The Best Time To Do Yoga

I was reading an article about yoga the other day and one of the phrases really jumped out at me. "The people who tell you how amaaaazing yoga is are usually the ones who don't turn up regularly. Serious about your practice? Turn up when you're irritable as hell, then have the balls to take three deep breaths without running away." I love it!

The reason, well because it's so true. Anger and frustration are strong emotions and when you go to yoga you have to face your emotions. A lot of times they come up unexpectedly. I've had many students cry in class or later once they got home. Strong emotions we're buried in their bodies and their practice allowed a release. These emotions can be released through crying, laughing, screaming or shaking. It can last for a few minutes and may continue on and off for some with deep trauma for days or months. It's like turning on a hose. Once those emotions see a way out, they keep flowing till the well is dry.

In yoga, you have to breathe through the pain which brings you out on the other side a bit stronger. It takes courage to face strong emotions. It's easier to have a glass of wine and talk with friends about something that is upsetting you. But to face the situation alone, to feel it fully, well, that's brave. It's facing these fears that allows you to heal. Only letting go of something will give you peace. Masking it will do nothing but bury it deeper in the body.

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to class mad about something. I felt like I was going to explode. But I couldn't. I had to use my soothing yoga voice and create a relaxing environment for my students. Going into class I would have given anything to not be there, but when I leave I feel great. I've processed my emotions by letting them go. Both in my mind and body.

It's important as a teacher not to pass on your negative emotions to your class. This should be true for everyone. People have enough stuff to deal with without you dumping more on them. There are some situations where it's appropriate to talk with people about things. However, yoga is a great resource for dealing with the little stuff that plagues your life. Leaving the time you spend with friends and loved ones to be filled up with happiness instead of nitpicking about the jerk that cut you off in traffic.


Yoga allows us to work through things in a slow and rational way. We push the physical reaction out of our bodies with the poses, we calm our nervous system with the breath and we clear the mind of bad thoughts by focusing on our breath and movement. By the time class is over you're calm and can look at the problem with a fresh perspective. You may find it isn't worth dealing with and simply let it go. Or you may now be calm enough to come up with a better solution than when you were angry.

Yoga is like Xanax. But it's not as simple as swallowing a pill. You have to get yourself to the mat, the mat will never find you. Yoga is a discipline. You have to do one pose, then another, even when you don't want to move at all. You have to take that first deep breath and follow with many more. Through the course of the class, what was once being forced, will begin to flow and the negative emotions and tense sensations in the body will begin to release.

Yogi's get the rap of being kind, relaxed and happy. Truth, we're human. We get mad, frustrated and sad. The difference between us and those that don't do yoga? We choose bravery over fear every time we step onto the mat. We're willing to face what scares us. We chose to be active in solving our emotional problems rather than stuffing them down deep or masking them with a pill until we think we can deal with it. So next time you feel that tension and frustration rise up, grab your mat and start to flow. Picture yourself as the brave yogi you are. Know that even though it's hard at first, you will eventually finish your practice feeling better. Grateful that you faced your fear and emotions head on.