WASHINGTON — Weeping is a new trend in women’s workouts.
Many exercise routines are encouraging participants to unload emotional baggage during group exercise sessions, according to TIME.
One particular class in New York City combines one part yoga, two parts bootcamp and three parts emotional release in a 75-minute workout routine.
Tara Toomey — who instructs the class and leads the movement of crying workout classes — says she encourages the participants to sweat, scream and cry out those emotions in the mostly-female classes.
“I’ve had classes where people are literally on all fours sobbing,” Toomey told TIME. “But it’s not just my class, it’s happening everywhere. Emotional release in public can feel very uncomfortable. But I think there’s a growing movement of people who want to find a space for it.”
Just like exercise, emotional release can have its benefits. Emotional tears contain manganese, potassium, and a hormone called prolactin, which help lower cholesterol, control high blood and boost the immune system, according to TIME.
Also, crying reduces stress, and a University of Minnesota study says it actually boosts the mood of nearly 90 percent of people.
The classes may be just the forum for shedding tears — some yoga poses, such as the hip-opening “pigeon pose,” are meant to stir emotions as yogis believe emotional baggage lives in the hips.
“To me, it’s a sign of being present, it’s a sign of feeling your feelings, of being in the moment,” Toomey told TIME.
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