Your face turns red. You feel hot. Your heart races. You want to scream. The anger is moving inside of you and you have no idea what to do about it. You are no longer in control of your actions — your emotions are leading the way from this moment.
If the above scenario sounds familiar, you may need to learn how to control your anger. Whether that means meditating with some quality incense or finding ways to de-stress, there are plenty of options available. Here’s what you need to know to get started.
What is Anger?
Chances are, you’ve experienced anger in the past. But how do you define this bubbling feeling that’s hard to manage? According to the American Psychological Association, anger is a feeling that is “characterized by antagonism toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done you wrong.”
Now, there are times when your anger will be perfectly acceptable. You might be mad at the injustice in the world. You might be mad that someone is being treated unfairly. You might be passed over for a job at work and feel that anger boiling up inside you.
When managed correctly, feeling some levels of anger can be fine. It helps us to understand our negative emotions and process them — so long as we don’t let that anger burst out of us like a fireball. If that sounds familiar, you could hurt the people around you.
Learning to better understand your anger is the first step in the healing process. Before you do anything else, it’s worth investigating how your personal anger manifests and looking at what you can do about that. If your anger is unhealthy, there are Kundalini Yoga tools you can use and things you can do which will help you manage this emotion.
Signs You Have an Anger Problem
When anger is mismanaged, it can become a problem. This may lead to social, mental, and physical difficulties in the long-run. For that reason, it’s important to identify when anger is an issue for you and to take the steps needed to get it in check.
When you are leading a Kundalini Yoga lifestyle, you will naturally learn how to take mastery of your mind. That is positive news when it comes to your emotions. If you are no longer consumed by your feelings, you can make better decisions in your life. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the telltale signs that you have a problem with anger:
You say or do things that you don’t mean
When you feel yourself becoming angry, are you in control of your actions? This emotion becomes a real problem when it controls how you act and the things that you say to others. If you “lose it” when you are mad, you might live to regret your subsequent actions.
Examples of this include getting into arguments with the people that you love, saying things that hurt them, and even becoming violent. In extreme cases, you could seriously hurt the people around you. It’s important to become calmer and more in control.
You get annoyed over small, insignificant things
When you fail to deal with your anger problems, they lie beneath the surface. Everything that you do will be informed by them. That means that you can quickly get irritated or annoyed when something doesn’t go your way. That in itself can turn into a problem.
For example, if you find yourself getting unnecessarily angry when your food comes late at a restaurant, you might want to delve into why that is. Learning to better understand your emotions will help you understand which responses are appropriate and which are not.
You tend to hold onto grudges
Grudges are a plague on your mental health. If you stay angry with someone or something for a long period, it will eat you up inside. The longer that you hold a grudge, the more damage you will ultimately end up doing to yourself. Put simply, it’s not a healthy attitude.
While we all feel upset when we have been slighted, it’s vital to understand when you need to let that emotion go. There’s no good reason to hold onto a grudge for a matter of weeks, months, or years. Learn how to feel that emotion and then move on from it too.
How to Control Your Anger Properly
Now that you know all about anger, let’s talk about how to control it. Thanks to the realms of Kundalini Yoga, there are plenty of tools that you can start using today. If you would like to take back control of your emotions, here are some of the approaches you can try:
Practice a kriya to relieve anger
Having some “you time” is a must. One of the exercise sets you may want to try is the kriya to relieve inner anger. The ten-step set is ideal no matter where you are on your journey. Find a quiet place, lay down your yoga mat, and get to work on this one.
Start using breath control
Did you know your breath can directly impact your emotions? If you have been struggling with anger problems, you can begin using breathwork to help you along the way. Whenever you feel overwhelmed or annoyed, you can turn back to this simple technique.
Light some calming incense
Scent can also have a drastic impact on how you feel each day. Lighting some calming incense when you meditate could help you take charge of your emotions. If you want to become more relaxed and tap into your inner zen, you may want to give this a go.
The Takeaway
Anger can be an extremely unhealthy emotion, if you don’t deal with it properly. Should you find that this is negatively impacting your day-to-day well-being, you can speak to a medical professional. They will be able to give you the advice, treatment options, and support that you need. You can also use our guide to try some holistic approaches too.
See more: Kundalini Yoga Kriya for Beaming and Creating the Future You Want
