Does Anger Have A Place In a Spiritually Centered Life?

I have come across many "spiritual" people in my social media feed who are calling anger a "low vibe" emotion and implying that if you feel angry you should be working to find joy and positivity instead. I wholeheartedly disagree and this belief system can cause serious problems. Anger is a normal human emotion. You are human. Denying yourself the energetic expression of your human experiences causes trauma, illness and disease. (Some of you like research to back up claims such as these so here you go. If you want more type "emotional expression and disease" into your google scholar search bar and you can find many peer reviewed studies.) I view anger as a "dashboard light" emotion. It’s a signal to pay attention, it’s a signal that something feels “not right” in your nervous system. It is a call to action; it demands a response other than mantra-ing and breathing it into submission. We have been conditioned, as a society and especially as seekers on a spiritual path, to believe that anger is something to avoid and if we feel it we are "bad". Anger isn’t the issue, it’s an unavoidable human emotion. Striving to be anger free in a world with plenty to be angry about isn't only unsustainable and harmful to your health it also perpetuates the distorted power dynamics wreaking havoc in our world.  Our cultural conditioning and the household we grew up in informs our feelings and ideas about anger. For some of us anger was explosive and dangerous and we associate it with feelings of not being safe. For others anger may be an emotion we don't associate with, we may tend to feel sad or another emotion instead. Maybe you get "stuck" in anger and you feel like you will burn up before resolution takes place or the sensations of anger, yours or an other's, make you feel uncomfortable. How anger shows up for you is something to get curious about. As I pointed out in paragraph one, you are a human and anger is a normal human emotion, if you're avoiding it, denying it or getting stuck in it you have some work to do around the emotion of anger. What if I told you that your anger can lead to acts of compassion and vulnerability? If you didn't run from or get burnt up by your anger what would be possible? Anger invites us to establish and maintain boundaries, heal injustice and create a sustainable future. Our anger points us towards what we care about and ignites the fire we need to take action. Anger that is met with love and curiosity has power to do great things, please don't turn yours off; learn to work with it!

Do you want to get intimate with your anger? I am leading a 6 week live online workshop beginning July 2nd to help you get intimate with the emotion of anger. This workshop is for you if, ​ You want to get real and honest with your anger ​ ​You want to learn the difference between anger and aggression ​ You find yourself trying to melt your anger into love and it's leaving you frustrated ​ You feel uncomfortable with anger; either yours or another's  ​ Your anger feels like a roaring fire just waiting for a breeze to create a destructive blaze or a half dead lighter coughing to produce a flame ​ You want to use your anger as fuel for creating change in your life and the world  ​ ​  Through self inquiry, somatic, primal practices and nervous system knowledge we will work together to: ​ ​Learn how to track the key elements of the nervous system in self and others ​ ​Understand the subconscious dimensions of anger ​ ​Learn the art of the conscious rant ​ ​Learn about boundaries and how to maintain and respect them ​ ​Learn why your mind says one thing and your body does another ​ ​Understand your patterns around anger ​ ​Transmute your anger into agency for change If you're interested in learning about your nervous system response to anger (your own and others) and how to alchemize it into compassion and action please join us. You can learn more and register here.