Coming Back To Life Through Yoga

It’s absurd (in my humble opinion) to think that when one experiences physical trauma, there would not coincidently be emotional levels to resolve. 

In the last three weeks since my car accident, while my body has been diligently working on healing, I hadn’t felt the need for much emotional release. 

While I have been conceptually thankful to escape an accident with such minor injuries, I can’t say I’ve experienced an emotional overwhelming sense of gratitude. Until today.

This morning I was back to practicing yoga in a class setting. Every movement and each pose carried my body through the experience of being alive. Living was no longer a concept but a feeling. Life force in those moments translated into happiness and it was engulfing me from both inside and out. 

Catharsis came in a twist following my deep backbend, a heart opening pose that I have physically not been able to access in these past few weeks. 

The tears started flowing and through the vibration of the quivering body, a huge surge of tension found its way out of the system. 

When I was a kid I felt weaker for crying and as an adult I’ve learned not only the strength of tears but their necessity. We are all vibrational beings; a good cry or a good laugh are the response of a vibrational process. Preventing that vibration by 'holding on' creates accumulated tension, hence creating dis-ease.  

Swami Kripalu called crying “one of the highest devotional songs. If you can cry with a pure heart, nothing else compares to such a prayer.”

The practice of yoga has taught me (perhaps above all) how to feel alive.