Some yogis say that emotions are stored in the body, that memories linger on in cells stored

deep in our muscles. When we go into a yoga pose and open a part of the body that has been
mostly left alone until then, we stretch and release muscles that have gone unnoticed for
years. We release tension, and in the process release memories and emotions that were stored
in childhood, and have quietly slept deep in our bones ever since.
So one minute you may be lying on your back, enjoying happy baby, and the next minute you
are flooded with rage and want to punch a baby in the face. You have no idea what triggered
it, there is no reason to be feeling this emotion now, but its here and its real and it has to be
worked through.
Im not sure if I think emotions are stored in our muscles, but it makes perfect sense to me
that yoga brings up emotions. In our practice, we learn to control our breath, to calm our
minds, to help our bodies unwind. At first, this is greatwe sleep better at night, were less
stressed, and we feel great having released the tension from our shoulders. We learn to cope
with our day-to-day stress, to release the muscles we have tensed up with our daily activities.
On the surface, everything is going great. But we are multidimensional beings, with long
emotional histories. We have been sad and scared and lonely in the past, and we have
suppressed old scars and defeats and humiliations just to be able to function in our everyday
lives.
As we learn to connect to our breath, yoga starts working more efficiently.
Stress, anxiety, tensionwiped out! So it starts working on the backlog, trying to sort
through some of that old mess, so you can finally unclutter your innermost being. Things you
havent thought about in years suddenly rise up in Warrior II, and you cant stop crying in
Savasana because youre infinitely sad and have no idea why.
Its easy to feel like a lunatic when one of these emotional tidal waves strikes in the middle of
yoga class. Nobody warned me about this phenomenon, and the first time I experienced it I
was worrying about what other people thought of the tears running down my face instead of
being present and feeling.

Emotions and Yoga poses (Asanas)

Through the practice of yoga many emotions can arise in an individual, both positive and
negative. It is natural for emotions to come up during an asana class, yogic cleansing practice
or during other yogic practices. It?s another form of cleansing. Some people will want to
suppress them, which is normal, but if they are accepted and looked at we can understand a
lot more about ourselves. We will look more into the practice of asanas and their effect on the
emotions.
Everyone knows that each time we practice we feel different on our yoga mat. Some days the
asanas are very easy, sometimes not. Some days we just cannot relax in a pose and sometimes
we cannot balance at all. This is all the effect of the emotions and our state of mind.

There are links between physical performance and the emotional state. If one is fearful then
the muscles will contract and it will be difficult to perform a pose. It is therefore important to
be calm and relaxed when practicing, especially if it is a new pose. Some people have
chronically tight muscles. Yoga will slowly relax the built up tension and the emotions that
underlie this tension. This may cause the emotions to surface for a short time but gradually
these emotions and thought patterns will disintegrate.
It is thought that pent up emotions are held in the internal organs. The emotions influence the
production of stress hormones and puts create muscular tension and this therefore more stress
on the internal organs. Each person internalises their experiences and emotions differently so
we cannot say that one person?s pain in a particular area will be the same as another?s.
In the mind there are only two parts, the positive and the negative. The positive affects the
whole body in a positive way whereas the negative affects the whole body but there is always
a weaker part which will be affected more. With these continual negative patterns more stress
will be put on that part which will cause increased weakness and disturbance.
From another viewpoint the emotional body, manomaya kosha, can get stuck and stop the
energies flowing freely and evenly through the physical body. This can cause the energies and
emotions to get trapped in a particular part of the body. For some people who have anxiety it
may manifest in the abdominal region whilst others manifest it in the throat. The practice of
asanas unblocks the energy currents and therefore the emotions.
Through yoga practice many deep emotions can come up and the emotions on the surface can
be greater understood as well as ways to overcome them. Yoga practice is a time to start
looking at ourselves, not just in our asana practice but in daily life. Swami Niranjanananda
says that asana and pranayam are not the beginning of yoga but the awareness in every action
combining mind, body and spirit is. So the emotions can come up at all different times if you
are following a wholisitic yogic lifestyle. However, asanas can be the triggers for these
releases. Asanas are triggers for emotions to be released. They are a way of moving inside the
body, to connect the body with the mind. By releasing and purging the negative emotions we
become more centred, focused and happy with ourselves.
Yoga makes us more open and we start to notice many things as our awareness grows.
Therefore emotions start to move and surface. Balance and harmonisation begins. Emotions
can surface in anyone, after just starting yoga practice or after practising for many years.
Many times a student will not be able to link the emotion with any event in their life, they
will not understand it, but this is fine. One should just observe the emotion and let it go.
It is common for people to get angry at themselves and may even let out their anger on
others. It is also common for sadness to come up and tears that cannot be explained. Students
may have feelings of inadequacy, laughter and so on. One yoga class in a week may be the
only time a student has to reflect on their life and to relax. Challenging yoga poses can also
raise the emotions. If one is a little competitive one may look at the other students and feel

