-By Shri Nitin Patki, Secretary, Maharashtra SCC,
New Age Yoga, CEO
In today’s Yoga community, emotional education is an urgent need. While Yoga is rightly seen as a science of body, breath, and mind, we often overlook one of its deepest layers — emotional balance.
Samatvam, or balance, is described in Yoga philosophy as the essence of Yoga. But balance does not mean the absence of emotions. Unfortunately, many Yoga teachers misinterpret it this way.
Emotions are not disturbances; they are sources of energy. As Yoga teachers, it is not enough to silence or suppress emotions — we must learn how to understand, manage, and channel them. This is the foundation of emotional intelligence, and it deserves a formal place in Yoga education.
As a musician, I constantly work with emotions — evoking, stabilizing, and transforming them through sound. But over time I have realized this is not just the need of artists; it is equally essential for Yoga teachers. If we cannot recognize or stabilize our own emotions, how can we guide our students in theirs?
Patanjali himself emphasized the role of emotions in spiritual growth. In his Yoga Sutras, he speaks of generating bhavana — emotions of friendliness (maitri), compassion (karuna), goodwill (mudita), and acceptance (upeksha) towards different states of people: the happy, the sorrowful, the virtuous, and the non-meritorious. This practice is not about reacting to others’ emotions but consciously generating appropriate emotions within ourselves.
Similarly, in Pratipaksha Bhavanam, Patanjali instructs us to replace harmful thoughts with their opposite. This too is an exercise in emotional mastery — the art of responding with the right emotion rather than being carried away by the wrong one.
For these reasons, I strongly believe that emotional education should be formally included in the YCB syllabus. Just as we train teachers in asana, pranayama, and philosophy, we must also equip them with tools for emotional intelligence. Only then can Yoga teaching become holistic and complete.
Mastery over emotions is not suppression — it is wisdom, awareness, and creativity in action. If our teachers learn to embody this, Yoga will truly serve its purpose of bringing harmony — not just in body and mind, but in heart and life.
