Sublimate your Emotions

Remember that emotion is ego in motion

- Smt. Priyamvada Waghmare

At our couples' class meeting on Guru Poornima, our topic was 'emotions' with two very sincere Sadhakas of the The Yoga Institute sharing their experiences. Let us start by understanding the word 'emotion.' Various definitions are found, for example in the Oxford English dictionary, which states

1. Emotion is a complex subjective feeling state that leads to physical and psychological changes that influence thinking and behaviour.

2. It is a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.

3. A conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as a strong feeling, usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioural changes in the body.

One of the most difficult tasks is attempting to control our emotions. They fluctuate with the infinite ever-changing permutation combinations of the Gunas. Any of the paths that one may choose to achieve a balanced state of mind will help us to have some amount of awareness and control over our emotions. Excess of positive or negative emotions is indeed harmful. More so the negative ones. They lead to stress, anxiety and these in turn lead to dis-ease of the mind leading to diseases of the physical body.

In yoga, the advice is to sublimate emotions, i.e. to channelize the energy caused by the excessive emotional feelings into creative activities like singing, gardening, painting or such hobbies.