How to Use Yoga For Anger Release After a Loss
Anger is a powerful emotion and one that may overshadow other grief emotions. Maybe you are angry because of the situation you are now left in. You feel anger towards the person who died, the boss that fired you, the bank that took your home. Perhaps the anger is turned inward, and you are mad at what you did or didn’t do.
Anger is an emotion characterized by antagonism toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done you wrong. Anger can be a good thing. It can give you a way to express negative feelings, for example, or motivate you to find solutions to problems.
But excessive anger can cause problems. Increased blood pressure and other physical changes associated with anger make it difficult to think straight and harm your physical and mental health. Encyclopedia of Psychology
Anger is sometimes called pains bodyguard; softening the anger lets you get closer to your grief. Here are three healthy ways to release anger:
Writing in a journal can help you organize your thoughts, allow you to explore why you are angry and provide a way to express your feelings, especially if your anger is towards someone or something that is no longer in your life.
Talking to a counselor or therapist who can help you understand the root of your anger and find ways to resolve it.
Practicing yoga poses and movements that allow you to release this emotion and transform your anger into potent action.
Yoga for Anger Release
Yoga invites a slowing down, a chance to observe the body, mind, and spirit. When you slow down you can notice where anger may be manifesting itself physically – headaches, stiffness, muscle pains, high blood pressure and in other ways – lashing out at friends or loved ones or acting thoughtlessly. Noticing, observing is that first step towards change.
What does anger feel like for you? Does it stay in your head – a running commentary of the circumstances that brought on this emotion? Or does it manifest physically – stomachache for example?
Practice Yin Yoga to Release Anger
Yin yoga is a passive form of yoga that invites you to slow down, soften, connect with, and listen to your inner self. In this form of yoga, poses are practiced on the floor and held for 3-5 minutes or sometimes longer. Holding the poses not only nourishes our body physically (by hydrating connective tissue and fascia) but also emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), when an energy pathway is blocked or the energy is not flowing properly, the body can become out of balance. Each pathway or meridian corresponds to an emotion and an organ. The emotion of anger corresponds to the Liver and Gallbladder, who’s pathways/meridians are located on the inside and outside of the legs. The following 5 poses can help open these areas, letting the energy flow freely, helping you become more tuned in to what caused your anger so you can respond more compassionately.
5 Yin Yoga Poses for Anger Release
Start in a comfortable seated position, spine tall, hands resting on your knees. Close your eyes or have a soft gaze, resting your eyes. Begin to breathe in and out of the nose. Notice how your body is feeling. Start with the physical, and then investigate your emotional layer. Then bring your awareness to what is causing this anger. Don’t try to change anything, just notice and breathe
These poses help open up the hips that can be tight when experiencing loss. Opening your hips can be a way to release the anger that is stuck inside.
Butterfly Pose
Sit on a cushion, elevate the hips until the knees are below the hips.
· Hips should be rotating forward.
· Bring soles of feet together
· Fold forward with a straight back until you feel sensation (inner thighs, outer hips, lower back)
· To release, walk hands up legs and slowly straighten torso.
· Bend knees, put feet to floor and move legs side to side in a windshield washer movement.
Straddle Pose
Sit on a cushion, elevate the hips until the knees are below the hips.
· Hips should be rotating forward.
· Bring soles of feet together
· Fold forward with a straight back until you feel sensation (inner thighs, outer hips, lower back)
· To release, walk hands up legs and slowly straighten torso.
· Bend knees, put feet to floor and move legs side to side in a windshield washer movement.
Figure 4 Pose
Focus is on the outer hip of crossed leg
· Lay down on back with feet on floor.
· Cross ankle over knee.
· Relax the body, especially shoulders.
· Bring foot back down and hug knees to chest
· Repeat on the other side
Banana Pose
Start lying on back in center of mat.
· Slide feet over to lower left corner of mat
· Slide head, shoulders to top left corner of mat.
· Relax body and breathe
· Come back to center and repeat on right
Savasana
Come all the way down onto the floor. You may want a cushion or rolled up blanket under your knees. Relax the muscles of your body. Stay here for as long as feels good to you