There’s a pulse quality that I often feel in patients that indicates stagnation in the diaphragm. It happens when you experience emotions that you are unable to tend to, so you tuck them away for “later” (or never).
Tucking emotions away is an intelligent survival mechanism. It can help you:
- Maintain high performance in a work deadline when you can’t be distracted by troubling news
- Remain attuned to your kids when it’s not appropriate to process disharmony with your partner in the moment, OR
- Retain your peace when something triggers a traumatic memory
But the pitfall of tucking them away is the risk that you’ll forget to or avoid going back to metabolize them. This can cause downstream issues, including abdominal pain, shallow breathing, pelvic floor pain, IBS, acid reflux, PMS or severe menopause symptoms.
How does anger affect the mind?
Not only that but the more that you stuff your anger and frustration, the more likely you are to feel frustration, irritability and anger as you navigate life. It’s a negative feedback loop.
How does Chinese Medicine view anger?
I mention this now because we’re in the season of the wood element. The wood element brings us a drive to create, to achieve and to move forward on your life path. AND when that force feels misdirected, thwarted or slowed down, frustration, irritability and anger can show up. If you don’t have a regular outlet to tend to anger, if you were conditioned to believe that feeling anger is wrong, or that your anger isn’t valid, there is a risk that you’re burying it in the body and creating physiological, emotional, and even life path stagnation.
Is there an effective solution for transforming anger?
With an eye toward supporting the creative impulse of the wood element, I created a video that will teach you to conveniently and powerfully metabolize anger, frustration and irritability with sound and to support a healthy liver and wood element.
https://youtu.be/WX9t-etKHBY?si=Lfvl1yhAv64i7qdX
I hope you find it useful.
In service to easeful forward motion in life,
P.S. If you’re struggling with anger, irritability, headaches, tight jaw, neck or shoulders, now is a great time to jump in my calendar for an acupuncture tuneup. You can do that opens in a new window::HERE::
