Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Pigeon Pose) - can it cause anger?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Namaste!

This is my very first post :slight_smile:

I have been practicing yoga for almost a year. I have been noticing a trend of sorts. Whenever I do yoga on a Friday night, I come home and have this aggressive, angry energy, and usually end up taking it out on my boyfriend.

This Friday night was no different, and this morning I’m left feeling terrible and so sorry for it. I practice hot yoga (not Bikram) and each of my classes are with different teachers.

I started to think about Friday nights and why they are different, as most of the teachers do pretty much the same poses. However, this particular teacher gets us into One-Legged Pigeon Pose, and we stay there for a long time. Sort of like what we do in a Yin class.

I notice with this pose that I like it and it feels great, but while I’m in the pose I start to develop very intense feelings, I start to fidget and almost feel like I’m going to scream.

I’m starting to wonder if this pose in particular is bringing up a lot of anger issues?

Has anyone else experienced this? I’m looking forward to your thoughts.

Thank you!
Summer

#2

Any pose can bring up certain emotions for each particular person. Emotions are stored in the tissues of our bodies and sometimes through using the tissue, stretching the tissue, or bringing fresh blood/circulation to an area you can unlock the emotions stored in those tissues.

I’ve seen this happen in yoga as well as bodywork.

#3

Hello Summer.

So if I understand you correctly, you are taking very similar asana classes (sequences, style, philosophy et al) in an externally warmed climate (hot room) and ONLY on Friday are you leaving with anger? And you also point out that the sequence on Friday differs ONLY in that you are doing a long hold in Pigeon (but no long holds in other poses)?

I’ll reply to this but I’d like to point out that liking a pose and having it feel great does not, in my way of teaching, equate with fidgeting and feeling like screaming. They are opposing principles, though having emotions come up is not.

Typically, hot yoga classes are also fast vinyasa classes. This is not always the case but it is more likely (and you haven’t said, so…). And such classes certainly have benefit but they also tend to attract or cater to a pitta constitution. Pitta is one of the three constitutions in Ayurveda, Yoga’s sister science.

If you are pitta in nature and doing a pitta practice you are adding more logs onto your fire and that fire can be consuming when not tempered or moderated. A pitta constitution is also often agitated by that which is “slowed” “held” “still” or “quiet” unless they are engaging a practice and diet that balances or they are completely and utterly exhausted such that their resistance is flaccid.

Because you are folding forward in the pose you mention, the nature of the pose itself is introspective. Typically there isn’t a gap in a fast-paced practice for introspection though it might be intended, thought of, or paid lip service. There’s not much introspection that can occur in a forward bend that lasts the duration of three breaths. So svadhyaya (the process of self-study) may not be a concept your nervous system and ego have been prepared for and they simply may be throwing an adolescent temper-tantrum.

The practice of Yoga doesn’t make us better people. It makes us more of the people we are. The practice of asana without an intention to evolve, bring light into the cells, explore alignment, infuse joy, and facilitate a connection to the heart instead of the vital and mental, this fosters ego, aggression, and anger.

Ask your teacher though. It is, to my way of feeling, important to cultivate the relationship with the person you’ve chosen to teach you the practice and that person should absolutely be able to say more to you than “uh huh, yoga brings up anger”. Get what you are paying for - the teachings of Yoga.

#4

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;50611]So if I understand you correctly, you are taking very similar asana classes (sequences, style, philosophy et al) in an externally warmed climate (hot room) and ONLY on Friday are you leaving with anger? And you also point out that the sequence on Friday differs ONLY in that you are doing a long hold in Pigeon (but no long holds in other poses)?[/QUOTE]

Yes to all of those questions.

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;50611]If you are pitta in nature and doing a pitta practice you are adding more logs onto your fire and that fire can be consuming when not tempered or moderated. A pitta constitution is also often agitated by that which is “slowed” “held” “still” or “quiet” unless they are engaging a practice and diet that balances or they are completely and utterly exhausted such that their resistance is flaccid. [/QUOTE]

This is VERY interesting. I am Pitta. When I do Yin classes I am extremely agitated, which is the very reason I try to do them at least once weekly. I just didn’t know “why” I would be feeling that way, so thank you for the insight.

Maybe that is why that pose in particular on Friday nights brings that up for me. She’s the only teacher that holds that particular pose for an average of 3 minutes. I love getting into the position, I love holding it, my hips feel amazing after, but I have to say probably after a minute I start to get irritated, fidgeting, etc. It could be exactly what you are saying (and I love the way you put it) “throwing an adolescent temper-tantrum”.

I feel great today though, besides feeling sorry for my anger towards my boyfriend last night.

