Though I’m fairly certain you’ve heard otherwise, emotions are a vital part of everything you are: every thought, every choice, every relationship, every dream, every failure, every triumph, every act of violence, and every act of love. When you can learn their language, you can change your life for the better.
And when we can all learn their language, we can change the world.
Hello! I’m Karla McLaren, and I’m excited to announce the upcoming release of the revised and updated edition of The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You, which will be available in bookstores on June 27th.
Whether you’re a reader of the original Language of Emotions, or if you’re new to this work, I welcome you to this complete guide to the wisdom in every emotion you have.
The original 2010 version of The Language of Emotions was the first book to approach the emotions in terms of how they function, what they do, and how to work with them. Instead of treating emotions as problems to be solved or eradicated, I focused on them as essential aspects of meaning-making, behavior, and intelligence (which is what they truly are). I approached the emotional realm as an intelligent system that requires all of its members, including tragically disrespected emotions such as shame, anxiety, depression, jealousy, envy, panic, and the suicidal urge (among others). And in so doing, I discovered the healing messages inside all emotions.
But because most of us have been taught to distrust emotions, I was working without a net as I wrote the original version of this book, and I missed some things. Now, after more than a decade of further research and practice, and with the support and camaraderie of an international community of colleagues and friends, I’ve had the opportunity to understand the emotions more deeply.
For centuries, emotions have been repressed, idealized, distrusted, and even despised, yet they were never truly understood. I’m honored to share this updated celebration of the brilliance, ingenuity, healing power, and jaw-dropping genius of our emotions.
Welcome!
Karla McLaren, M.Ed.
Karla McLaren, M.Ed., is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and empathy innovator. She is CEO of Emotion Dynamics Inc., developer of Dynamic Emotional Integration®, and creator of EmpathyAcademy.org. Karla is the author of Embracing Anxiety, The Dynamic Emotional Integration Workbook, The Art of Empathy, The Power of Emotions at Work, and the multimedia online course Emotional Flow: Becoming Fluent in the Language of Emotions. For more, visit karlamclaren.com.
Karla McLaren, M.Ed., is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and empathy innovator. She is CEO of Emotion Dynamics, developer of Dynamic Emotional Integration®, and creator of EmpathyAcademy.org. Karla is the author of Embracing Anxiety, The Dynamic Emotional Integration Workbook, The Art of Empathy, The Power of Emotions at Work, and the multimedia online course Emotional Flow: Becoming Fluent in the Language of Emotions. For more, visit karlamclaren.com.
Emotions are Vital Aspects of Thinking, Acting, and Working
People once believed that emotions were the opposite of rationality, or that they were lower than or inferior to our allegedly logical processes. But decades of research on emotions and the brain have overturned those outdated beliefs, and we understand now that emotions are indispensable parts of rationality, logic, and consciousness itself. In fact, emotions contain their own internal logic, and they help us orient ourselves successfully within our social environments. Emotions help us attach meaning to data, they help us understand ourselves and others, and they help us identify problems and opportunities. Emotions don’t get in the way of rationality; they lead the way, because they’re vital to everything we think and everything we do. Emotions aren’t the problem; they’re pointing to the problem, and they’re trying to bring us the precise intelligence and energy we need to deal with the problem.
In this book, we’ll learn how to listen to emotions as uniquely intelligent carriers of information, and how to build healthy and effective social and emotional environments at work – not by ignoring or silencing emotions (you can’t), but by listening to them closely, learning their language, and creating a communal set of emotional skills that everyone can rely on. This work is not difficult at all, but it can be unusual in an environment that wrongly treats emotions as soft, irrational, or unprofessional.
The serious problems we’ve baked into the workplace don’t come from any specific management style or ideology, so I won’t focus on managers or leaders as if they’re uniquely powerful or uniquely to blame. These problems also aren’t limited to specific occupations or income brackets (though low-wage work is regularly dehumanizing and hazardous); these are long-term, widespread problems based on a failed workplace model – and on an outdated social and emotional approach that does not support (or in many cases, even comprehend) human relationships and human needs.
