Hi David,
[quote]Some actually do care about others and try.
Which is why we have a religion forum. A lot of good that’s done.[/quote]this is not about your internet-forum.
I give you two examples: I have two very different friends and I told both of them that I started doing “Yoga”. One of them is a very spiritual person, he is a painter and paints a lot of spiritual and socio-critical pictures, he believes in all sorts of religious and new age-stuff, angels, the Mayan calender, reads Castaneda, and so on. When I told him about Yoga, he was all about “wow, great, awesome, I always wanted to do that” and I showed him a couple of things and gave him some videos and suggested him the good ole “Light on Yoga”, and now he’s doing his Yoga. I guess you find this agreeable.
Then I have another friend who is a… motor mechanic and his biggest hobby is his motorcycle. He is not at all interested in spirituality or philosophy, but a very worldy and practical guy, what we have in common is mostly motorcycles and technical stuff. When I told him about Yoga, he was, you know, giving me the dude-that’s-gay-smile, and from his comments it was obvious he thought it was some weakling-stuff for girls. Just like I think YogaHelps boyfriend did. Here I invested even less time to discuss this stuff, as I invested in my other friend giving him information on how to actually start doing Yoga. I told him why many postures look weird and strange, like the triangles for example. I told him that there was hardly another way to hold one’s body to be able to twist the spine, and I told him how relevant a flexible spine is for good health. I told him how we - both around 40 - are approaching “old age” where the body becomes stiffer and stiffer and how we both surely wouldn’t want to end up like all those old people you can see every day, who have immense health problems and have to live with these a quater of their life or even more, which is decades. I told him that many postures look simple and easy, but are actually very hard to do and require a lot of strength, and flexibility. I told him that Yoga-Asanas aren’t only a workout like pumping iron or go jogging, but a more wholistic system, that also addresses the breath, the mind, inner organs, glands, the brain, outer and inner balance, etc. And so on. I took my time to explain to him what Yoga is, because if one “hates” Yoga or thinks it’s for girls only, they suffer from false knowledge.
I could give you another example, my mother. She thought that Yoga would be a lot like religion and that it would not at all be clear that Asanas and breathing- and concentration- and meditation-techniques would definitely work. Told her, convinced her, now she’s doing a bit of Yoga herself too.
Imagine I would’ve just smiled. That’d’ve been better?
Therefore:
How much more peaceful would the world be if only we lead by example and help those who want to have what we have instead of trying to convince (or force) others to be like us.
How would you “lead” them by example? Said mechanic isn’t a bad person, he’s friendly, happy, at peace with himself. What example do you think you could give him? You just happen to know something that he doesn’t and why would you not share your knowledge? How would you be an example? That you are healthy and flexible and strong when you’re 60 while he is not? And then? “Haw haw, told ya!”? No, you have to get them while they’re young. Sure you don’t force anything on them, that’s not working anyway. If one says they don’t care and don’t want to know about Yoga: Fine. But if one expresses a false opinion, why would you just smile instead of curing their desease?
Which, paradoxically, I am on the verge of doing right now.
No, you’re not on the verge, you’re doing just that. To phrase it carefully avoiding imperatives ain’t makin a differenc, D., if you don’t want to change people, shut up. Close this forum. Don’t teach Yoga. Stay at home in your room by yourself.
Therefore, I smile and bow out from further discourse regarding this as I’ve shared my perspective and don’t wish to try and change anyone. 
Yes you do.
It is a basic misconception that one could change anyone. That never works. You can only provide people with the tools necessary to change themselves. And why would you not want this? Explain! It’s like raising a child, you continously provide them with tools to evolve, you provide them with information to replace false knowledge. That’s how they become capable to transform themselves into who they want to be. With adults it’s no different, and as much as you wouldn’t say you’d just smile at a kid that thinks meat comes from the store and candy would grow on trees, you wouldn’t find a reasonable reason to do that to an adult with false knowledge of what Yoga is.
Isn’t that not true? Oh wait, you bowed out already, after you, uhm, “shared your perspective”. :lol:
