9 yoga for anger management

Published bySwami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana

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YOGA FORANGERMANAGEMENT

Contents

Ch.no. title Page no.

1 INTRODUCTION

2 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF

THE VOCAL SYSTEM

3 CAUSES OF INJURY TO THE

VOCAL SYSTEM

4 VOCAL DISORDERS AND

VOICE DISORDERS

5 VOICE CULTURING

DEVELOPING MUSICAL TALENTS

6 VOICE CULTURE FOR

DEVELOPING ORATION

7 YOGA PRACTICES FOR

VOICE CULTURE

Yoga for Anger Management | 7

Yoga in Education for Total Personality Development SERIES - 8

IntRoDUCtIon

Anger is something that is inbuilt into our system. It appears as if we cannot survive without anger. Is really anger neces-sary for survival? Yes. If there is going to be some enemy or some danger or some attack, if you don’t invoke anger, then you may not be able to run away from that danger. You may not be able to fight with the enemy. You may not be able to escape from danger. So ‘anger’ is something which is not al-ways an enemy. Anger is nature’s protective mechanism to help us cope up with dangerous situations where we need to fight with the damaging or demanding situations. But are we really using anger only in such situations where we really have to fight? Are there situations in our life which really need an-ger? In the present day life style, there are several situations probably 99 out of 100 situations where anger is unneces-sary. Unnecessarily we get irritated starting from childhood right up to the old age. We are becoming a slave to anger and that is where the management of anger, handling anger, understanding anger is required. What happens when we are angry? Why is it so difficult to handle our anger, is what we should understand and use these techniques that you are going to learn here in Yoga to manage anger. What is the mechanism of anger? What exactly is happening

8 | Yoga for Anger Management


when we say that we are angry? For this in Bhagavadgeeta, we get a very nice shloka in which Bhagavan Sri Krishna is talking about the mechanism of how we end ourselves into a loop of anger thoughts which draws us

like a whirlpool. Imagine a person who is a great swimmer. He got into a river to swim. He is enjoying the river. He is a professional swimmer. He has got enormous capacity to swim. He has enough muscle strength and he enters into an adven-ture of entering into a fierce river. He is still able to enjoy the river. He enjoys swimming. After a few minutes of enjoying that, he tries to go to the left side of the river where the river is fiercer. He wants to be a little more adventurous. But he does not know that this part of the river is pulling him into the whirlpool. What is a whirlpool? Whirlpool is rewinding of the speeded up flow of the river. In that whirlpool, however good a swimmer he is, he is in the rewinding of the forced water flow in that turbulence, going to be drawn. He is going to be killed. This is exactly what happens in our mind, when we allow our-selves to get drawn by anger.

Let us take an example of how this builds up. For example, if somebody has insulted you, somebody has hurt your feelings. Then you get angry. What the sages want us to understand is: when you are in that state of mind where you are terri-bly angry, because somebody has insulted you, please analyze what is happening in your mind. What are the thoughts in the mind? Mind is defined as a flow of sentences on the back-



ground of wakefulness. The wake-ful screen on which the sentences are repeating. This is the mind. Mind is nothing but the thinking apparatus. So in this thinking ap-paratus what are the thoughts? Horrible fellow, useless fellow, he has insulted me in front of everyone, I cannot tolerate this. You heard the sound of these four sentences. It fells on your ear and the ear amplified it, the sound went to the ear Cochlea where the sound vibrations are getting converted into electri-cal activity. This electrical current goes to the brain and in the brain, this sound is bombarding the electrical current and this entire chain of events of thinking starts. So when the think-ing process is going on in the mind, what are you doing? Hor-rible fellow, useless fellow, how could he insult me in front of everyone. I just cannot tolerate this. Let me hurt him, these sentences are rewinding very fast in the mind and that is what we call as anger. This angeris the one which perco lates into the body, which perco-lates into the heart, per-colates into our system and makes your eyes red, face red and the whole body tenses up and pushes the energy, pushes the prana into an arm, you want to go and punch him. So the situation



occurs and the sound that comes from the outside, interpreted in the brain and the brain generates these four sentences only which are rewinding at a fast speed. This repetition of sentences pulls you like a whirlpool and you get lost. That is why it is said ‘Kaama Krodha udbhavam vegam’. The Udvega (speed) is the

one which we have to learn to understand and of course, how to handle this? How to work on this? It is something that we have to get trained.

