You’re on your yoga mat, flowing through postures and feeling good about your practice. Suddenly, you find yourself covered in tears. What went wrong? You may be surprised to learn that nothing went wrong, and in fact, you may have just had an emotional release.
While this is a positive experience for many, it may not be for trauma survivors. I invite you to read why crying during yoga happens, when it’s beneficial, and when it may be a sign to seek additional support while on a trauma healing journey.
Benefits Of Crying
Before I explain what crying means during your yoga practice, I’d like to dispel the stigma associated with crying.
I wish our society was more accepting of crying because it’s a release just like laughing. When many people cry, they also feel shame. I welcome you to know that crying is not shameful. We experience crying as part of our human experience for a reason, and that reason is to serve you.
Beyond this reason, crying calms your body. This review by the National Library of Medicine discusses how crying activates your parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. This relieves stress and why you have that relaxed, calm feeling after a crying session.
To learn more about your nervous system after trauma and supportive practices for regulation, I welcome you to explore my Nervous System Healing Guide.
Why You’re Crying During Yoga
Unless you’re crying from physical pain (which I recommend you stop your practice if that’s the case), you may be confused why you had a sudden rush of emotions. You may not even be able to explain the emotion, but more of a general release.
What you experienced was possibly an emotional release, which can be a sign of a trauma release. I welcome you to explore these 5 Signs of Trauma Release to learn more and see how you can support yourself if you experience one.
Emotions in Our Bodies
Your mind and body are connected, and when you release tension from trauma in your body, you can also release emotions. To learn more about how tension arises after trauma, I welcome you to explore my guide to How Trauma is Stored in Our Bodies.
For emotional support, you might explore my Emotional Healing Guide that includes trauma-informed yoga practices for tending difficult emotions after trauma.
People may experience the strongest release when working with hip openers because, according to chakra philosophy, this is the emotional center of our spiritual bodies. This why you may notice the most emotions in hip-opening yoga poses like pigeon, baddha konasana (butterfly), deep lunges, and other hip stretching poses.
I invite you to explore these 4 Hip Opening Yoga Poses and these 7 Yoga Poses for Psoas Release if you’d like to release tension in these areas.
When Crying During Yoga Is Beneficial For Trauma Survivors
To feel is to heal. Processing and releasing trauma may mean many tears. This isn’t a sign you’re failing, but a sign you’re letting go of something that doesn’t serve you anymore.
I invite you to take your time and know that you don’t need to cry every yoga class to make meaningful shifts. Bringing your body back into a neutral state is still supportive for letting your body know you are safe.
When Crying Isn’t Supportive For Trauma Survivors
While crying is wonderful for release, it’s something to be mindful of if you’re doing yoga while healing from trauma. If you haven’t done processing work with your support team and you cry, you may face confusion, stress, or overwhelm.
Here are a few signs it may be supportive to reach out to your support team or take a break from your yoga classes:
- Your practice brings up powerful emotions that you don’t know how to manage
- You constantly feel emotionally worse after your practices (trauma and emotional releases result in feeling lighter and at peace – not more stressed)
- You feel you’re awakening a trauma that you’re not ready to explore – which is 100% okay. I welcome you to focus on healing when you’re ready.
I invite you to explore my Survivor Support Page for a list of resources including crisis lines and additional support.
What To Do After Crying
You have full control over your practice and choices. If you feel exhausted after crying, you’re welcome to end your practice. If you wish to rest in one pose for the rest of class, that’s welcome too. Sometimes, you may have a short moment of emotion, then feel fine to continue your practice.
Once your practice is over, you have the option to journal your experiences. You may notice trends, like maybe you always have a release during a specific pose or when a certain thought enters your mind. Understanding yourself is a supportive first step on your healing journey. I welcome you to explore my Journaling Blog Category for journal prompt ideas to get started.
Deepening Emotional Support
If you’d like to explore yoga classes that honor your emotions and give you time and space to move in your own pace, I welcome you to explore my free trauma-informed yoga library, the Cozy Corner.
Classes explore nervous system regulation, emotional support, tension release, and more, all while tending to sexual trauma survivors to offer safety, trust, and choice in every practice. I welcome you to learn more below to see if this would be a supportive resource for you.
