How to use Anger as an Ally

EMPATHS, how are you doing ?!

Intuitive or not, you’re likely facing the stress of living though global pandemic & mass rioting across America.

I am angry.

I know some of you are too.

Yoga + TCM provide me a lens to look at the way I react/ internalize different situations. Being able to witness my physical + emotional responses towards anger without attachment empowers me transform through difficult times rather than be crushed by them.

In TCM, anger is an emotion tied to the liver (think cortisol relationship to LV). The liver is associated with the Spring Season & represented by the upward + outward expansion of trees, which teach us a lot about this fiery emotion

Sometimes, forrest fires are a necessary occurrence that removes old growth in order for something more beneficial to transpire. Other times, the smoke chokes the air, burning everything in its path.

Here are a few tips on how I’ve learned to use anger as an ally rather than an explosive:

See your anger as information. What is it trying to communicate to you?

Focus on your sensations. Shift your attention to the way your body feels when you’re angry. Maybe you get a headache, feel hot, have trouble concentrating, need to move, etc. Knowing the early signs can help you effectively intervene.

Get to the ROOT!

Take a few minutes to journal about your anger/its origins. Maybe it turns out that a certain incident touched a tender part of your past.

Detach from unhelpful thoughts. For ex. , you reactively think, “He’s such an ass!” Instead, add these words to create distance: “Right here and now, my mind is telling me that he is such an ass.”

INVERT! this enables you to fully open the chest and allows energy to flow freely from your heart to your head, providing greater mental clarity

Becoming actively aware can then empower you to become a powerful agent of change in our society.

I invite you use these tools to guard your own health and emotions above everything else.... give yourself a soft place to land in what can be a harsh world to live in.