In yoga, the exercises are not so much about 'getting energy', but channeling and working with the energy that we have been blessed with. 'Revitalizing' is a word that you hear about yoga -- and this happens when we release energy that has been trapped and blocked.
One of the most effective ways to unblock our energy, to revitalize the physical, is to release stuck emotions and the mental structures that keep those emotions from flowing. As socialized beings, we've all learned mental coping mechanisms to deal with painful emotions -- whether it's denial or positive thinking your way through the pain. After all, most of us do learn not to act like the three-year old I saw on a bumpy plane ride recently -- screaming and wailing, her fear, anger and distress fully released. The rest of us on that flight probably would've felt a lot better if we could let out a scream or two, but we learnt not to do that publicly, then not even to display them slightly. Then we learn not even to release them privately and then pretty soon they are completely unacknowledged and ignored.
So the emotional scars build up, tissue upon tissue, hardened on the banks of De Nile and the other infinitesimal ways our strategic minds can come up with until one day - SNAP! Triggers, meltdowns and carnage.
Some soldiers and veterans experience this palpably and in extreme due to the shocks and trauma they've lived through or witnessed. A lot of us haven't been in a war, yet we can relate very much to their plight. Maybe some of us have been through the War of Life a little more than others. We get it, and so we learn to acknowledge the stuff that isn't so pleasant -- all that grit grinding below the surface of our being -- and release this in a healthy way without harming anyone else in the process.
Our Somerset, NJ yoga classes raised $100 during Veterans Gratitude Week for Veterans Yoga Project, which is dedicated to helping veterans and their loved ones heal through the power of yoga and meditation. For more information, http://www.veteransyogaproject.org/
One of the most effective ways to unblock our energy, to revitalize the physical, is to release stuck emotions and the mental structures that keep those emotions from flowing. As socialized beings, we've all learned mental coping mechanisms to deal with painful emotions -- whether it's denial or positive thinking your way through the pain. After all, most of us do learn not to act like the three-year old I saw on a bumpy plane ride recently -- screaming and wailing, her fear, anger and distress fully released. The rest of us on that flight probably would've felt a lot better if we could let out a scream or two, but we learnt not to do that publicly, then not even to display them slightly. Then we learn not even to release them privately and then pretty soon they are completely unacknowledged and ignored.
So the emotional scars build up, tissue upon tissue, hardened on the banks of De Nile and the other infinitesimal ways our strategic minds can come up with until one day - SNAP! Triggers, meltdowns and carnage.
Some soldiers and veterans experience this palpably and in extreme due to the shocks and trauma they've lived through or witnessed. A lot of us haven't been in a war, yet we can relate very much to their plight. Maybe some of us have been through the War of Life a little more than others. We get it, and so we learn to acknowledge the stuff that isn't so pleasant -- all that grit grinding below the surface of our being -- and release this in a healthy way without harming anyone else in the process.
Our Somerset, NJ yoga classes raised $100 during Veterans Gratitude Week for Veterans Yoga Project, which is dedicated to helping veterans and their loved ones heal through the power of yoga and meditation. For more information, http://www.veteransyogaproject.org/
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