In a personal column published on October 8, 2026, yoga teacher Amber Burke details how she uses somatic awareness techniques learned through her practice to manage acute emotional stress in real time. Burke, a graduate of the Yale and the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, argues that practicing yoga can help individuals navigate daily triggers rather than letting irritation persist.
Reflecting on her past living in New York City in her early twenties, Burke describes how traffic, crowds, and noise frequently left her feeling powerless and frustrated. Believing she was naturally an angry person, she eventually relocated to a town of 8,000 residents to escape that constant state of tension.
Encountering New Triggers in London
Burke writes that her perspective was tested after she recently decided to move to London, a sprawling metropolis with a population of 9 million. During her first week walking unfamiliar streets with her dogs, she encountered various disruptions, including phone-absorbed pedestrians, stroller blockades, and a car that nearly drove over her and her pets' feet and paws in a crosswalk.
When an oblivious pedestrian shoulder-slammed her and familiar anger began to overwhelm her, Burke instinctively turned to questions she had internalized from her favorite yoga teachers over the years. Engaging in self-study, or svadhyaya, she asked herself:
- What do I feel?
- Where do I feel it?
- What is the effect of the breath on it, if any?
- What is the effect of time on it, if any?
Burke Learns to Acknowledge and Release Anger
Focusing on the physical sensations of her frustration, Burke noticed an initial jolt along her neck and shoulders. As she continued to breathing into the sensation, she observed it move into her chest along a crooked diagonal like lightning before eventually subsiding.
This realization shifted her self-perception. Burke concluded that she was not inherently an angry person, but rather someone who experiences temporary flashes of anger that can be acknowledged and released. She compares big-city annoyances—such as being startled awake by motorcycle engines at night—to experiencing fiery discomfort in glutes and thighs during Chair Pose. By observing these undesirable feelings without permanence, she applies her yoga practice to everyday life, noting simply that she can let them go.
