Never go to bed angry

by Nina

Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens: A Detail by Joan Webster

On Tuesday I read a short little piece in the NY Times questioning the adage “Never go to bed angry” (see here). It was one of those bottom line pieces, and the bottom line was this:

“Going to sleep upset or disturbed preserves the emotion, research suggests.”

In the cited study in The Journal of Neuroscience, scientists exposed 106 men and women to images that elicited various emotions. In some cases the emotions were negative and in other cases the emotions were positive or neutral. The researchers then looked at what happened 12 hours later when the subjects were shown both new images and the previous ones, either in the morning after a night of sleep, or at the end of a full day of wakefulness. The conclusion was:

“The scientists found that staying awake blunted the emotional response to seeing the upsetting images again. But when the subjects were shown the disturbing images after a night of sleep, their response was just as strong as when they had first seen them—suggesting that sleep “protected” the emotional response.”

That doesn’t sound good, does it? Going to bed angry and waking up angry is not only an unpleasant experience for you, but it probably doesn’t enhance your relationships with the people around you. Besides, it's also not a good idea to go to bed angry if you are concerned about getting a good night's sleep. Your stress levels will be high and your sleep, if you can sleep, will be restless—maybe filled with upsetting dreams—and you won’t feel rested in the morning.

But very probably you—unlike the people in the study—can’t just put away an “upsetting image” when you are very angry. In fact, the chances are you’ll keep having one angry thought after another, and with each angry thought you’ll get another jolt of adrenaline (that’s why they call it the “fight or flight response,” people), keeping your stress levels as high as they were before.

The good news is that Baxter says it takes only about 90 seconds to clear the adrenaline released in your system by an angry thought if you switch to a more neutral topic. So to put away your anger, he recommends a structured breath practice, in which you measure your inhalations and exhalations, and count your breaths to engage your mind. If you combine this type of breath practice with a supported inversion (such as Legs Up the Wall pose) or a supported forward bend (if you find those soothing), both of which help switch your nervous system to relaxation mode, you’ll get a double dose of calm.

You could also use a guided relaxation (see here) as a way to engage your mind and relax your nervous system at the same time.

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Yoga for Emotional Wellbeing: An Epiphany

by Nina

Sand Dollar by Melina Meza

I don’t have a particularly exciting story about why I started practicing yoga. (It’s kind of humorous actually. When I was in my late twenties, I was working at a small software company and we wanted to start an on-site exercise class. One of our co-workers said that his wife could come and teach us, so we decided to give it a go. We had no idea she was a yoga teacher! So there we were, for our first class, and she asked us to stand in “Mountain pose,” with our big toes together and our heels slightly apart, which was the opposite of the foot position I was used to doing in ballet and modern dance, my previous forms of preferred exercise. And just standing that way felt so wonderful for my body, I thought, whatever this is, this is for me!). However, I do have a more dramatic story about why I decided to become a yoga teacher.

During the period when I was studying yoga with Rodney Yee and writing our first book together, Yoga: The Poetry of the Body, Rod helped me understand how my yoga practice was benefiting me in emotional and spiritual ways, as well as physical ones. It turned out that by practicing regularly at home—something I had taken up intuitively rather than with any specific goals in mind—I had been learning to manage my stress, balance my emotions and cultivate equanimity without even realizing it. (If you read the dialogues in the book Yoga: The Poetry of the Body, you can witness Rod helping me toward that realization.) And as someone who had suffered in the past from chronic stress (working full time at a software start-up while raising two children!), which had led to a bout of agitated depression, I began to see the tremendous power yoga had for helping people with emotional difficulties of all kinds, including stress, depression, anxiety, anger, and general dissatisfaction or unhappiness.

Then, one morning when I was practicing yoga with Rod and his best friend, Ian, Ian began talking about how he had just learned that a colleague of his had committed suicide.  (Yes, sorry to disillusion you, those guys chatted constantly while they were practicing.) And while I was in Shoulderstand, I kept thinking about about Ian’s story, and filled with compassion for his friend—for the suffering he must have experienced to lead him to take his life—I began to cry. I realized then that while I could not help Ian’s friend, I did have quite a lot of knowledge that I could use to help other people who were suffering. And while I had no particular ambition to become a yoga teacher per se, I understood at that moment that I really should look into finding a way to share what I knew. Yes, it was one of those actual epiphanies (and I had it while I was doing a yoga pose).

After that, I started doing two things. First, I began taking as many workshops as I could from teachers like Patricia Walden, who teaches workshops on Yoga for Depression (I took that more than once!) and Yoga for Emotional Healing, and Roger Cole, who teaches about the physiology of inversions. Then, I enrolled in a three-year teacher training program at The Yoga Room, in Berkeley. Clearly I believe in being thoroughly prepared! Finally, when I felt ready (and when I got the go-ahead from Patricia, who was informally mentoring me) I did begin teaching workshops on Yoga for Emotional Wellbeing, Yoga for Stress and Yoga for Better Sleep. Those were rewarding—there is nothing like having even just one person tell you that you made a difference in their lives by teaching them a simple practice, like breath awareness—and I still teach them occasionally. But I eventually realized that writing is still my forte and that I could reach a larger audience through my writing than by teaching local workshops.