Now, let us come to the understanding of what are the steps in handling this vega? What are the steps of understanding this phenomena called anger? How this unnecessary anger is destructive? How this unnecessary anger, emotional surge is making me get lost? How this unnecessary emotional surge of repeated sentences in the mind is making me spoil my pres-ence of mind? Behaving erratically, behaving anti-socially cre-ate problems both for myself and the business. Therefore let us see what are all the steps in this progress of anger and how we can handle this. How these techniques which we are learning in these chapters are going to help us to handle this anger? Please start applying these techniques in your day to day situations and observe the result. Regular practice of these techniques will help you to lessen the degree of anger, lessen the speed of anger and start developing mastery over anger and preventing you from getting this anger. Prevention is better than cure. So first prevent getting angry by regular daily 45 minutes practice of these techniques that you are learning and start applying these at the moment, you get an-



gry. In the next Chapters we will see how you can apply these techniques through this understanding and see that at that moment when you are getting angry, you can get away from this anger reaction.



stePs In AnGeR MAnAGeMent

Let us begin with a story. Once two friends, let us say Rama and Shyama went to the teacher, a Guru in a very remote Ashram and asked, Sir please give us Deeksha. Then Guru asked, why do you children want Deeksha? They said, Sir, we have to do Yoga by doing this Mantra Japa and Deeksha, we will be able to get very good happiness. We can also get lot of powers, so we want to learn, sir. Then the master said, OK. You please go back home and come back after six months and in these six months, you should not get angry for anything, come back and that is the test for you to go on for this Deek-sha. Rama and Shyama were very happy. They said, OK sir. Nothing should make you angry. You should never get angry. Go back home, be normal, be on your normal activities. When you come back report to me, then I will give you Deeksha, said the sage. So Rama and Shyama went. Rama went to his village, Shyama returned to his village. Six months are over. They both are going to meet their Guru. They met on the Tank

Bund. Hello, Hello how are you, all that and then Rama asked Shyama, Oh! Shyama did you manage not to get an-ger for the last six months? How was it? Yeah, I never got angry, I have passed my test. Then Shyama asked Rama, have you not got an-



gry? How was it? I never got angry, said Rama. After some time again Shyama asked Rama you never got angry for the last six months? No. No anger. I never got angry, Rama re-plied. Rama asked Shyama you never got angry for the last six months? Can you not remember even one single episode where you got angry? Are you very sure? Shyama said, I never got angry. One more step later, Rama asked Shyama again, you never got angry for the last six months? Then Shyama says, Yeah, how many times you are asking me? There came the anger. So anger, if you think that you have mastered, it comes back with double the force. So in Anger Management, we have to be very conscious.

To recognize that I am angry is a very important step. So there are five steps in our Anger Management. The first step is when you don’t even know that you are an angry person. I had a very good friend of mine. Her father was an extreme-ly angry person. When we are young every parent will be wor-ried when the daughter comes home late in the evening. The parents will be angry and shout at the girls. One day, I also accompanied my friend to her home because, she was feeling little scared. We both went and I was very close to her father. We were having very good relationship. On reaching her house, the father was very angry at the daughter. He was starting to shout at her. Then I requested her father, Sir, it was nothing



wrong, we were sitting and studying. We were doing combined studies and there is nothing wrong with your daughter. That is why I have accompanied her. Her father started shouting at me also. You people don’t understand. Then I said, sir, please don’t get angry and shout. Reply was: Where am I getting angry, I am not getting angry. You are the one who is irritat-ing me more. I am not an angry person. I am not angry. He started saying that I am not angry.

That is why, when a couple comes to me for counseling, if I have to find out from somebody that he is an angry person, I don’t ask him, are you an angry person? I will ask his or her spouse, what do you think if he or she is an angry person? The first thing is, we behave like animals. What is the animal like response? Situation, anger, response. Situation: somebody insults you, irritates you, provokes you or some frustration or something else not happened in the way you want, then im-mediately we get an anger reaction and we get lost in that wave because we express blast away. This is the first thing that we do, we do not even know that I am lost in the whirlpool, I am lost in the wave, I am lost in the speed of my mind, I am lost in my anger response.

