Energy moving and releasing

This is the place to discuss the energetic aspects of Yin Yoga and its Daoist heritage
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Roweeeeeena
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:24 am

Energy moving and releasing

Post by Roweeeeeena »

Hello, I hope I will be able to explain my question clearly!

We know that yin yoga supports the movement and unblockage of energy, in some people does this movement manifest more physically than others?

When I do yin yoga, I get strong tremors, and not just standard muscle release tremors, but my limbs will move in circles also, I suppose it is the manifestation of energy releasing?

It doesn't happen with every pose, but will happen with most poses if I hold them long enough, and usually the longer I hold it will get more intense, sometimes it will stop itself but usually we are moving to a different pose so it stops due to that.

I just allow it to happen, I don't resist it, but it is quite extreme, I'm wondering why no one else on any of the classses reacts like this? None of the teachers have been able to give insight. One thought it was spontaneous kundalini awakening but I really don't think so!

I got 'energy medicine' once from a therapist and had similar very physical reactions to the energy work, and when I held some acupressure points on my toes and ankle as prescribed by her, after 5 minutes my foot was twirling wildly similar to the reaction I get sometimes in yin yoga.

When I lie on a yoga wheel I also get strong and fast tremors if I'm holding a deep back bend or shoulder release, it feels good but to others it looks extreme or like I am making it happen. I have done trauma release exercises before, I wonder has that trained my body to respond with tremors? Although those poses are very different.

Thanks for reading, I hope you can make sense of some of my points!!
Roweeeeeena
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:24 am

Post by Roweeeeeena »

Forgot to say also sometimes when I am in shavasana my body will spontaneously move in to certain poses, most frequently fish pose. It's not even that I get the urge to move my body in to that pose and I do so, my body actually just moves itself in to the pose -I allow it, if I were to resist it I could over course over rule it.
Bernie
Posts: 1292
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Mysterious energetic movements

Post by Bernie »

First, let's make sure you are not suffering from some pathology! There are situations where people do suffer spontaneous and uncontrolled movements due to a problem in their nervous system. These have been reported after strokes, for example. So, my first question would be - how is your health? Have you talked to a health care provider about this? Does it feel unsafe/scary to you? Can you take back control anytime you want? Movement disorders are often associated with Parkinson's Disease, autoimmune disorders and other problems. You may want to rule these out.

Assuming you are totally healthy, such an experience becomes more of a mystery. You are not alone! Many people feel similar releases. I have often had meditation students describe the same thing. What is actually happening? I can only speculate, as I know of no scientific studies that have investigated this, but there is a lot of yoga lore that talks to it. Unfortunately, my experience with such yoga lore is that it is more descriptive that explanatory. Yogis will talk about prana movements or even a Kundalini awakening, but as you suspect, I doubt these are causing what you have experienced. From what I have learned, Kundalini is like an atom bomb exploding, and if a yogi is not ready for this amount of energetic release, they can cause themselves grave physical and psychic damage. A prana movement is much milder and could be considered a cause of your movements, but does that help to know? What prana? How is it moving? Is it safe/harmful? How do you control it? These type of energetic questions are best answered by seeking an experience prana yoga master, in person. Such a person is unfortunately very rare to find and I can't direct you to one that I know.

On the other hand, the Daoist philosophy has a broader map of energy than the Indian yogic teachings: there are many Daoist teachers who deal with energy all the time - from traditional Chinese doctors and acupuncturists to Ki Gong and Tai Chi masters. You probably can find one of these close by. And of course, there are energy intuitive like Reiki healers who may be able to help you understand what is happening.

From a Western perspective, I would speculate that you are stimulating energy through either nervous system release or a fascial pressure release. Pressure on the tissues is known to send a variety of signals through the body: piezoelectrical signals, mechanotransduction signals and water state changes which may also have a cellular signalling effect. It is possible that some of these signals are reaching the muscles and activating them, although in a somewhat random manner. (This could be similar to the way most of us can sit, with one leg on tip toes, and cause our leg muscles to move the leg up and down quickly, without any volitional effort: the nerves just turn on and off the muscles repeatedly. Maybe you are doing that somehow.)

Hopefully, some other readers with more experience and depth in this area will share their thoughts.

Cheers
Bernie
Roweeeeeena
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:24 am

Post by Roweeeeeena »

Hi Bernie

Thanks for your insight.

Yes we can rule out a pathological reason as it only happens when I am doing yoga, meditating, in shavasana after yoga, or if I am doing reiki on myself (I have asked other reiki practioners also and I didn't receive any insight as to what or how was happening on an energetic level) I do reiki lying down in bed for example, but it only happens in this position during a reiki session, not when I am just lying down in bed resting or preparing to sleep -it is therefore related to some sort of energy movement. When it occurs during reiki often it is to move my hand to the centre of the chest -rapidly knocking with closed fist or with tips of fingers all together or in a raindrop 'movement' -perhaps that is linked to energy and the anahata chakra, I don't know. It doesn't feel unsafe or scary, and I can over rule the movements when I try to.

I agree with your theory that part of it is energy is being stimulated through nervous system or fascial pressure release, but it seems it cannot be only this, as sometimes these movements occur when I am not doing physical movements like yoga or holds like yin yoga, but when I am meditating cross legged and keeping still (when mediating the movement is usually intense repeated 'scrunching' and 'stretching' of the forehead/eyebrow area between the two eyebrows, head rolling back and forth and head rolling back to create an intense stretch on the throat like fish pose but sitting upright cross legged)

Hopefully others will share similar experiences or their thoughts here in the future.
inspiriert
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Joined: Sun Sep 29, 2013 8:51 pm

Post by inspiriert »

Hi there,

I know these movements well.

They can come up, when emotional and/or muscular energy is being released so it is also likely to happen in meditation. When the situation allows I would let the body shake or move as long as it wants to.
You will usually feel much mor released afterwards.

We already had a discussion about this topic here you might be interested in
http://www.yinyoga.com/forums/viewtopic ... highlight=

Best. Karin
Bernie
Posts: 1292
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Post by Bernie »

Thanks Karin!
Roweeeeeena
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2016 6:24 am

Post by Roweeeeeena »

Thanks Karin for the link to that thread, it seems to be exactly what I'm trying to explain! Haven't got a chance now to read it properly but really looking forward to reading it and checking out all the linked resources at the weekend -it's so fascinating!
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