How to control anger and have a calm mind… it is the dream of everyone…

Anger is a part of normal healthy emotion but its manifestation and quantity need to be controlled.

As per Ayurveda describes this anger depends on:

Body type of the person

A Pitta body type person gets angry very quickly more than the other body constitution.

Pitta constitution is made of fire and water elements and anger is fire element.

A Vata body type person can get angry quickly (because one of Vata gunas is fastness) but he also calms down very fast because coolness is also a Vata quality.

A Kapha person gets anger very slowly because of Kapha guna but will not react immediately and may plan for a well-executed.

Ayurveda mentioned that anger produces disease such as:

• high blood pressure
• schizophrenia,
• maniac disorders or people with lot of stress
• depression
• anxiety
• body inflammation [musculo skeletal diseases…]
• inside burning
• and long term manifestations

Diet to control anger

Diet has to be balanced to avoid production of anger. Excess of non veg, excess of spicy foods, drugs abuse and excess of alcohol are part of rajasic foods and consuming these items out of balance lead to angriness.

Here some advices for Pitta lifestyle and diet

Our period of time also contributes to get more or less angry: teenagers and elderly get angry more easily.

When we feel weak or tired we have more issues to control our emotion, angriness can come quickly in such condition.

Some medicines, in case of wrong dosage, can also lead to manic depressive psychosis or depression medicines and increase anger.

Dosha implication

Pitta gets aggravated by anger and much more if hidden inwards.

Anger-control has to be a part of effective personality management. It needs a constant practice followed by application.

Remember that you are larger and important than your emotions.

If you rule your emotions, you live healthy. If your emotions rule you then your lifespan would be shorten and end in premature way. You have to choose !!

Medicine or therapy are essential to learn how to relieve stress or soothe the mind. Senses eradicates many physical ailments and this to avoid to throw your venom and hurt others.

The real thing is by getting angry over a person or situation you show how weak you are. You also allow the other person and situations to rule you. If you remember that you are susceptible to be conquered by someone else’s anger, you will learn to sense it even before it has shown its early signs within you.

Controlling anger is a art but also a respect of yourself and others. You can convert it in positive energy.

“Speak when you are angry and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret” Laurence J. Peter

You could also have avoided the damages incurred on your beautiful system as an effective of unmonitored anger, thereby keeping inflammation and arthritis at bay.

A long-standing angriness habit is dangerous.

Anger is thus constructive as well as destructive. It depends on what type of anger we are.

The extent of damage we undergo due to anger and the quality and quantity of inflammatory changes and diseases which get manifested due to anger depends on our choice of fight or flight response and how frequently we do it.

“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger” – Buddha

Types of anger

There are 3 types of anger:

• Aggressive anger because we can feel ashamed or are neglected
• Defensive anger to fight or over reacting to defend ourself or to hide mistake
• Frustrated anger developed with time. The person over a period of time may develop ideas or concepts out of reality

Most of the systemic diseases of the modern day are psycho-somatic in nature. We hardly find a sole physical disorder or a sole mental disorder. Body and mind are 2 sides of the same coin. A problem at the physical level might at a later time reflect on the mind and vice versa.

Anger is one of the most encountered emotions which has a serious destructive impact at a psycho-somatic level and is also a trigger for many health issues especially those of an inflammatory origin.

What are Pitta functions in the body?

Pitta is responsible for central and cellular metabolism

If pitta is balanced, these processes goes well smoothly and we are healthy.

An increased or decreased of Pitta can disrupt the heat regulation in the body and lead to depletion of tissues or blockages in the cells and body channels.

If the body is inefficient to throw the excess heat out, the heat stay inwards. Then the heat damages the body tissues and cause inflammation. When this inflammation intensifies, arthritis and other inflammatory diseases can manifest.

Other factors aggravate Pitta but Krodha [anger] is the main one.

Anger is the emotion which is a part of us and is expressed very often in varied proportions. Whenever anger occurs, Pitta is disturbed.

And if the anger become an habit, aches stay within us and give a permanent fuel for vitiation of Pitta.

The increased pitta creates an inflammatory background in the tissues and leads to inflammatory diseases:  arthritis is one.

An increased pitta and anger leads to a cyclic pattern: the inflammatory reactions in the body which is getting worst as it become a chronic pattern with time.

So you have understand, but i repeat again: if we don’t control Pitta and anger at right time, it causes damages to the body cells and organs.

Anger is one of the most common human emotions.

If you are Pitta constitution, you will always have fire in you, it is a part of you. It’s like the fire is always there ready to burn more. Pitta is always seated on coals.

It can vary in proportions to person and in given situations.

We need fire to burn our foods, our emotions but it increased to different levels of manifestation and existence.

The fuels are available in and around us: at work, in family, with friends, with life situations we live which can be stressful. We have also to face a certain competition and lot more in today society.

For Pitta people a small amount of these is enough for the anger to take a big shape and for other it will take more time to provoke that anger to set in. Some people explodes and some bury anger deep within.

We boil at different degrees

“Anybody can become angry that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy” – Aristotle

Anger is Dharaneeya Vega

Dharaneeya Vega means forcibly withholding the urges which are initiated by the body.

So anger or krodha should be checked from sprouting to the surface as and when it shows its signs within us.

The one who is controlling is anger is managing is mind very well. It is avoiding conflicting, to put more fire on the gas and finally a proof of intelligence to solve differently the tensions or conflicts.

This is also better for health because anger is a form of heat and we don’t want to get combust!