Then the second step is, we have been hearing here and there that while reacting like this you are spoiling your relationship, you are spoiling your job, you are spoiling your business. So you start recognizing that OK I am an angry person, I must reduce my anger. So you start becoming aware. So I want to change myself is a very first step in our Anger Management. That awareness that I can change, I want to change, I need to



change, is the first step. Otherwise most people do not even think that they need to handle their anger. Only when they get heart attack, when the doctor tells that you have to calm down on your irritable nature, then you will start doing something about it. So recognizing that I am an angry person, I want to overcome that and this is harmful to me and harmful to the society around, it is spoiling my relationship, so let me start working on that, is the first step in the Anger Management.

Second step : Then comes a stage when we become aware and we start holding our anger.

Third step. Recognizing and then starting to hold our anger response. So situation is somebody has irritated you and im-mediately you produce a reaction. Then you say yah I should not get angry. If I get angry now, my job is going to get spoiled. So inside a counter thought comes. So mind, reaction, hor-rible fellow, useless fellow, terrible fellow, but inside efficacy, diplomacy, wanting to change myself, my introspective sug-gestions say, stop, stop don’t show your anger. OK sir, yes sir, fine sir, from outside you are showing your smiling face. Inside you are boiling. This is the suppression of anger.

Then comes, the next stage, which is more important. See already you have started devel-oping that control; you have started develop-ing that mastery. This



mastery phase is what Patanjali calls as Chitta Vritti Nirod-haha. To control the mind is Yoga. So you have started con-trolling in the name of efficacy, in the name of growth, in the name of diplomacy, in the name of successful productive Per-son. We have learnt to control this. But don’t you think in the present day life style it is this progressive, successful, ambi-tious Type A personality person who is all the time on the go, wanting to achieve things who is very highly provoked with situation because there are too many situations where provo-cation leading to suppression happens repeatedly is the one who gets affected. Outside you have to keep a very pleasant diplomatic smile on your face. Isn’t this the one which is caus-ing all the psycho-physiological problems? Problems of heart attack, acidity, sleeplessness, joint pains, so many of these modern diseases are all because of suppressed anger which is a manifestation of some degree of control that we have already developed. So let us see how Yoga offers techniques of not suppressing nor expressing. Expressing is animal; suppres-sion is human but is causing problems. So let us see how to grow from this level to become masters of our mind so that anger is no longer a botheration to you rather it helps you.

In the last two episodes we have understood how we have to learn to move on from our instinctual behavior of responding through speeded up repeated sentences in our mind in the form of anger, response to demanding situations to becoming aware that I should change and then move on and go ahead. We also understood how suppression is not the right answer. In suppression you are holding an anger loop, as repeating of sentences. So every time you try to handle your anger, we



always find an excuse, and mind always says that look, you have to be angry because this person has committed a mistake, this person is at fault. The problem is outside. To shift from there and say that although the person is at fault, although the problem is outside, I need not get angry and start hold-ing it, suppression starts happening and suppression leads to many of the problems. So what is the next step then? Next step or better way of handling our anger is to come out of this speeded up loop of responses, speeded up sentences, horrible fellow, and terrible fellow, useless fellow, I feel like smashing up. This speed we have to reduce. So that is what we keep saying that you please get angry, but get angry slowly. Hor-rible fellow…., useless fellow…, I feel like smashing you up….. If you start repeating the sentences in your mind at a slow rate, would you call it as anger? It is not anger at all. But how do you do it? How can you do it? Is it really possible to slow down the mind? See first step is to recognize that we were get-ting lost. I should not be angry is itself a great step and then to be able to handle that violent upsurge of energy, violent upsurge of prana that is coming up and hitting against your head which is making you think that fast, how do I reduce that speed? Yogic techniques say that when you have this anger speed, a big surge of energy, big surge of vital energy, prana is being drawn to the head region and it is bombarding against your head region. So what you should do therefore is, first shift the prana from the head region to the lower region and spend away that prana. Instead of spending that big energy in the form of horrible fellow, useless fellow and saying and spoiling the situation, you shift it down and push it down, spend away that prana in the form of fast breathing. What



