Anger, many of us associate this with negativity and a lack of self-control. Although when we have mastered the self it doesn’t mean we have suppressed anger. Meditation is a way you can manage difficult emotions through witnessing them objectively. Click here to find more health benefits to meditation.
When Anger Is Harmful
Anger can let us know when someone has crossed a boundary, when something is no longer serving us, or even when we need to let go of something. Anger is a messenger that lets us know something needs to change.
Sometimes what needs to change is not external, but internal. When we find ourselves chronically angry it is time to look inside ourselves. Through chronic anger, we actually activate our flight or fight response within the body.
Our body adapted the fight or flight mode with our survival in mind. If our primitive ancestors encountered a wild animal, needed to defend their territory, or battle the natural elements the fight or flight mode would activate itself.
Nonessential functions of the body would be paused while hormones such as cortisol and endorphins would flood the body in order to help you overcome the perceived threat. Continous fight or flight mode activity can cause digestion problems, chronic inflammation, acne, high blood pressure, lowers the immune system, stomach ulcers, and lowering your energy. Learn how meditation can help lower cortisol here.
Anger and Meditation Study
A study published in the Journal of Consciousness and Cognition showed fascinating and empowering results of anger and meditation. The study was conducted with two different groups. One was of beginner meditators and the other of experienced meditators.
They studied the response of each group while asking them to relive experiences that made them angry. The results of the experienced meditators showed physical symptoms equivalent to relaxation such as slowed breathing and heart rate and decreased blood pressure.
After a single meditation session of 20 minutes, the groups were studied again. The results showed that the beginner meditators displayed responses equal to the experienced meditators.
This study proves that through long term meditation practice people tend to be physically less reactive to anger. The other impressive results are that beginner meditators can reap these results as well!
Meditation and The Mental Effect On Anger
Through mindfulness meditation practices, we practice remaining objective. It works by expanding your awareness to encompass subtle and subtler details all while not attaching judgments to them.
It basically acts as a meditative form of curiosity. This strengthens our ability to remain open and rational when surges of anger hit. As well as allow impulses to no longer lead us into damaging reactions.
Meditation clears our sight from what yogis call Maya, which is illusion and includes our clouded emotional perception. When we practice meditation regularly we become less likely to be triggered emotionally and to remain stable while doing so.
We can even use meditation to inquire into what our emotional state is telling us. This kind of though inquiry is something Katie Byron teaches. Click here to find out about Katie best teachings.
Release Anger and Get Started Mastering Yourself
We offer quite a few tools that you can use in order to reap the benefit of reducing anger. You can find a guided mindfulness meditation here. If you are a beginner to meditation you find our 30-day course that guides you into beginning meditation.