~Summer~

#5

To the OP- Simply yes

If you are pitta in nature and doing a pitta practice you are adding more logs onto your fire and that fire can be consuming when not tempered or moderated. A pitta constitution is also often agitated by that which is “slowed” “held” “still” or “quiet” unless they are engaging a practice and diet that balances or they are completely and utterly exhausted such that their resistance is flaccid
I did one of those online Ayurvedic questionaaaires and I came out tri-doshic as it happens though i’m pretty sure my pitta is most dominant. i.e i am the pittta type.So personally interesting that sometimes a pitta need something it does’nt like, i.e a less active practice and more meditative. Ultimately balance. But sometimes vinyasa yoga probably stokes too much of the physcial, i.e ego, if that makes any sense.I’m just getting back into asana…or at least kind of…My current favourite is probably ustrasana…i.e camel pose as i feel it helps me the most, balances & helps open the shoulders etc. I tend to avoid overlyy active asana practices and have for some time. It is th subtle domain that interessts me more which is not to say i won’t do some light asana if i feel like it.

Just a matter of incorporating all the limbs together appropriately,safely etc

#6

‘Don’t look back in anger’…the song… seems to pop into my head whenever i hear folk talk about anger here…lol

I don’t care much for the singers btw though… it’s just the words in that title that sometimes sticks.

#7

Summer,

it is the nervous system that becomes charred from an “only pitta” life. That is not to say Pitta shouldn’t be who they are and of course the musculo-skeletal system can have one predominant dosha while the nervous system can have another - which is why online dosha assessment is fun but not much more <wink>.

Because of overdoing for pitta, the nervous system becomes discombobulated and we see this more and more with students who cannot be still (in savasana) even for three minutes, cannot close their eyes, cannot shift easily to the parasympathetic state. It is, sadly, a societal choice we’ve made. “Burn out” is one way of looking at it. Like sending too much amperage down a line for too long a time. Eventually the nerves get frazzles and the system no longer functions as it should due to the punishment it is given, day in and day out.

Pitta can be brought toward balance with an appropriate practice (and intention of course), proper diet, appropriate meditation, and changes in lifestyle. However a body in balance tends to move toward balance while a body out of balance tends to move out of balance, and this is why one potato chip often leads to the entire bag, one sugary things leads to the craving for more, etcetera.

#8

@Inner Athlete

Yes, good point, a pitta practice may serve a pitta person though that designation may neither reflect the state or quality of the nervous system.

@Summer

Also bear in mind how you feel afterwards. The ability to truly let go is a special gift that yoga practice can affect and it can be hard to truly do for a variety of reasons.I stuggle with it in meditation. I think it could be because we try to keep a sense of self or “I” in place that helps us feel safe or secure. This may be reflect in body-armour or the inability of the mind to dissassociate from mental chatter and noise as well as outwardly-originating sensory impressions etc . When you focus the mind with relaxed awareness during asana practice, the letting-go phase when you “Hhold the pose” you get something that can arise i will call “one-pointedness”.You are neeither reaching or trying to get anywhere. I do it by trying to be in the first instance as relaxed in body-mind as possible but also aware and focused on the particulars of the practice whatever that may be. Full absoroption on whatever one is doing. Devotion and gratitude .

P.S The pitta stuff i find interesting. And yes i’ve heard it said that the online doshas Q’s may be inaacurate. Yes I’m pretty sure i’m pitta because i used to have a pretty active ashtanga type practice that served me well but i think it stoked the ego far too much and I was lacking direction in meditation technique at the time. My first year of yoga was good too.

#9

This anger thing has happened to me too. I seem to be real tight in my hips and shoulders, as my new yoga teacher seems to be helping me out quite a bit. I have been doing yoga for about 5 years (at a gym yoga class that seemed to stop progressing my mind and body after year 2) so I decided to try a real yoga class, or one that was more intensive. The first class made my whole body completely sore for at least 4 days after! Then I returned the next week, I started noticing that I was having bursts of anger at my boyfriend. By the third week, I had flew off at the mouth, said a whole bunch of really bad things (and maybe there was a little bit of alcohol to blame as well) to him because of built up emotions that I kept hiding away. We had a huge argument that night and decided to separate, and I have learned that my outburst on him was all of my anger stored up from all of the things that I wanted to change in our relationship and all of the things that I was overlooking and the fact of the matter was is that I had been wanting to get out of the relationship with him as it wasn’t really working out and the few classes of yoga helped show me that.

#10

If you were in one of MY yoga classes, I’d do my best to create the space so that you felt comfortable to scream. If that’s what you feel, if that’s what’s coming up, I’d want you to honor it. In fact, I’d be incredibly excited for you because most people aren’t able to bring forth what is within them without a tremendous amount of work. As our good friend Mr. J.H. Christ said a few years back, "“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

With that said, the vast majority of yoga teachers are not comfortable with emotion so that’s unfortunately probably not going to be an option for you. If you CAN find one who is, YAY! Go for it. If not, then I’d cultivate a home practice that allows you to bring forth what it is you’re experiencing in class. And then SCREAM. And if you feel like punching things (not people, small animals, or hard things please :wink: ) punch things. If you feel like breaking things, break things. Do what is necessary to let every last ounce of that anger flow from you.

And then when you exhaust all of that anger, lay down in Savasana and have a good cry. As that is what your ego is protecting: a deep emotional wound.

It’s time to heal.

#11

As long as we’re not presuming that screaming is the only methodology for processing anger, then I agree with David, though it likely would not be handled by me in class in an identical fashion.