Emotions come from our perception of the world, how we fit into this world, how we think other people are treating us, how we feel about ourselves, and how we compare ourselves to other people.

Essentially, everything that we know or encounter is experienced as an emotion. All of our memories are emotional; even if we were indifferent to experience, we remember that event apathetically, and apathy is an emotion. Therefore, to change how we feel, whether that’s feeling nervous, overly excited, depressed, lonely, or whatever, we have to change how we perceive the situation and how we see ourselves as part of that situation.

But, if being happy was as simple as choosing to be happy, then 1 in 6 people wouldn’t be on antidepressant medications, and nobody would be suffering from depression. We can’t just change our mind, at least most people can’t, and then decide to not be afraid, or not be sad, because we are not directly in control of our mind. The best we can be is indirectly in control of the mind.

We can train how the mind responds and reacts when placed in a new situation. We can practice removing preferences and conditions that we think we need to be happy. We can fix unhealthy relationships with ourselves and with others. We can do practices like meditation and vipassana that help us understand the ultimate truth and reality of existence. And we can use the breath and our intention to guide our emotions, regulate our nervous system, and change our physiological chemistry. Because our emotions are chemicals experienced as feelings, and our breath can alter these chemicals, it makes the breath one of the most effective tools for managing our emotional well being.

Wearing @aloyoga