This book is the result of decades of exploration and study into how the workplace got to be so unworkable, plus decades of experience in how to access the existing genius in people’s emotional responses (in surprisingly simple ways once you understand how emotions and empathy work). With the help of the genius in our emotions, we can create emotionally well-regulated and worthwhile places for all of us to earn our living and spend our lives.
Luckily, we don’t have to do anything special to welcome emotions into the workplace, or even to make room for them, because emotions are and always have been in the workplace. They’re in the responses people have to workplace abuses; they’re in disengaged workers; they’re in workers seeking other jobs while on the job; they’re in workers who rightly avoid communicating upward about serious problems; they’re in low-wage workers who learn how to survive in hellscapes like call centers, fast-food restaurants, gig work, and robot-like warehouse jobs; they’re in living-wage workers who tolerate unhealthy workplaces because they can’t afford to leave their health insurance behind; and they’re in high-wage workers who may have to bow down to their superiors and compete with their colleagues to be seen as “winners” – and whose experiences of workplace abuse may not be taken seriously because they make so much money and therefore have no right to complain.
We can also see the emotions in our responses to workplace successes; in our healthy working relationships; in the ways we gather together to solve problems; in the ways empathic workers and leaders empower everyone around them; in the ways our colleagues support us when we’re struggling; in the ways businesses step up in times of loss; in the ways we create open communication and humane workflows; in the ways we teach each other; in the benefits, support, flexibility, and living wages we provide for our workers; in the honest sharing of business difficulties or financial losses; and in the laughter we share on great days and rotten days.
Emotions are everywhere in the workplace because emotions are a central feature of human nature. They aren’t removable, and in fact, trying to remove them is a huge part of what created the failed workplace model we have today. Emotions are crucial to everything we do and to every aspect of our work; therefore, we’ll learn how to listen to emotions, work with them, and respect their intelligence. And in so doing, we’ll build a better workplace – and a better world – from the ground up.
Karla McLaren, M.Ed.
Karla McLaren, M.Ed., is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and empathy innovator. Explore her books and audios on the power of emotion and creativity here.
This is part of a Conscious Business series brought to you by The Inner MBA®. You can learn more about the program at Innermbaprogram.com
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Karla McLaren, M.Ed., is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and empathy innovator. She is CEO of Emotion Dynamics Inc., developer of Dynamic Emotional Integration®, and creator of EmpathyAcademy.org. Karla is the author of Embracing Anxiety, The Dynamic Emotional Integration Workbook, The Art of Empathy, The Power of Emotions at Work, and the multimedia online course Emotional Flow: Becoming Fluent in the Language of Emotions. For more, visit karlamclaren.com.
Karla McLaren is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and renowned expert in emotions and empathy. Her work focuses on her grand unified theory of emotions, which reconsiders how we think of “negative” emotions and opens new pathways into self-awareness, communication, and empathy. With Sounds True, Karla is the author of the landmark book The Language of Emotions, a book on The Art of Empathy, and a new book called The Power of Emotions at Work: Accessing the Vital Intelligence in Your Workplace. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Karla about why the full range of emotions is necessary for us to bring forth our best thinking. They discuss the “toxic positivity bias” that has become the norm in the contemporary workplace, how this leads to widespread suffering and dysfunction, and how we can achieve an “emotionally well-regulated” workplace that works for all of us.
What truly matters when we face the end of life? After decades of sitting at the bedside of hundreds of dying people, Frank Ostaseski has distilled the deepest human concerns into two essential questions: Am I loved? Have I loved well?
This week on Insights at the Edge, Tami welcomes Frank Ostaseski—co-founder of America’s first Buddhist hospice, the Zen Hospice Project, founder of the Metta Institute, and author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. Frank brings extraordinary wisdom from his pioneering work in compassionate end-of-life care, along with profound personal insights from his own encounters with heart surgery, strokes, and the transformative vulnerability of being “on the other side of the sheets.”
