In these times of uncertainty, emotional stability and flexibility will keep you on your feet. A personalized yoga practice can help.
Here is what my yoga practice has helped me do when difficult emotions arise:
First, ask myself, how do I feel? Crappy? Angry? Hurt? Worried?
Then, pause and explore that feeling. Where is it coming from?
Can I feel it somewhere in my body? Is it based in love (for self and other) or fear?
Truth or misunderstanding?
Is there an action that I can take to relieve it?
Can I breathe and let it pass?
Can I sit in silence and connect to some wisdom beyond my mind?
There is stability, like a strong tree trunk. Then, there is flexibility, like a willow branch. We, as human beings, like a tree, need both. Yoga provides both. Yoga contributes to my emotional flexibility by connecting me, through breath, movement, and stillness, to the peaceful unchanging core of my being, that’s the tree trunk. Then, it guides me, in moments of discomfort, to pause, breathe, and wait to respond. Consider the situation, the metaphorical destabilizing wind storms, the weight of heavy snowfall, the flooding, that, like a tree, my emotions are being pounded with. To look at my situation from other points of view. To question my assumptions. That moment of pause and self-reflection allows me to respond with wisdom, to root myself to love and compassion, and bend my branches and release whatever the outside stimuli are pounding me with, rather than react with ignorance and break.
Imagine you are standing still, back rigid, knees locked and arms crossed, just rooted solid. If someone comes and pushes you hard from any direction, you lose your footing or lash out. Alternatively, if you are standing slightly loose in your joints, looking around you, aware, strong but ready to adjust to oncoming forces, you are more likely to peacefully stay on your feet. Yoga practice has led me to approach life like that, and keeps me on my feet with a smile on my face and love in my heart almost all the time.
Would you like to improve your emotional stability and flexibility? Let’s talk about the perfect yoga practice for you! Even 10 minutes a day will make a difference.