How can Yoga help you to release blocked emotions

When I started yoga, I was driven by curiosity and a way to lose weight and look skinnier. On the back of my head was a deep wish that it will also calm my busy mind but I was not strongly believing it could. I considered yogis to away with the fairies which I was not as I have always been a very pragmatic person. I need to see things with my eyes to believe in them. So the mind body connection was a very remote concept for the 25 years old I was. One day I cried in a yoga class, thinking of my grandfather which passed away recently and from that day I knew yoga was not just movements. I had seen how it could emotionally shake me up and there was no way back. 

Why does our body store emotions? Mind body connection and emotional intelligence

I think the first thing to understand is that our body and mind are interconnected. Stress is a great example to explain this. We believe stress only happens in our heads but there is a set of physiological responses when we are stressed affecting our physical body. For example:

-       the heart beats faster to push blood to the muscles and vital organs so you can move quickly

-       blood pressure rises

-       small airways in the lungs open wide so you can take in as much oxygen as possible

-       extra oxygen is sent to the brain, increasing alertness

-       pupils dilate to allow more light into the eye

This is our Fight or Flight response. It may start in ours heads, but our bodies are massively involved too.

Most of us were told not to express emotions too openly. I think we can all remember as kids when we were told not to cry, not to get upset, not to basically feel any negative emotions. It was pretty similar for the positive ones: we were told to keep them to a minimum and not get over excited right? We did not learn how to process them at school either so here we are grown up still not able to do it. And because we did not let those emotions flow freely, some may have stored into the body. 

How can the body even store emotions?

Every human body is made with fascia It is basically a connective tissue holding everything together, surrounding every organ in the body, around muscles bones, blood vessels, just under our skin. It allows organs to glide against each other with some of lubrification. 

It was recently discovered that fascia was mostly made of water molecules, it’s almost liquid. And water has the ability to store emotions.

When we have traumas or emotions, our whole body reacts in fight or flight, and fascia can retain these experiences. When we stretch and relax the muscles, we also stretch the fascia and what is stored may escape. That’s why for example you may feel an array or emotions when doing hip openings. 

Why the hips more specifically?

It all starts with our psoas, also called the muscle of the soul. The psoas is the principal muscle associated with physical stability. It stretches from the legs to the spine and is the only muscle connecting the legs to the spinal column. The psoas is connected to the diaphragm. Breathing is modulated at the diaphragm, and it is also the location where many physical symptoms associated with fear and anxiety manifest. 

Trapped in a constant “flight or fight” state, psoas muscles are stressed and constricted, almost from the time of birth. This situation is exacerbated by our sedentary modern lifestyle, further constricting our psoas.

This lifelong chronic stress put on the psoas can lead to many problems like back, hip, or knee pain, and even digestive issues and dysfunctional breathing.

By restoring balance to your psoas muscles, you are likely to release this retained tension, which can have a profound effect on releasing unfounded fearfulness about life, and thus improve both your physical and mental wellbeing. 

When we open our hips to stretch our psoas we instantly feel a greater sense of inner peace, along with fewer muscle aches and strains. 

Now here is a simple tip to let the emotions flow. Each of our emotion lasts for 90 seconds so next time you experience an unpleasant one, visualize this, remind yourself  90 seconds is short and that you can do it !

As one of my friend and mentor said once which stayed with me so deeply: “Each of our emotions has a beginning, a middle and an end. If we block the flow or block the emotion, it stays in our body until it is released. Let if low, let it flow, let it flow.”