THE BODY-EMOTION CONNECTION
About nine years ago, I visited a Mother’s Touch practitioner to get treated for tendonitis. I didn’t know anything about Mother’s Touch, so I didn’t know what to expect. Thus, it came as a complete surprise, when she touch a particularly sensitive point in my shoulder, that I began to weep uncontrollably. She told me that it was normal for patients to cry when a muscle knot was released because there usually are emotions wound up in the knot that are released as well.
Since that experience I haven’t thought much about the body-emotion connection, until I discovered the correspondence between body posture and attitude when writing about the five be-attitudes of FAITH in the article "In Synch With the Inner Guru" last issue. In researching this follow-up article I came across a new yoga that uses asanas and meditations to recognize and release body-stored memories, fears and traumas. It is called "Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy." A book with that title, written by Michael Lee can be reviewed at www.pryt.com.
Michael Lee discovered the body-emotion connection when he was struggling to maintain a difficult hatha yoga pose even with the support of a friend. He reached a point which he calls "the Edge" and had a life-changing experience. He writes that, "My body began to quiver uncontrollably. I witnessed an intense red-blue, burning sensation in my right hip and believed I had pressed into the posture as deeply as I could, feeling pain that wasn’t really pain. My mind was shouting, ‘Get out of here! Stop now! What are you doing? Get on with it.’ I was definitely at an edge between the known and safe and the unknown, unsafe territories of bodily experience. The escalating sensations in my right hip were becoming almost unbearable when my attention shifted from what was happening in my body to what was taking place in my attitude. I was becoming more and more agitated and wanted to release out of the posture. Placing his hand gently against my chest, my friend embraced my growing resistance by encouraging me to stay in the pose a little longer. His affirming presence made me feel safe and I surrendered again and again into what was happening in the moment, deepening my breath and simply witnessing the strange noises emanating from my mouth and throat. The hot, fire-red burning seemed to pour out of my hip like a volcanic eruption. My whole body vibrated and I felt warm tears streaming down my face without knowing why. My body began to feel very small and I re-experienced myself as an eight-year-old boy standing on a school playground about to be beaten up by a group of older boys. The terror of that frightened child penetrated every cell of my being as I continued to release emotionally, feeling out of control, yet totally safe in the memory my body was releasing to consciousness."
Lee used a technique called "journaling" to examine his experience. Similar techniques are used in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy to help clients remember past traumas and resolve them. These techniques are similar to Inner Child work. Most of the traumas that are stored in our bodies occur during childhood, so Inner Child work would be very effective in this regard. Lee asked himself six questions:
1. What really happened?
2. What did I feel?
3. What is the significance of this experience?
4. How does it affect my life?
5. What aspects of this experience show up in other areas of my life?
6. In what situations, and when’ have I felt this fearful before?
The resulting revelation changed his life. He saw that he had always been fearful of "big people," those in authority over him. He became more assertive and made friends with some of the "big people" in charge of the yoga ashram where he was living.
The experience during Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is as varied as each individual. For some there is more emotional than physical pain. Lee relates the experience of a 38-year old woman who had difficulty with the legs-to-side posture that opened the thighs. He writes, "This posture often taps into fear-based tension held in the thighs, hips and pelvic area... Quickly she moved through the scared feelings and into a deep cathartic release. She screamed and sobbed for several minutes." She had re-experienced being molested at the age of seven. The tightness in her thighs that she had experienced for 31 years were tied up with feelings of anger and blame. When she resolved those feelings, the tightness disappeared. It is essential that a person comes to some resolution, otherwise he or she may get stuck in anger, blame, guilt or other feelings. In most cases, Inner Child work will be enough, but some people require professional counseling.
As I read about the experiences of Lee and his clients, the thought occurred to me that Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is pure yoga in the truest sense of the word, which means "union." It unites body, emotions, mind and spirit in a life-transforming experience. Yoga was brought to the West with emphasis on the physical so that it appeared more like calisthenics and less like a spiritual practice that would be threatening to religions. But with the work of Michael Lee and others, yoga is returning to its spiritual, wholistic roots. Yogis practice yoga as part of tapas or austerities such as fasting and meditation which help them to get in touch with stress in their bodies and corresponding emotions and attitudes that block their spiritual progress. However, you don’t need to live in a cave, lie on a bed of nails and walk on hot coals to get in touch with your traumas. But a three-day cleansing fast combined with some supported yoga asanas to help you reach your edge, followed by some Inner Child work would be advisable. For the nearest Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist near you, go to www.pryt.comor call 413-274-6166.