that they are not good enough, not strong or flexible enough which can lead to decreased
confidence, anger, irritation, sadness and may even stop them from attending class. It is
therefore important that the class environment is very supportive and students should
understand that yoga is an individual practice, not a competition and that we all have certain
poses that we can do better than others. Nobody can do every pose perfectly. Yoga students
should understand the difference between gymnastics and yoga.
Asanas bring up many emotions and the type of asana can have a big influence. However we
should remember that it is not the same for everyone. In general forward bends can be very
confronting when one is very egocentric, when one is stubborn, when one does not want to
look within. They can also be associated with fears. We like to turn around in the world, to
check what is behind us. Some people live in a constant fear of attack from behind and this
leads to tightness in the back, which a forward bend can loosen. The forward bends force us
to look inward at ourselves. We have to surrender if we are to relax in these positions.
Backward bending asanas are connected with the attitude of embracing life, facing life and all
its challenges. On another level some people are known to bend over backward for other
people, to allow others to walk over them. Many times these people find the backbends
easier. Those who find them more difficult can be afraid to face life and what it brings and
can be associated with various fears. There is also what is known as psychic stiffness and this
is broken down with the practice of back bends which help to change and remould the
personality and the conditionings of the mind. On another level one who has had their heart
broken or is very shy may naturally hunch their shoulders and cover their heart, particularly
very tall people who may have been teased in school. Backward bends and standing poses
can be very confronting, exposing and bring many things up.
Twisting positions relate to managing and untangling the knots and twists of life. They help
us to dealing with the problems and obstacles that we all face. Many people feel that their
problems are worse than others, that they do not have the strength to face them. Twists, along
with backbends give us the confidence and energy to learn to deal with these problems.
Inverted asanas turn the world upside down. They give us another insight into our life and
behavioural patterns. They allow us to look at ourselves from another angle. They help to
purify the mind and bring peace and calmness.
Balancing positions are the positions most affected by the emotions. If we are not feeling
balanced in the mind then it is very difficult to balance in one of these positions. These
positions will help to bring calmness, clearness and balance to the mind and body. In
addition to the asana groups discussed the following are some specific poses that can be
useful for release and removal of negative emotions.
* To increase the energy, give courage and face life Surya namaskar (sun salutation),
preparatory movements, backward bends such as bhujangasan (cobra), dhanurasan
(bow),chakras an (wheel) and veerasan (warrior).

