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| Hi. I'm new here. Great place. I'm a fairly intuitive person who took up a commitment to yoga in January. I love it. After many classes, I went to my first hot yoga class and did fairly well. The room was not perfect but to about 101 degrees.  I was pleased I accomplished it.
Before I even left the parking lot I became aware that I was really really angry!  I felt aggressively angry. It even surprised me, it felt so out of nowhere. I can normally journal and write my way to the source of any issue and then settle it. This one has me baffled. I have gone to several more hot yoga classes. I love it with a passion for some reason; however, that sense of anger in my life activities has persisted ever since that first class. I'm wondering if it could be in some pose or the purification issue of hot yoga??? Any ideas would be appreciated. Namaste. |
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| Hi Val,
maybe you should ask this question in the Bikram forum, that's similar to hot yoga and people there do maybe know what happened to you.
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| Val,
The combination of asanas in any style of yoga can trigger emotions. We carry grief and depression in our hips, for example, so a class structured with hip openers can let that rip.
Frequently people get huge emotional releases from backbends. Bikram does a backbending series, which could have caused you to release anger you'd sublimated for awhile.
Sit quietly for a while, meditate of you do that. Let yourself review the things where you find it most easy to focus this unsuspected anger. Ask yourself questions about it and honestly consider the answers that come to you.
All anger is not bad. Anger has a purpose and can show us things with sometimes disturbing clarity. It's up to us as to whether or not to listen. And act on it.
Christine |
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| Thanks, YogaDancer. That helped and made sense. We did a series with pigeon which I actually loved with an odd kind of "need." Not much on the backbends that day. Namaste. |
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| Oh, that explains it!
The psoas carries almost every strong emotion from grief to anger. No wonder you reacted! 
Counter poses are forward bends, in that they calm the system. Perhaps next time you might throw in a few afterwards.
Christine |
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| Good to know I'm not the only one that loves pigeon. Most of the people in my classes have hated doing it, but my neighbor and I both crave that position and find ourselves slightly disappointed during classes when we don't throw that in there. It just feels sooo good. |
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| LoraB, be careful if pigeon (Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana) is easy for you. It's so nice to hang out in the posas, feeling what seems like a great stretch. Know that you can damage the psoas just like a hamstring. Those of us who can bend forward tend to hang out in the hip sockets, eventually irritating the rotators.
Try this. It's not as much fun, but it will work on that tight pelvic girdle, working the muscles so much everything else seems to improve!
In Pigeon, giving that your right knee is forward, OK? Flex your feet gently to feel your calf and outer thigh muscles engage. Turn your back toe under, pusing out through the heel. This gives you a better inner rotation/spiral. Now pretend your back food is stuck and isometrically drag it forward. Pretend your right knee is stuck and drag it backwards. Kind of a scissoring motion. Your pelvis will rise up a little, but you'll feel EVERYTHING engage. BTW, if you're right foot is forward, your right butt should be OFF the floor or you're defeating the entire purpose of the pose. Now work the back foot backwards a bit more, and repeat the scissoring action. Lie forward on the floor, still scissoring.
When you're done, put your hands beside your knees and take yourself straight back to Adho Mukha Svanasana. That's the safest way to treat your lower back and pelvic girdle in getting out of this pose. Then bring your left knee forward and repeat.
Hold hip openers with this muscle energy for at least 60 seconds. You need to teach this tight connective tissue and strong, broad muscles that it's OK to release. When you're absolutely done, try a forward bend (no hunching) or Baddha Konasana and look how loose your hips have become.
Cool, huh?
Christine |
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| Hi Guys,
Im new to yoga. But I can do "Eka Pada Raja Kapotasana" well without any problem. Actualy I tried to do it only after reading your postings., But I didnt feel any of things you have talked here and i didnt really find it difficult to do too., How long you guys wait in that "Asana" when you practice?
Thushara |
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| How lovely that must be? Which version did you do? (You can check here: Eka Pada Rajakapotasana).
The rule of thumb in holding these types of asanas is 5 long, deep, inhalations and exhalations. For someone new to yoga, however, it's usually 2-3, given the fact that holdings for tighter bodies can actually cause the muscles to clench, creating worse tightness. However, if you had "no problem" you might try it longer. If this is any help, I take 3.5 to 4 breaths in one minute -- and to some, that's gasping.
I hope you're working with a teacher. If you have this type of flexibility, I'm betting you need someone to help you balance that flexibility with strength. Too much of either is not necessarily safe in yoga. I'm into safety, if you haven't noticed, so we can all practice for 100 years.
I have to admit, I'd love to see your asana.
Christine |
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| hey its not lies. I can really do it. But how can I prove? But I do not wait in that asana . Yeah I practice under a teacher, But still he didnt teach this. I just copied it from a website when I saw your discussion about this. Believe me., I tried to see and I saw I can do it. May be the way I mean the routine of the movements I do pose this asana can be wrong., But end result is I can do it. I will do this and show to my yoga master when I go for the next class and lll ask him whether thats the correct way to do it.
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| Please don't misunderstand. I don't think you're lying at all. There are just so many variations of this asana, and form makes a huge difference as to whether or not it's a "good" variation or just a distortion. I do think it's important to show your yoga master, given the fact this pose has so many variables. It's a huge strain on the psoas, for example, unless you're working your legs. In several variations, if you're sitting on the buttock of the bent knee, you're getting pretty much nothing the pose offers.
So I don't doubt you, but as I said, I'd love to see it.
Christine |
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Why did hot yoga trigger anger?
