Where Do My Emotions Go in Yoga?

There are many stereotypes about yoga practitioners, most of them silly and misconstrued. (I’ve stopped introducing myself as a yoga teacher at parties because I get the most inane comments about what we’re supposedly capable of doing!) The one that puzzles even yoga practitioners themselves says that we shouldn’t get too emotional – about anything. Like yoga and emotions just don’t mix?

Granted, I’ll take it a compliment that I can remain calm under duress but I’ve also heard it said in a way that does not allow a yogi or yogini their full human-ness. We all get angry, feel elated, scorned, hopeful, disappointed. Even if you’ve devoted your life to your meditation mat, you will still feel all these emotions as long as you are alive. Yoga and emotions do sit together.
While it is true that yogic practices encourage a behavior that takes you off the emotional roller coaster where you experience your life only as a series of drastic ups and downs (I can vouch for this myself); it does not eliminate feeling emotions about life around you.

And for that, I am ecstatic!

-Margaret “saraswati”