Breathing into stress & release tension & fear through Yoga
Physical tensions can be created by mental blocks in the body. Mental blocks manifest physically
The physical symptoms can be a frozen shoulder, lower back pain or limited range of motion (ROM) in your hips. It may also be a closed heart.
If the energy center in your heart area is blocked, you may have stooping shoulders, your body movement may be physically closing up the heart center area.
When we feel tension we may also hold onto the breath and create a lock at the tension spot. With Yoga practice, you learn to “release” those areas of tension. You do not resist or stop at the tension, you lean into the tension and you relieve the tension, you move beyond the tension.
We breathe into it; a tight muscle, a limited ROM. With practice with gentle slow patience and persistence, we release the tension, we create space, we open up. Yoga helps you gently move past that tension and create flexibility.
You can apply this lesson of your physical body and to your mind and soul. Do not resist ugly thoughts and scary scenarios. Lean into them, see them for what they are, breathe through them and ask them why they are there.
Don’t let them stop your breath, and learn to move freely past the tension and go right through them and towards freedom.
Yoga Frees you and it flows through you.
Prana is the life force or the energy of the universe. We welcome it into us and it flows through us. Pranayama is the regulation of the breath through certain techniques and exercises. It’s not just about breathing exercises. Manipulating the breath will not do much if you don’t realize what it is that you are doing.
You are breathing into the tension in your body and soul (tension that was created from being born and living in this life) and you are moving and pushing yourself gently through the tension and blocks until your subtle energy pathways, (your prana channels; Nadis) are free and flowing.
Anything you are stuck at, whether it be physically or mentally, breathe into it and release into the tension, stop resisting, and press into that pressure and you will find freedom.
Don’t run away from your fears. Face them and do not deny them or resist them, look directly at them, lean into them, gently press back at them and you will eventually push through. You will always win. It will take time, energy and commitment. But you will push through. Do so at a slow and steady pace.
Know yourself, know your limits and break through them ever so gently with time. So many of us are afraid to let go because we fear change and fear losing the things that define us. If you don’t like Yoga mumbo jumbo, that is OK.
You don’t have to practice Yoga physically, you can just take something from the concept of Yoga and apply it to your life. If you don’t get it, that’s OK too. Like everything else in this world, it will come with time and practice if you are so inclined to pursue it. But if you are interested, you will never fully get it unless you stick to it and practice regularly.
It just doesn’t magically reveal itself the first time you hear about it. But it will magically reveal itself one day, if you continue your practice. One day during a yoga session, you will just…”Get it”. Then you become addicted. Addicted To feeling good, to caring about yourself and to caring about your health. Which includes your physical health and spiritual health.
If you want to practice, stick to it every week. Even if it is not every day. Commit to a weekly practice, start once a week, then twice. Before you know it every day you will need to center yourself, stretch and connect to that eternal part of you that wants to move past tension and live fully in each moment.
