Yoga and Emotional Healing
All The Feels: What To Do If Hot Yoga Brings Up Negative Emotions.
Understanding the emotional healing that comes with practicing Original Hot Yoga.
We often connect yoga with positive emotions. Relaxed. Open. Peaceful. Free.
While this is a common experience for many people, sometimes, a yoga class can stir up emotions like anger, grief, irritation, sadness, and frustration. Not exactly the picture of blissful zen perfection.
Or is it?
Why do we feel such complexity of emotions in yoga? And, more importantly, what do we do when they come up in the middle of class?
As humans, we tend to compartmentalize ourselves. It’s easier to think that we have a body, a mind, and emotions—all separate from each other. While this is true to a certain extent, we are fully integrated beings. The state of our mind and emotions affect our body and vice versa. Every time we have an emotion or think an emotionalized thought, the body simultaneously reacts. For example, when some people feel stressed, their shoulders tighten. Others might feel discomfort in their stomach. Others experience headaches.
“If physical reactions to stress, anger, sadness, and to positive emotions are this common, it shouldn’t be surprising that we experience emotional responses to their physical release.”
If physical reactions to stress, anger, sadness, and to positive emotions are this common, it shouldn’t be surprising that we experience emotional responses to their physical release.
Which is why…
ORIGINAL HOT YOGA HELPS US TO WORK THROUGH OUR EMOTIONS.
As Erika B. shared in last month’s instructor profile post, yoga helps us physically work through what we might be dealing with emotionally. “When you are in grief, despair, or even joy, hot yoga reorganizes things inside and gives reason to move forward.”
It is common to feel angry, frustrated, sad, or disempowered during yoga practice (read that again). We might feel angry at the person next to us because they didn’t take a shower. Or we might feel frustrated that the room feels too hot or too cool. We might feel like crying for “no reason.” These are all experiences of release.
Because we are stretching, lengthening, compressing, and twisting our bodies, it makes sense that stress lodged in the system might make itself known to be let go. For example, if you tend to tighten the shoulders in response to stress, you might feel a burst of anger or irritation during a shoulder opening pose. If your chest tightens in response to sadness, you might feel like crying or even start crying in a heart-opening posture such as camel.
OPTIONS FOR WHEN YOU ARE FEELING OVERCOME WITH EMOTION.
Let it go. Channel your inner Elsa from Frozen and let the emotions flow—acknowledge that something is being released (and likely needs to be!) and make peace with what you are feeling at that moment.
Sit it out. If emotions feel strong—skip a few postures—it’s ok. Remember—this is your practice—listen to what your body needs and allow yourself to rest in savasana (even if the rest of the class is doing something else).
Any emotion is normal. It is good for the intellect to know that emotional responses during yoga are generally related to releasing stress or some negative emotion moving out physiologically. The more you let them happen, the better you will feel emotionally and physically.
“We can’t force emotions to release, but we can make it easier for the body to release them naturally.”
The last few years have been highly stressful for everyone. Many are grieving. We are working through the trauma of the pandemic—personally and collectively. At Thrive, we advise being gentle and kind to yourself.
We can’t force emotions to release, but we can make it easier for the body to release them naturally. It will usually be unexpected and something we just need to flow with during our yoga practice—keeping in mind that your body is simply healing itself.
One important note: Yoga is not a replacement for therapy or mental health services. However, it can help to move stored stress and tension out of the body, and we are here for all of it.
So what will you leave on the mat next time? And, more importantly, what will it give you in return?
Discover it yourself when you schedule your next class at Thrive Hot Yoga. New to the practice or ready to come back to it? Be sure to click on the new student special if you haven’t been to Thrive in the past 12 months.
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