Yoga and Prison....maybe not a good mix...unless you are ready to heal some broken folksIt appears this small little prison study witnessed the unleashing of emotions related to the detoxifying release of stored emotions attributable to this unique environment.
So here is how this translates in real life:
The one thing I did not expect from signing up for Bikram Yoga at
Bikram Yoga Richardson was the emotional rollercoaster I would experience as I began to release stored emotions, experiences, beliefs and toxins through the grueling 90 minute sessions under 105 degree heat and 40 % humidity. Never crossed my mind that anyone or anything could crack my inpenetrable shell.
Then first crack - my first Bikram experience , April 7th, in the hands of the venerable
Denise Deniger. 30 seconds in - I was toast.
Second crack was somewhere around session 7 to 9 (I need to find my notes) where due to overwhelming suppressed emotions (which I will not detail tonight)...I silently sobbed my way through class, in child's pose, and unwittingly several others in the room began to shed tears as well...not due to physical pain, but due to a deep unspoken phenomenon related to emotional release.
How can monkey twisting make this happen...I have NO IDEA! But, hmmm, it has me wondering. It also had me skipping class for awhile!! And then again lately when I was blindsided with the addition of a new toxic inlaw issue, including a new resident of Hotel Thomas....and I went undercover from Bikram, Yassi Maige, owner of
Bikram Yoga Richardson kept checking in and encouraging me to return to the mat.
But now, instead of reaching for a bottle of pills, a bottle of wine, television, the internet, over-obsession with career, or any other popular way of disconnecting from life...I am meeting and learning form others who JUST SHOW UP, and SWEAT, and RELEASE, and HEAL.
What is funny is that if someone told me that Bikram Yoga would put me in touch with my buried emotions I would RUN, RUN, RUN away.... good thing they didn't warn me.
(Thank you Dawnette Brady, Denise Deniger, Yassi Maige and Lisa Brooks...)