* To calm the mind, release anger, introvert, release the ego and surrender vajrasan
yogamudra (childs pose), paschimottanasan (forward bend), karnapeedanasan (folding leg
plough), viparit karni (inverted pose).
* To release pent up emotions(when we just want to go on a mountaintop and scream)
simhasan (roaring lions pose)
* To bring calmness, acceptance and relief restorative poses such as supported uttanpadasan
(legs up the wall), tadagasan (pond pose), supta vajrasan (sleeping thunderbolt) sputa baddha
konasan (sleeping bound angle pose) and koormasan (tortoise).
So what should be done when the emotions come up? It depends on the severity of the
emotion. If it is very mild it is fine to stay in the position and to let it out. But if it is too much
to deal with one should release the position and either do some deep breathing or a counter
pose. If one was in forward bend then a backward bend and vice versa. Sometimes practicing
a little ujjayi breathing can help to remove the tension.
One should acknowledge the emotion and let it pass. Do not try to analyse it just accept and
let it go. Sometimes we may understand it and other times not. It is important to acknowledge
the feeling and to not suppress it and continue with the illusion; otherwise we will not learn
from it and be able to move forward. But we should not stay with that emotion. Instead we
should observe and say to ourselves, I feel angry, or I feel sad or even I feel emotional. From
there the emotions will dissolve.
Many times it is easier to just block the emotions. We should give ourselves permission to
understand our emotions and their effect. The first step to overcoming them is to recognise
the emotions and over time this will lead to acceptance, balance and harmonisation. We
should never feel embarrassed by these emotions; the release of them is a positive thing.
To conclude, not everyone will have emotions coming up, for the majority of people they
have only positive emotions when practicing asanas, and this is normal. It does not mean that
one is not progressing or dealing with the self. We all have different ways of dealing with the
mind. One should just remember that yoga is the practice of balancing the body, mind and
spirit to bring harmony, contentment and bliss.
By Sannyasi Bhakti Ratna (Kate Woodworth) Kate is a senior yoga teacher and yoga
therapist from Yoga Vidya Gurukul (www.yogapoint.com), she is teaching and practicing
yoga for the last 10 years. She is also Resident Officer at Yoga Vidya Gurukul. She is
initiated into Karma Sannayasa by her Guru Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati.
Reference: http://www.yogapoint.com/articles/asanas_emotions.htm

Last summer, Danielle Pagano hurried to her favorite yoga class feeling rushed but happy.
Everything was fine until it came time to relax into Balasana (Childs Pose) just before the
end of class. With her head bowed and attention focused inward, Pagano, a 33-year-old vice
president of an international investment company, began to cry. She spent the next few
minutes struggling to contain herself, and wrote the experience off to exhaustion. When it
happened again the following weekthis time earlier in the asana progressionshe was
stunned.
What had at first been a relaxing hour for Pagano had become a stressful obligation. She
realized that something significant had happened, but she refused to return to class until she
felt confident that an emotional upheaval wouldnt occur again. Not comfortable talking with
her yoga teacher about it, Pagano skipped class for a couple of weeks, choosing instead to
discuss the incident with her therapist.
Though Pagano didnt know it, her experience is a common one, as are the concerns it raised
for her: Was something wrong with her? When would she be able to stop crying? What did
the people around her think? And why did this happen in yoga class and not, say, while she
was eating lunch or taking a walk?
Its a Good Thing

The holistic system of yoga was designed so that these emotional breakthroughs can occur
safely, says Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D., a psychologist and the director of Patanjali
Kundalini Yoga Care in Knoxville, Tennessee, which provides guidance to spiritual seekers.
Yoga is not merely an athletic system; it is a spiritual system. The asanas are designed to
affect the subtle body for the purpose of spiritual transformation. People enter into the
practice of yoga asana for physical fitness or physical health, or even because theyve heard
its good for relaxation, but ultimately the purpose of yoga practice is spiritual development.

This development depends on breaking through places in the subtle body that are blocked
with unresolved issues and energy. Anytime you work with the body, you are also working
with the mind and the energy systemwhich is the bridge between body and mind,
Harrigan explains. And since that means working with emotions, emotional breakthroughs
can be seen as markers of progress on the road to personal and spiritual growth.
That was certainly the case for Hilary Lindsay, founder of Active Yoga in Nashville,
Tennessee. As a teacher, Lindsay has witnessed many emotional breakthroughs; as a student,
shes experienced several herself. One of the most significant occurred during a hip-opening
class. She left the class feeling normal, but during the drive home became extremely upset
and emotional. She also felt shed experienced a significant shift in her psychesomething
akin to a clearing of her spirit. Lindsay felt, as she puts it, released. There is no question that
the emotion came out of my past, she says.
By the next day, her opinion of herself had taken a 180-degree turn. She realized she was a
person who needed to constantly prove herself to be strong and capable, and saw that this was
partly the result of an image instilled by her parents. Her spirit actually needed to recognize
and accept that she was a proficient person and ease off the internal pressure. This realization,
Lindsay says, was life-changing.
Not every spontaneous emotional event is quite so clear-cut, however. Difficult and stressful
breakthroughs occur most often when the release involves long-held feelings of sadness,
grief, confusion, or another strong emotion that a person has carried unconsciously
throughout his or her life.
Whenever something happens to us as a kid, our body is involved, says Michael Lee,
founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, which is headquartered in West Stockbridge,
Massachusetts (see Therapy on the Mat, below). This is particularly true of trauma. The
body comes to the defense of the whole being. In defending it, the body does things to stop
the pain from being fully experienced.
Emotional pain is overwhelming for small children, because they dont have the resources to
deal with it, he continues. So the body shuts it off; if it didnt, the body would die from
emotional pain. But then the body keeps doing the physical protection even long after the
situation has ended.
Painful experiences, Lee adds, can range from small, acute ones to intense, chronic problems.
Still, the mechanism at play is unclear: We really dont understand the body-memory thing,
he says, at least in Western terms.
The Body-Mind Connection

