Discomfort in Asana

Asanas are what the poses in yoga class are called. Asanas are only one of the eight limbs of yoga. Not only can they feel challenging to physically do, but many people don't realize they can feel emotionally "yucky" to do as well.

Last night, I was practicing staff pose (a straight leg pose where you can increase hamstring flexibility) with Alafair. Her physical therapist had asked us to work on that between visits. So, I put us into a supine version of this asana in order to spend 15 minutes in it.

Her happy energy pretty quickly shifted to angry. I remembered have a shift like that 12 years ago, when I first started taking 'real' yoga classes. I was asked to sit in stillness, and that was very difficult.

I couldn't endure those stationary poses where all I could do was feel. I would experience all sorts of 'bad' emotions and would actually walk out of the class. I imagine my face looked tortured, much like my daughter's face appeared.

With that memory, I looked towards Alafair and asked her if she was angry about being in the pose. She did say, 'yes,' which was plainly written across her face. Then, I explained that anger will often come up when people are holding certain poses.

It's our job to sit in those 'yucky' feelings and breathe through them. That's one of the points of yoga: to address and heal the unpleasant. She seemed to calm down after she understood that concept.