r/yoga
I attended my first professional yoga class. Why did tears spontaneously come to my eyes during the winding down phase?
This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the yoga community, answered.
The Question
I have dabbled in yoga on my own. I have a really good yoga book and I would practice various yoga poses. My favorites were the child' pose and legs up the wall. As I said, I attended my first professional yoga class. It was an hour. I thoroughly enjoyed the class. When she gave us instructions to wind down, I felt so relaxed as if I had a professional massage. As we were going thru the winding down phase , I felt so relaxed AND out of the blue tears came to my eyes. I was not thinking abou…
— via r/yoga
Our Response
You cried because you finally relaxed.
Your nervous system downshifted. Hard.
Most of us walk around with our sympathetic system jacked up. Fight or flight. All day. Every day.
Then you lie down in savasana. The room's quiet. Someone's guiding you. You're safe.
Your body realizes: Oh. I can let go now.
And sometimes that release shows up as tears.
It's not emotional. It's physiological.
You're not broken. You're not processing trauma. You just dropped out of high alert for maybe the first time in weeks.
It's actually a good sign.
If it keeps happening, let it. Don't make it mean something. Don't perform it. Just let your nervous system do what it needs to do.
And keep going to class.
The more you practice, the less dramatic the release gets. You'll learn to access that state without the waterworks.
But for now? Bring a tissue. You're fine.
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