Team

Freyja Theaker

My Journey to Naturally Being

For 25 years, beginning at the age of 19, I chanted a Buddhist mantra that conveyed the profound principle of non-duality — the understanding that reality is a conscious middle way, containing both substantial and insubstantial aspects, yet not bound to either extreme. The 13th-century Buddhist founder of this practice urged his followers to summon the conviction that life itself embodies this middle way. Without such conviction, he warned, the chanting would become an empty and painful ritual. With this conviction we were encourage to put our nature into practice by embodying in our activities. A process of alignment referred to as “Human Revolution”.

As I later explored the Direct Path teachings of non-duality with teachers like Rupert Spira and Francis Lucille, I came to recognise this exhortation as an inward call to self-realisation. Chanting, in contrast, became an outward expression of union with the world — almost a tantric practice.

Chanting was deeply positive for me, so long as it was done in this spirit. However, it was also prescribed as a rigid, twice-daily discipline, regardless of circumstance. While the practice urged one to feel this conviction, it often felt more like an act of faith than a lived experience — a belief that life was the middle way, even without a clear path to directly realising it. This framed life as a kind of spiritual battle between light and dark, Buddha and Devil. The remedy for negativity was always more chanting — sheer will over doubt.

For a time, this approach helped me grasp key non-dual concepts and experience their essence. But eventually, a subtle contradiction emerged: if I was truly the ultimate reality, why did I need to continually practice to realise it? This paradox fostered a psychological dependence on the organisation behind the practice — an unspoken message that I needed it in order to fully live this truth. In time, life itself guided me beyond this structure.

That’s when I discovered Human Givens psychology, a holistic approach integrating Sufi insight and neuroscience. Alongside practices of self-love and deeper inquiry into psychological suffering, I encountered the Direct Path teachings of non duality through Rupert Spira and Francis Lucille — this time with renewed clarity. A profound glimpse into my true nature occurred. I saw clearly that there was never any separation between this mind and its source. Wholeness, aliveness, and love were not distant goals, but my natural state — what all those years of Buddhism and psychological work had been pointing toward.

This realisation brought integration. Naturally Being emerged from that — the fruit of lived understanding.

Alongside this inner work, I’ve also been deeply engaged in social enterprise over the years, dedicated to projects that explore how conscious transformation can lead to real-world change. I had the rare privilege of working closely with the visionary futurist Dr. Hazel Henderson. Her insights into ethical economics and planetary well-being deeply influenced me. She helped me see how inner change — when authentically lived — can ripple out to transform communities, systems, and even global narratives.
Today, the conviction I was once exhorted to generate through belief alone arises effortlessly from the clear investigation of experience. I have found no evidence — either through direct perception or rational inquiry — that the beingness I recognise myself to be is in any way dependent on the body, the mind, or any personal identity. Thoughts to the contrary no longer hold sway.

The need for chanting has dissolved into a quiet and consistent resting in being throughout the movements of daily life. I do my best to listen to the body, and together with its natural intelligence, my “human revolution” is to care for it and honour the gift of life — celebrating loving beingness through action in daily life.

The universe itself has become my mandala, and the entire world of living beings — my sangha.

In Naturally Being, I share the distilled wisdom of this journey. Through direct experience, I offer guidance toward a way of life that expresses the wholeness of our shared being — a wholeness that any mind can return to.

I offer this through various meetings and gatherings, each a path toward the direct experience of our true nature.

With love,
Freyja

Please see the following links for my writings:

https://freyjatheaker.substack.com/

My book available on Amazon, Naturally Being, can be found here: https://a.co/d/e07xTee

Thank you to:
The Buddha, Chihi, Nichiren Daishonin, Daisaku Ikeda, Dick Causton, Robert Samuels, Joe Griffin, Ivan Tyrrell, Ervin Maslow, Hazel Henderson, Ramana Maharshi, Michael Langford, Rupert Spira, Francis Lucille, Jenny Beal, Tony Parson, Eckhart Tolle, Jean Klein, Idries Shah, Krishnamurti, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Tara Brach, Dr Margaret Paul