Darlings,

The Emancipation Proclamation consists of 2 orders by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. The first was issued on Sept. 22, 1862, declaring the freedom of all slaves in any state of the Confederate States of America that did not return to the Union control by Jan. 1 1863. The 2nd order, issued in Jan. of 1863 named 10 specific states. The main purpose of the proclamation was to restore peace and Union control amidst the civil war. The Emancipation Proclamation granted freedom to thousands of slaves. Till the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy had used the slaves to cater to war time effort. They formed the spine of the Confederacy by handling root requirements like sewing uniforms, catering, utility repairs, farm and factory work and common labor. The declaration reversed the strength on the two warring sides and defined the outcome of the struggle.

Please don't yawn.

We need to know WHERE we came from to know where we are and where we are going.

We might not have been slaves, but on some level, in our lives, we are slaves to something.

We celebrate this time of freedom and acknowledge that which we might be able to look at in our lives and free ourselves from, on or off the mat. Use your postures. Use the time on the mat to explore where you can be free and use the inspiration of what you feel and hear.

Emancipation means...

Liberation,

freedom,

liberty,

Independence,

salvation.

Celebrate it in history and celebrate it here in your life now.

The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self. - Albert Einstein.

With senses, mind and intellect, under control, having liberation as the prime goal; free from lust, anger and fear, such a sage is verily liberated. - Bhagavad Gita

The emancipation of out physical nature is in attaining health, of our social being in attaining goodness and of ourself in attaining love. - Rabindranath Tagore

Freedom had its life in the hearts, actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from it's life giving roots it will wither and die. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than to be able to decide. - Napoleon Bonaparte

You have freedom when you're easy in your harness. - Robert Frost

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. - Albert Camus

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. - Moshe Dayan

We feel free when we escape, even if it be from the frying pan into the fire. - Eric Hoffer

Freedom is that instant between when someone tells you to do something and when you decide how to respond. - Jeffrey Borenstein

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. - George Washington

True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right. -Brigham Young

Today, you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you. - Dr. Seuss.

Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for. - Tennessee Williams

Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you chose. Anything less is s a form of slavery. - Wayne Dyer

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires. - Nelson Mandela

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has freedom. - Malcom X

It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. - Chuck Palahniuk

The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world. - George H. W. Bush

Freedom is the basic condition for you to touch life, to touch the blue sky, the trees the birds the tea and the other person. Thich Nhat Hanh

The truth shall make you free. - Jesus

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. - Janis Joplin

All the great things are simple and many can be expressed in a single word - freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. - Winston Churchill.

For the full yoga practice with these quotes and this intention, please log on to www.YogiChocolate.com and get moving and inspired.

Yours,

Lady