Cognitive bypassing is normalized culture sadly. We have even picked up the dangerous habit of medicating to make the pain go away. And I have been guilty of compulsively making up explanations to avoid the most difficult of the pain so that I may be functional. But that has changed with the practice of tantra/yoga for me. Where there was a wish for escape, now is a welcoming. And I sit with the emotions and show myself love/support while the body processes the emotion.
I have a traumatic response to anger so it has been a force that has been ignored in my life. When I felt anger, I felt like a vile person and it never got to express itself productively. As you can imagine, this leads to dis-ease in the body and disastrous outbursts. More recently, I have been allowing anger an avenue to express itself (in conversation and bodily movement) while I learn to listen with a loving centeredness to its message without judging myself for it. And suddenly, one day, a magical thing happened. The energy of anger turned away from the things I dislike about myself and towards the things I needed to get done. And I felt motivated, driven, ready. And a lot got done!
In a way, the fuel had found its right home. Now, I practice this as often as I can - to sit with the pain, feel it, breathe, move the body.. and it has been immensely healing and vivifying.
On Feb 22, 2022 Sanjana Raghunath wrote :