When Baxter and I came up with the idea of starting a blog, I realized that a blog could be the perfect venue for me; having our own blog would allow me to give myself the power to write about what I wanted to write about, the way I wanted to write about it (frankly, the way some publications edit/rewrite you can be positively painful). And because the blog was free and accessible world wide, I could reach people who would never be able to study with me in person.

Because I not only write for the YFHA blog but I’m also the Editor in Chief, I work on the blog at least five days a week (and sometimes behind the scenes on the weekends). And that takes a lot of dedication. But that original epiphany I had in Shoulderstand and my ongoing passion for sharing what I know about the emotional and spiritual benefits of yoga—as well as the physical ones—are a wellspring that never runs dry.

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Anger Management: Philosophy, Science and Yoga

by Ram

The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, and serves as a guiding manual for the daily conduct of life, spiritual uplift and self-realization. It is a treatise addressed to each and every individual to help him or her to solve life’s daily problems and progress towards a bright future (see also Nina’s post Acceptance, Active Engagement and the Bhagavad Gita).

Growing up in an extended family in India, we were regularly counseled by the elders on the spiritual foundations of human existence based on the principles of the Bhagavad Gita. Particularly striking and fascinating within its eighteen chapters are several references to sound mental health, which declare that the very goal of any human activity is to achieve a state of perfect understanding, clarity, renewed strength and triumph.

One particular verse that triggered my interest was regarding the death of an individual triggered by rage and anger.

Krodhad bhavati sammohah, sammohat smrti-vibhramah!

smrti-bhramsad buddhi-naso, buddhi-nasat pranasyati!!

“From anger comes delusion. From delusion loss of memory. From loss of memory the destruction of discrimination. From destruction of discrimination, the individual perishes.” —trans. by Swami Chidbhavananda

According to the textual commentary, the ignorant mind thinks that worldly objects will give it pleasure and happiness. Continuous thinking about the objects of senses creates attachment to them. Attachment leads to desire, and when the desire is not fulfilled, one gets angry (krodha), that in turn leads to delusion (moha) and confused memory (smriti). The confusion of memory causes destruction of reasoning (buddhi) due to which an individual is ruined and dies.

Prickly Catcus by Brad Gibson

I used to recall this relationship between anger and death during my college days and as a graduate student in neurosciences. How did these divine preachers suspect that anger could trigger the demise of an individual? Is there a causal relationship? What molecular pathways connect rage/anger to the death of a person?

Research from several diverse groups, including health professionals, behavioral scientists, psychologists and others, indicates that rage and anger are definitely hazardous to health. A high level of rage/anger has a powerful effect on the incidence of preventable cardiovascular death. Evidence indicates that anger evokes physiological responses that are potentially life threatening in triggering Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).

“When we are angry, not only do we spew out negativity to someone else, but our own body chemistry changes, and these changes can be harmful to our health” —James S. Brooks & Peter Anselmo from Ayurvedic Secrets to Longevity & Total Health

Anger triggers increased platelet activation and thrombosis, resulting in unwanted, pathological, and life-threatening clot formation. Anger also increases vulnerability to illnesses, compromises the immune system, increases lipid levels, exacerbates pain, and produces vasoconstriction of narrowed arteries. Finally, anger has been associated with chronic over-stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system. This increased sympathetic activity has been shown to result in increased blood pressure and heart rate, and alterations of ventricular function.

In addition, anger triggers the release of free fatty acids into the bloodstream, and elevates the levels of circulating catecholamines and corticosteroids, all of which ultimately trigger heart disease. According to the American Heart Association and National Institute on Aging, CHD patients with higher levels of anger/hostility are also more likely to engage in CHD-risk behaviors, such as, smoking, overeating, decreased physical activity, decreased sleep, and increased use of alcohol and drugs. Thus, it is imperative to understand the significance of the pathways that connect anger to death. Once a seeker understands these pathways, he or she can then master the technique of controlling/processing the anger process.

In the post by Nina, Baxter recommends pranayama techniques and certain specific asanas to curb anger and achieve calmness. Another method to control/process anger is through meditation (dhyana), the cheapest and simplest recourse to a healthy body and mind.

Meditation transcends gender, race, skin color, profession, monetary status and, above all, religion. It does not require any elaborate setup, materials, clothes, space, doctors, nurses, or hospitals. Anyone who has the time and interest can practice meditation. Its benefits are immense and it is becoming mainstream. While meditation does not cure a person of anger, a person who has a meditation practice sees and reacts to anger differently. The individual will not only have the capacity to transcend the anger process but this person will not evoke the same physical and emotional reactions that are commonly seen in a person who does not meditate. Awareness to the thought and its flow, and awareness to anger arising inside can have remedial effects. And all this can be helpful in the journey to the center.

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