5 Yoga Poses to Help You Process Anger

"Physiologically speaking, feeling hot-headed is your body's regulatory answer to anger. Contemporary science has shown that your heart rate increases, your blood pressure rises, and your core body temperature climbs as the emotion activates the sympathetic nervous system, which is the body's fight-or-flight response."

"Research shows that slow breathing, forward folds, and mindful stillness help regulate the autonomic nervous system. These yoga poses support parasympathetic activation (the rest-and-digest state), which counterbalances the stress response. Slower exhalations also stimulate the vagus nerve, a key player in our nervous system that signals the body to lower its heart rate and return to calm and equilibrium."

"According to Ayurvedic wisdom, anger is understood as an excess of pitta. This is the dosha, or type of body and mind, governed by fire, intensity, transformation, and ambition. When pitta is aggravated and imbalanced, emotions such as frustration, competition, and sharp criticism quickly surface."

Anger triggers a physiological surge involving increased heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature as the sympathetic nervous system activates the fight-or-flight response. Ayurveda identifies anger as an excess of pitta, the fire-governed dosha associated with intensity and ambition. Both contemporary science and Ayurvedic wisdom recognize that lengthening breath and slowing reactions are essential for managing anger. Yoga practices including slow breathing, forward folds, and mindful stillness help regulate the autonomic nervous system by stimulating parasympathetic activation and the vagus nerve. Ayurvedic practices aim to decrease internal heat and reduce reactivity through saucha, or cleansing, which involves clearing inflammatory thoughts and blockages rather than suppressing emotions.

Read at Yoga Journal