Why a ‘Bad’ Yoga Class Might Actually Be Your Biggest Breakthrough
- Pritha Maheswari
- 3d
- 4 min read
Why a practice meant to bring peace sometimes brings up everything but.
Most people step onto the mat expecting yoga to soothe them. To soften the edges. To release stress. To bring that familiar sense of ease we all crave.
So when someone comes after class and says,“I usually feel good… but this time it made me angry. I felt agitated. Yoga didn’t work for me today,” it can be surprising, even confronting.
But here’s the truth many practitioners learn only after years on the path:
Yoga isn’t designed to make you feel good. Yoga is designed to make you feel. And sometimes, that includes the emotions we’ve kept tucked away.
This blog explores why, from a psychological lens, a scientific perspective, and the ancient wisdom of yoga itself.
1. The Psychology of Provocation: Why the Mat Can Stir Emotion
From a psychological viewpoint, emotions don’t disappear simply because we ignore them. They live in our bodies as patterns, tensions, breath-holding habits, posture, micro-contractions we don’t even notice.
When the body finally softens or opens?
When the breath deepens?
When the mind becomes quiet enough to stop drowning everything out?
Suppressed emotion has nowhere left to hide.
Anger is often a signal of:
Something long-held starting to shift
A boundary that was breached in the past
Deep fatigue
Stress that’s been sitting under the surface
Old experiences resurfacing as the body relaxes
An unmet need coming into the light
In psychology, this is called emotional activation. The layers of protection thin out, and what was underneath finally appears.
Your yoga mat becomes a mirror, and sometimes what you see isn’t peaceful.
2. The Science: Your Nervous System Is Doing Exactly What It’s Meant To
Anger and agitation aren’t spiritual failures. They’re physiological responses.
Yoga affects the autonomic nervous system, especially the shift from sympathetic (fight-flight) to parasympathetic (rest-digest).
But that transition isn’t always smooth.
A Few Key Things Happen in the Body:
1. Stored stress chemicals release.
When muscles stretch or tension dissolves, the body can actually release cortisol, adrenaline, and stored physiological imprinting. This can feel like agitation, restlessness, or even rage.
2. The vagus nerve gets stimulated.
Deep breathing, forward folds, backbends, all affect the vagus nerve. Vagal stimulation can free emotional memory stored in the body. Sometimes what rises first isn’t calm…but emotional turbulence.
3. Homeostasis gets disrupted.
Your body is adjusting. When long-held patterns shift, the nervous system may briefly spike into discomfort before settling. This isn’t failure. It’s recalibration.
3. Yoga Philosophy: The Practice Was Never Meant to Be Comfortable
According to the Yoga Sutras, the purpose of yoga is chitta vritti nirodhah, calming the fluctuations of the mind. But to calm the waves, you first notice them.
Anger surfacing during practice is a sign that you’ve opened the door inward.
In yogic tradition:
Asana stirs prana (energy).
Pranayama stirs memory.
Stillness stirs truth.
Awareness stirs shadow.
The practices are meant to disturb what is stagnant.
Yoga is not a bypass. It’s a confrontation, a gentle one, yes, but a confrontation nonetheless.
In Ayurveda, repressed anger is considered pitta imbalance, often stored in the liver and solar plexus. Twists, core work, and deep hip openers can activate this fire and bring the emotion to the surface.
And in Tantrik philosophy, emotions are shakti, energy.Not good or bad. Simply life-force moving.
So when anger arises during yoga, you aren’t doing anything wrong. You’re healing.
4. Where Anger Shows Up in the Body (and Why Yoga Triggers It)
Different styles of yoga stir different emotional centres:
Hip openers: Stored grief, frustration, fear
Heart openers: Vulnerability, old wounds, defensiveness
Backbends: Pitta release, irritation, emotional pressure
Yin poses: The quiet that lets buried emotions slip through
Meditation: The moment the mind loses its distractions
Anger is often a protective emotion, the brain’s way of shielding itself from something deeper.
When yoga softens the surface, the protector steps aside, and what was shielded rises up.
5. What You Can Tell Someone (or Yourself) When This Happens
Here’s the message that brings real comfort:
“This is part of the practice, not a failure of it. Your anger isn’t a setback, it’s a release.”
Invite gentle reflection:
Where in the body did the anger live?
Did it come as heat, restlessness, pressure, tightness?
Was it familiar or surprising?
What happened right before it arose?
What shifted after?
Often, anger is a messenger. A door opening. A layer peeling back.
6. The Gift Hidden Inside Emotional Discomfort
When someone understands this, something beautiful happens.
They stop expecting yoga to feel blissful every time. They stop thinking “bad class = bad practice.” They start recognising the mat as a place where real transformation happens.
And in that space, they learn the deeper meaning of yoga:
To be with what is true. To witness without running. To allow without fear.
Sometimes that truth is anger, sometimes it’s grief, sometimes it’s joy, sometimes it’s confusion.
All of it belongs. All of it is part of your humanity. All of it is welcome on the mat.
7. When Anger Is a Sign of Transformation
If someone feels anger during yoga, it can mean:
They’re ready to process something they once avoided
The practice touched a layer they’re brave enough to meet
Their nervous system is releasing old patterns
A boundary or memory is asking for attention
Their inner fire is returning
They’re evolving emotionally
This is not the easy yoga. It’s the real yoga.
When the Practice Doesn’t Feel Good… It Might Be Working
If yoga has made you angry, agitated, or restless, pause, breathe, and recognise the courage it takes to feel so honestly. Your mat is not supposed to make you feel one certain way. It’s meant to guide you deeper into yourself, and sometimes, the doorway to peace is paved with the things you’ve avoided feeling.
This is the path: messy, clearing, liberating, human, and deeply, deeply healing.
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