This may indeed come as a surprise. Why is it that when you come to a yoga session you can feel very strong, almost debilitating emotions?
The body and emotions
The practice of Yoga takes a holistic approach. In other words, it addresses your whole being. This comes from the understanding that everything is intrinsically linked. Only the mind can divide and categorize. However, the real, the concrete is, one is only one thing.
Body and emotions are inseparable. When you bring awareness to your experience, unconscious releases take place. By stretching the body, bringing the breath into it, opening it up (i.e. moving the body in space) and releasing tensions, conscious or unconscious emotions and traumas reveal their stored presence in deep tissues, muscles and joints.
The energetic circulation brought about by the postures, whose primary vocation is to cleanse the body from within, to harmonize it so that it becomes an optimal receptacle for life's potential, also participates in this profound process of alchemical transformation.
Am I normal?
Don't panic if this happens. The best thing to do is to welcome the emotion that arises and let it work its way in and out of you.
Offer this process a kind, present gaze.
However, if the emotion is too intense (creating a panic or anxiety attack), take a break. Change your posture or lie down on the floor. It's never a question of self-flagellation. Give yourself time to welcome it.
If you're apprehensive about the practice because the emotion in question resurfaces every time, remember that this is just a moment on your path when asanas and self-exploration literally offer you a form of therapy.
If you want to know whether what you're feeling is part of the healing process, or part of a course you don't feel comfortable with, trust yourself. Deep down, you usually know. What's more, a distinguishing feature will be how you feel during practice and afterwards. When the magic of yoga takes place and unfolds in your consciousness, its beneficial effect can be felt very clearly. A clear feeling of healing and soothing follows.
PS: This article is aimed at people who experience a feeling of sadness or trauma during their session. However, some people will also feel anger, joy and beatitude. Any emotion can be unblocked. Beyond notions of positive and negative, this is a neutral process of internal cleansing.
Marie Mazeau, Lifexploratrice, certified full-time Yoga teacher in Paris, specialising in gentle, joyful, educational and meditative sessions online, for individuals, associations, companies and studios.