Anger Revisited

At Saturday morning yoga (a few classes back….gosh, I’ve been pondering this awhile), our instructor had a lot of little tidbits that touched me, but this one little phrase really got to me: “if you’re holding in any anger, frustrations, anxieties, just push that out and recycle that energy in to the earth, recycle that energy, renew that energy and transform that energy. Push it into the earth”

I can’t help but like this. Over the course of my, albeit short-so-far life, I’ve had several things happen to me, or that I’ve done, that have left me angry, frustrated, anxious. And I know it is not just me, think of all the things that we hold on to as we go through life. We hear the advice over and over again that we should “let go” and that it takes so much energy to hold a grudge, to keep being angry. But this, this is something entirely different.

The mantra is telling us to embrace that energy, but instead of holding onto the anger and letting it corrode our souls, we are to harness it and put it to use. I know for me, that when I am angry, I need to work out that anger in a very physical way. Cleaning the kitchen, the bathrooms, this type of activity. I always considered this as an “avoidance” technique, and that I was just giving myself time to cool off, time to think things over and collect myself. I think this is actually the first step in re-routing the energy of anger and frustrations.

Since I already work with volunteer groups, I’ve decided that the next time I feel frustrated with something/someone or myself that I will knuckle down, dig deeper into myself and apply that energy towards the causes that are important to me. It’s a win- win because it does give me that time to clear my head and rationalize my thoughts, but it also recycles the energy I’d be wasting in frustration or anger and allows me to do something not only productive, but something good.