What to Do With All That Rage

Well, I imagine like many of you I am ANGRY.  Angry to the point of distraction!  (And if you're not angry, stay with me.  You will be at some point in the future, I'm sure.)  In my morning meditation nothing was helping me get out of my thoughts.  I couldn't get to my centering word. It felt flat and useless.  Like a joke.  There was no taming the rage.  My head was pounding and my blood was boiling--on my mat!! 

So I grabbed a rational moment when it came, and I went with what we practice in the good times so they're available in the bad times.  I followed my anger to what so many wise ones have called the "thing behind the thing."

Why was I so very angry? What is behind it?

LOVE.

Because I love the women who are hurting and scared right now.  Because I love a country that (historically) expands rights as it grows, not takes them away.  Because now I know how to better love anyone in the world who has had rights taken away, because I feel it in my own body too.

Once I sat with that love behind the rage, the love began to win.  I'm thankful for the anger that got me there, and I'm thankful for the love that transmuted the rage for my awakening and gave me clarity for thoughtful action.  

I was drawn to pick up Pema Chödrön's book Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living to see what she might have to say on the subject. In the chapter titled Bringing All That We Meet to the Path, she says,

"[Meditation teaches you] how to use the unwanted, unfavorable circumstances of your life as the actual material of awakening."

 I don't know how ready you are to hear it, but I hope soon enough you will feel your way to the root of your emotions and awaken to the love waiting for you there.  From there we can have the hard and necessary conversations.  We can organize and create real change.  We can use our strength for good in the world that will last.  We can help others awaken to their highest selves as well.  

So {{first_name}}, get back on your mat.  Get back in your breath.  Return to your heart.  The world needs you to pour yourself into it with all you've got.  I'll be right there with you--loving hard with a ferocity I didn't know I had.  And I have my anger to thank.

May it be so.

Much love,

Jess

P.S.  This week's Summertime Yoga on YouTube is Summer Strong.  When you feel the urge for action, a strong Hatha practice will prepare you, body, mind, and spirit. It was recorded June 2, but feels extra necessary today.