The science of Emotion
Have you ever pondered the word emotion? Emotion goes back to all that stuff that Einstein was talking about. Energy in motion. Yeah he might have put in mathematical algorithms and sometimes spoke in ways which made the average joe cringe at the thought of his own ignorance but at the base of it it’s quite simple. All this emotion, these internal storms that we all inevitably go through that make us ask “Why!? Why me?!” are really not that dangerous after all. Looking at it from a yogic and scientific approach, all this existential crisis that hits us when we’re deep in the feels, is basically just energy moving through.
And that’s why holding on causes us so much more misery than letting go. It is simply the way they say it is. That pain is inevitable while suffering… well, suffering is simply a way of perceiving and experiencing the pain. Suffering comes from a mindset that wishes that things were different than they are and so it is programmed to always fight or fix things that were never broken or aggressive to begin with. It’s all programming. When we reset the mind, and open to this idea of what emotion is and we understand that our relationship to emotion creates our relationship to life, well a lot of things begin to shift for us. For one, we’ll no longer need to protect ourselves so much of what we’re feeling, and when that happens we begin seeing some changes in life quite rapidly. Because when we allow the energy to move, well, things start moving. Life starts to change organically. Or more so the way we experience it alters.
It is a practice indeed. It is something that requires our full attention which isn’t done once or twice. It is a way of life that requires awareness and acceptance towards all things. It is an attitude of gratitude where giving and receiving is as easy as inhaling and exhaling. Because that’s what it is, we don’t own the breath do we? So we don’t hold onto it and we’re not afraid to let it go either. Feeling could be no different. Those big feelings, they come for a reason, a blast of energy moving through so that we can become clear again. So that we can realign with who we are, over and over. Always remembering our truest essence, the timeless and the infinite. That which isn’t dependent and what comes and goes but which embraces all equally. Yep, that’s it. Simple, right? Not always…
But that’s why we practice yoga. On and off the mat. That’s why get ourselves together and find that one voice of reason within that isn’t so caught up in everything that is happening through our beloved ego perception and we see the grander scheme of things. We center ourselves to become those vessels where the energy can flow freely. We set ourselves free by letting go of limiting beliefs about who we are and who we should be. Because ultimately, we know. We know in our hearts that as much as all of it seems real, it’s just not THAT real. And it’s not that we’re not entitled to feeling deep, it’s just that we’re learning new ways of doing so. More accepting. More open and more fluid. And most of all more loving. We’re learning how to expand our horizons by understanding the workings of the self. And when that storm hits, we sit ourselves down and relax, knowing that- in the words of master Eckhart Tolle: this too shall pass.
And as it passes through and we’re no longer clenching our fists to hold it back or relentlessly trying to protect ourselves from it, it starts moving and it moves us. It moves us in the most spectacular ways. And we realize that this energy in motion is merely love- pushing and pulling us in the direction of our dreams. Waking us up to our ultimate potential and helping us become who we were always meant to be. And that my friends, is the alchemy of life. A little bit of Einstein, a little bit of yoga and some Eckhart Tolle and we’ve got ourselves a beautiful pot of gold. Beautiful, beautiful emotion.
Words by @antoniafridarothschild