The Great Revolution of 1776 vs. 2025
Coming Home to Ourselves
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [beings] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
excerpt from The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson (primarily) and other revolutionaries.
Most people think of July 4th, Independence Day, as a celebratory vacation day. It’s an opportunity to head to the Cape, enjoy a barbecue with friends & family, crack open a beer and take in a small-town parade. Or it might mean driving into Boston to hear the Pops perform Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture while fireworks explode and light up the summer night.
(or, if you are like me, as darkness nears - retreat to your basement with your dog to keep her from shaking uncontrollably and jumping out of her fur)! 🐕🥹
Yesterday, on July 4th, I quietly sat by my favorite pond with my dog watching the sun set and contemplated the question, ‘What is Independence Day truly about?’ It feels pertinent to question the significance of this holiday during these trying times. I read the Declaration of Independence, looked up the words I didn’t fully comprehend and researched facts about the document I did not know. And this is where I landed:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all (beings) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable* Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
*unalienable - fundamental rights that cannot be taken away.
This portion of the Declaration has been widely repeated through the centuries as we were looking looking to a ‘daddy’ figure (a government, a system, a savior), to grant us life, liberty, and/or happiness. But I believe the modern revolution is meant to resonate through our bodies. THIS is the revolution of self-love…the revolution that will truly change our planet, one Being at a time!
And here’s something wild… 😳
The astrology right now mirrors the sky on July 4, 1776, the day the Declaration was signed!*
*and actually, July 4th is the date the Continental Congress officially adopted the final wording of the Declaration of Independence. It was not signed until August 2nd, but the date on the document reads July 4th, 1776.
Yes. The same cosmic energies are in play.
And as we all know in our bones, we are once again in revolutionary times. This time, however, there is a great spiritual awakening happening on the planet and the revolution is happening from within. 💥
We are remembering that these are divine birthrights, given not by a government or a flag, but by the Creator, by Source Itself, and Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness lives inside each one of us.
This is the Revolution. This is the Great Awakening.
And even though ‘daddy’ is trying to conquer us with fear and control, the modern revolution is actually NOT being fought with muskets or slogans.
It’s unfolding quietly, powerfully, within hearts, bodies and breath.
When someone tells us we are beautiful, smart, or worthy we don't truly believe it unless we feel it inside - unless it resonates in our bones.
That is what we are doing together in Embodiment Yoga.
We’re not escaping the world. We’re returning to our bodies - to our living temples.
WE ARE CALLING OURSELVES HOME. And in doing so, we’re practicing a deeper kind of independence. One that doesn’t come from permission, validation, or approval from the outside.
We are learning to come into our bodies, empty out of the messages from society and the voices in our heads, and fully FEEL and KNOW - I am worthy. I am free. I am my own source of joy.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”
This is the inner knowing that arises when we come home to the body. It’s the truth that does not need external validation - that we are worthy, whole, and divine by nature, simply because we exist. The body, breath, and heart already know this. Together we practice remembering this truth.
“…that all [beings] are created equal…”
Embodiment Yoga teaches Oneness, not hierarchy. I am simply leading and learning beside you as we go…
When we step onto the mat or into ceremony, we’re not seeking status but rather returning to a field of emptiness and equality, a sacred space where every being is honored. The divine lives in each of us equally, regardless of race, gender, or background. Embodiment Yoga helps restore this equality within, especially for those who’ve been told by culture or trauma that their body is not safe, sacred, or lovable.
“…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are not privileges a nation grants us! They are birthrights. Embodiment Yoga is the art of reclaiming them.
Life: We reclaim it when we feel again, when we breathe fully, when we anchor into the present moment.
Liberty: We reclaim it when we unshackle ourselves from fear, shame, and societal conditioning!
Happiness: In Embodiment Yoga, we are reconnecting with the deep joy of being in alignment with ourselves. This is how we find true, deep, quiet joy.
Embodiment Yoga & Self-Love
Self-love is not a luxury; it is a radical act of remembering our divine inheritance.
We are not asking a government or external authority for permission to be free. We are remembering that we already are free.
This is what I believe the founding fathers, consciously or not, touched upon when they wrote those words. But they were just scratching the surface.
Now it’s our turn to take back our power and to EMBODY these unalienable Rights.
Let the fireworks light the sky and let the real revolution begin in your heart.
With Immense Amount of Love & in Devotion to the ONE HEART
♥️ Jilli Ray Goldman
New Classes Announcements 📣
My yoga teaching schedule is ramping up as we need to be together in an energetic field where we can expand & grow into a place of worthiness and self-love.
Starting on Wednesday, July 23. I will be teaching Restorative Yoga at Revolution Community Yoga in Acton. I would highly recommend their New Student Special which is $30 for 2 weeks of unlimited yoga. I would LOVE to see you there!
New Student Special Revolution Community Yoga Acton ← click here.
Starting on Thursday, July 31. Restorative Yoga in my Home Temple from 6-7:15pm. Put this in your calendar as a deliciously nourishing weekly class. There is NOTHING TO DO. Just show up in your most comfy clothes. I will send out more information as the date draws near.
Starting on Monday, August 4. Embodiment Yoga in my Home Temple from 6-7:15pm. This will also be a weekly class that is movement and meditation based. And as most of you know, ANYTHING goes.
AS ALWAYS I am at Prana Hot Yoga (Choice Fitness in Chelmsford) on Saturdays from 9:30-11am. You can come as a potential member of the gym if you reach out to them.
Choice Fitness Chelmsford ← Call the gym and ask for a free first-time pass.
And there are MANY surprises to come including Monthly Temple Circles, guest yoga teachers, Musical Events and more!
If you wish to read this Declaration of Independence in its entirety, as it is fascinating and pertinent to these times, here it is!
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Thank you for reminding us of the founding principles of this country. America was born from an act of courage born of divine wisdom through self inquiry. And then again is courage needed if there is nothing to fear?
Like you explained, the cosmic clock cannot be paused. The experiment has played out its due course. Natural laws will always prevail over those which are concocted in our heads.
What an amazing document! I dare say its authors would have been far more aligned with your embodiment yoga than with anything associated with the governance of our country today.
How fascinating that there are cosmic correlations! Thank you for sharing. ✨