Meditation is known for its remarkable ability to help you find inner peace and calm. Isn’t this why everyone chooses to meditate?
So why did one of my students tell me they became enraged after a recent meditation session? How is it possible that meditation could lead to a feeling of being pissed off? How could sitting in a chair for 20 minutes and repeating an ancient mantra fail to have a calming affect on this student?
Well, that’s because this is a very important part of meditation that often gets ignored in its teachings.
If the goal of meditation is to calm your mind, and that is achieved, then it’s going to do something else at the same time, and that’s calm your body. And since the mind and body are integrated, if your mind is calm, then your body is calm. When your body is calm and descends into a deep level of metabolic rest (as it does in deep meditation), it’s going to restore balance and release stresses that are stored in your body. These stresses are actually stored in the form of energy and like all energy, it can’t be destroyed. It can only be transformed.
So it’s possible that the stored, suppressed energy of anger is poised deep within your body and is seeking an opportunity to be released. This anger could be the result of you being pissed off when you were a kid, and you held it in and stuffed it down so that you didn’t feel upset anymore.
It’s in the deep level of physiological rest during meditation, that your body scans and unlocks that stored stress, recognizing that it is foreign and not meant to be stored in there.
So yes, sometimes when you find yourself in deep meditation, feelings of agitation, anger and ready to punch someone in the face might start to come up!
Confused? Understandably. But try to think of it as energy — nothing more and nothing less. Simply put, it’s just stored energy that’s releasing itself from your body.
The mind likes to create stories around your anger and associate it with someone or an experience. After your meditation, you might find that the smallest things piss you off and you are even more angry with others. Those outside of ourselves are who we typically like to point the finger to. However we now realize we can release our emotions in a healthier and safer way with this new level of awareness.
When energy is releasing, give it some assistance and allow it to flow out. Try not to block its flow by resisting the process. Once that energy has been unlocked and released, it will have exited the body for good.
Here are five healthy tips to assist you in releasing the stress of anger out of your system after it comes up in meditation:
1. Step into the ring.
Go to your nearest gym, put on headphones with some pumping music, slip on some boxing gloves and take to the punching bag. Don’t be afraid to be vigorous, and keep going until you exhaust yourself.
2. Smash things.
Find some old plates, cups, saucers or bowls, from your local second-hand shop (preferably making a donation at the time). Then find an abandoned location (and be sure to clean up after yourself). Choose a wall or the ground below and then smash each item (safety first, please!) as you release a huge grunt with every throw.
3. Scream.
Find an open field or a cliff top overlooking the ocean, somewhere that you feel isolated and won’t be heard. At the top of your lungs scream and yell and if need be, swear every cursing word as loud as you can. This is very powerful for clearing the Throat Chakra, which is often blocked by holding in our anger.
4. Sweat it out.
Go for a strenuous run, surf, swim or work out. Sweat out your rage.
5. Meditate post-purge.
Finish the day with another follow up meditation and resettle your body, now the stress and anger have been properly purged.
So there you have it, a few simple tips to purge your body of the anger energy that is unlocked during meditation. These methods are far safer than punching someone in the face, kicking in someone’s car door, or smashing your computer.
Meditation is not the goal; it’s the portal for you to access a powerful cleansing process that will eradicate emotional toxins from your body. Once these toxins are purged, then your true essence of bliss, love and light will be experienced.
If you have any other tips for releasing anger in a safe manner then please share them with us below.
Peace.
Tom is the founder of The Stillness Project, a global movement with the mission of inspiring 1 billion people to sit in meditation daily.
