Yoga and Emotional Blocks

The first time I heard somebody mention that the body physically stores emotions, I thought to myself, “Yah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.” Emotions are in the head, right? They can’t be actually stored in the body, right? 

 

One day at work, a co-worker of mine came into the break room, having just returned from a therapeutic massage. She asked me if I had ever gone for a professional massage. “Sure,” I told her. “I think they are great.”

 

“Did you ever feel… weird after having a massage?” she asked me.

 

I wasn’t sure quite what she meant until she burst into tears and told me that since leaving the session, she just couldn’t stop crying, even though she didn’t understand why because she didn’t feel sad. I simply hugged her, as she convulsed and sobbed non-stop for a few minutes. When all was said and done, she washed her face, smiled, and went about the day. From what I understand, she felt sooooo much better and more relaxed later in the day.

 

Hmmmmm…did she have some hormones or chemistry out of whack? Or did the doctor manage to open up some sort of floodgate of emotion?

 

Then there was that one time in yoga a few years ago. I was doing a particular pose when I felt a pop. Then, my abdomen began to convulse and I too began to cry – almost hysterically. Yet, like my co-worker, I did not feel a reason to cry. I didn’t feel sad. I didn’t feel bad. But I just had this tearburst spill over me. And afterwards, I felt great. Nothing like that has happened to me since… until yesterday.

 

Once again, there I was in yoga. My instructor led us through a couple of intense poses that involved hip stretches. Then, that familiar feeling – I felt a pop in my right hip, followed by the extreme shake of the abdomen, followed by… get this… a massive laugh-attack. A LAUGH attack! How bizarre!

 

There was nothing funny going on, but I couldn’t stop laughing. I was laughing so hard, I was gasping for air. The more I fought it, the harder it hit, triggering laughter from some others in the class, which only made it worse. Fortunately, the instructor is a friend of mine and he did not misunderstand the action as being disrespectful. I just… I just… I just couldn’t stop!

 

After a while, it subsided on its own and I was able to go back to concentrating on the poses. After class, I explained to him what happened. He smiled as if I had scored some extra points in class, and told me that this was actually a good thing. It was so WEIRD!

 

Suppressed laughter? Who knew?