Join Tami and Frank to explore:
The two essential questions that arise when facing death—and what they reveal about living fully now
Why emotional flexibility is the true condition for healing and transformation
How to meet our own fear and pain without abandoning ourselves or others
The practice of “allowing” as a path to both wisdom and compassion
What happens in the dying process: surrender, reconstitution, and coming home
Why Frank is allergic to the notion of a “good death”
The indestructible love that emerges when we keep our hearts open through pain
How to practice dying by paying attention to everyday endings
This conversation is for anyone grappling with loss, change, or the fundamental questions of existence—offering not prescriptive answers, but the profound medicine of honest presence and the recognition that our vulnerability itself is one of our most beautiful human qualities.
This conversation offers genuine transmission—not just concepts about awakening, but the palpable presence of realized teachers exploring the growing edge of spiritual understanding together. Originally aired on Sounds True One.
How do we remain committed to staying sober when grief strikes, when stress becomes overwhelming, or when shame threatens to pull us back into old patterns?
This week on Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon welcomes Steven Washington, a former professional Broadway dancer who has transformed his 23-year recovery journey into a powerful practice of embodied healing. Steven is the author of Recovering You: Soul Care and Mindful Movement for Overcoming Addiction and creator of the SWE Studio, an online community offering movement and meditation support for people in recovery.
In this deeply personal interview, Tami and Steven explore:
Why recovery must be “non-negotiable”—with no conditions attached, regardless of life’s challenges
How shame operates as the linchpin of addiction and the healing power of sharing it with trusted others
The connection between sensitivity and addiction, and how to transform sensitivity from vulnerability into strength
Practical tools for creating a trigger plan that works for both small daily stressors and major life crises
How Qigong and embodied practices help regulate the nervous system and process emotions held in the body
The journey from inherited shame to self-compassion and authentic self-worth
Why asking for help—practiced with small things—prepares us for life’s biggest challenges
Developing a personal relationship with a higher power that feels authentic rather than inherited
If you’re navigating recovery, supporting someone who is, or seeking to understand the connection between embodiment and transformation, Steven offers both practical wisdom and profound compassion for the journey.
Note: This interview originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at https://www.join.soundstrue.com
Finding mental peace can feel difficult when life keeps pulling your attention in a dozen directions. Your emotions may swing between high and low, and clarity can feel out of reach. Yoga offers more than physical postures, it offers a practice of slowing down, tuning in, and tending to what’s within. Whether you’re struggling with stress, feeling emotionally off balance, or simply needing space to breathe, yoga can support a deeper kind of healing that unfolds from the inside out.
For over 40 years, Sounds True has served as a trusted source for spiritual education and personal growth. We share practices that are rooted in authentic wisdom and designed for real, everyday lives. Our collection of digital courses, audio programs, and teachings from renowned guides such as Tara Brach, Eckhart Tolle, and Pema Chödrön reflect a living library of transformation, created to support your journey back to wholeness.
Key Takeaways:
Practice & Presence: Yoga offers tools to process emotions and calm the mind through movement, breath, and awareness.
Science & Soul: Evidence supports yoga’s ability to reduce stress while honoring its deeper spiritual roots in healing.
Sustainable Healing: Ongoing, compassionate practice encourages emotional resilience and lasting mental clarity.
How Yoga Supports Mental And Emotional Well-Being
Yoga’s influence goes far beyond the physical body. For many, it serves as an anchor through emotional storms and mental overwhelm. To understand how yoga for mental health can become part of your healing journey, let’s explore its core contributions:
A Holistic Practice That Meets You Where You Are
Yoga isn’t just movement, it’s a conversation with your inner world. It brings together the breath, body, and mind to create space for awareness, without pressure to perform or change. In that space, emotional patterns can soften, revealing clarity beneath the noise.
Scientific Support For Emotional And Mental Relief
Research continues to affirm what many practitioners intuitively feel. Regular yoga practice has been shown to reduce stress hormones, increase calming brain chemicals like GABA, and regulate the nervous system. This makes it a gentle, sustainable approach to both yoga and mental health.
