Pain and Suffering

Pain is an alarm system for our body.  When something happens to threaten the well being of our body or mind pain shouts out "hey there is a problem, fix the problem NOW".  This motivates our behavior to heal and repair the area where pain is coming from.  If we do not act on this motivation then suffering starts.  Suffering comes from a repeated failure to relieve the cause of pain.  Anything numbing or even avoiding the cause of pain undermines our ability to correct the behavior leading to more pain and suffering.

Pain is our friend, acting like an early warning to our body and mind.  If we pay attention to what the pain is telling us and take the time to correct the problem, suffering will not happen.  Too often we make excuses for pain in our lives and avoid the cause of pain.  This only leads to more pain and complications set in leading to eventual long term suffering.

We have all had pain, the question is how do we deal with our pain or do we let the pain grow into suffering?  Once we recognize the cause of pain and suffering are we willing to make the corrections needed to alleviate the symptoms?

Only with mindfulness and motivation can we break the cycle of pain leading to suffering.  This is one of the great gifts Yoga brings into our lives mindfulness, present moment consciousness to see out lives for what they really are.  Yoga offers us the opportunity to live lives with minimal suffering because ewe are table to identify causes of pain sooner and be motivated to find correct solution to the cause.