Before starting yoga you want to know how do you feel after yoga class or if you are already stepping on the yoga mat you want to know if your feelings after class are normal. Here at Reflective Self we have over a decade of training and will show what to look out for after a yoga class. In this article you find what positive and negative emotions you can expect and why. Also the spiritual experiences you might have as well as the physical affects of yoga.
Mental and Physical Changes After Yoga Practice
You will feel a range of feelings and physical affects after yoga. You may experience a yoga high with positive feelings of well being and connectedness, but also sometimes negative feelings like anger. Physically you can feel limber and relaxed but also you can feel tight and tired. Much of how you react after a Yoga class will depend on your experience, level of fitness and emotional health.
Positive Emotions After Yoga Class
Although it varies from person to person, you are likely to experience the following Positive affects after you practice yoga.
Calm and Relaxed
Yoga activates your parasympathetic nervous system. This reduces your stress and gives you a calm feeling immediately after class. How long this lasts will depend on your lifestyle, health and whether you do regular yoga practice.
Connected
Practicing yoga in class setting gives you a sense of community. After class people often feel a sense of connection with others that they have not felt for a while. The shared space and the affect yoga asanas have on your energy centers also give you a connection with something bigger than yourself. You can call it the divine.
Contentment
The combination of mindfulness, holding poses and stretching quietens the mind and gives you a sense of contentment.
Joy
The sense of community, opening up the body with stretches and the chemical changes in the body can make you feel joyful.
Gratitude
Getting in touch with your body and the focus you bring to your practise can make make room for you to appreciate the positive things in your life.things that are easy to forget when we are stressed and busy.
Sense of Achievement
Having completed a yoga class you can pat yourself on the back. You have made an effort to improve yourself emotionally, physically and spiritually. This sense of empowerment carries over to the rest of your life.
Negative Emotions You Might Experience
Negative emotions after yoga are normal. The breathing and physical practice releases blocks in the energy centers leading to emotional release such as feelings of anxiety.
You may also feel a general sense of frustration and disappointment because you found the session hard and challenging.
Because yoga gets you in touch with your body intimately, if you are not used to this it can lead to self criticism and judgement.
Finally. if the yoga session does not have the expected high you imagined, it can make you feel negative and disappointed.
How Do You Feel After Yoga Class if You are Spiritually Sensitive?
We rarely experience the full range of emotion. An overwhelming sense of love is not something we experience often or if at all.
After yoga practice might be the first time we experience this emotion.
Why You Are likely to experience the love the mystics have spoken of After Yoga Class
Yoga encourages mindfulness which leads to being present. It is the present, away from the chattering mind, is where this love exists.
During practice we stretch the body including the heart chakra area, the shoulders and neck area releasing tension and emotions that block love.
The philosophy of yoga is compassion to oneself and others. Fostering gratitude, generosity and kindness. When we go into practice with our intention set on these qualities it opens up to an all encompassing love.
Then there is the release of endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and GABA. These are feel good hormones that are released after physical movement, when we feel connected and when achieve something.
The combination of mindfulness, emotional release from opening the energy centers, kindness of yoga teachers, intention on the philosophical tenants of yoga and the release of feel good hormones can get us in touch with universal love.
Is It Normal to Feel Anger After Yoga Class?
Most people will feel positive after yoga, the yoga high, as it is called. However it is not unusual to feel anger.
There are many possible reasons for this.
Difficult Practice
If the practice is harder than we expected and we found the yoga poses challenging this can lead to frustration and anger.
Yoga has many levels, everyone starts somewhere. It is natural to compare ourselves to others. Be patient and consistent and improvement will come.
Unresolved Emotions
The physical stretching, breathing practices and being present can release unresolved anger from the past. The poses open and balance your chakras and can also release anger.
Be kind to yourself and understand this is a positive. Pent up anger can lead to health problems.
Poor Yoga Instruction or class
If the yoga class is full of bad energy then you will pick up on this. Find another class, quickly!
Sometimes You Can Feel Nauseous. Here’s Why…
If you feel nauseous it can be due to some of the following.
Dehydration
This is one of the first places to look. Yoga can make you sweat, a lot in the case of the more strenuous styles. Make sure you drink enough water.
Digestion
Yoga massage and puts pressure in the digestive system, if you have eaten too close to practice or have existing problems this can cause you to feel sick.