Emotional Balance Begins With Compassionate Awareness
One of the most powerful aspects of yoga for emotional balance is its ability to foster self-compassion. When we step onto the mat with whatever emotions are present: anxiety, grief, joy, or numbness, yoga teaches us how to stay connected without judgment. Over time, this builds emotional resilience rooted in presence rather than resistance.
From Temporary Relief To Lasting Inner Stability
The effects of yoga can feel subtle at first, but they ripple outward. A consistent practice doesn’t just offer short-term calm; it strengthens your ability to self-regulate and respond, not react. This is how inner healing yoga supports transformation from within, one breath at a time.
The Science And Spirit Of Yoga For Mental Health
Yoga’s unique power lies in its ability to bridge ancient wisdom with modern understanding. While it has spiritual roots that invite deep introspection, it also holds measurable benefits for mental health. To fully appreciate the role of yoga in emotional and psychological well-being, it helps to look at both perspectives side by side:
What Modern Research Reveals
Scientific studies continue to explore the mental health benefits of yoga. Results point to improved mood, reduced anxiety and depression, and enhanced emotional regulation. These outcomes support the growing use of yoga for mental health in therapeutic settings, including trauma recovery and stress management.
Why The Subtle Body Matters
In yogic philosophy, healing isn’t limited to the physical or even the psychological. The concept of prana, or life force, helps explain why movement and breath can shift emotional states. Practices that work with subtle energy including inner healing yoga, help release stored tension and clear emotional blockages.
Balancing Effort And Surrender
Yoga invites a delicate interplay between strength and softness. In doing so, it mirrors the healing process itself: part discipline, part letting go. This balance nurtures the experience of mental clarity through yoga, creating the conditions for stillness to arise naturally.
Explore Further With Embodied Resources
If you’re curious to deepen your connection to body and breath in a supported way, Sounds True offers a wide range of practices through yoga and movement. These digital programs are led by teachers who blend somatic wisdom with grounded guidance, meeting you right where you are.
Cultivating Emotional Balance Through Movement And Breath
Our emotions live in the body. They’re not just mental states but physical experiences, tightness in the chest, heaviness in the limbs, or fluttering in the gut. Yoga helps us move these feelings through instead of holding them in:
The Body As A Gateway To Emotional Awareness
Movement can unlock what words cannot. Through intentional poses, especially those that open the hips, heart, and spine, yoga supports the release of stored emotions. This is why yoga for emotional balance feels less like escape and more like a homecoming.
The Breath As Regulator And Messenger
Breathwork, or pranayama, is a powerful tool for emotional regulation. By consciously slowing the breath, we calm the nervous system and shift our state of mind. Over time, this supports both yoga and mental health by creating internal space for reflection rather than reaction.
Rhythmic Practice Builds Emotional Resilience
Consistency is key. Even short, daily practices help build the emotional strength needed to navigate life’s ups and downs. This steady rhythm reinforces the benefits of inner healing yoga, creating a supportive foundation for deeper personal work.
Supportive Tools For Emotional Healing
For those looking for gentle guidance, the yoga for your mood deck offers intuitive prompts and accessible poses to meet you where you are emotionally. It’s a helpful companion for days when you’re not sure how to begin but know you need something.
Accessing Mental Clarity Through Yogic Presence
Mental clarity often feels just out of reach in a noisy world. Yoga creates the internal conditions that allow clarity to surface, not by forcing it, but by slowing things down. When the body is calm and the breath is steady, the mind can begin to clear:
Slowing Down To See Clearly
Yoga encourages us to pause and notice. Whether you’re holding a posture or sitting in stillness, these moments of mindful presence quiet the mental chatter. This process is central to experiencing mental clarity through yoga, where insights arise not from thinking harder but from thinking less.
Meditation And Stillness As Deep Practices
While movement helps discharge tension, meditation helps us see beneath it. Even a few minutes of seated awareness can reveal thought patterns and emotional loops we didn’t realize were there. These practices are integral to both yoga for mental health and long-term emotional wellness.
