All cultures have codes and ethics that define the society. Codes of behavior involve the suppression of various emotions so that society can remain stable and progress. Of the nine primary suppressed emotions, all nine must be suppressed to some degree or completely to maintain law and order in a society. Suppression of the nine emotions must start with the individual.
Yoga and Nine Sppressed Emotions
Yoga defines nine primary emotions that must be mastered or suppressed at various times: love or shingara; joy or hasya; wonder or adbuta; courage or veera; calmess/peace or shanta; anger or raundra;, sadness or karuna; fear or yanaka;, and disgust or vibhasta. In yoga, the exercise of fasting or deliberately not feeling an emotion for a certain amount of time is practiced. During meditation, the person will focus on not feeling a certain emotion for a little while each day, extending the amount of time each day until the emotion is suppressed.
The Affect Theory
The noted psychologist Silvan Tomkins, who devised the Affect Theory of Psychology, listed the Nine Primary Suppressed Emotions as: enjoyment/joy, surprise/startle, fear/terror, anger/rage, distress/anguish, shame/humiliation, disgust/you taste bad, dis-smell/you smell bad. Tomkins believed that the nine primary emotions were biological in nature and not directed at an object as Freud believed.Tomkin also felt these primary emotions were pure and not muddled by other emotions
Supression of Primary Emtions
Research has shown through thermal imagery that emotions create heat across the face at different rates for each of the nine emotions. While suppressing emotions can keep an individual out of trouble or from embarrassing situations, suppression of emotions can cause health problems. Suppressing emotions can cause mental anguish, and an increase in blood pressure and heart rates. While the yoga tradition of training oneself to suppress emotions may be an optimum way of suppression, generally speaking, the suppression of the emotions can be detrimental to health.
