✅ Diverse practices in different domains - from yoga, to acting, to entrepreneurship, to breathwork and beyond - share similar principles about the utility of shifting emotions and states of mind for better performance and personal development.

✅ Though it receives less focus in society today, throughout history, intentionally working with emotions to shift states of mind has been viewed as an effective tool - one that suggests that sometimes the key is not to suppress negative feelings - but to understand how to move & release the energy they contain. And to do it with a process that leads to clarity of mind, growth and healing.

✅. As human beings we move between the part of us that experiences "negative emotions" and the part of us that helps us access strength and clarity. There is a relationship between these states, and a tension.

✅ While people and situations differ, techniques that honor & then shift how a person feels - in their body - may be more effective for some people than those that rely on generalized ideas about "positive thinking" that only impact on the level of thinking but leave the energy of emotions in the body untouched.

✅ Who doesn't want a way to more effectively connect to the beauty in their life?

✅. What do you think? I'd like to hear from you. Really! (I mean that.)

Exercise has been one of the best ways I've found in life to shift out of nonproductive emotions, and to shift states of mind and energy. It's a huge reason that I use it. But I also know there are times when exercise or movement isn't an option. And so, there's also a need for the ability to "surf" energy levels and emotions in life "during the day." Here then are some thoughts on this area of practice. It's a long read, but an interesting one.

Wishcraft

"The truth is that it just isn’t human nature to feel good all the time. And when you’re feeling bad or hurt or angry or frightened, you should be allowed to make a fuss and your body knows it! I happen to believe in the efficacy of complaining the way some people believe in the efficacy of prayer. It’s good for you." - Barbara Sher

Barbara Sher was a social worker, without money or a job, living alone with two small children, when she began helping others achieve their dreams.

After 10 years of running workshops on the topic, she wrote a book called Wishcraft, in which she argued that what stops people from achieving what they want in life is not a lack of self improvement, resources, or willpower, but rather, not having

1) a support network (in life and work), and

2) the ability to move through certain emotional states (in particular, fear).

Hard Times

I recently went back and read a chapter in her book called “Hard Times” in which Sher makes the case that negative energy contains power

- one that can be harnessed, used and released -

to propel motion toward a goal -

or at least prevent feelings from becoming an insurmountable obstacle.

Reading her book reminded me that negative feelings often make sense.

As Sher points out, it would be no sign of health to lose things that you love and NOT feel pain, sadness, despair, or other negative feelings.

Because so much of the focus today in society is on pathological or complex traumatic states, it’s easy to forget that feeling bad can also be a sign of health — especially after heartbreak, major loss, or repeatedly failing.

For me, simply reconnecting with Sher’s reminder that negative emotions make sense was grounding.

Pain and anger aren’t just obstacles or weaknesses, they’re signs that you’re alive and have been through real, hard things.

Those feelings show you’re not numb or disconnected; you’re reacting to what’s mattered, what’s hurt you, and what you care about.

Looked at in this way, negative feelings point out to us what we value in life.

🗺️ 🧭 🏔️ They are like a compass that can reliably tell us in what direction are the things we value and perhaps give us a hint about where we might want to focus going forward.

Maybe you’re feeling pain for all the times you tried and it didn’t work. For how hard it’s been. For the lack of support. For all that lost time. And that's okay.

FEAR

Maybe you’re feeling fear because in your mind you're seeing a particular vision of the future - a future where you fear something bad might be waiting.

Or maybe you’re afraid to because you don't want to get duped or disappointed again if you envision a future where something good might be waiting.

Or maybe you're feeling fear for some other reason entirely.

Sher doesn't idolize a positive state of mind.

She points out that we can experience a range of negative emotions — including fear — and still move forward and do what needs to be done.

For example, she suggests that fear is a necessary signal, when we try new things. Especially if they are attempts to change our life and expand our customary surroundings.

Reading Sher’s words on one difficult day helped me pull out of a negative spiral by showing me there is sense to feeling bad - which then allowed me to think deeply about what had happened - and then move on to using my Ninja mind moves to shift back into a nimble and flexible state of mind.

Things might have ended there,

but a few days later I received an email from an entrepreneur in the online business space.

Inner Energetic States of Mind and Body

He also described fear as a signal.

In this case, one that often comes just before growth.

He included a simple exercise that had three basic steps:

1) feel the energy of fear in your body and mind,

2) shift your focus to a different energetic state.

3) align with, and act from, the part of you that feels it can handle new situations and/or opportunities.

❗ Similar to Barbara Sher, his central idea was that fear often means we are on some kind of a threshold.

Often, the version of ourselves we’re in touch with in one moment doesn’t feel capable of handling what is ahead — so fear arises.

Growth and expansion, then, requires a kind of - in the moment - transformation.

