Emotional turmoil due to loss of loved ones, deteriorating relationships, divorce, job loss, financial loss, sexual abuse, and marital violence can cause emotional trauma that affects both the physical and emotional. are some of the commonly known turmoil in life and a person’s mental health.
A common myth about emotions is that there is nothing we can do about them. I feel like But psychiatrist and researcher Norman E. Rosenthal says that the more we learn about emotions, the more we understand how we can change troubling emotions and develop healthy ones.
Yet another researcher, James Laird of Clark University, found that students were happier or angrier when they were asked to imagine facial expressions associated with subtle smiles and frowns. If simple nuances such as facial expressions can affect a person’s state of mind, more powerful yoga poses that act on the endocrine and limbic systems can affect a person’s emotional state. A person’s state of mind is like a simple equation in which the right balance of body and mind equals a state of peaceful mind. Asana is the body part of the equation and pranayama and pratyahara are the mind ends of the equation.
Emotional trauma usually causes the brain to collapse to cope with the onslaught of demands on the limbic system in the brain. It is associated with the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems and is said to manage the body’s response to stress and trauma.
So how can yoga help us manage emotional trauma in our lives? It was Sage Kapila who gave us the Sankhya system. The Bhagavad Gita and Maharshi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, drawn from the Sandhya system, define yoga as the science of mental control that influences many aspects of a person’s personality and behavioral patterns.
Asana: It is scientifically proven that asanas and yoga poses bring harmony to the mind and body. To understand this, we must know how the mind and body complement each other. Worrying, getting angry, overthinking, and being overly self-conscious all contribute to endocrine hyperactivity. It is well known that the endocrine system influences a person’s physical and mental behavior. These glands include the thyroid, pituitary, pineal, pancreas, and more.
The mind and endocrine system are closely related. Practicing asanas and yoga poses regularly can help you manage a lot of tension because it manages your endocrine system in a balanced way. Just relax your muscles and mind.
Paschimottana Asana: The Pradipika of Hatha Yoga is simply described as: “Stand your feet (in front of you) on the ground, bend forward, hold your toes with your hands, and place your forehead on your knees.”
This asana stretches the entire spinal column and central nervous system, allowing nerves and prana impulses to travel directly to the higher centers of the brain. When there is a lot of tension in the body and mind, Pastimottan Asana helps remove tension by regulating the adrenal glands, both the blood flowing to the brain and the panic impulses.
Dhanurasana: It is an asana where you lie face down on the floor, grab your ankles with both hands, and pull your whole body in a bow. Helps overcome mental and physical sluggishness and sluggishness. It has a direct effect on the solar plexus located at the navel, a large sympathetic nerve center, and is very important for the healthy functioning of the body’s organs. Eliminates fatigue as cortisone is secreted to give you the lift you need. Also, when you are overactive, cortisone production decreases, which helps keep your body in balance.
However, it is most important to keep in mind that the asanas must be learned from a seasoned yoga guru and performed with sufficient mental awareness and correct breathing patterns. Awareness of all parts of the body is of paramount importance in yoga. These asanas release the tension that builds up in your muscles during the day.
Pranayama: This is a breathing technique that helps expel the maximum amount of carbon dioxide from the body and provides a good supply of oxygen to the brain and body.
But as the yogis said, pranayama should not be mistaken for just breathing. It improves oxygen in the body and expels carbon dioxide which has its own physiological benefits. uses as a means of manipulating all forms of prana, from the gross to the subtle, which affects the mind and body.The mind is the master of the senses and the breath is the master of the mind. (Hatha Yoga Pradipika 4:29). Breath awareness therefore calms the mind and when you close your eyes and look at the inward gaze, the movement of the breath in the body, it helps the consciousness to turn inward. It helps to keep thoughts away, relaxing the mind and relieving tension in the mind and body.
The following pranayama can help those who suffer from excessive anxiety, anger, etc.
1. Anurom Villom: Alternate nostril breathing by counting the length of inhalation and exhalation to the rhythm of seconds. Try to keep increasing the volume slowly. Let’s say you start with 5 seconds to inhale and exhale and increase over time to 24 seconds. Do 5 rounds.
2. Ujjayi Pranayama: Sit in a meditation pose, cinching your neck just a little bit as you would when you want to whisper, then bring your attention to your inner throat and breathe in and out, allowing the air flow inside your throat area. feel and hear your own breath like a light snoring. Do 5 rounds.
3. Brahmari Pranayama: While sitting in a meditation pose, cover your ears with your fingers, inhale deeply, and as you exhale, chant OM, generating vibrations in your head on the short A, U and the long last syllable, M. Do 5 rounds.
Pratyahara: Pratyahara is the fifth limb among the eight limbs of Patajali’s yoga sutras. The first of his four Yamas (Yama Social Norms), Niyams (Personal Norms), Asanas and Pranayamas are called Bahirangas (External Practices). Pratyahara is the transition from Bahiranga to Antaranga (inner practice) and the practitioner progresses to his final three stages, Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and finally Samadhi. Pranayama followed by pratyahara is a powerful combination for calming all tense nerves, muscles and one’s own knots of tension. All this cannot be put into words unless you practice and experience the amazing benefits of yoga.
(Kamini Bobdeh is a Kundalini practitioner who follows the Swami Satyananda Saraswati tradition of yoga. She is the author of Kundalini Yoga for All: Unlocking the Power of Your Body and Brain. Published by Penguin)
