A Mere Suggestion

A mere suggestion: 

what yoga offers, through its deepest and most subtle teachings, is freedom, a true realization of our independence of spirit and mind - even the asanas and pranayama are designed to help the body be strong and free of illness and disease. This is the importance of seeing the full spectrum of yoga, everything it offers from the beginning ethical guidelines all the way to the final goal of deep meditation. It's a complete school of education on living our lives to the fullest capacity of being human. 

and all of it a mere suggestion. 

there are no demands made with yoga, no punishment, nor is there sin of any kind. Yoga is similar to Buddhism in this way, in fact the too are intimately related in thought and origin. Both offer a path of liberation, a practice, meant to free us from the needless suffering of our mistaken belief systems. They simply show us a way to move forward through a life that holds no small degree of hardship and sorrow, not promising us anything other the benefits of our effort. The practice is just a mere suggestion, asking us only to try a single step along a well tread, ancient path of wisdom and freedom. 

for me, the beauty of yoga is that it's based on mere suggestions, that if we follow the guidelines of its ethical teachings, just to the best we're able, we'll be happier, more fulfilled, and perhaps most importantly, we will aid other people through their sorrows. The asanas too simply suggest that if we move in a certain way, regularly, our bodies will be more supple, stronger, energetic and free of disease. This leads us to meditation, a suggestion that our minds can know a deeper sense of reality, relaxed, responsive to the shifting motion of the world. Meditation is offering us freedom from a distracted, thought-filled mind, one that clings to illusions even in the face of what reality shows. 

yoga is the mere suggestion of our freedom. 

and it offers us a way, a path. 

none of this is rigid, it's a lifestyle of consideration, observing choices, surrendering long cherished view points and being open to new ideas. Practice doesn't demand perfection, nor even adherence, only awareness and best effort in pivotal moments of our choices. The path of yoga is a mere suggestion, nothing more...

and life proceeds from here. 

~

Peace, Eric