We must get in touch with the part of ourselves who can hold more.

💪 And sometimes we can get in touch with this part of ourselves, and make better decisions from a clearer, stronger place, by shifting our feelings, or by shifting how we imagine our future.

**It's taken me a lifetime to clearly see and understand**

commonalities in the way different kinds of people use techniques to purposefully shift their mind and emotions.

Intentionally Shifting Mind States and Emotions

Working in different niches helped to give me a view of it.

For example, it intrigued me to see in my early years of learning about online business that business people were using inner preparation techniques similar to those I had used in professional acting.

They were putting themselves into certain mental and emotional states for performance.

It was something I had seen both as an actor and a yoga teacher.

Yoga has a range of techniques for making shifts.

Those who practice the “exercise” side (asana) - often find that the movement alone can put one in touch with states of emotion and release - suggesting feelings are stored in our physical body.

As the ancient yogis and meditation masters suggested, working with our minds (and bodies!) is something of an art.

Complaining as an Art Form

Barbara Sher actually suggests raising complaining to an art form.

She suggests one particular structured exercise for using: exaggeration, hyperbole, humor and a range of techniques to turn complaining into a fun game.

She points out that, done well, this can be a healthy and helpful way to clear one's mind and create a solid foundation for action.

🌏 In re-reading Sher’s book, I wondered if sometimes, and in some circumstances, our tendency in society to push away, conceal and suppress negative emotion might actually be akin to scraping off a scab when your skin is healing from a cut because you don't know what it is.

After all, if we looked at a scab as something terribly wrong or shameful, we might hide it.

Or try to get rid of it.

Rather than understanding it's the natural healing process the body goes through after an injury.

And in the same way, if we try to repress our sadness, our negative feelings, and shut them up inside of us (read: not express them) perhaps we're trying to stop a natural impulse to heal.

As Sher points out, the process of expressing grief has been with human beings since the beginning of time.

Whether you see it in:

📖 The lamentations of the Bible

🎷😔🎶. The singing of the blues

👥💬🙂 Or just the practice of sharing a venting session with a friend

There can be something helpful for people in letting go of tension through giving attention to their pains and losses.

And perhaps we're too quick to suppress this process rather than to understand where and when it can be healthy and life giving.

States of Mind and focus in Movement

Another place where a careful investigation of **how states of mind and focus inform outer action** is in the movement arts.

States of Mind and Focus in Movement Arts

Movement professionals of all kinds can learn to alter the expression in their bodies through the concepts and focus in their mind.

I first discovered this when practicing thousands of hours in yoga studios, and at times I would make mental adjustments milliseconds before doing a physical movement.

At those times, teachers would often remark out loud in the class about what I had just done.

I started to realize there was a connection between what I was doing in my mind and how the movement appeared externally.

And it was during this time that I started to share with yoga students that yoga poses actually happen in your mind before they happen in your body.

But given the leanings of modern yoga toward exercise rather than art, it often was hard to get this point across.

As my movement training continued, I learned even more.

I saw how the way that I focused and used sensation and energy in my mind could impact the world around me.

As I started to refine and play with this way of focusing, people in gyms and practice spaces around the country and the world started to stop me and comment on what I was doing and ask me about it.

In a simple way, what happened in my mind WAS changing the reality around me.

It is a practice I maintain to this day,

And it's why I came to call the Practice “Mind Body Freedom.”

It was about a focus and freedom in the mind that got expressed through the body.

But what if that can be used, not only in movement, but in day-to-day life?

States of Mind and Emotion in Bodywork and Breathwork

⚡ energy in motion = e-motion ‼️

If movement wasn’t enough to teach me something about states of mind and emotion, you would think training in the practice of craniosacral therapy would've clearly shown me how the movement of mental, emotional and energetic states in the body can have a healing effect.

Craniosacral therapy is a gentle, light-touch technique performed on a fully clothed client lying on a table.

The touch is lighter than a nickel resting on your hand. And yet it's not uncommon for a client to experience strong states of emotion while this light touch healing modality is used.

🚗💦🧽 I used to tell people that doing a class of hot yoga felt like going through the car wash without your car.

Because often it leaves you feeling: cleansed and renewed in body and mind.

A session of craniosacral therapy can feel the same despite the fact that not much has happened.

A tremendous amount of emotional content can be experienced and felt producing a sense of relaxation, ease, and even wonder, when the session is over.

Of course, it's important to note that people are different - that such experiences may or may not happen - and they can feel cleansing or disturbing - depending on the individual person, their outlook, goals, and history.

Breathwork

But if anything could demonstrate the ability to shift mental and emotional states- and leave a sense of renewal and cleansing on the other side - it would be the practice of breathwork.

