Therapeutic Yoga for Emotional Health

Therapeutic Yoga for Emotional Health

This Saturday, August 8th, 1-3pm
The Yoga Center of Minneapolis
Preregistration required

Emotions, often defined as energy moving, express on a biological, psychological, and energetic level. They inform you about your reality. More specifically, they inform you about what you believe.

In essence your Emotions are a tool that you've been gifted with. However, few people learn how to effectively utilize them. Yet, if you consider yourself a seeker, in search of your true self, the emotional plane must be traversed.

In Yoga philosophy the self is described as being composed of six different sheaths or koshas. They are:
1. Physical Body (annamaya kosha, awareness of sensations)
2. Energy Body (pranamaya kosha, awareness of breath and energy)
3. Emotional Body (manomaya kosha, awareness of feelings and emotions)
4. Intellectual Body (vijnanamaya kosha, awareness of thoughts, beliefs, images)
5. Joy Body (anandamaya kosha, awareness of desire, pleasure, and joy)
6. Ego Body (asmitamaya kosha, awareness of the witness or ego sense of “I”)

These six sheaths act like veils that cover up your Essential state of being which is unchanging and eternally present.

As you gain awareness of these sheaths your attachment to them lessens. This often occurs naturally as you engage in a regular practice of yoga. However, when you are identified with your emotional body (manomaya kosha) you become whatever it is you are feeling. If you feel happy, you are happy. If you feel angry, you are angry. This would not be such a bad thing if you always felt happy. But, most people experience “negative” emotions that make them feel bad.

To stop feeling your emotions (or at least the ones you don’t like) is not the answer (although many people attempt to do this with drugs, alcohol, TV, excessive business, falsified enlightenment/detachment, etc.).

To just stop identifying with your emotions is easier said than done.

So, what is the answer? How do you shift your relationship with your emotions so they can serve in your best interest and help you navigate earth in an informed way?

Here are some suggestions to explore:
1. Gain tools to help you center yourself in the midst of emotionality. Several yoga practices will be explored in my workshop this Saturday that effectively anchor you in your center where objectivity can be accessed. Such proven tools include meditation, pranayama (breathing techniques), and asana (postures).

2. Create a dialogue with your emotional body. Your emotions are responses to what you believe. What you believe is a result of your conditioning. In Yoga all of your conditioning is referred to as Samskaras or imprints of experience. Samskaras organize and create vibrational patterns that crystallize into belief systems, veils and illusions that keep you from seeing the truth, unhealthy behaviors you have learned, habits you've developed, skewed perspectives that you perceive with, etc. All of your samskaras together structure your body-mind complex or ego identity. Here are steps for dialoguing with your emotional body:

1. ACCEPT IT
If you believe your emotions or a particular emotion is bad you will have a hard time hearing what it is trying to tell you. You are in a state of resistance. Try asking yourself, “what if my anxiety (or fill in the blank) wasn’t bad?” “What is it actually trying to tell me?” When we accept what is we connect with the flow of life and the flow of life is ever-changing. Sometimes the mere acceptance of what it is you are truly feeling allows that emotion to liberate you from the confines of your mind. Rather than remaining powerless to what it is you are feeling it begins to serve you in a positive way by informing you about your reality.

2. FEEL IT
Once you’ve accepted your emotional body, invite yourself to feel it physically. Emotions (energy moving) are meant to flow. However, when we resist them or numb out to them they get lodged in our being and create health issues.

3. NAME IT
As you feel your emotions, name them. “I am sad, angry, anxious, etc.” See if you can describe how it feels in your body and mind: “my heart is racing”, “I want to run away”, “I feel paralyzed with fear”, “my body is trembling”, “I feel like I’m going crazy”, “my hands are sweating”.

4. EXPRESS IT
Emotions express physiologically through our body. The neuro-endocrine system releases hormones that are distributed via the blood stream to every cell in the body which creates feeling states on the physical plane. Sometimes it can be beneficial to support the metabolization of these hormones via movement. For example, a really angry person may find relief and a more receptive state after a kick-boxing class. A sad person may feel lighter after a good cry.

5. CHANGE IT
The intention is not to eliminate your emotional body, but rather have it serve you and your unfolding life. Your emotions are the result of what you believe. To gain freedom from chronic emotional upset you must begin to examine your belief systems and your samskaras or past conditioning. Often the life you live is based on belief systems that you do not actually believe in! There are limitless approaches available to explore the deeper meaning behind your emotions. Here is one simple practice to begin with: (from Traveling Free by Mandy Evans).

1. Choose a belief to explore: “I believe_______________________.”

2. Ask yourself: (all answers are correct)
a. Do I believe that?
b. Why do I believe that?
c. Is that true?

3. Now ask yourself: “What would happen if I didn’t believe that?”

4. Then ask: “Would that be ok?”

Another approach that I have been utilizing for many years is UTUE Clearing. UTUE stands for Universal Truth, Ultimate Education. This system eliminates negative emotions as well as the underlying beliefs, rules, illusions, behaviors, etc that limit us. It works! Feel free to contact me directly if you’d like more information about this approach or visit UTUE online www.utue.org to learn more.

To explore these ideas and learn more about how Yoga can support your emotional health sign up to attend my workshop this Saturday, August 8th, 1-3pm, at The Yoga Center of Minneapolis, Pre-registration required.

I hope to see you there!

Upcoming Yoga Therapy I Workshop

Yoga Therapy I workshop—Building a Foundation
July 17-18 (Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 12-4pm, 5-8pm)
At The Yoga Center of Minneapolis

Preregistration required.

In my Yoga Therapy workshops I present an approach to healing that addresses the universal needs of being a human being while honoring the uniqueness of each individual. Yoga, Somatics, and Energy Work techniques are weaved together to provide a structure for developing an articulate way of working therapeutically with people to help them heal from any ailment.

In Yoga Therapy I—Building a Foundation we’ll explore the most primary need we have as human beings; to feel bonded to the earth and present in our body. When we are not in right relationship with the earth we must fight gravity.

Fighting gravity is a stressful act that makes our bodily environment feel hostile. Because of this, we check out and live in our head. The lack of consciousness below the neck can only continue for so long before the body will demand attention, unfortunately, usually in the form of pain. Sometimes the pain will be physical, other times, emotional or mental as the body and mind are intimately woven together and impossible to separate.

Some of the things we’ll explore in Yoga Therapy I include primary reflexes that were first activated and experienced when we came out of the womb and landed on dry land. These basic reflexes ensure we bond with the earth and feel supported.

We’ll also investigate dysfunction in the first and second chakras and discuss psychophysical dis-eases that occur as a result. Various yoga practices and hands-on-healing techniques will be utilized to integrate and promote healing first and foremost within ourselves.

When we have traveled consciously on our own path we then cultivate greater potential to facilitate others in a positive way.

Please join me at The Yoga Center of Minneapolis on July 17-18 for this transforming workshop!

Blessings,
Amy
www.amypatee.com