We have 24 hours in a day and we have over hundreds of task to tick off each day. The tasks range from personal and professional tasks to miscellaneous tasks which are minute in nature but plenty in number. Even after technology helping us in automating numerous of our task, in this competitive era, new things keep emerging to take up our focus and time. The amount of time we spend in front of our screens managing our jobs has landed us in the digital-zombie zone. The situation is so universal that it has become a buzz word across the world today.
In all the hassle of winning over our day, our emotional health steadily takes a backbench, resulting in us losing touch with our emotions. This instigates the habit of holing up of our feelings and the exhaustion makes way for negative emotions like rage, irritation, resentment, and likes which isolates us from our loved ones.
Some of the Yogic practices you can inculcate in your daily routine to address and manage your emotions are:
Monitor your Breathing: The key to calm your mind and releasing emotional stress is deep breathing. Daily submitting a few minutes of your day to practice Pranayama and breathing exercises have rewarding effects on your heart. When you feel overwhelmed with emotions or life gets too stressful, try Yogendra Pranayama IV (Abdominal breathing) and Anulom-Viloma (Alternate breathing exercise). They help in calming you down and allow you to stay focused and stress-free. Find a quiet corner in your house, where you can regularly dedicate at least 10 minutes each day to practice Pranayama. Eventually, it becomes a good habit that heals you emotionally.
Practice Positivity: Make a conscious effort to think positively. Practice diverting negative thoughts by looking for positivity in every situation. Positive thinking helps in balancing our state of mind. A balanced mind is a groundwork that will provide peace and clarity in your day to day thoughts. Start writing five positive things you experienced each day, this will bring an attitude of gratitude in your personality and contentment. When you are filled with positivity, you will also attract similar traits and people in your life.
Restructure your Perspective: The Yoga Institute pioneered the concepts of Anitya Bhavana, Pratipaksh Bhavana, and Nispandabhava. These Bhavas help humans to distinguish between what is permanent and what is transitory, thus helping to keep things in perspective.
Try Yoga Sutra 1.33 for Mental Peace and Managing Emotional Triggers:
“Maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha duhkha punya apunya visayanam bhavanatah citta prasadanam”
Maitri- Friendly attitude towards people who are happy and positive
Karuna- Compassionate attitude towards people who are unhappy and suffering
Mudita- Pure joy for successful people
Upeksanam- Indifference towards critical people
Vishayanam- Regarding
Bhavanatah- Feeling
Cittaprasadanam- Favorable Disposition
Meditate & Reflect: End each day spending a few minutes to yourself in quiet reflection. Meditate and take stock of the positive and negative emotions you experienced throughout the day. Focus on progressing your energies towards positive emotions, accomplishments, and solutions to any problems.
Have Faith: Surrender yourself to a higher reality. You are accountable for your actions, but the results will pan out as they will. There is a bigger picture in motion, but it does not require you to compromise or be willing to lose. Give 100% of your efforts towards work and enjoy the journey while discovering the extraordinary in everyday events.
Practice Yoga Asanas: Yoga Asanas are a good indicator of the current state of mind. Balancing poses like Hastapadangusthasana, Camel pose, Halasana all help in understanding yourself better. It becomes twice as difficult to practice balancing poses when your emotions are in distress. Yoga Asanas help in aligning your body and mind thus bringing a better understanding of your inner self. You can start with Parvatasana, Yashtikasna, Vakrasana, Chakrasana, and Talasana and later can build your form and balance towards other Asanas.
Once you achieve an understanding of your inner self, it allows you to make choices in your work in a way that it doesn’t overwhelm you. Do not try to handle everything on your own, seek help from your friends and family when in need. Spending time with your loved ones, sharing your worries, your thoughts and listening to their concerns provides both parties with a third-person perspective, thus bringing in some level of clarity.
Take a break from your duties, and give yourself time to reflect!