On an ordinary day during the usual yoga class just practicing asanas as always and suddenly you see in your mind’s eye how to kill your yoga teacher and everyone in the room if you must stay in this silly, meaningless pose for another second! You set your jaw, maybe want to cry or run away and feeling so angry! Did it happen with you…maybe? Have you ever felt this…maybe?
Congratulations! I have to tell you that you are absolutely normal; just doing Yoga!
Some on a spiritual path feel that it's unacceptable to feel anger, and end up dangerously bottling it up inside where it can fester, grow, and eventually explode. But anger is a natural emotion, and must be experienced. Like all emotions, it is a complex, ever-shifting state involving thoughts, feelings, and bodily changes. It comes in several forms, including outrage, frustration, jealousy, resentment, fury, and hatred. It also masquerades as judgment, criticism, and even boredom. Good news that spiritual traditions such as yoga can teach us how to react skillfully to anger without repressing it.
But first of all, why can it happen with you during your yoga practice? Good question! Well, have you ever seen an ostrich, this funny big butt bird with tiny little head? Relating to popular belief, ostriches bury their heads in sand when they are frightened because they think when you do not see you are not seen, too. Contrary to popular belief, ostriches do not bury their heads in sand. Sorry for disappointing. When threatened, ostriches run away or cause serious injury and death with kicks from their powerful legs.
As opposed to ostriches humans love to bury their heads ‘in sand’ when they are frightened and forget everything that cannot see. We use our body as a huge container. During our lives we are pack every memory, frustration, fear, pain and further emotions in it. Of course, life goes on and we usually forget these crabby things but our body never forgets! That’s the simple reason of our blocks in our bodies usually find in our hips and back and neck and so on. I guess these unsympathetic areas are familiar for everyone. When we are practicing yoga, finally we are indirectly working with these blocks in the deep. It means that sometimes you have surprising emotions during the practice like anger which is the best what can happen with you. Why? Because it means that you are working on yourself! You even do not have to know the history of your blockages, just let them go and let yourself feel!
Ok, but what if anger stays with you? Practice more! That’s it, that’s all. The ancient yogis didn't have access to the sophisticated knowledge of anger's biochemistry. But their mind-body-energy concepts are a fairly good analogue for the model that researchers apply to anger now that partly explains why yoga is such an effective approach to dealing with it. In yogic theory, asanas, pranayama, and meditation comprise a comprehensive toolkit for freeing up blockages at the mental, physical, or energetic level. In fact, with a growing body of research backing yoga's effectiveness as anger ‘de-fuser’ physiologists regularly recommend yoga to their patients. And asanas may be the best yogic antidote for anger because they allow you to move the energy! So riding the waves and go with the flow! First of all breathe as I tell you all the time! Switch your focus from your physical body to your breathing and the energy inside you. This switch can lead to emotional release as the prana carried in the breath penetrates blocked areas of the body and their associated blockages in the psyche. Simultaneously, relax your muscles as much as possible to help remove physical blocks to feeling the wave of energy. The wave's spontaneity and intensity can be frightening, spurring you to defend yourself by tensing up. Cueing yourself to relax enables the wave to continue doing its psychically liberating work Then, feel! Focus on the wave's sensations and investigating their qualities. What's their mood, color, texture, shape? Where do you feel them most intensely in your body? After answering these questions simply stay present with the wave of sensation when it moves through you and you can make discerning choices about how to respond to it rather than reacting to it. Then finally allow happening. Trust the intelligence and positive outcome of the wave and not resisting it. Yes, you can go through this during the yoga class. Let yourself crying! Let your emotions come up! Do not worry that anybody watches you. All yogis around you! Dig in these moments as wonderful possibilities! Yoga is not an obligation but a beautiful present in your life.
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