How often do you check your Facebook feed? If you’re an avid user, then you know that you can now “react” to posts instead of merely liking them. This allows users to better express how they feel about the posts they come across. One reaction is of interest—Angry. It comes with an emoji that has a red face and furrowed eyebrows, and it’s the closest thing to disliking a post on Facebook right now. It also shows how the world appears to be in constant anger. Whether it’s Facebook, the news, or even everyday conversations with your peers, animosity seems to fuel modern conversations.
Anger is evident in politics and religion, a tool used to propagate narrowmindedness, entrench worldviews, and hinder a profound discussion that considers all sides. In a selfish attempt to force one’s ideas, a person may exude anger, or provoke others to display this strong emotion. But it’s worth noting that anger isn’t limited to the larger themes in life. Everyday circumstances may be filled with anger as well, and it’s the reason why we fail to see the good in others yet easily find what makes them imperfect.
According to professional yoga teachers from Yandara, anger serves as a significant barrier to finding true happiness. This becomes apparent when you get irritable with your partners, children, or friends. When anger gets the best of you, it gets harder to appreciate the goods things they do as you start to focus on their flaws. Even a simple misunderstanding may be misconstrued as a provocative attack, ultimately breaking relationships regardless of how long they’ve been intact.
Anger and stress feed off each other. When you feel relaxed, you allow little things to happen. But as you feel the pressure piling on your shoulders, the tendency is to lash out your feelings at one point or another. Thankfully, yoga and meditation hold the key to a life with less anger and more peace. Sometimes, it feels as if you have no control over your emotions but being more aware of your inner self-makes it easier to change your behavior and how your mind works.
Studies show that regular meditation can reduce the size of the amygdala, the part of the brain that regulates the fight or flight response. It’s also effective at calming down the autonomic nervous system, the part through which stress hormones flow into the body. Getting angry or feeling stressed out makes you feel tens and hinders your ability to think clearly, but yoga and meditation have been shown to reduce the effects of these emotions over a person.
Perhaps more importantly, mindfulness makes you more aware not only of how you feel, but how others are feeling as well. This forms the foundation upon which you can grow your emotional wellbeing to better deal with high-pressure life events and respond accordingly without letting anger do the thinking. The idea may seem too simple but practicing yoga and meditation can prove to be all you need to have a more loving and understanding perspective.