Hi my friend,
I'm Violeta Z and welcome to your practice.
Today our focus is to explore our relationship with anger so that we can expand our capacity to hold it,
Experience it in a healthy and proactive way,
And take deliberate steps to release it at its root.
Understanding the root of our anger and then befriending the parts of us that respond with it is how we transform this energy from something reactive and overpowering into an experience of choice,
Freedom,
And personal power that stems from deep within.
Anger is the energy of advocacy.
Its purpose is to protect us from perceived threats,
Even if it might not always make sense right away on a conscious level.
When anger is in the room,
We can view it as a trailhead,
A signal,
Pointing us in the direction of important information that we might not yet have shined our light of awareness on.
Beneath the mask of anger is always something deeper,
And in this depth is where we find relief and freedom.
Anger might be masking a need that hasn't been met yet,
A want that hasn't been expressed or voiced,
A boundary that has been violated,
Or something in between.
For some,
Anger might feel easier and safer to experience than what it's actually masking.
This mask protects us from feeling vulnerable,
From admitting that there is something deeper we need and more we crave.
Beneath this mask of anger might live sadness,
Disappointment,
Not feeling heard,
Seen,
Acknowledged,
Loved,
Valued,
Or respected.
While anger comes easily for some,
For others it doesn't,
And this is where resentment brews.
Some might struggle to experience anger,
Which is another form of self-protection.
Whichever way you lean,
Anger is an important part of our human experience that we can learn a lot from about ourselves,
Our wants,
Needs,
And desires.
Before we can fully express anger in a healthy and constructive way,
We must first understand it on an individual and intimate level.
So for today's practice,
We are going to gently explore a moment,
A scenario,
In which you've experienced anger recently.
When it's time,
I will invite you to bring to conscious awareness a scenario in which you've felt anger or frustration,
A moment that doesn't feel too overpowering or triggering,
But in which you can notice and remember feeling angry,
Agitated,
Or frustrated.
It's important that we start small before leaning into and exploring our bigger triggers.
So when you're ready,
Let's begin.
I invite you now to focus your awareness on your breath moving through the front line of your body.
Close down your eyes if this feels comfortable for you,
And begin to turn that awareness,
That attention inward,
Noticing how the breath feels moving through the front line of the body.
From the bottom of your belly,
Inhaling to and through your lungs,
And exhaling through your nose.
Emptying the lungs completely,
Inhaling from the bottom of your belly,
Traveling your awareness with the breath to and through your chest,
And out your nose.
Simply taking a moment to pause and notice how it feels to notice breath in the body,
The body being breathed.
Inviting the breath to expand the lungs just a little bit more,
Filling up the body just a little bit more.
With each passing inhale and exhale,
I invite you to fill your body with the breath that fills the lungs up just a bit more each time.
And on the release of the breath,
Making the exhale slightly longer than the inhale.
And just simply noticing what happens and if anything changes.
Comfort is queen.
So make any adjustments now that will help you invite more comfort into your space and into your body.
Maybe it's the rolling of the neck,
Adjustment in the shoulders,
Movement in the hips.
Allowing yourself to take up a little bit more space in the here and now.
Comfort is queen.
When we are not comfortable,
We cannot relax.
And relaxation is a practice of presence that helps to shine the light of clarity on what we need more of and what we need less of in any given moment.
To remain connected with ourselves,
With others,
And the world around us.
Continue a fluid natural rhythm to the breath,
Allowing the lungs to fill up completely and expand and then empty completely and contract.
Now shifting the awareness to a spot in the body where you notice a tightness or a tension.
Or even where you might notice some anger lingering.
Inviting the breath into this space,
Breathing into this space in the body and focusing the awareness and the breath onto this space.
Notice what happens,
If anything at all,
When we nurture this friction,
This tension point with the breath,
Releasing any judgment and inviting curiosity instead.
Now I invite you to bring to conscious awareness a moment where you noticed anger,
Frustration or agitation in the room.
Notice how this anger showed up for you then,
In that moment.
How did it show up in your thoughts,
In your emotions,
In your sensations,
In your behavior?
Paint the picture.
What story was the mind creating?
About you,
The other person,
The situation,
What's possible?
Continue a steady breath allowing the story to appear without getting sucked back into it,
Noticing it unfolding before you.
Now,
Ask the question,
What is it that I really want in this situation?
It might be to simply be heard or seen in your effort,
Respected,
Supported,
Loved.
Notice what comes up.
What is it that I really wanted out of this situation?
Allow the answer to emerge without looking for it.
It might appear as a simple word or phrase,
An image,
A feeling,
A sensation,
A color.
It might not make sense to the rational mind and that's okay.
Continue a fluid intentional breath,
Using breath as an anchor,
Inhaling anger and exhaling peace.
Awareness is only part of the equation.
The next step and question is,
Now what are we going to do about it?
What's one thing you can do to give yourself the thing you need or needed in this situation?
Is there a way you can see yourself more,
Recognize your own effort,
Forgive yourself more,
Love yourself more,
Honor yourself more?
Is there a way you can give yourself what you seek from the other?
Notice what happens here in the body.
How can I give myself more of what I seek from others?
Can I ask for more of what I want?
From this space of present moment awareness,
How much space does this anger take up now?
It might have disappeared completely and there might be traces of it left.
Either way,
Say thank you for showing me.
Thank you for showing me.
We've just planted a seed to befriend the mask of anger so that we can really understand the root,
What it's trying to tell us,
What it might be protecting us from.
Take a moment to honor yourself for the time you've committed to yourself,
Your commitment to growth,
Connection and evolution.
And when you're ready,
Releasing any effort,
Any questions,
Any answers,
Any situation that has come to mind and returning back to the breath.
Simply being with what is in this moment,
Without judgment,
Noticing how it is for the body to be breathed.
Now when you're ready,
Bring any message you've received throughout this process with you and begin to bring movement into your fingers and toes,
Becoming more aware of your surroundings and opening your eyes.
Return to this meditation as often as you need to,
To nurture and expand your capacity to be with anger and to understand the root so that you can release it and reconnect with the sense of deep personal power,
Autonomy,
Choice and freedom.
Thank you for your courage and for practicing with me.
Namaste.
