"If You Can Feel It, You Can Heal It"

This morning I did yoga at home, using a super cheesy yoga DVD from Ravi Singh and Ana Brett. The DVD is filled with sayings that make me laugh while I am doing the workout, such as: "part of you says no, but the more enduring part of you says: go!". Even though this DVD is pretty silly, doing the workout makes me feel great, and this morning, I was especially moved by a segment called "Meditation to Transform Emotions".  In this meditation, you actively try to feel emotions that are often thought of as negative (sadness, anger, fear) while thinking about a situation that brings these feelings up in you. The idea is that you will have more success changing emotions that are keeping you stuck if you take the time to allow yourself to feel them. While you try to feel each emotions, you also focus on deep breathing. As you let the feelings pass through you and are ready to move on, you finish with a short chant. I think it would also work well with humming or singing as a closing step.  Each time I do this exercise, I am surprised to find how much allowing myself to feel "negative" emotions in relation to events that have triggered them is helpful.