I get daily insight emailed to me from Yoga Journal everyday, and this one came yesterday. Couldn't have been at a better time! As I've been allowing myself more free time, it's been clear to me that I really need more of it. For years, my strategies for coping with stress and anxiety is to do, Do, DO! Instead of feeling my emotions, I would resist them by overloading my schedule so much, it would leave me depleted and tired. When I would have an opening, I would diligently search for something else to fill it with. One of my teachers in my coaching program always says, "If you resist, it will persist." In other words, it won't go away if you ignore it. It will always come back and bite you in the ass before you least expect it.
I want to share the articles below that inspired me to share and write about this because I've been doing a lot of healing from grief and loss this past week. Once I allowed myself a break, all the sadness surfaced and was freed from my body. I know I was holding onto some people I've lost in my life, and could very well still be. But what's important is that it was acknowledged.
Yin yoga is the practice that's been supporting me. Yin yoga is a style of yoga, where you hold poses (usually floor poses) for 3-5 minutes. The holding is what allows the connective tissues around the muscles and joints to open and stretch releasing any blockages or stuck energy and/or emotions. It's like giving yourself an acupuncture/acupressure session because the poses are also stimulating the meridians, or flow of energy/chi which correspond to organs and systems of the body. I love this style because it really allows (and makes) me be in my body. I'm so happy to have reconnected with this practice and style because it's reminded me to, not only be in my body, but to love my body wherever it's at, physically and emotionally.
I hope you enjoy the articles!
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From Yoga Journal Daily Insights
Resistance becomes a problem when the psychological immune system doesn't know when or how to let down its boundaries. Then resistance stops being a useful filtering device and becomes a wall, a kind of armor. Sometimes the habit of resisting is so deeply ingrained that you can't tell whether your inner "no" is a legitimate warning or just obstructive. You can live for years with a tendency to resistance that reveals itself in insidious ways: as an inclination to slide away from intimacy; a habit of avoiding difficult emotions by sleeping or watching TV; or simply the onset of restlessness, anxiety, or boredom that keeps you from resting in the present moment. Then, when you truly want to make a change, the wall of resistance can seem impenetrable.
Developing an awareness of your resistance style is the first step in working with it. Yoga and meditation often help develop and break through these styles of resistance. Try to respect your feelings of resistance as well as let the feelings that seem less beneficial to your life dissolve. Part of this is pure conditioning from those deep-seated beliefs that success, love, meaningful work, social justice, and whatever else you value come from outer-directed effort and that inwardness is somehow a waste of time. More often, however, the resistance stems from fear—fear of your emotions, fear of the unknown, and, finally, fear of your own essence, your own grandeur. To move past resistance in your practice is to free yourself in ways you have never anticipated.
Read more:
http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2516
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2580
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