I have come to realize that the underlying magic of the yoga practice is that it continually offers us the invitation and opportunity to feel again. So much of our life is spent in numbing ourselves to what is actually happening. We all do this in a variety of ways; the more obvious and often admonished ways are using substances, but in more subtle ways, (and socially acceptable ways), eating, shopping, certain levels of socializing or even keeping our distance from people, as well as any number of other tactics are ways of escaping so we can avoid feeling. Anything we do repeatedly as a reflex to move away from experiencing sensation is a numbing technique.On my first 7-day silent retreat I noticed how even "talking" was a way I could use to disperse uncomfortable feelings--just talking! When I would finish meditation and something would arise I felt like a gasket ready to explode because I could not turn to the person next to me to just share my experience--but it wasn't actually sharing I wanted to do --what I wanted to do was to relieve myself of the sensation through talking! Why do we do this? Often find the underlying message that precipitates our wanting to move away from uncomfortable sensation is the belief that we won't be able to survive it--that the pain itself will decimate us--and we may would fall into a space of no "return". In the Asasa practice we are asked to get into shapes, (many times uncomfortable ones), and instructed to breath and be vigilant to whatever is present, to whatever is arising-to ALL of it-and perhaps more importantly, instead of turning away from the sensation, to actually move TOWARD it and not just toward it--- but to SOFTEN to it. We may recognize that the sensations we have been running away from, and which are being triggered by a posture, have their roots deeply embedded in past experiences and wounding; therefore we are not just healing today we are healing our past by allowing ourselves, today, to experience sensations that perhaps we could not safely experience before. I know in my own experience it can be quite frightening and feel like complete shit, but the reality is that we can continue to avoid, distract,and numb ourselves, but you can be sure that the sensation will continue to visit you in your life and fear will settle into the deep recess of your being. You will do your very best to spend an inordinate amount of energy trying to control life to not experience these feelings but you will not be successful.If we practice being with sensation on our mats over and over again we will begin to see that we are in fact,capable of being able to contain and hold these sensations without being obliterated; we recognize what Freedom truly is when we come to realize that who we are is not defined by a sensation or feeling; that feelings cannot touch what is untouchable, that which is never threatened nor could be harmed in anyway by things that are temporary and changeable such as sensations or feelings-and it is in this realization that we come to know who we are.