Finding your way with RAFT

Individual chapters are available to download in PDF format from RAFT Workbook Downloads & Links.

Using the workbook

The RAFT to Freedom workbook is intended as a practical companion: something to read, return to, question, write alongside, and gradually make your own.

It brings together ideas from secular dharma, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy in clear, accessible language. No previous knowledge of Buddhism, psychology, or any particular approach to change is assumed.

Its concern is with the ordinary human experience of becoming caught: in harmful cravings, compulsions, avoidance, difficult emotions, and patterns of behaviour that can leave us feeling narrowed, disconnected, or out of step with the life we want to live.

The workbook follows the four movements of RAFT: Recognise, Abandon, Feel, and Train. These are not rigid steps to complete perfectly or in sequence. They are strands of a continuing exploration: seeing more clearly what is happening; becoming less entangled in what causes harm; noticing moments when the pull of craving, aversion, or compulsion eases; and cultivating the conditions in which a freer, more caring way of living may become increasingly possible.

The chapters can be read from beginning to end, with each one building on what has come before. At the same time, they are designed to stand alone, offering a practice, reflection, or perspective to return to whenever it feels useful. Some sections may speak immediately; others may become meaningful only later.

Most chapters include:

• Chapter overview: An introduction to the theme and the part it may play in everyday life.
• The RAFT metaphor: A connection between the topic and the shared journey from the dangerous shore towards greater freedom.
• Self-reflections: Questions that create space for pausing, noticing, and considering experience as it is.
• Journalling prompts: Suggestions for exploring a theme more personally, through writing or reflection.
• Practices and experiments: Simple invitations to bring the material into the texture of daily life.
• Supporting material: Brief perspectives from neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy.
• Remember to remember: A few key ideas to carry forward.
• Sutta references: Optional pathways into the early Buddhist texts for anyone wishing to explore further.

Working with the material

The workbook is not a race to the final page. Its value may lie as much in the pauses it creates as in the material it contains: moments of noticing, reflection, recognition, and perhaps a slightly different response.

• A journal may be useful: It need not be formal or polished. A few words, a list, a sketch, or a quiet moment with a question can sometimes be enough. The self-reflections and journalling prompts are simply places where experience can be met with a little more attention.
• Honesty can be gentle: Difficult patterns often become easier to understand when they are approached with interest rather than blame. An old habit, a hard day, or a moment of being caught does not necessarily mean that anything has gone wrong. It may simply bring something into view.
• There is no single pace: Some chapters may invite close attention, while others may be skimmed, set aside, or returned to later. Repetition is not necessarily going backwards. Sometimes an insight needs time before it finds a place in everyday life.
• The middle way may be a helpful companion: There can be times to stay with a question and times to let it rest; times to explore more deeply and times simply to pause. The work need not be forced, but nor does it have to be abandoned when it becomes difficult.
• Practices can remain flexible: Not every reflection or exercise will feel right at every time. Something that feels too much can be softened, adapted, postponed, or left aside. The workbook is intended to support well-being, not to become another demand.
• Nothing needs to be mastered: The supporting material and sutta references are available for anyone who finds them interesting or useful. They are not tests of understanding. The question running quietly through the workbook is simpler: what becomes possible when this moment is met with a little more clarity, kindness, and freedom?

Community and support

You may be the captain, navigator, and crew of your own raft, but no crossing has to be made entirely alone.

For many people, something shifts in the company of others: a friend who listens without trying to fix everything, a group where honesty is possible, or someone who understands a little of the terrain. Connection can bring encouragement, perspective, steadiness, and the reminder that difficult patterns are part of being human rather than evidence of personal failure.

Shared exploration: Some people may prefer to work quietly through the workbook on their own. Others may enjoy exploring a chapter with a trusted friend, a meditation group, a wellbeing community, or one of the RAFT to Freedom meetings.

Wise companionship: The people around us can quietly shape the direction of a journey. Supportive relationships may make it easier to stay close to what matters, especially when old habits or difficult emotions begin to pull strongly.

A place to return to: Community need not mean sharing everything or being constantly involved. Sometimes it is simply the knowledge that others are travelling in a similar direction, and that there is somewhere to turn when the waters become rough.

Suggested meeting formats and a directory of RAFT to Freedom online meetings can be found here.

Remember to remember

RAFT to Freedom is open to anyone who wishes to explore harmful cravings, aversions, compulsive habits, difficult emotions, or patterns that bring suffering.

You do not need a diagnosis, a particular identity, or previous knowledge of Buddhism. An open, caring, curious mind is enough.

There is no harm in dipping a toe in the water.