Expansive Emotions?

What routines or techniques do you have, to access your expansive emotions like kindness and compassion?

---

In yoga we might directly cultivate those feelings in meditation, or by setting an intention at the start of class. Or you might find they spontaneously bubble up in the pauses between movements.

Studies show that getting in touch with expansive emotions releases oxytocin, which you might have heard called the cuddle hormone. It may delight you to know that the presence of oxytocin decreases the receptors in the amygdala which is the part of the brain that generates fear and anxiety. A classic win win situation.

With fear out of the way, we can feel more trust, forgiveness and love. We move from being selfish to selfless. Our neurocircuitry opens the door to more possibilities, to who knows what… The sky is the limit when we’re not expending energy on just surviving.