Backbends are particularly known for bringing up suppressed fiery emotions – anger, passion, lust, resentment, criticisms, cravings, will force to complete what has been neglected. Just as forward bends can release suppressed watery emotions – sadness, grief, loss, remorse, anguish, frustrations, and the need to be gentle with yourself. Similarly spinal twists can release a mixture of emotions that can go back and forth between cooling and heating states. They tend to bring out suppressed confusion, anxiety, fear, confusion and feelings of being powerless.
Their emotional components usually cannot come out unless they are held longer than usual and with a gentle encouragement not demand for that which was suppressed to blossom. The teachers and groups encouragement and allowing of emotions can be a major factor in their expression or suppression.
I find that there are several back bends I use to held release emotions. Among them are repeated in and out versions of camel and bridge done with pushing hard on the pelvis up and part way down. Forward bends I use include fetal pose and knee to chest with assist. Any spinal twists can be effective when it is held gently and breath directed alternately to the liver then the nabhi (navel) chakra.
There is also a series from the Sivananda tradition of the Bihar School of Yoga called Shakti Bandha “freeing of energy blocks” that are wonderful at liberating from unknown past experiences. I have found that they can even release suppressed repetitive injury or give insight into stuck relationship patterns from past lives. They are described in Swami Satyananda’s book Asana, Pranayama, Mudra and Bandha. Like all practices when they are given by an experienced teacher who knows how to direct prana through clarity of reading the energy body of the student, then they are much more effective.