In yogic terms, however, there is no separation between mind, body, and spirit. The three
exist as a union (one definition of the word yoga); what happens to the mind also happens to
the body and spirit, and so on. In other words, if something is bothering you spiritually,

emotionally, or mentally, it is likely to show up in your body. And as you work deeply with
your body in yoga, emotional issues will likely come to the fore.
In the yogic view, we all hold within our bodies emotions and misguided thoughts that keep
us from reaching samadhi, defined by some as conscious enlightenment. Any sense of
unease or dis-ease in the body keeps us from reaching and experiencing this state. Asanas are
one path to blissful contentment, working to bring us closer by focusing our minds and
releasing any emotional or inner tension in our bodies.
Though the ancient yogis understood that emotional turmoil is carried in the mind, the body,
and the spirit, Western medicine has been slow to accept this. But new research has verified
empirically that mental and emotional condition can affect the state of the physical body, and
that the mind-body connection is real.
Many doctors, psychotherapists, and chiropractors are embracing these findings, and are now
recommending yoga to help patients deal with problems that only a few years ago would
have been viewed and treated solely in biomechanical terms.
Hilary Lindsay recently experienced this firsthand. I woke up one morning with my body
completely distorted, she remembers. I went to see a chiropractor, who told me plainly,
Theres nothing wrong with you physically. The doctor suggested she try a Phoenix Rising
session, which she did. The practitioner put Lindsay into some supported yogalike positions
on the floor. He did not focus on anything more than, Heres this pose and how does it
feel? I would say something; he would repeat my word and say, What else? until I would
say there was finally nothing else. The therapist never analyzed or discussed what Lindsay
said, but still, she felt he helped her to see her problem.
When I drove off on my own, I realized my words had just painted a clear picture of my
approach to life, she says. I saw a power-driven maniac who was probably in the process of
driving herself nuts.
As the day went on, she felt physically healed, and attributes that to the emotional outcome of
the session, which the asanas helped her access. In other words, she was able to release the
distortion in her body only by releasing her inner tension.
I did not have any repeat of the symptoms, Lindsay adds, and I felt the calm that comes
with knowing yourself a little more than you did before. The awareness does not occur like
the lightbulb over the cartoon guys head. It doesnt come ahead of its time. The student has
to be ready to receive it.
Forcing the Issue

Teachers are divided as to whether its productive to actually try to raise difficult emotions on
the mat. One shouldnt really try to have an emotional release during asana, but if it
happens, thats fine, Harrigan says, voicing what seems to be the majority opinion.

