Why Yoga Pisses Me Off

Yoga pisses me off. Sure, I look peaceful on the outside, but behind the cute clothing, I’m angry.

Last Friday, I attended Yoga on the Beach while on vacation in Sea Isle City, NJ. The sun shinned bright, waves crashed nearby, seagulls soared overhead. It was surreal – something out of a staged yoga DVD.

Yet as I extended into lunge pose, I wanted to punch someone. In cow face pose, I was tempted to scream. In half-split, I exhaled toxic anger like a fire-breathing dragon.  

Yoga is supposed to be pleasant, I thought. What’s wrong with me?

Turns out, I have junk in my trunk. It’s believed that we store negative emotions like fear, guilt and sadness – in our hips and pelvis. Sinking into these areas brings negative emotions to the surface.

“You know your junk drawer at home?” San Francisco vinyasa teacher Stephanie Snyder explains. “The pelvis is like the body’s junk drawer. Whenever you don’t know what to do with a feeling or experience, you put it there.”

Today, I reclined into pigeon pose and the negative emotions swelled quickly. I breathed deeply, visualizing that I was clearing the cobwebs – cleaning the junk in my trunk. This made me smile. The pose was still uncomfortable, but I felt more patient and productive. 

Don’t get me wrong, some yoga poses truly are joyful. I’ve been loving balancing recently in tree pose and warrior III.

But it’s important to know that yoga is not entirely a walk in the park, it can be fierce and firey too. I’m proud to be working through it!

I’m 2/3rds done with my 21 Day Yoga challenge, but a few sessions behind – ek! I plan to double up a few days this week. My body aches but I’m pushing on. Wish me luck! 

6 Comments

  1. Jill on June 25, 2013 at 5:14 am

    Good job Julie! Keep it up!

    PS. Pigeon is my favorite pose to use in a post-run stretch. 🙂

    • julie on June 25, 2013 at 3:26 pm

      Thank you for your encouragement, Jill! You’re amazing. Once I get in my yoga groove, I love pigeon so much. Still trying to get there… 🙂

  2. Rhonda on June 25, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    Hi Julie
    You are an inspiration! I live on the other side of the world in New Zealand and also suffer from Narcolepsy with cataplexy. I have recently lost my drivers licence as a result and my world feels like it diminishes more and more every year as my condition grabs hold. I took your advice and started yoga yesterday – really enjoyed it. The poses where somewhat challenging although I imagine they will get easier in time. I even managed to stay awake. I felt great afterwards and am really looking forward to my next class tomorrow. I am sure there will be plenty of junk in my trunk and your experience will help me deal with that in a more positive light.

    I have just been filming a documentary here in NZ regarding narcolepsy in the hope that we can increase awareness of the condition. It should screen next week. If you are interested I am sure there is some way technology will allow us to get it to you.

    Take care

    • julie on June 25, 2013 at 10:31 pm

      Hello to Rhonda in New Zealand!

      I’m so sorry to hear that you live with narcolepsy and cataplexy too and recently lost your drivers licence. I imagine this is a very challenging time of transition.

      I’m thrilled that you’ve found my website and that my yoga post inspired you to give it a try! Yes, please send me the link to your documentary – I’d love to share it. Thank you for raising awareness.

      Sending wakefulness and big smiles across the globe to you! 🙂
      Julie

  3. Alex Withrow on June 28, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    So proud of you for sticking with this challenge! I agree, yoga definitely isn’t easy, but you’re an inspiration for doing the challenge 🙂

    • julie on June 28, 2013 at 5:53 pm

      Thank you for the encouragement. It means so much to me.

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