06/11/2026
HOW DOES YOGA HEAL?
One of the major effects of a consistent practice is the strengthening of our neurological system by the digestion of our emotions, which stem from thoughts. When you digest something physical, it turns into waste, which is then discarded. This is also true of the energy of emotions as it relates to the neurological system of the body.
When yoga is practiced on a consistent basis, our nervous system is less often put on high alert; a state of mind and body which puts stress on all systems. Our respiratory, digestive, and even our skeletal system is affected by stress.
Just exercising the physical body is helpful, but does not have the same unifying effect that a focused mind, relaxed body and calming breath has upon our well-being.
What happens when emotions stay undigested? They find a way to express themselves since all energy must keep moving. Without being conscious of an emotion, we re-act to something external like we always have; that is what reaction is.
But just because we expressed our anger, impatience, or sadness doesn’t mean we’ve gotten rid of it.
We all know the discomfort of feeling emotionally drained after an argument or the guilt of being emotionally explosive with those we care about. That is not the effect we wanted, and yet it is the effect we usually experience when our body/mind are not connected on a conscious level.
As science explains, everything is energy. It is moving in varying speeds of vibration. In the language of the east, with the use of breathing techniques, as well as physical movements, we open blocked pathways in our nervous system. We move prana (energy) through the avenues that carry it, called nadis. Nadis are not visible to the human eye, just as many things are not.
When these pathways can do their job they support the movement of energy rather than hinder it. That is the way acupuncture works. In the east, it is thought that the chakras, wheels of energy, are balanced by the moving of prana through the chakras, which are close energetic proximity to the spinal column.
The chakras can be thought of as the keys that open every door in our mental, spiritual and physical bodies. Each chakra carries an emotional, spiritual and mental charge. Keeping them open and spinning at the correct vibration, balances the 3 elements of nature within our body-mind.
Our self-esteem as well as self-preservation, our intuition, sexual drive, ability to love, and to express our truth as well as our spiritual insight, are all deepened and strengthened by the moving of prana through the nadis by balancing the energy within us.
As you still the energy of the body, thoughts begin to settle. When the energy of thought (the vibrations) slows and stillness comes, we find the foundation of consciousness. Like the sand that sits at the bottom of the vast, deep ocean, it holds life that we’ve not yet become aware of.
Consciousness does not change but our relationship with consciousness does change.
It is here where our True Nature is understood and the physical healing becomes an avenue for emotional, mental and spiritual balancing.
Without the confines of a physical body, without the thoughts that restrict our awareness of what is, our True Nature is reflected back to us as Awareness Itself. Not only are we aware, we are the Awareness Itself.
This Awareness rises with ease like the way the morning mist hovers over a lake. This consciousness, when not weighted down by thought, action or emotion, is not attached to limited sense of self; you experience it as a pure and light filled energy that exists everywhere, and is not localized as the individual self.
It moves through and around all things. It is the very impetus of Love and of Life Itself and the satisfaction from feeling it never leaves you, even if you felt it only in a glimpse of a moment.
We are able join and move with this Awareness. That is because it is part of us, but more poignantly, we are part of It. -- Spirit of a Hippie