Overexertion
This can be a difficult one to balance, as we want to challenge ourselves to get the benefits of yoga and improve but if we push to hard it can exhaust us.
Start slow and build up gradually. Ultimately how hard you push will depend on knowing yourself, this comes with time.
Inner Ear
Some yoga poses can cause dizziness leading to a feeling of nausea.
Lower Blood Sugar
If you are doing yoga on an empty stomach this can reduce your blood sugar, causing dizziness and nausea.
You Feel Grounded
A common feeling after yoga practice is to feel grounded. Life and it’s stresses can put is in our heads and take our energy up onto the shoulders and neck. We lose the sureness of belonging on this earth.
Yoga will make you feel grounded, some of the reasons why:
Connection to the Ground
Yoga teaches how to stand and sink your centre of gravity to root yourself to the earth.
Deep Breathing
Yoga breathing connects us with our body, making us feel centred.
Mindfulness
Takes us out of our head and quietens our thoughts. This gives us a solid grounding.
Physical touch
Yoga practice will entail a yoga teacher correcting your posture with gentle touches. This can give you a feeling of safety and relax us into our bodies and the present moment.
Releases Tension
The stretching and movements release blocked energy and relaxes our body, letting sink naturally into the ground.
Spiritual Experiences You Can Have After Yoga Class
At its core yoga is a spiritual practice which balances and unites body, mind and spirit. This was the ultimate goal of the classic yoga of Patanjali.
It’s not uncommon for people to have spiritual experiences during or after yoga practice.
If you can’t remember the last time you felt gratitude or experienced inner peace then if you experience these doing yoga they will seem like a spiritual experience, and in essence they are. Yoga philosophy teaches us that all is spirit.
Practice opens your yoga energy centres, when this happens you may experience:
Connection to the divine or higher power: You can feel the benevolent presence of something bigger and intangible and feel intimately connected to it,
Feeling the interconnection of your self to life: You experience life as one and how all things are connected with each other including yourself.
Heightened intuition or spiritual insight: You may find you sense the meaning behind what people say beyond the words. Or you might get a new perspective on life or a particular situation in your life.
These experiences happen naturally, chasing them will not make them happen quicker and could lead you to fooling yourself. Enjoy your practice and let things unfold.
A Beginners Experience After a Yoga Session
Everyone’s experience of yoga is unique. How do you feel after yoga class if you are a beginner?
As a beginner you might experience some of the following.
Soreness: As a newbie you will not be used exerting yourself the way yoga asks, even if you have done other physical exercise.
Emotional Release: You will experience a whole range of emotions from positive to negative. Some because of trying something new and others caused by the yoga poses and breathing (yoga high).
Relaxation: The environment, the stretches and breathing of yoga are unique, if you experience this tranquil positive calm for the first time you can a feel a profound sense of relaxation.
Energy: The breathing and movement will boost your nervous system and make you feel alive and energetic.
Mental Sharpness: Yoga can focus your mind and quieten your thoughts this can lead to your thinking process becoming more streamlined and sharp.
The Affects of Yoga on Your Physical Body
When we ask How do you feel after yoga class, we cannot ignore your body. The purpose of yoga on a physical level is to balance the entire body and bring it to it’s natural state.
After a class you feel physically looser, relaxed, with reduced muscle tension and more flexibility. Depending on your physical condition you may experience soreness and tightness in the legs arms and hips.
Because of the stretching and aligning, your blood circulation improves. You can find certain aches and pains have gone. The improved circulation will also give you more energy.
And because of the release of knots in the body your body will feel lighter.
You can boost these affects by using CBD. I show you how here: CBD and Yoga are the Perfect Match for Stress Relief and Relaxation.
Conclusion: How do You Feel After Yoga Class?
Your feelings after yoga will depend on the type of class, your physical health and experience.
You can expect positive benefits of calm, relaxation, emotional release, inner piece, gratitude and feeling more connected. Together, some call this a yoga high.
More rare but not uncommon you can experience spiritual connection with the divine and feeling the interconnection of all things.
Because the poses and breathing exercises of yoga stretch and release blockages you can also experience negative emotions like anger, anxiety and frustration. This is normal.
Yoga can be physically demanding among the positives of relaxing and stretching the body you will also experience soreness and tightness and possible nausea. These should pass when you become more adept.
Overall you will feel positive, open and energised after yoga.