The problem of getting caught up in emotions is primarily due to the narrow range of attention – the small space of perception. When one’s attention is captured by one emotion or another, it is difficult to shift attention to something else or to expand attention to a state where there are thoughts, feelings, other emotions, experiences, and so on in addition to that emotion. In a narrow perception, there seems to be nothing but the emotion that has arisen and now dominates. Attention is sucked into an emotional maelstrom. This is a well-known trap of the mind.

The original practice of yoga including https://www.julianalucky.com/yoga-for-kids involves emotional detachment. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a term such as vairagya is used. Which can be translated as “without emotional coloring” or “drying of emotions.” And this is a prerequisite for the practice of yoga! The same condition as the effort to be steady in the practice – abhyasa. In other words, to advance in yoga according to Patanjali, one needs constant, preferably round-the-clock practice and emotional detachment.

Personally, I’ve always wondered how acceptable this is for living in society. After all, emotional energy is the driving force that allows us to achieve our goals. Emotions are first and foremost energy. Therefore, I believe that the first and most important stage of practice is to learn to expand one’s attention so as to train oneself to be aware of a whole range of emotional states along with other psychological processes and not to get hung up in one emotion.

For example, sadness, anger and depression are always accompanied by other processes. It is important to learn to see them and to perceive an emotional state as one of the states. This is accomplished by practicing mindfulness of the situational reactions of the body, by working with volumetric attention in meditations, and by training emotional intelligence. In my experience of teaching, I see that many people take years to practice even these skills.

The second step is the ability to use and control the emotional power. This step involves clearing blocked emotional power – removing emotional charges. There have been and are many situations in life where emotions arise but are not lived through and therefore get stuck in the body where they can be stored for years. If there is a lot of this encapsulated energy, but little adaptive energy, this is psychosomatic. This was discussed back in the 60’s by the Canadian pathologist and endocrinologist Hans Sellier, who was one of the first to create the concept of destructive stress.

How can you check if there is an emotional charge? Very simply. If you remember a situation from the past and react to it now, you are having emotions now, even though the situation was several years ago, or even a decade ago, then the repressed emotional energy is still living in your body. This is where we apply special practices of clarification. When we return to the situation and ecologically re-live it, letting go of the emotions. If necessary, we fill up with new positive ones and teach your brain how not to get into such situations in the future. This is an important part of the practice of finding a calm, comfortable state. You can do this through the body. For example, through certain modes of doing yoga asana.

Then through the practices of holding the breath (pranayama) and meditating “with a gaze” into ourselves, we practice noticing how mental processes arise and unfold. And not only as reactions to external stimuli, but also as the release of mental material from the subconscious mind. And the earlier at the root we are able to see them, the easier and faster they can be transformed. Further, if there is indeed a need to maintain emotional detachment, then most of the time one should be in such detached contemplation. This is a matter of motivation and practice. At this stage, it is important to limit social communication and minimize external activity. It is even better to practice these practices in seclusion or in a group retreat under the supervision of a teacher. It is important to understand that the subsequent return to the usual social life requires time for adaptation.