Yoga and expression of emotions

Dragonfly--I'll be eager to hear how your massage went. Sometimes it can take several massage sessions to provoke feelings, sometimes all it takes is one. The type of massage can matter, too. Swedish style tends not to be very deep and never worked for me in stirring up emotional stuff. Shiatsu and other deep tissue styles seemed to be provocative. But my best experiences were with a Lomi bodyworker.

Anyway, eager to hear your report.

bluebeam wrote:Swedish style tends not to be very deep and never worked for me in stirring up emotional stuff.

That's the only type of massage I've received, and it didn't do much for me at all, I was quite disappointed. I'll have to look into the other types you mention for sure.

Yea, it seems like somewhat of a deep touch gets to the emotional armor more in most folks. Though it's a funny thing. I was actually Rolfed and then about five years later did Lomi bodywork (not Hawaiian Lomi Lomi, just Lomi...there are two). I never had an emotional reaction from the Rolfing. Lomi got to me though. Completely opened me up. I had to stop after a couple years because I was just too emotionally raw. The work was incredibly provocative and extremely healing.

Also, I took a Shiatsu massage class once. It lasted about 12 weeks or so. About halfway through the course, one of my classmates started having emotional reactions to all the work we were doing on each other in the class. Just another example. It's just too bad she wasn't in a private setting with a bodyworker so she could have processed the emotions that came up for her.

I thought I would post a list of the mind/body therapies that were listed in the book I mentioned before.

Here they are:

Structural Integration (Rolfing)
The Lomi School (again this is not Hawaiian Lomi Lomi)
Postural Integration
Reichian Therapy
Bioenergetics
Primal Therapy
Rebirthing

FYI, to anyone who may venture this way...
It's essential you feel safe with your bodyworker. And it may take some time to feel like you are making any progress. The body's been housing these emotions for years. It can take time to feel safe and accept the uniqueness of the process.

goomba--The Yoga Journal/Living Arts or Healing Arts videos are quite good. You may want to borrow some at your local library to get an idea of what might suit you best. Some of the slower-paced yoga practices work better for some. Others need a little more movement. See what works for you. Here's a link:

Yoga Videos in libraries (click on a title and then enter your zip code)
http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/search ... t=advanced

I haven't tried these specific videos but knowing this company they should be good:
http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/5 ... ef_results
http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/5 ... ef_results

Also, here's more information on the mind/bodywork therapies. I'm only familiar with Lomi and Rolfing. Not every therapy will work for everybody. It's important to find one that feels like a good fit and then give it some time to work. And, it's always important to shop around for a "good fit" when it comes to the person you'll be working with, your bodyworker.

The Lomi School
http://www.lomi.org/foundation/about_foundation.html
http://www.sensesopen.com/somatic.html

Structural Integration (Rolfing)
http://www.rolf.org/about/how.htm

Reichian Therapy
http://www.reichianinstitute.org/therapy.htm

Bioenergetics
http://www.bioenergetic-therapy.com/iib ... _about.htm

Primal Therapy
http://www.primaltherapy.com/CORES/aptCore.htm
http://www.primaltherapy.com/CORES/aptC ... ditionsFor

Rebirthing
http://www.rebirthingbreathwork.com/mod ... &dtIsBlk=y

Hope this helps. If you have any specific questions, I'm happy to answer.

So, here my report.
The practice was very small and the massage therapist very experienced. She explained everything first, before doing anything and was very professional as well. She started with my legs, used hot pads, background music etc. Very relaxing.

Contrary to what I had expected, she was looking for a response to her massage/feedback, which I provided as best as possible. I had hoped to simply lie there.

When she did my upper back, I felt a spot that brought up slight anxiety feelings, exactly the spot where I usually feel my anxiety due to stress. She found the same spot on my front and it was somehow connected to the muscles in my ribcage and diaphragm. She massaged that and went really deep. That brought on a drastic emotional response, which I had not expected at all. It was very overwhelming and I could not help but cry. She invited me to let go more, but I could not allow myself to fall apart (I guess that's part of AvPD?). She then calmed the area down again and talked with me as well. She called the feeling "fear", but I have no idea what it was, as it was so intense that I could not even identify it. It may have been fear, would make sense.

She continued her massage and later gave me some exercises to gently stretch that area for the next few days. She talked some more and in energy talk, my heart centre is restricted, the centre for compassion and kindness.

The next day, I still felt the area very much (I stretched it more than recommended) and it felt a little raw. I even felt feelings of embarrassment for being naked, after the fact. Weird. Of couse, being me, I could just let it rest, I picked at it some more and by Sunday I had managed to make the area quite irrated and felt very anxious for no reason. So I finally got wise, and let it rest. LOL.

In any case, I will definitely go back and recommended her to friends and family already. I can feel the spot now and also know why I often have existential fears at night (because I lie on my back in a way that the spot can kind of open up).