Ana Forrest, founder of the Forrest Yoga Circle studio in Santa Monica, California, is an
experienced yoga teacher who has had her own emotional breakthroughs both on and off the
mat. She is proud of her intention to push her students towardand throughtheir own
emotional blockages (see Poses That Push You, below). Its not that I push with my
hands, Forrest explains. But when I work with people, I really ask them to go deep, and I
educate them along the way. I tell them, Youre going to hit whats stored in there. Let it
come up and be cleansed out of your cell tissue. Its a gift of the yoga.
At the beginning of each class, Forrest asks her students to pick a spot that needs extra
attention, so you can connect to that spot and then feel what emotion is connected to it. For
example, when a student tells Forrest shes just had her heart broken, Forrest offers this
advice: Challenge yourself to make every pose about moving energy into your heart.
Her approach has worked well for many students, she says, but its not without controversy.
People challenge me on this all the time, Forrest says.
Richard Miller, Ph.D., a yogi and licensed psychologist, says trying to cause an emotional
release is a subtle form of violence, because it suggests that you need to be other than you
are. A true yogic view focuses not on change, he argues, but on self-acceptance on the
students part. In that way, change and spiritual growth will unfold naturally, he says.
Miller, who is also a contributor to The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy,
a collection of essays by meditation practitioners and psychotherapists, stresses that its
important for teachers to neither comment on nor try to help a student through any release.
The moment we become helpers, we become hinderers, he says.
Forrest, however, believes that most people need help with this, as our culture doesnt
educate us on how to work in a healthy way with our emotions, and that without assistance,
many people will remain stuck. Students trust her, she says, because of her own traumatic
past (which includes sexual abuse, she openly shares) and her experiences working through
emotions. Ive had years and years of therapy, she says. Ive still got twisty places inside
of me, but I know how to accept and work with whatever memories need to come up.
Forrest tells her students, Ive walked the road youre on; Im just about 10 miles ahead of
you. But I still have a road to walk. Im not enlightened, but I know what it is to have my
spirit directing my actions.
And its not just the student who learns from the teacher. Forrest says that through her
students, she has grown from having an emotional range of about four inches to a larger
capacitybut theres always a lot of room for breakthrough.
Teardrops on the Mat

When a breakthrough does occureven if its much-neededit can be hard for a person to
cope with it. If there is a release of emotion in a particular asana, according to Patanjalis

Yoga Sutra [II.46-49], the thing to do is relax into the pose, regulate the breathing, and focus
on the infinite to become centered in the deepest aspect of ones self, Harrigan advises.
Harrigan thinks teachers should encourage their students to find a comforting and inspiring
word or mantra to turn to anytime during class and to correlate with their breathing. This is a
centering device that is always at the students disposal, no matter how or when the emotional
release occurs, she says.
I also recommend that people taking a hatha yoga asana class keep a journal of not just the
physical experience but what goes through their minds and their emotional states, Harrigan
adds. This way, they can consider the spiritual aspect of their lives very consciously.
When a student is facing a welling-up of emotion, the most powerful action teachers can take
is to simply offer him or her quiet support. I would teach the teacher not to judge the event
but to observe it with the discriminate buddhi [wisdom] faculty, Harrigan says. In this way,
teachers can help their students disidentify with the feeling but use it later for self-study,
either in yoga class or outas Danielle Pagano did with her therapist. It is always wise,
Harrigan adds, for teachers to be on te lookout for students who might benefit from a
referral to a psychotherapist.
Its important for students to use their buddha minds too, and to get help when they need it.
Whereas Lindsay felt released and was easily able to process her feelings on her own, Pagano
knew she needed to talk with someone. There are times when a good therapistas opposed
to a good yoga teacheris the right choice, agree all the teachers interviewed for this article.
Better yet, says Richard Miller, is a combination of the two approaches. Some therapists
dont have an understanding of the universe as a oneness; instead, they often believe they are
helping their clients to have better lives by supporting them in achieving certain goals or
resolving specific issues, he says. Meanwhile, yoga teachers who speak only of hamstrings
or Pigeon Pose are not communicating a true yogic view of enlightenment or inner
equanimity. The truth, Miller concludes, is that we are not here to try to change ourselves.
We are here to meet ourselves where we are.

Poses That Push You

Asanas are not prescriptive for emotional issues in the same way they can be for issues in the
physical body. But most of the yoga teachers interviewed for this story agree that some poses
seem to initiate emotional responses more than others.
Camel, hip openers, and lunges Ana Forrest suggests. Camel because of its immediate
impact in exposing the heart, hip openers because they tap into the vital feelings stored in the
area, and lunges because theres a lot of unchanneled potential and power in the thighs.
Twists and backbends can also trigger an emotional release.

