I admit, tight hamstring is my weakness and every time I do a class where the practice focuses on postures for the hamstrings I am left feeling frustrated and angry. This is probably coming from my ego, but I also feel a deeper emotional bond/ grip here, and its not a positive one.
Why do I feel so strongly about this and how can I just let go?
Thank you :sad:
I do not have an answer for you because I am struggling with a very similar situation. I feel my ego creeping up on me during every class now it seems. I am having very negative emotional reactions to not being able to take poses that others are able to do. I can logically talk to myself about why and how this is unhealthy thinking and make an effort to change it, but it still creeps in when I am least expecting it. 
I can only speak of my own experiences, whether yours in any way relates is for you to determine 
I used to get incredibly frustrated that I wasn’t making progress in many poses. For example, Upavistha Konasana is one of the poses that I was never really able to make progress in. It got to the point that I, early in my yoga practice, took a 35 pound weight, put it outside my door, tied a yoga strap to it, slid the strap under the door so the weight was on the outside, and sat in the pose while pulling as hard as I could on the strap to force myself downward. HAHAHAHAH. Oh man.
There are a wide variety of reasons we don’t progress in some poses. Good teachers will empower us to become compassionate scientists where the subject is our body, mind, and emotions and the test bed is our yoga mats. If trying day in and day out for three months to get your muscles to do something isn’t working, then one might need to take a step back and evaluate if its time to try something new.
“Is another muscle(s) weak or tense and that is causing a lack of range of motion in this muscle?”
“Rather than stretch this muscle, do I need to strengthen it and associated muscles instead?”
“Can I breathe differently as I work this pose?”
“Can I move my body differently, utilizing a different set of muscles in this pose?”
“Do I need to employ other limbs of yoga to help me make progress in my asana practice?”
These and a million other questions might be posed by a yoga practitioner examining their body and practice. And of course speaking with your trusted teacher to get their insight is often valuable as well.
But why might we feel anger, frustration, or other emotions arise in a pose? There are many reasons, a couple which have been true for me are:
Competitiveness was deeply ingrained in me. I always had to be the best as that would please the people I wanted to be accepted and loved by. As time went by, if someone was better than me at something, those same neural connections would come into play and I’d get angry because, deep down I was scared. Scared of not being accepted and loved.
Emotion may be associated with the tension in that particular area of the body. Neurologists will tell you, “What fires together, wires together”. So if you had a traumatic event that created that tension in your body, it’s quite common to experience very strong emotions as you begin to release that deep chronic tension.
As I’ve let go of deep seated emotion and come to understand myself on a deeper level, my asana practice has improved infinitely more than just by sitting and trying to crank myself into a pose. Let me also say that I had many teachers tell me I had tight hamstrings. It turns out this was incorrect, it had very little to do with my hamstrings…
How do you let go of it? Everyone will provide a different answer as there are a myriad of ways that are effective. Some might say meditation, some may say asana, some may say pranayama, some might say shaking, some might say prayer, some might say EMDR, and the list goes on. You have to find what works best for you for that particular area of your body.
why do you feel strongly about this, I dont know, how can you let it go, not sure about that either. There was once a tree that saw a lake, so the tree wanted to be the lake. The funny thng was that the lake saw the tree and wanted to be the tree.
Others in that same class may look at you and see qualities about you that they wish they had, just as you look at them and wish you had some of their qualities. You are a tree, they are a lake, is that ok?
Peace be with you
Brother Neil
omamana im assuming you are male?
I totally agree with David. Especially with fear of not being accepted and loved.
In my practice I keep repeating to myself: there is no enlightenment at the tips of the knees. My life will not suddenly change if I will touch them with my forehead. All enlightenment and happiness is exactly where my head is right now. Not millimeter further beyond my comfortable stretch…
What a great opportunity to bring more than asana into your asana.
We know that forcing inhibits feeling such that the two cannot be present at the same time in the practice. And so we must choose, often. And we sacrifice the potential for growing our awareness when our practice has no feeling. We have the chance to move beyond the doing, the accomplishment, the performance and get further into our bodies through this thing we call feeling.
We know the niyamas - the foundational precepts which classically preceded the learning of posture - provide us illumination in three ways here. The first is the withdrawal of the senses; the movement of our awareness so that we define ourselves not by that which is outside ourselves but by that which is inside ourselves. This means looking at the pose from the inside out, from the cells and bone marrow to the epidermis, rather than how far the leg is in the pose. And this is why we are at least occasionally taught to not have much regard for what goes on over there on the adjacent mat. Though I grant you this concept is often muddled in transmission.
The second is through the process of surrendering the effort in, and doing of, the pose to something greater than ourselves. To the bigger picture. To the Divine. To the Universe. So that the pose is no longer “for me” but is a dedication to a fabric interwoven throughout our context.
And the third is the sense of finding contentment BUT not at the expense of effort. Contentment here does not mean “everything is as it is and so I’ll just sit on the couch at eat Ruffles”. It means the fire of coming to the mat is stoked but there is an absence of clinging to a particular result in favor of an acceptance for the fruit being the fruit (when the day or pose is done).
Thank you all for taking the time to reply to me, I do appreciate your guidance and input.
You have all give me much to think about, and it’s made me feel less ‘alone’ as we sometimes do when things trouble us.
I especially want to thank David for telling me about your personal experience.
And I was secretly hoping InnerAthlete would reply as I always enjoy reading your posts and very much respect your opinions.
Charliedharma – I am a female.
Love and light to you all
In my practice I keep repeating to myself: there is no enlightenment at the tips of the knees. My life will not suddenly change if I will touch them with my forehead. All enlightenment and happiness is exactly where my head is right now. Not millimeter further beyond my comfortable stretch…
I like this!
"charliedharma - I am female"
bang goes my theory then.
I was told many years ago that forward bends can challenge the ego of men because we tend to have tighter hamstrings.
love and light
The theory is sound. The application here just doesn’t fit the gender. But it is not a gender-exclusive theory; it can apply to anyone. Generally, the nature of forward bends - janu sirsasana, paschimotanasana, balasana - is surrender and we as men are taught that surrender is not okay. Said teachings can of course be absorbed by a person of any gender. We don’t own it, we just use it frequently LOL.
Your hamstrings will open up as you practice. It just takes time and patience. Mine used to be incredibly tight but have started opening significantly in the past three years.
When you’re in a forward fold, just remind yourself about your breath. Try to inhale patience and exhale frustration.
Good luck! : )
[QUOTE=Pawel;32159]I totally agree with David. Especially with fear of not being accepted and loved.
In my practice I keep repeating to myself: there is no enlightenment at the tips of the knees. My life will not suddenly change if I will touch them with my forehead. All enlightenment and happiness is exactly where my head is right now. Not millimeter further beyond my comfortable stretch…[/QUOTE]
Wow!! Thanks Pawel for the insight and reminder!! 
[QUOTE=omamana;32095]I admit, tight hamstring is my weakness and every time I do a class where the practice focuses on postures for the hamstrings I am left feeling frustrated and angry. This is probably coming from my ego, but I also feel a deeper emotional bond/ grip here, and its not a positive one.
Why do I feel so strongly about this and how can I just let go?
Thank you :sad:[/QUOTE]
Practice makes it perfect! Practice and meditate!