Do you ever feel like there is nothing you can do to stop anger from taking over your life? You’ve tried everything, but it’s an ongoing battle. Yoga may be the answer for you! Read on to learn more about yoga and the theories behind controlling anger.
Yoga theories and scriptures talk a lot about the yogic lifestyle and how things have a particular impact on your mind and body.
Anger is an integral part of human emotions, and feeling angry is common in modern lifestyles. Yoga talks about the rajasic energy, which represents energy, passion, agitation and other forms of energy in your body.
The excess of rajasic energy is what causes you to get angry, and it always works against your body’s mechanism. Reducing anger and keeping it in control is what will help your body to remain free of problems both physically and mentally.
In This Article
5 Yoga Poses to Control Anger
We all have moments of anger. It can be hard to control your anger, especially if it’s an ongoing issue in your life. There are many ways to deal with this problem, but yoga may be the most effective way for you to manage your anger on a daily basis.
1. Breathe Right
When you become angry, your breathing pattern changes and there is a deep intake of air through your nose and mouth. Because this is an uncontrolled breathing technique, the prana (energy) that gets into your body due to this deep intake of air will help in increasing the level of anger. Yoga practices teach better patterns of breathing.
2. Meditation (Dhyana)
This is the most important technique that Yoga practices teach, and it will help to calm your mind fast, which in turn reduces anger levels. This has been practiced for thousands of years, and it works every time you practice it regularly. The goal of this exercise is to achieve a state of calm, where anger does not take over your consciousness.
3. Yoga Asanas (Poses)
The right asanas will help in controlling the muscles and nervous system of your body so that you can remain focused on calming yourself down rather than letting anger get the better of you. This also improves balance and focus, which are key factors in keeping your mind calm and under control.
Follow the Triangle Breath Pattern
The right breathing pattern has a big impact on calming the mind down and keeping it focused, which is what you need when trying to deal with anger management. Yoga practices teach that there are four forms of breath: normal, high-pitched, low-pitched and the Triangle.
4. Concentrate on Posture
The importance of having a good posture cannot be emphasized enough when it comes to anger management, Yoga practices teach that you need to have a good posture so that your body’s mechanism can stay balanced and this will automatically reduce your anger levels. If you do not follow a proper posture, your body’s mechanism will not work effectively.
5. Keep Your Mind Busy With Other Things
Anger management is not about calming the mind down as a whole, but it focuses on specific things that will help you to calm down faster and remain focused on what you want to achieve, which in this case happens to be being calm. Yoga practices teach that if you keep your mind busy with other things, then there will be no space for anger to enter and take over your consciousness.
5 Yoga and its theories to control anger
We will be talking about the top 5 ways in which you can use Yoga and its theories to control anger. These ways will help you to relieve stress and have a control on your anger even in pressure-induced situations that you face.
1. Svadhyaya
Svadhyaya in the theories of yogis is defined as the practice of studying yourself in particular situations. The first step always to solve a problem is to accept and analyse it.
Under normal circumstances, people are not aware of their habits and fail to witness patterns in their behaviour. When you study and analyse the times when you feel angry, you will, for sure, understand a pattern.
We sometimes get off due to trivial issues, and it is escalated into getting angry.
The solution will be pretty evident after you spot the pattern, and you just have to avoid the things that cause you to get angry.
Another solution is to understand the trivial nature of things that make us angry and realise the true potential of the world, which we will be discussing in the forthcoming points.
2. Saucha
Everything that enters your body has a significant impact on your mind and behaviour. Saucha is the art of practising cleanliness and eating clean, healthy food free from preservatives, junk food, chemical-induced foods and others.
It would be best if you opted for a consultation with a trained yoga trainer who will guide you about the optimal diet and the things to avoid.
The food you eat is a big part of Yoga and its impact. Make sure to have a clean diet of light, pure, green vegetables which will calm your mind for good.
Spices, oils, meats, fish chocolate, etc. are examples of foods which increase the rajasic energy in the body, which results in anger. Cutting back on all these foods will help you control your anger too!
3. Asanas and pranayama
There are many Yoga Asanas which are known to calm your mind and help in reducing stress and anger.
Pranayam tops the list of the Asanas that will directly help you in reducing anger but choosing the right kind of pranayam is crucial. Some of the types of pranayam can actually increase the rajasic energy in the body, thereby making you feel angrier.
Pranayam like sahita pranayama and others which help calm your mind are the ones you have to choose.
Another point which should be part of this section is the sleep schedule. Taking the right amount of sleep is necessary for your body, and lack of sleep is another reason for anger.
This is described in ancient yoga scripts and taking care of your anger also means taking care of your sleep.
4. Isvara Pranidhana
Isvara Pranidhana is a kind of meditation practise in which you submit your soul and thoughts to a higher power.
If you have been feeling angry about a lot of things lately, there is a need to rethink the purpose of life. A lot of yogis and other intellectuals talk about the misunderstanding of reality, which causes people to feel angry.
Yoga also teaches you to accept reality and build a relationship with your inner self. When we realise that there are far greater miseries and problems in life than what you are thinking about, your mind starts to understand the impact.
Make sure to talk out time from the everyday schedule for meditation and pranayama, which will help you solve these inner issues and control your anger.
5. Balasana (Child’s pose)
Anger begins from your mind, and some of the Yoga Asanas work directly in calming your mind. Balasana is one such Asana which is easy and helps to increase the blood flow to your mind.
This Asana will also strengthen your body and act on specific muscles at the same time.
The steps involved to practise this Asana are –
- Choose a calm place and kneel on your Yoga mat, to begin with
- Make sure to keep your back intact before you begin bending in the forward direction
- Bend forward and make your chest touch your thighs
- Your arms should stretch in the front and palms should touch the Yoga mat
- Remain in this position for as long as possible and increase the timing every day!