The Restorative Power Of Rest
Rest is not a luxury, it’s essential for mental clarity and nervous system repair. Deep rest practices like Yoga Nidra offer profound restoration. For an accessible entry point, explore yoga nidra—the sleep yoga, which gently guides you into deep states of awareness without effort.
Clarity As A Byproduct, Not A Goal
Yoga doesn’t chase clarity. It invites you to create the right internal environment and let clarity arise in its own time. Over time, this approach nurtures both inner healing yoga and sustainable mental clarity rooted in presence.
Inner Healing Yoga As A Path To Wholeness
Healing is not always about fixing what’s broken. Often, it’s about remembering what has always been whole beneath the layers of stress, pain, and disconnection. Inner healing yoga invites this remembering through intentional practice and self-inquiry:
Creating A Safe Space Within
The mat becomes a mirror. Each posture, breath, and moment of stillness offers a chance to meet yourself with honesty and care. This safe internal space nurtures the emotional awareness essential for lasting transformation.
The Power Of Self-Compassion
Yoga teaches us that healing is not linear. There will be days when the mind is foggy, the body is tense, or emotions feel overwhelming. Returning to your practice anyway builds trust, in yourself, and in the process of yoga for emotional balance.
Integration Beyond The Mat
The most meaningful shifts often happen after practice, in how we speak to ourselves, how we move through relationships, and how we respond to life. This is the deeper work of yoga and mental health, where practice becomes a lived experience of wholeness.
An Ongoing Invitation To Go Deeper
Inner healing is not a destination. It’s a continuous invitation to be in relationship with yourself as you are right now. As your awareness grows, so does your capacity for mental clarity through yoga, clarity rooted in self-understanding, not perfection.
Final Thoughts
Yoga invites a return to ourselves. It doesn’t demand that we change who we are, but gently guides us to remember what already lives within us, clarity, calm, and connection. Whether you’re seeking stillness, release, or simply a moment to breathe, yoga offers the tools to support your healing from the inside out.
As you continue exploring the path of yoga for mental health, you may find that what once felt like emotional chaos begins to soften into something more spacious. With consistent practice, both yoga for emotional balance and inner healing yoga can become steady companions in your life. The clarity that arises is not forced but welcomed, cultivated through each breath, each pause, each mindful moment.
To deepen your experience, you might consider joining the global celebration of yoga through the international day of yoga offerings by Sounds True. These resources, created by trusted teachers and rooted in heart-centered wisdom, are here to support your personal journey, one that honors where you are and gently points toward where you’re going.
Frequently Asked Questions About Yoga For Mental Health
What type of yoga is best for mental health?
Gentle, breath-focused styles like Hatha, Yin, and Restorative Yoga are especially beneficial for mental health, as they calm the nervous system and promote inner stillness.
Can yoga replace therapy or medication for mental health conditions?
Yoga can be a powerful complement to therapy or medication, but it is not a substitute. Always consult a healthcare provider for individualized treatment plans.
How often should I practice yoga for mental health benefits?
Even 10 to 20 minutes daily can support mental and emotional wellness. Consistency matters more than intensity when it comes to cultivating inner balance.
Is it normal to feel emotional during or after yoga practice?
Yes, emotions can rise during yoga as physical movement and breathwork unlock stored tension. This is part of the body’s natural release and healing process.
Can beginners benefit from yoga for mental clarity and emotional healing?
Absolutely. No advanced skill is needed to start. Breath awareness, simple movements, and mindful rest can offer noticeable benefits, even for beginners.
What role does community play in yoga for mental health?
Practicing in community, whether in-person or online, can enhance feelings of support and connection. Shared practice helps reduce isolation and deepens healing.
How does yoga support nervous system regulation?
Yoga helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system through slow breathing and mindful movement, promoting a state of rest, recovery, and emotional stability.
Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant, and intuitive healer. She is the author of six books, including Skill in Action and Finding Refuge. Amy Burtaine is a leadership coach and racial equity trainer. With Robin DiAngelo, she is the coauthor of The Facilitator’s Guide for White Affinity Groups. For more, visit https://www.michellecjohnson.com/wisdom-of-the-hive.
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