Yoga and dealing with emotions

1. Yoga and dealing with emotions On the path of Yoga, you learn mainly about yourself. You learn to reinvent yourself, to become a better version of yourself. This is not an easy path. When we try to trace the origins of Yoga (and any other philosophy of life), we always arrive at the same answer, or rather, the same question: “How to end all pain.” This seems very contradictory, because as soon as you start looking deep inside yourself, or working on yourself, you will have to go through the pain. In order to deal with situations in life, we have been given an important gift, namely the experience of emotions. Emotions are combinations of feelings that help us recognize what kind of situation we are in so that we can quickly adapt. It is a kind of super radar that is faster than words or thoughts. How do emotions function Emotions function as a kind of program that you unconsciously create for yourself. The programming begins before you are born. Throughout your life, you experience situations that you find pleasant or unpleasant, and these are incorporated into the programming. If you believe in reincarnation, according to Hindu culture, you carry unprocessed emotions from previous lives with you, which are reactivated during your upbringing (often from the age of 6). As soon as you find yourself in a situation similar to one from the past, you experience a sensation that tells you, “I like this” or “I don’t like this.” This causes you to consciously or unconsciously engage in that situation or try to avoid it. Sometimes this can even be triggered by just a sound, an image, a touch, a taste, or a smell. The sensation of emotions is only meant to be a signal, but the problem is that we can become addicted to the sensation of these emotions. This applies to pleasant emotions, where we repeatedly try to get ourselves into the same kind of situations in order to experience attention, security, satisfaction, pleasure, or excitement, for example. But this also applies to negative emotions, where we cling to fear, sadness, or anger, for example. We assume the role of victim, choosing to hold on to familiar pain so that we don’t have to look at ourselves and our own role in a situation and don’t have to change.

2. What is the effect of emotions Experiencing emotions in itself is not detrimental, as long as you do something with them. However, the laws of life are such that you will repeatedly find yourself in situations that you have not learned to deal with. This causes certain emotions to arise again and again. The harder we try to avoid a situation, the more stress it causes and the more we continue to encounter such situations. Or, the more we hold on to an emotion, the more difficult it becomes to let go of it. Emotions are part of our personality complex and are therefore part of our mental body. However, they are closely connected to our energy body and our physical body. This means that they influence everything. Our natural response to dealing with emotions has a physical effect on our body and causes an increase or decrease in hormone production. This can disrupt our system and cause imbalance or illness in the body. If you can do something about it, do it! If you can’t do anything about it, let it go! What does yoga say about dealing with emotions To transcend mental programmes, all you need to do is become aware. This is not easy, but it is an important reason to practise yoga as a way of life. The purpose of emotions is simply to give us a quick signal about the situation we find ourselves in. So take a moment to reflect on the emotion you are experiencing. Ask yourself why you are feeling this emotion, where it comes from. Ask yourself how rational the emotion is and whether you can or should do something about it. If you can do something about it, do it! If you can’t do anything about it, let it go! An emotion is a signal that tells you: ‘Something is happening right now that you haven’t yet learned how to deal with. An emotion therefore offers you the opportunity to grow. In most cases, you will have to do something that you find painful, something that is outside your comfort zone. But if you face that situation, you will come out stronger. Dealing with that situation is the reason why you are here on earth. And everything you learn in this life, you will not have to learn again in the next life. To end pain, you sometimes have to go through the pain in order to free yourself from it.

3. Yoga as a way of life At Centre Lothlorien in France, you can experience a month of “Yoga as a way of life”. Learn about the basics of Yoga and integrate it into your own life.. Read more Now also in The Netherlands