This doesn’t just affect how we feel—it shapes how we move, breathe, and live. It colours our view of the world, our relationships, and even our sense of possibility.

Rumination — going over the same painful thoughts on repeat — is something many of us know well. It can feel like deep inner work. But often, we’re just reinforcing the same loop.

Even Joe Rogan once admitted that constantly focusing on his problems made him feel worse. Journalist Abigail Shrier also writes about how rumination locks us into negative mental patterns. Many therapists say the same: healing doesn’t always come from digging deeper into the wound. Sometimes, it comes from changing focus.

Spiritual teacher Caroline Myss calls this woundology. It’s when we identify so strongly with our pain that it becomes our identity. We’re no longer someone who had a trauma — we become someone who is the trauma. And the more we talk about it, relive it, and define ourselves by it, the more rooted it becomes.

This is where modern yoga practices, especially trauma-informed and somatic work, need care and awareness. These approaches are beautiful and deeply needed. But if we’re not grounded, we can unintentionally keep circling the pain, instead of moving through it.

I’ve experienced this personally, not just as a yoga teacher but also as a healer. I trained for many years with my beloved teacher, the Balinese healer Cokorda Rai. Under his guidance, I offered my own healing practice for seven years.

He used to say:

“If you have a wound, you disinfect it. Then you close it and leave it alone. Same thing with past emotional wounds.”

So simple. So wise. And so true.

We don’t need to keep opening the wound. We can honour it. Tend to it. And then — let it rest. Let life move forward.

I’ll never forget a couple I met who forgave the man who killed their daughter. When I asked how they found the strength to do that, they said, “We did it for ourselves.” That moment stayed with me. It reminded me that healing and forgiveness aren’t about forgetting. They’re about choosing freedom.

So what does that look like in everyday life?

Healing needs balance. Yes, we feel, but we also move. We come back to the body, back to breath, back to presence.

That might look like:

– A simple vinyasa flow that creates rhythm and space

– A walk in nature that reconnects us with the world

– Cooking, cleaning, or tending to the body with care

– Chanting, mantra, or ritual that lifts us into the heart

These simple acts are not trivial. They’re medicine. They bring us back to who we are — beyond the story, beyond the wound.

As teachers, healers, and seekers, we must be mindful. Are we helping others come home to themselves? Or are we unintentionally keeping them rooted in the past?

True healing is both feeling and doing. It touches the pain, yes, but it doesn’t live there. It honours what was and chooses what is.

Sometimes, it all begins with a single breath.

I breathe in; I relax my body.

I breathe out, I smile.

Dwelling in the present moment,

I know this is the only moment there is.

~Thích Nhất Hạnh

This verse brings me back every time. Not to bypass what hurts, but to remember that I am not the pain. I am here—alive, whole, and free to begin again.

Yoga is a path of liberation. Let us live it. And guide others to live it too — one breath at a time.

With love,

Linda