However, what works for one person may not work for another. You cannot demand release
and expect a response, although you can certainly, as Forrest asks of her students, listen to
your body and discover where it needs to untie an emotional knot. If your heart feels heavy, if
your stomach is constantly in turmoil, if your inner child needs comforting, you can create an
asana and Pranayama program specifically for your condition, the same way you might
practice inversions or balancing poses if you want to challenge yourself physically.

Therapy on the Mat

As a longtime devotee of both the therapy couch and the yoga mat, I was curious how the two
blend together in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
Michael Lee created Phoenix Rising specifically to help students cope with emotions. It
combines assisted yoga postures, breath awareness, and nondirective dialogue based on the
work of Carl Rogers, in which the therapist acts as a sounding board, repeating much of what
the student says to allow her to stay with her own train of thought.
Lee drew inspiration from his own encounter with emotions on the mat in the early 1980s. He
was living in an ashram where morning practice took place each day at 5:30. Every day for a
year and a half, the guy on the mat next to me would get about one-third of the way through
class and begin to sob profusely, Lee remembers. Some people found it disturbing. One
day, I said to him, Whats going on?
I dont know, the man answered. I just get overwhelmed by sadness. I try to hold back a
little so I dont bother people. It turns out that he had been experiencing these intense
outbursts every morning for 10 years.
The guru had previously instructed the man to just stay with his practice, because he
believed his emotions would work themselves out through asana alone, Lee recalls. But
even back then, I thought the experience required a more integrated approach.
Lee talked with the man extensively about his experience and, in helping him, created
Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. He launched the program at the DeSisto School for
emotionally troubled teens in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1986, building on his background in
group dynamics from the psychology movements of the 1970s. (Lee is not a licensed
psychotherapist.) Practiced by yoga teachers, bodyworkers, physical therapists, and
psychologists, the method aims to bridge the gap between body and mind. Unlike traditional
therapywhich might focus on eliminating a phobia or improving a skill, such as
communication between spousesPhoenix Rising sessions focus on helping people
recognize their own bodys wisdom and get to the source of emotions that may be causing
aches and pains, physical or otherwise.
I wanted to experience the method for myself, so I turned to Carol S. James, one of 1,012
Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy practitioners around the world. We began by talking on a

couch, where James asked me about my health, state of mind, and background. After telling
her about a few things that were troubling my mind on that particular day, we moved to
another area in the softly lit room, where we sat facing each other on a large, puffy mat.
James asked me to focus on my breath, which brought me into the moment and allowed me to
begin to talk.
Throughout the session, she moved me into very gentle supported poses (backbends, forward
bends, and leg stretches), almost the way a personal trainer might stretch a client at the end of
a workout. She asked me to tell her more about my thoughts, and repeated many of my
words. The session sounded something like this:
I feel sad that Im 40 and alone.
Youre sad that youre 40 and alone.
Its surprising. I didnt expect this to happen.
Youre surprised. Tell me more about that.
And so on, until I found myself leaning back, physically, directly onto Carol and telling her
morea more I had never gotten to before.
The experience of physically leaning on someone while revealing myself to the person was
one of the most profound I have ever had. During my session, I felt a connection to my
deepest self, the self that is at peace. The combination of discussion and touch was sweet and
deep.
At the end of the session, my heart was as open with love toward myself as it had ever been.
The emotional breakthrough was not traumatic but physically and spiritually enlightening. I
hate to glibly paraphrase Bob Dylan, but I truly felt released, and as Richard Miller said, I
met myself right where I was, with love.
Donna Raskin is a yoga teacher and writer in Rockport, Massachusetts, and
author of Yoga Beats the Blues.

