Yoga for Emotional Healing: How It Works & Best Practices for Balance & Release

Emotions are energy stored within our bodies. But modern life, with its relentless pace and stressors, often leads to unprocessed emotions being trapped within us. Thankfully, we can practice yoga for emotional healing and balance. With the right poses, yoga can provide a powerful, holistic path to process, release, and heal from emotional pain.

In fact, recent studies show that yoga significantly improves temperament and emotion. These studies also revealed that more than 69% of yoga practitioners have experienced a noticeable positive change in their mood.

In this guide, we'll explore how emotions are stored in the body and which practices are best to offer release and bring balance back to your life. We'll also dive into specific yoga asanas like Fish and Cobra pose that are particularly effective for emotional healing.

How Are Emotions Stored in the Body?

Trauma and emotions are not just psychological events, they're embodied. Neuroscientific and somatic research supports the ancient yogic belief that the body remembers.

Muscle Memory and Emotional Storage

• The hips are often considered the emotional junk drawer of the body, storing grief, sadness, and fear.
• The chest and shoulders can hold anxiety and heartbreak.
• The gut, sometimes referred to as the second brain, retains fear and anxiety, affecting digestion.

Through yoga, we can access these zones and release deeply held emotional energy. Keep reading to find out how.

How Yoga Releases Emotions

Yoga helps release emotion by working through the body, breath, and nervous system—three powerful gateways to our emotional state.

1. Physical movement: Emotions often get stored as tension in the body. Through asana (yoga poses), we gently stretch and release tight areas, especially the hips, chest, and jaw, where emotional holding is common.
2. Breath regulation: The breath is closely linked to the nervous system. Practices like deep diaphragmatic breathing or alternate nostril breathing calm the body’s stress response, creating space for emotions to surface and be processed safely.
3. Mindful awareness: Yoga teaches us to stay present with what arises, without judgment. This self-awareness, especially in stillness or deep rest (like in Savasana or Yoga Nidra), allows suppressed emotions to be acknowledged, felt, and released.

Yoga Asana and the Endocrine System

Asana, the physical practice of yoga, is one of the most effective tools for emotional healing. When movement is combined with conscious breath, it encourages emotional fluidity, helping to release stored tension and bring the nervous system into balance.

There is also a deeper physiological connection. The endocrine system, a network of glands that produce and regulate hormones, plays a major role in how we feel. Hormonal imbalances often show up as anxiety, low mood, or emotional instability.

How Yoga Supports Hormonal Balance

• Thyroid gland: Poses such as Shoulder Stand and Plow stimulate the thyroid, helping to regulate metabolism and support steady energy levels.
• Adrenal glands: Restorative postures encourage the body to lower cortisol, easing stress and calming emotional responses.
• Pituitary and pineal glands: Meditative and inverted poses can help activate these glands, supporting mental clarity, mood balance, and restful sleep.

Also See: How Yoga Can Help Thyroid Issues

Effective Yoga for Emotional Release 

6 Soothing Yoga Poses

Here are specific poses that support emotional balance with yoga by targeting common emotional holding areas:

1. Fish Pose (Matsyasana)

Benefits: Opens the chest and heart chakra, releasing grief and emotional heaviness.

How to Do:

• Lie on your back
• Arch your upper spine with support under your chest or head
• Let your arms rest open beside you

2. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

Benefits: Stimulates the spine and heart center, encouraging openness and courage.

How to Do:

• Lie on your belly
• Press hands under shoulders and lift your chest
• Keep the pelvis grounded

3. Child's Pose (Balasana)

Benefits: Soothes the nervous system and calms emotional turbulence.

How to Do:

• Kneel and fold forward with arms extended or resting beside you
• Rest forehead on the mat

4. Half Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Benefits: Opens the hips and chest, balances the sacral and heart chakras.

How to Do:

• Lie on your back, feet hip-width apart
• Press feet into the mat, lift the hips
• Clasp hands underneath for a chest lift

5. Corpse Pose (Shavasana)

Benefits: Promotes complete surrender, integration, and emotional stillness.

How to Do:

• Lie flat on your back, arms by your sides
• Let go of control and observe your inner landscape

6. Lying Twists (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Benefits: Relieves digestive tension, detoxifies, and supports emotional clarity.

How to Do:

• Lie on your back, hug knees to chest
• Drop knees to one side, arms in a T position
• Repeat on both sides

These poses are central to yoga for emotional healing and should be approached with sensitivity and self-compassion.

Read: What Is Jatharagni? In-depth Guide to Digestive Fire & How to Boost Gut Health

Breathwork & Pranayama

Breath is the bridge between body and mind. Through breathwork and pranayama, we calm down our nervous system and experience emotional release, among many other benefits.

1. Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing): Balances the brain hemispheres and calms the mind.
2. Bhramari (Bee Breath): Vibrational humming soothes emotional stress.
3. Deep belly breathing: Engages the vagus nerve for emotional regulation.

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation enhances awareness and prevents re-suppression of emotions after a yoga session.

Try these meditations for a deeper to your mind and body:

• Loving-kindness meditation: Replaces self-criticism with compassion
• Body scan meditation: Cultivates presence and emotional awareness
• Mantra meditation: Rewires thought patterns that keep emotions stuck

See: The Different Types of Meditation & Which Is Right for You

Final Thoughts

Emotional healing is not an instant process. It begins with a simple but courageous step: acknowledging that some unresolved emotions may be affecting your mental and emotional balance. Once you recognize this, you can begin the journey toward healing.

Through breath, movement, and mindfulness, yoga helps release stored emotions and restore your natural rhythm. The key is consistency. Some days your practice may feel light and soothing. Other days, emotions may rise to the surface and feel more intense. Both are part of the process.

To explore more yoga for emotional healing, try this soothing sequence for tight hips to release deep tension and emotional trauma:

Sources:

1. https://yogaearth.com/yoga-research/yoga-statistics/
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3193654/