Studies and researches showeds that anger has bad effects on homeostasis and health in general. It needs to be controlled within us and to throw it out in reasonable way to do not hurt others and self. This is the principle of Ahimsa in Yoga.

For example inflammatory reaction can occurred in the joints and soft tissues of musculo skeletal system and causes arthritis and other inflammatory origin musculo skeletal diseases [rheumatoid arthritis, tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, bone fractures…]

Ayurveda said that controlling anger is better than inversely. It is not because one time you could not control it that it will induce right away diseases. It is the amount of non-control anger day by day which will produce imbalances and with time diseases.

Anger is a negative emotion in many instances and has very important impact in our organs and mind…

Ayurvedic and yogic methods: how to control anger 

It might temporally drive us to do something energetically but on the other way it also compels us to commit bad words, bad behaviors, or violence in front of others.

By learning to control krodha (anger) we avoid the pitta explosion and so avoid many inflammatory processes and diseases in the body.

How we can control anger?

Be conscious of it and act to know how to control your anger

Practice Yoga, yoga philosophy and pranayama [Learn about a simple Pranayama technique here] to think better and clearly, linked your body and your mind and relief your frustration. Do practices to pacify Pitta.

Have a anti-pitta diet [Learn more: How to balance Pitta]

Taking foods having sweet, bitter and astringent tastes, seasonal fruits not having sour taste, cold foods and comforts etc which are antagonistic to Pitta

Ayurvedic Pitta relieving treatments

• Abhyanga (massage with herbal oils)
• Virechana (therapeutic purgation),
• Sarvanga dhara (stream pouring of medicated liquids like oils, milk etc over the body), Shirodhara (stream pouring of herbal oils over the head),
• Shirovasti (oil pooling over the head),
• Tikta vasti (enemas prepared out of medicines having bitter tastes),
• Ksheera Vasti (enemas prepared with medicines alleviating pitta processed and prepared in milk) …

Pitta lifestyle to control anger:

• Have a good sleep, minimun 7 hours per night, to regenerate & digest all emotions or frustration accumulated during the day.

• Practice gratitude and happiness

• Identify the causes of your anger

• Ignore the causes or the triggers lead to body pain.

• Go away from augmenting with people & situations as much as possible.

• Convert anger : anger is an energy which will either hurt us or the other person. The better way is to throw off the fire of anger by transforming it into another form of positive or constructive energy. Get into activities like gardening, house cleaning etc.

• Forgive and Forget : it is difficult but with time & conscious we can do it easily, it is highly effective.

• Change your body-mind attitude

• Change your habits when anger strikes you. Practice sports, yoga, mindfullness, walking into fresh air… Yoga is highly effective for emotions acceptance, transcending them and win over anger

• Surrounding you with positive people

• Think spiritual: going to temples, reading books or do spiritual practices: yoga nidra, restorative yoga … pranayama and meditation.

• Have fun

• Take a break: breaks are essential to keep our nerves relaxed, go for a weekend, meet friends, or share love time with family.

• Practice your favorite hobby

• Dancing classes, painting, writing articles or stories…

• Join a Yoga class

• Meditate:  You can meditate in many ways, chanting hymns, counting the beads, focussing on a point or material as a target…

• Breathing exercises: Inhale to your tummy to a count of four, slowly exhale through your mouth to a similar count. Do this 10-15 times. You can do it 3-4 times a day. Gradually work on increasing the count of inspiration and expiration. Learn about a simple Pranayama technique

• Eat healthy – Lot of vegetables and fruits and a balanced diet will help

Other tips to control anger

• Remember : ‘The other person is not bad, he or she is different’. Someone looks bad because we want that person to be like we want him or her to be. Learn to give space to everyone and enjoy your space.

• Re-search happiness: happiness and happy moments are antagonistic to anger. Swear to keep yourself happy. Try finding all possible ways and methods of keeping yourself happy.

• Write a diary: write a diary and keep account of how many or how less situations you are encountering on a daily basis where you are getting into the anger web. Also analyse if your anger was reasonable. Think if there were any other options of avoiding confronting the anger. Analyse the causes and triggers and see if you are going to them or they are coming to you.

See if minor things are disturbing you and not essentially a big stressor or anger-trigger that is making you angry. In such cases you are only habituated to anger. See how many things and situations were under your control and how many were out of your reach. All these things will help you to get better and win over your nerves. Try to work and better the conditions and also maintain a follow up record.

• Ask for help or counselling sessions. Don’t back out from consulting experts and from taking counselling. There are people who can help you out of your anger.

Ayurvedic medicines, herbs and methods

Ayurvedic herbs useful to control anger:

• Brahmi – Bacopa monnieri
• Mandookaparni
• KolaShankhapushpi
• Raisins
• …

Sciences has now proven since many years how much emotions are related to diseases. You cannot say now you don;t know. If you want to improve your patterns, live peaceful as much as possible, many tools you can try. Yoga and Pranayama, and sadhana are great tools to start your journey for a better and healthy self.

If you want to go deeper and need to learn how to practice to control your anger, book a free call with me.

References 

Blog: Yoga and lifestyle medicine

Anger Disorders May Be Linked to Inflammation

Markers of inflammation in blood linked to aggressive behaviors

Inflammation: The Common Pathway of Stress-Related Diseases

Inflammation-driven brain and gut barrier dysfunction in stress and mood disorders

The Role of Inflammation in Mood and Anxiety-related Disorders