I am so overwhelmed with spiritual growing.  I have no formal religious background.  Where do I start?  I believe in a spiritual entity.  And that we are all connected.  I believe there was a man named Jesus that walked the face of the earth and was given information from god.  I do not worship Jesus like Christians religions.  I do not believe in an entity called the devil.  I do not believe my Great Spirit would create such a thing.

Your book on Love makes many references to the love relationships of male/female couples. I am half way through the book and I have yet to see the principles of the book applied to same gender couples.  Is there a difference? Or perhaps it is your belief that same gender couples cannot be in a state of loving relationships.

(From Italy) These last two years I tried to know myself, love myself and hoping to understand that if I don’t love myself nobody can do. I tried to practice the path of love and truth and understanding. Everything was ok until I fell in love. After the first part, romance, paradise etc, things went wrong, he vanished literally, then I became the worst person I ever met. I cheated, lied to friends, cared for nobody else but my feelings for him. I lied to him too just to stay with him. Am I a person who lies, who can kick friends just to have what she wants? How can all my work on my ethic disappear in two months for something like love? I felt despise for my behaviour but I still did it. But I also discovered I’m not the good girl I thought to be, maybe I don’t deserve love till I don’t change. I’m not only confused I don’t know from where to begin.

I’ve been struggling with a negative body image/unhealthy relationship with food for about 5 years. Recently it has spiraled out of control and I feel like I’ve hit my lowest point. I tried going to therapy but didn’t find what I was looking for, so about 9 months ago I turned to yoga, meditation, and your book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga for guidance. Reading your book and others really opened me up to my spiritual being and being conscious in the present moment. I realize that my body and food does not define who I am really am. However, even though I understand and embrace the concepts in your book, I’m still struggling with out of control binge eating. Each morning I review the spiritual law of the day, perform the sun salutations, and try and meditate for at least 5 minutes (meditation is a struggle for me) but when the afternoon rolls around all I can think about is food. I start eating and don’t stop until I’m extremely full. It’s as if I become unconscious and don’t know what has hit me until I feel so sick and disgusted with myself.

Is there hope for freedom from this suffering?

I seem to have father issues..I am sure its set some limits on my life…..my dad is 80 I am 56….I’ve asked my dad to “connect and relate” with me, to hear me correctly, to allow common ground and understanding and to join the vision……….he seems unwilling or unable to do any of that….saying things like i have more important things to do….we email a lot but its mostly fighting or him twisting what i think are good normal intentions and desires to be heard understood and feel loved(i do have lots of other loving friends)…. he mostly seeks to avoid or be a void….and this is years of this….any insight? Thanks