On rest and emotions

I feel extremely blessed to be able to say that I am taking a month-break from employment. I’ve just finished a working period of almost three years in the wellness industry and I am allowing myself to take some time off, before starting a new job at a different company. I see this chapter as a necessity, a shifting time for me. I sense that this is the perfect opportunity for granting myself with this ‘luxury’. No much to do, no big responsibilities…just trying to keep my life simple, nourishing myself in different levels and resting. That’s all.
I have also tried to be physically active and I have been taking classes with a personal trainer for about three to four times a week. I’m focusing on resistance training, which is way out of my comfort zone. Sometimes, I have been joining other classes at the gym too, for inspiration, like body combat, gentle yoga flows and I have also dedicated some time to self-yoga-practice. However during this period, my self-yoga-practice is mainly focused on meditation, short & creative Vinyasa flows and slow asana styles like Yin yoga.

Connecting with the emotional body

I do believe that overall AND especially during transitions, it is our very important duty to take care of ourselves. As much as we can, we should aim to do our very best to nurture our life in different ways and providing our mind & body with some effective and deep rest. Because of the way we live in this modern society, where everything is volatile and fast, we tend to push and to ‘keep moving forward’, often under estimating the value of ‘slowing down’. We tend to find it difficult permitting ourselves to take time to really ‘feel’ what’s going on inside and connecting with our own internal processes.

Facing transitions in our life can be quite transformative and if we pay attention, we may notice that this time might bring up emotional activity. The energy of grief tends to be very present and trying to ‘connect’ with it can actually be experienced as a very powerful and raw practice. On the other hand, by running away from our grieving processes, we are not allowing our emotional body to manifest at its fullest and paradoxically that could end up undermining our own health and happiness. Yogic practices are devised to allow us 'going within' and connecting with that inner world. However for some reason, I have sometimes noticed a tendency in myself and others, which is that we can use our yoga (mainly yang-like styles) and fitness practices as tools for denial. As we would do with food, sex or alcohol, we might too, use our healthy 'mind-body-spirit' practices to hide from our rich and vast emotional landscape. This is because we are so scared to face and connect with what’s in there. But, what is it in there?, inside of us, that we are so scared to connect with? Emptiness. Pain. Despair. Sexual and other desires. Fears. Anxiety. Joy. Insecurities. Anger. Sadness. Happiness. Power.

Are you using your yoga and fitness practices as tools for denial, as you would do with food, sex and alcohol?

So, I dare you to question yourself right now (and try to be radically honest). Do  you think it is possible to use your yoga or exercise routines to run away from your emotional world? Do you find yourself anxiously running to your mat or your gym, getting highly irritated if you find obstacles in your way? Are you constantly jumping from one task to the next in your daily life? Do you find it difficult to find time to ‘just be’? Are you finding it difficult to have a good sleep? To gain or lose weight? To be focused? How are your energy levels?
...Are you content with your life? Because after all, we do all these practices to cultivate vitality and contentment and if that is not the case, there is something we might be missing. Nothing wrong with it, in fact the other side of the coin would  be feeling pressured to be happy, which isn't helpful. However, if you are doing your best to find that contentment in life but keep struggling, there is something I would definitely recommend you to try, which has been extremely helpful in my own experience. Try finding a good psychotherapist, it can change your life for the best. All our practices, when practiced correctly, have the great potential to bring us good health and happiness, however sometimes we can find emotional blockages and we might need a little help from an expert. I believe in a holistic approach to health and life. I reckon the way forward in my healing path is creating an integration of the physical body, the mental body, the emotional body and the subtle but tangible energetic body .
This is where I am up to today.

P.S. Thank you for reading. If you would like to learn a creative way to unleash emotions, follow this link to my art gallery.