Breathwork is a broad term and it's difficult to capture all that it entails.

In yoga it's commonly thought of as the practice of "pranayama" - a pursuit unto itself - with as many unique approaches as there are approaches to the physical poses (asana).

Just within one style of yoga, Kundalini, there are hundreds of approaches to using the breath to alter states of mind and emotion.

I once attended a conference where a Kundalini practitioner taught close to 30 different approaches to altering breathing patterns.

We Change States of Mind and Emotion Every Day

And while it may sound exotic, changing states of mind and feeling is something that's with us all the time.

If you've ever had a good cry and felt calm after, you've pretty much experienced a lot of what I'm describing in this email

If you've ever slept, prayed, had a dream or been tired or hungry, you've experienced a change in your felt sense, consciousness and energy as well.

That said: there are contraindications for doing breathwork, (situations and conditions where you would not want to participate, or modify your participation in some way) and it's important to be aware of those before jumping into a session.

Modern Breathwork

There's another style of breathwork, which I originally learned about through the work of the psychiatrist Stanislav Grof.

Grof had the interesting role in history of being one of the first people to encounter a substance called LSD before human beings knew what it was or what it did.

It was sent to him while he was working in a lab because it was thought there might be some healing properties to the newly discovered substance.

In his initial experiments, Grof discovered that LSD did shift people's state of consciousness, often with healing effect.

As the years wore on, and LSD was eventually designated as a controlled and illegal substance in the United States and other places, Grof worked on a way of creating the same shift in mind states he had witnessed - but this time - using breathing rather than an external substance.

He called this practice holotropic breathwork.

Doing holotropic breathwork. people would alter their breathing patterns, usually with another person present to stay aware of their process.

During the breathwork sessions, people would experience a range of emotions and a shift in their awareness, often leaving them with deep healing experiences and a changed outlook, similar to what Grof had witnessed with the use of psychedelic substances. (Holotropic breathwork is not the only kind - and there are many that create similar shifts.)

In my own experiences of breathwork, I have experienced strong states of emotion, powerful images and sensations that are released both in sound and in movement while laying down and altering breathing patterns.

The hallmark after these experiences has been a profound sense of peace and authenticity after the release of what one can only assume are stored patterns of tension or negative energy.

And interestingly, in the modern breathwork sessions I've attended the facilitators often gently encourage participants to allow themselves to feel and release their feelings.

Encouragement is an important element any time we strive to grow and reach our dreams.

Emotional States in Nonviolent Communication & Similar Practices

There's one other place I've come to see this type of inner work explored.

With people who are particularly attuned - and capable of handling states of inner vulnerability - in practices like Nonviolent Communication, Authentic Relating, Circling, Focusing, Internal Family Systems therapy and others - it’s possible to observe people connect to inner mind states and energy through the sharing they do with words.

In essence, this is what the entrepreneur was talking about, feeling into places and spaces in the body where certain emotions and energy are stored.

And then shifting them to another experience.

Whether you call it: Hard Times, lamentations, the blues, parts work, identifying feelings and needs, breathwork, yoga or something else, it involves the release of negative energy to feel a sense of greater ease and clarity of mind.

Whether that’s feeling a younger, more vulnerable part of oneself

Or shifting to feeling a more capable, grounded, entrepreneurial part of oneself.

Or venting to a friend

All of these involve working with the different ways of feeling and sensing that are built into us as human beings.

You can do it in an ecstatic dance, a movement practice or yoga pose.

You can do it in what the acting teacher Lee Strassberg called “a dream of passion” - in the pursuit of completely fictional circumstances.

You can do it when you're trying to build something that has never before existed.

Whatever the circumstances, there's little doubt that we are complex constructions of physical, mental, and emotional processes. And some of these can be harnessed to create impact and effect in the world around us

Summing It Up

✅ Negative energy released - in the right circumstances and with constructive intent - can be a path to greater clarity of mind and ease, rather than being something that needs to be suppressed, judged, and pushed away

As Barbara Sher points out negative emotions can be a power that clears a pathway to an enlarged, stronger and healthier sense of ourselves.

✅ A nimble mind—able to act in the present, unburdened by fear of the future, and capable of becoming stronger— may arise from the ability to experience and release negative emotions.

✅ And then comes the question of what we do once our mind is clear.

with wishes for a path to find the best in you rising to overcome the challenges you face,
Nathan Schechter
mindbodyltieracy.com

Ps. It's important that, as with anything in exercise, or mind body matters, you are able to take it at the pace that's right for you.

Disclaimer:
The information and content provided by Mind Body Literacy and in this article is general information and is intended for educational purposes only. Individual situations vary. This content is not intended as, nor should it be used as a substitute for, professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. No guarantee or warranties are given with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the content.

Negative Feelings