Mood Yoga—The Method & The Book

4.1 Regurgitating Thoughts

Ninety-five percent of the thoughts we had today are the same thoughts we had yesterday. The theories behind Mood Yoga help us to understand why we regurgitate our thoughts—it relates reoccurring thought patterns to habitual and conditioned thinking.

4.2 Emotional Traits

Basically, there are five sources of emotional trouble (also known as problematic emotional traits, causes-of-affliction or obstacles) identified in Patanjali's Classical Yoga, which Patanjali relates to habit-moulds (samskaras—Sanskrit for subliminal activators). Mood Yoga helps us to understand why emotional traits form habit-moulds that can control our thought processes, and in turn, our feelings. Mood Yoga can help us to overcome these tendencies by demonstrating ways to conquer destructive habits of thought, in turn freeing us from the bondage of programmed thinking.

Mood Yoga will teach you how to become an observer of your own thoughts (the silent witness mentioned in Eastern traditions), giving you control of your emotions. You will discover that emotions are wonderful and powerful feelings subject to incredible extremes, which unfortunately sometimes cause us pain. One of the lessons Eastern wisdom teaches us is how to find the middle ground between these extremes; hence, you will learn the art of self-mastery. In a world of time-management and entrepreneurs, this kind of self-mastery is often confused with becoming emotion-free and object/outcome orientated. This is not what Mood Yoga is about. Instead, it is about being free to experience the joy of positive emotions without the constraint of negative emotions (emotions that we develop as coping mechanisms such as guilt, resentment, envy and bitterness).

Pictured: Kate Wiesner, photographed by Roger De Zilwa