Even if you don’t feel ready for or don’t need Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, practicing hatha yoga for a few minutes every day will benefit you in other ways. You get the physical benefits such as increased blood circulation, better muscle tone and more flexible joints. Also, You experience mental clarity and sharper focus, emotional stability, and spiritual attunement, which, for me, is the main reason I practice yoga.
I have combined various yoga postures with affirmations and prayers to put my mind into a state of attunement and receptivity to my Holy Christ Self. They are all related to the Five Be-attitudes of FAITH which I wrote about in <a href="/mt/mandalaoflight/articles/winter00/synch.html">In Synch With the Inner Guru.</a> First I do the eagle pose for alertness. I take a deep breath and, on the exhale, intertwine the arms and hands, right under the left. I focus on my right leg and slightly bend it at the knee. On the next exhalation, I lift the left thigh up over the right and lace the left foot behind the right calf. I then lengthen the whole body, open the chest and throat, focus my gaze at a point directly in front of me, and breath deeply. I affirm, "I AM constantly alert to the inner and outer promptings of my Holy Christ Self!"
The next posture is a variation of a Christian Yoga posture in "Yoga and Prayer" by Michaelle. I kneel with forearms and hands crossed on my chest in the trusting attitude of Mother Mary, depicted by Renaissance painters, as she knelt before Archangel Gabriel. I inhale deeply, then, exhaling, bend forward till my forehead touches the floor. I affirm, "I AM trusting the all-seeing wisdom of my Holy Christ Self!"
Next I do one of the most difficult postures, the pliers. I sit down on the floor, swing my arms in the air on inhalation. Then, on exhalation, I bend forward and slide my hands toward my feet. I grab my toes and pull my trunk forward, all the while staying relaxed, breathing deeply and not forcing. I affirm, "I AM flexible and compliant to the directions of my Holy Christ Self!"
Next I do the lion posture. Sit up on the knees with the heels of the feet pressed against the buttocks and the calves of the legs flat on the floor. Placing the balls of the hands on the knees, straighten the arms and keep the back erect and the head straight (not tilted forward, back, to the left or the right). Inhale while leaning forward slightly, stretching the mouth the jaws as wide as possible, extend the tongue out and downward as much as possible, fix your gaze either at the tip of the nose or between the eyebrows and stretch the fingers straight out from the knees. Hold the posture for the duration of the inhaled breath then exhale, relaxing the forward stretch, dropping the fingers to the knees and closing the mouth and eyes. I affirm, "I AM intrepid in the face of all obstacles with the love of my Holy Christ Self!"
Finally, I do the surrender mudra and affirm my humility and reaffirm the other be-attitudes with this prayer, "O my beloved Holy Christ Self, my inner guru, I prostrate myself before you. I surrender all human intellectual pride, inflexibility, disobedience, stubbornness, distrust, non-belief in the power of God to work miracles, mental density, fear and doubt that would prevent me from following the path of individual Christhood this day. Show me what I need to ask for this day. I trust you will give me what I need. Help me to see the clues you will send and the signs that I am on the right path. Help me to obey your promptings immediately. Give me the courage to face and overcome all obstacle. I thank thee and accept it done in accordance with God’s holy will and perfect timing. Amen!" The surrender mudra is as follows: Sit on your heels on the floor. Use pillows under your ankles and buttocks if you need to. Place another pillow on the floor in front of you. Join your hands behind your back and come forward slowly from the waist, placing the top of your head on the pillow in front of you. be careful not to overextend the back of your neck which should be perpendicular to the floor. Raise both arms up behind your back. Focus awareness into the sensations of your body and breath deeply. Come slowly out of the posture and meditate.
I find that when I don’t do this ritual in the morning, I am not as emotionally balanced and stable and easy get frazzled by the little annoyances and frustrations of daily life. I may seek out a Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist some day to do some real deep work on my emotions, but for now, the five asanas, which I do in conjunction with the five rites of rejuvenation, are my sadhana. Patanjali taught that sadhana or the discipline of yoga was threefold: tapas, austerity, self-restraint and eventually self-mastery; svadhyaya, self-study, self-examination, including calm contemplation of purusha, the Supreme Self; and ishvarapranidhana, self-surrender to the Lord, the omnipresent divine spirit within the secret heart.
