No, I am not writing about a ‘new’ way to practice yoga poses. I just saw some beautiful photos of hot air balloons and my mind thought about energy and emotions. It was a helpful shift for me to think about emotions as Energy in Motion. (A concept I learned from my teacher, Prasad Rangnekar). Viewing emotions this way helped me to let go of the belief most of us have: There are ‘good’ emotions and ‘bad’ emotions. From a Yoga perspective, there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ When we put emotions in these two boxes it immediately sets us up to suffer.

The goal of Traditional Yoga practices are to help alleviate suffering, not create more.

ENERGY IN MOTION

Emotions are just energetic charges within our body that happen in response to something in our environment or something perceived in our minds. For example, when a loved one is hurt there may be sadness, worry, concern.  When you imagine a loved one being hurt these same emotional reactions can happen even though it’s just a thought, not something actually happening.

Wishing you felt differently or beating yourself up for having an emotional reaction doesn’t change the emotion. In fact, it usually makes it worse. Accepting your current experience allows you to address it. Then it’s possible to move through it and go on with your day. Fighting or avoiding emotional reactions only makes things worse in the long run.

The energy that comes from emotions is two-fold: Up or Down. 

a reason why being on a roller-coaster is a common expression used to describe emotional reactions. Emotional energy, whether defined as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, will either take our energy level up or drop it down. And then it’s kind of like a rubber band, that energy eventually will snap back, going the other way. Depending how high or low we’ve gone will determine how big the ‘snap back’ will be.

Up and down, up and down. The cycle keeps happening until we can learn how to get off that emotional reaction rollercoaster.

Becoming aware and noticing the energy created by an emotion helps to take conscious action to balance out the up or down effect. Its like learning to ride the wave of feelings instead of being pummeled by them.

HOT AIR BALLOONS AND EMOTIONS

A hot air balloon starts out completely deflated. As air is heated up and rises, the balloon starts to fill up. There is a moment when the balloon is filled just enough to hold the balloon upright while remaining grounded.

As more heat is applied, the balloon lifts off the ground, going higher and higher. Eventually, the gas heating the air is turned down or off to regulate how high the balloon goes. When the air inside the balloon starts to cool and the balloon will start descending. (Granted, I’m not taking into account wind currents, but you get the point).  When the air is completely cooled, the balloon will land and deflate.

This is what happens with emotions. If the energy of an emotion is heating and brings the energy up, this stimulates our mind and mood. If the energy of an emotion is cooling and brings the energy down, this dampens our mind and mood.

To take control of the hot air balloon once it’s inflated, the operator must keep adjusting the air temperature within the balloon by adding heat or turning it off. Before take off, the balloon is also controlled by being tied with a tether – something outside of the hot air balloon.

Most of us use ‘tethers’ to manage our mood and emotions. These are tools, activities, people, and situations outside of ourselves. This does work but if the ‘tether’ isn’t available or breaks, then we fall back into old ways of reacting.

YOGA TO MANAGE EMOTIONS

By understanding the energy of your emotional reactions, you can work on learning how to use internal practices to add some heat or take it away. What I mean is you can learn what internal (and external) resources help bring your mood and energy up or down, depending on what you are needing to find a more calm, steady mind.

This helps shift from seeing emotions as something to control, to normal energy fluctuations to face and adjust. It’s a much more empowering experience.

Take some time to answer these questions for yourself:

• What emotions take your energy up? (List both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ones).
• What emotions take your energy down?
• When your energy is up, what actions help to bring you back down?
• When your energy is down, what actions help to bring you back up?
• What does a moment of emotional ‘balance’ feel like in your body?

Knowing that we will have emotions, the ups and downs of life will happen, how can you use this knowledge to help meet your emotional reactions?

Have fun with it. When an attitude of friendliness is applied to our emotional reactions, then it becomes a playful process to find a response that resonates with you. No longer do your emotions control you.

Refining the mind to connect more to your inner wisdom and true nature has been the goal of Yoga for thousands of years. Move beyond your mat – live Yoga.

Namaste.

PS. Want to take a deeper dive with how to apply this new perspective – emotions are energy in motion – to help calm your mind?  First, watch the free masterclass to learn more. Second, if all of this resonates with you and you want to learn what it takes to work with me, book a free Clarity Call with me.