Observations
Psychotherapy

About

Yoga

and

Primal-Oriented

by Cindy McNellis

In my experience and hindsight, when I'm not regularly doing a yoga routine the
feelings that surface for me are usually appropriate/perfect for what I'm prepared
to deal with at the moment. When I was doing it almost daily [for 45 minutes or
so, and fairly intensely], it seemed to trigger more and bigger/deeper feelings
than I was prepared for. It took me years before I made the connection.
The yoga I mostly do/did was Astanga or Power yoga, which engages the breath,
bandas [internal locks], stretching and mental focusing all at the same time, so it
was pretty intense stuff. So I would say yes, definitely, doing a regular routine
can really help to access deeply repressed feelings. But I have lived alone for
some years and done most of my primalling on my own without a therapist, so
what was coming up was sometimes too much to handle comfortably. I realized
later that I was 'pushing it' by doing yoga and so I cut right back.
The feelings don't normally come up while I am actively doing the postures
although this does happen occasionally. They usually surface hours or days later
- that's why it took me so long to connect the two. As for getting insights - they
would come along with or after I primalled the feelings. So I would say that the
insights are indirectly related to yoga practice since the postures precipitate the
feelings and these feelings/primals in turn give us the insights.
I recently had the insight that my suicide attempt when I was in my early
twenties was probably influenced by doing yoga. At the time I had been
interested in yoga and Eastern philosophy for a few years and had started a
regular hatha yoga practise a few months before. I couldn't understand why I
was feeling so bad since yoga was supposed to bring balance, tranquillity etc. My
thought now is that doing the postures and breathing was 'shaking the tree,'
breaking down my defences before I was ready to deal with what was
underneath. I think it's likely that many people who are doing yoga and other
bodywork have this experience and just aren't making this connection.
In the book Power Yoga, author and Astanga Yoga teacher, Beryl Bender Birch,
writes about yoga and emotional release. She says: "You cannot work day after
day on "opening" the muscles, cells, joints, and connective tissue without
affecting the nervous system and the emotional condition. The emotions have to
be stored somewhere. . . . If it was a painful memory, it seems to become
insulated, like a physical injury does by scar tissue. These little insulated pockets
create blocks, detours, and limitations."
Each of us is unique and this includes our accessability to feelings. I once taught
a class in which a woman who had not done yoga for years participated. She told
me that when she had done it years before she had had an unpleasant kundalini
experience and so was a bit cautious. The next day or so, she complained to me
that the yoga had been too much. Shortly after that she came to a weekend

group intensive I was at. A few weeks after that she had a psychotic episode and
ended up in the psych ward for a few days. She did come out of it and is okay
now, as far as I know. But it didn't take much to put her over the edge.
I read [part of] a book by Gopi Krishna called Kundalini where he tells of his
extremely unpleasant experience of kundalini awakening. It went on for years
and was brought about by long periods of intense meditation. He believed he
was going crazy and no yogi or any so-called enlightened people he sought out
could tell him anything helpful as they themselves had no experience with this.
So, I have reached a place in my process where I occasionally do some yoga
because I enjoy it, but I don't feel the need to encourage anything more to
surface. I happened to glance at a recent posting of yours where a doctor told
you access to feelings dulls with age. This makes sense since our armour
thickens as we age if we continue to repress our feelings. As well, many people
as they age get "stuck in their ways" and don't recognize or acknowledge their
feelings as being the problem.
For me it's been a progression of what I have been able to handle. E.g., as I let go
of addictions and compulsive behaviour, the feelings become more intense but I
become more able to handle them. The feelings get stronger but so do I. I
believe that deep emotional release work like this is very high level spiritual
practice. If we are dedicated and consistent, the results are phenomenal and life
changing.
I think if we are getting too much or not enough, we might need to wonder if we
are being compulsive at all. Or maybe not recognizing that whatever is here is
just perfect.

Many have written that the ability to primal becomes easier as we lower our Pain
level with primals. However, the issue Dr. Graham Farrant was considering in,
"The Problems of Aging" was the efficiency of primalling by an older person
compared with that of a younger person. He felt that, when all things are
considered, the younger brain is more efficient at accessing and processing a
primal feeling. As you noted above, the process usually becomes easier as lesser
pains become resolved. However, when that happens, we also become more able
to connect to earlier and more severe traumas because they are now easier to
access and resolve. Oftentimes the material may not present itself for resolution.
The more traumatic material is often kept for the end phase of the primal
process. This can become an issue for a person who has a lot of pain to feel and
who began the process much later in life. Dr. Frarrant writes, "Many in their
sixties, however, haven't gotten as much out of therapy as people in their
twenties and thirties with similar problems." The sad truth is that if you begin
primalling late in life and have severe traumas, you may not live long enough to
process all of your repressed major traumas.
-- John A. Speyrer, Webmeister, The Primal Psychotherapy Page