the role of self acceptance in obtaining enlightenment~ part 1

so what’s your biggest obstacle in obtaining enlightenment? blocked nadis?, the granthis?, closed chakras?, slumbering kundalini? how about self acceptance? that’s right, ancient yogic tradition teaches the value of self acceptance for one who treds the spiritual path. the path of yoga, as the path of any spiritual practice begins where you are at. if all our character flaws and neurotic tendencies were already perfected, what would be the need of practice? if we were already ‘perfect’ we would already be in perfect union with ‘the divine’.  the physical practice of yoga asana is a preparation for meditation. physically we need to be able to sit for a period of time to meditate, and this requires a strength of the back and legs. yogic tradition teaches that lack of self acceptance results in illness, and so surely this cannot promote our path towards enlightenment. but how do we stop judging the flaws we see within ourselves? often we think we accept the flaws in others although we fail to accept the flaws within ourselves.  this however is self deception, for we cannot truly be accepting of others if we are not first accepting of ourselves. it is said that without self acceptance one can never fulfill their purpose in this life, so without self acceptance how can our life ‘have purpose’? and how, if we do not already, become accepting of our ‘self’? as with all journeys, it begins with the first step, and this step is awareness.