I've read articles about emotions suddenly springing up while doing yoga (hell, I think that was even in an episode of The L Word), running on the idea that releasing tension in the body is reflected in the mind/emotions. Haven't actually encountered it, though; that is, while doing yoga, at any rate. Where I have run into it is while working out. Not while doing forms or martial drills, interestingly - that seems to build a confidence of sorts, I think because of the attached thoughts of adrenaline and intent - but only with more inwardly directed exercise, like bridging or bodyweight movements.

So, while it's a bit annoying to feel a sudden subtle dizziness at feelings I'm confused about, or distracting to work through an ache in my chest that isn't muscular at all, I suppose it's probably healthy to release those tensions I wasn't consciously aware of. I mean, while it does almost make me have an aversion to working out sometimes, because I'm a little afraid of what might well up against my will, I just have to remember that just because it might be painful or disconcerting, that doesn't mean it has to have a bad connotation.

There're another couple questions I noted last night about it. One, is it just that working out keys into my emotions in a way that yoga doesn't (that is, maybe that's just how my body works, in needing more vigorous motion than relaxing)? And two, is it because I try to integrate yoga-based exercises and breathing in, or just a function of working out in general? In any case, it feels like an interesting example of the difference I'd read about between thought and emotion, where emotion has a physical aspect attached to it (that ache in my chest, for example).

Random Little Poem of the Day (because Basho rules, and I need to find my favorite haiku of his): "Without the bitterest cold that penetrates to the very bone, how can plum blossoms send forth their fragrance to the whole world?"