Have you ever fallen out with someone? Gone through a painful divorce or heard that your partner had been unfaithful? Maybe you have heard about a hideous crime committed against a loved one? Or received the news your child was involved in a street brawl and ended up getting stabbed and died from the injury? In cases like this, how do you forgive the other person and move on? How do you learn to release your pain and see the good in the situation? I am sure you have heard of the expression "love your neighbour as yourself" or "every cloud has a silver lining" but if you are going through a particularly painful experience how do you see beyond your grief and live your life again? Is it possible to move on and live your life again? Or do you stay stuck and constantly replay the scene, relive the emotion in your every waking moment? Jealousy is one of those emotions that can leave you stuck and feeling hatred for another person.
I believe jealousy is one of the most destructive emotions you carry as it takes many forms and has many masks.
How do you feel when your best friend, once again, gets a bonus when you have worked twice as hard as her yet was overlooked as your "face didn't fit?" She is still your friend, but if you constantly feel hard done by and put out by her apparent good fortune you run the risk of losing a dear friend and in the worse case scenario even end up hating her.
If your partner has been unfaithful, how does that make you feel? What feelings, emotions, hot buttons are triggered and what does that act bring out in you? Hatred is another very strong emotion and can eat you up from the inside out.
All emotions are energy, a feeling, thought or idea in motion.
Yoga teachings and practice encourages you to stretch your body and open your mind to see all emotions, whether strong positive ones or more destructive emotions as an opportunity to re-evaluate and examine your life.
Life is about balance.
Yoga is about balance, about trying to find balance and harmony within your inner world and outer reality.
The yamas and niyamas offer you ethical guidelines and considerations that you can draw upon to help ease you through strong emotions.
For example, meditating on the principles of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Santosha (contentment) empowers you to cultivate compassion and to be content with your current situation.
By contentment, santosha does not wallow and complain, but rather teaches you to accept your current stress and difficultly, grounded in the knowledge that it is only temporary, just a storm in a teacup, which will pass.
If you are not able to abstractly grasp the subtle nuances of the yamas and nyamas and still experience hatred, anger or jealousy in your heart, turn to your yoga practice.
Yoga poses such as the Bow and the Cobra help to open and expand your heart chakra which enables you to take the steps needed to bring your body and emotions back into alignment.
Yoga breathing exercises, such as the Lion Roar releases frustration and Anulma Viloma (Alternate Nostril Breathing) bring a sense of calm and tranquility to your inner being.
Whilst yoga doesn't claim to cure all ails and internal conflicts, regular physical practice and study of the yamas and nyamas can help you to overcome strong destructive emotions and bring a sense of calm and balance to your world.