The only thing, I would really like to know. If you have an emotional response and you are supposed to feel it, be aware etc., what do you do with the feeling afterwards? Does it go away, just from being felt? Am I supposed to learn something to deal with the emotion? It would be horrible if I, being AvPD, would simply stuff it back into my suppression spot. (Crazy chuckle!).

Anyway, that it for now. Will check out the links to the other types of physical therapy above. Thanks.

Dragonfly.

Thanks for sharing your experience, DF. What kind of massage therapist was this? Sounds quite more knowledgeable than the one I had years ago.

Dragonfly wrote:If you have an emotional response and you are supposed to feel it, be aware etc., what do you do with the feeling afterwards? Does it go away, just from being felt? Am I supposed to learn something to deal with the emotion?

Maybe someone else with experience can answer this better, but a psychologist teacher of mine told me that when emotions come up in yoga and meditation, that it isn't always important to analyze it, just experience it and let it go, that's what he said. I know with me, I don't allow myself to feel emotions (other than anxiety, if you can call that an emotion) so they get stored up. I'd imagine that if they get expressed through yoga or massage that would be the end of them, at least until the next wave of emotions occurred. I think the healthy thing to do is to acknowledge emotions and allow them to be expressed, as soon as possible, rather than suppress them or mask them with pleasurable substances (like loads of chocolate or ice cream!).

Dragonfly—What a wonderful description of massage and an emotional release! I’m glad you had such a nice experience. Thanks so much for sharing it. It sounds like you had a real good massage therapist, too.

It was standard for her (a good therapist asks this) to ask you for feedback. If one can provide the feedback of depth of touch and any particular areas of tension that need more attention than others, it helps the therapist give the best session they can. I know if I don’t get a certain depth of touch the session can be completely useless to me. Too much depth of touch and it’s too much of a painful distraction.

It was nice to hear she gave you feedback about your heart energy, too. I would add to her connections of “compassion and kindness” that the heart area is also the area of primal wounding and sadness. It’s an area, I think, all of us (especially AvPD’s) that have been primally hurt in some way guard (her word, “restricted”). And it’s a normal reaction for anyone to not want to “fall apart” yet. If you were to continue working with her and developed a sense of safe space with her, I expect you might allow yourself to let go fully. I think its VERY normal not to be 100% vulnerable with a person we just met even if they are a very professional and wonderful massage therapist. One also needs to add in that not having clothes on compounds normal feelings of vulnerability. All in all, you had a VERY normal response in my opinion.

I’ve had years of massage and bodywork sessions and I agree with what trence said. It’s important to acknowledge and experience any feelings that come up and just let them go. If you’re working with a bodyworker that specializes in mind/body work then, in my opinion, it’s of deeper benefit to explore the depths of what your body is telling you by exploring the emotional connections. (This was my experience.) On the other hand, any ability to tune in and become aware of feelings that come up from yoga, massage, meditation, etc. is of value. Acknowledging feelings as they surface whatever the activity is a part of the path of becoming more aware and mindful of oneself and of lightening our baggage. This is the goal of many types of talk therapy and, of course, some religious disciplines as well. For me, bodywork always seemed to provide more direct access to this experience. And it sounds like you had the same experience in this massage session.

As far as what you do with the feelings, at the minimum acknowledge them and let them go. Once you acknowledge them there is a certain amount of release. If one has years of pent up sadness, for example, it could take months of working on the same part of the body to release those years of experiences that caused the sadness. Again, being able to talk about emotions that surface (the past) as a result of bodywork, etc. is “full processing” and “full release” so to speak. When we can really label and express an emotion that is getting released from our body, we usually identify the experience of what caused it and learn from this what was bad about the experience so we don’t have to repeat it. And of course relearning/behavior modification, modifying communications skills, and/or learning what healthy relationships are (the future) is the other end of not continuing to build up emotional baggage/resentments in the body. I hope this is making sense.

I hope you get the chance to continue this exploration. I’ve really enjoyed hearing your experience and hope you and others will share any future experiences in this area. I found the Lomi work I did to be incredibly exciting and, as I’ve said before, extremely therapeutic.

I don't allow myself to feel emotions (other than anxiety....I think the healthy thing to do is to acknowledge emotions and allow them to be expressed, as soon as possible, rather than suppress them or mask them with pleasurable substances (like loads of chocolate or ice cream!).

trence--I just wanted to say I can completely relate to what you are saying. Growing up in the home I did, I had to completely shut myself down emotionally. I never allowed myself to feel. I "coped" by "feeling" through dysfunctional relationships to food/eating patterns. You're right, it's definitely not the way.

I downloaded a yoga video to check it out....On thurs I will probably look at videos while at the library as well.

goomba--I'm eager to hear how your new yoga experiences go.