiosity, and your longing to feel free again.
Sometimes the most life-changing journeys start with a single conversation.

What To Expect

The session is engaging and interactive — a blend of inspiring ideas, real-life examples, and open dialogue.
You’ll meet others from LA / Pasadena who are also exploring how to live more freely and intentionally.

• Format: short talk + guided reflection + small group conversation
• Atmosphere: warm, curious, welcoming — no pressure, no prior study needed
• Duration: 1.5 hours that fly by (doors open 6:45 PM)

If the ideas resonate, you’ll also hear how to continue the journey in our upcoming 6-week “Freedom Starts Within” workshop — an experiential course that helps you live what we explore in this talk.

Session Details

📅 October 29, 2025

🕒 7:00 - 8:30pm

📍In person at Room 23, Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church
301 N Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena
💵 Free to attend

More About the Full 6-week Workshop

If the introductory session resonates, you’re invited to join the full 6-week FREEDOM Starts Within workshop beginning November 5. Sessions are held weekly on Wednesdays from 7:00–8:30 PM and cover three core modules:

• Self-Development – Awareness, authenticity, inner strength
  
• Living Together – Ethics, community, shared purpose
  
• Building the Future – Cycles of history, collective responsibility
  
  

Topics include:
→ Hinduism and the inner battle
→ Dharma, Karma, and Reincarnation
→ What the Buddha Taught
→Stoic Resilience
→Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Sessions are discussion-based and experiential, offering space to apply philosophy through practice—not just theory.