Are emotions are a distraction to spiritual path?

Yes.
 
We can’t even stop ourselves from being emotional and crying in a tragic movie, even though we know it is only a movie.
 
We have a long way to go before realizing that tragedies in the movie of actual life are also just transient events, as are celebrations.
 
Movies are what moves.
 
Sansar is also a big movie.
 
( Sansaran = anything that moves ).
 
Then only an equanimous state ( sthitpragnya of Krishna ) will get established within us.
 
That’s when our Karta Bhav disappears, and a new entity takes birth beyond Sansar and is sthir (nonmoving, achal ).
 
It comes with regular meditation.