you should be telling in your mind, my God I am so angry, it is all so fast, let me push the prana go down, anger go down and then get a little exhausted by doing that. If you have hyperten-sion and all that, do it vigorously but with this awareness that I am doing this fast breathing only to shift the prana from the head region to the lower region of the body. Once I got terribly angry with somebody who was insulting the organization and I could not handle my anger. I tried doing this kapalabhati. Then also, I could not manage. Then what I did was OK, let me push my prana from the head region down to lower parts of the body. So, I started jogging, I started pushing and then after about 20 strokes, slow breathing, slow breathing and then slow breathing one omkara, five times omkara and then go back to the same situation, horrible fellow, useless fellow, he is insulting every one. OK, if he is insulting, it is his opin-ion. Why should I get upset about it. When you create a space in your mind by pushing the prana down, then you are able to find space. What came out in that space was your inner ability, your inner answer, your inner kshama, your inner sta-bility, your inner confidence, your inner right answer saying that OK that is his opinion let him have his opinion. If he is misbehaving, why should I get so irritated and hurt my heart. Let him do what he wants to do. But let me tackle it in a dif-ferent way. Not by getting irritated, agitated or suppressing my anger, but let me first handle my anger. If husband and wife are having irritating dialogues then, first step is, to move away from that place. I am reminded of Brahmakumaris who say that when the couples take Deeksha, they are asked to take an oath. What is the oath? As soon as the heat builds up in the dialogue, one of you should move away from the room.



So when there are two hands only, there can be a clap. As soon as the heat starts building up, one of you should move out. This is an oath you are supposed to take when you want Deeksha of a meditator. So move away from the situation. If bombarding thought is still present, spend it away in the form of prana being diverted to the lower regions of the body. Then slow down, then calm down, then get the inner calmness.

I would like to tell you a sto-ry here in which you should realize that if you don’t react at all, how you can survive in this world is a very com-mon prashna, common ques-tion that many of you might be facing. There was a vil-lage. At the outskirt of a village there was a big banyan tree. There lived a Kala Nag, a black Co-bra. It was a very angry, very venomous Cobra. If anybody passed that way, immediately the co-bra would hit and then kill the person. Once it so happened that a Sage was walking that way and all the children of the village ran behind him and said Sir, Swamiji don’t go this way. There is a big Cobra, Kala Naga. It will kill you, don’t go that way. Sage said, OK, never mind even if I get killed nothing will happen and he walked. When he walked, the big cobra came.



It was about to hit. The sage then asked the Cobra, why is it so angry? Why do you hit everybody who passes this way? If you are hungry, you have to kill a frog. What are you going to gain by killing people around you? They are not hurting you. Then the Cobra said, sorry I agree, I understand, but I can-not control my anger, what should I do? Then Swamiji gave a Deeksha Mantra to the Cobra and the Cobra started doing lot of Mantra-Japa and chanting and all that and it became very quiet. Sage walked out and all the children who were walking said, vah, cobra is now chanting japa and the cobra was doing japa, no anger, no hitting and no killing. Children came near, held the cobra, touched the cobra and now it became so sober that it could not even kill the frog for its survival. Children held it and turned it around. So the Cobra was all wounded. One day, the Sage came back. Sage saw that this Cobra was in a very terrible shape, wounded, under nourished. The sage asked what had happened. Then the cobra said, due to the power of your Mantra, now I can’t even get a frog to eat. Then the sage said something very important. Sage said to the Co-bra, my dear Naga, I asked you not to bite, but did I ask you not to hiss. So as a master of anger, you are not going to get lost in the speeded up response in your mind, you are not go-ing to be a slave to the anger. You can be a master. So you can hiss when required, like a mother. When the child is not doing the homework, what will the mother say? If you don’t do your homework, I won’t allow you to see Cartoon. Is that going to hurt the child? Is that going to produce a heart attack to the mother? No. But if she is angry, really angry and shouts at somebody, then she hurts herself. Therefore learn to hiss. If you are a master of your anger, you can use anger as a mas-



ter, not as a slave. So the speed of the mind is required to be kept under control. Switch off, when not required and switch on when required is the trick of the Yoga and for that use some physical practices, breathing practices, meditation practice, chanting practice etc., let us learn to handle our anger.



BoDILY ReACtIons WItH AnGeR

Anger is an emotion which all of us are very familiar with. Particularly in the city of Bangalore or in any of the other met-ropolitan cities of India, people are familiar with traffic jams. So just imagine a scene like this. You are stuck in traffic jam. You are in a hurry to go somewhere and someone comes across the road in the wrong direction and you feel annoyed. Now you have two choices. You can either go through all the expe-riences of anger and express anger or you may not go through all the experiences of anger but express anger. What would be the difference? In both cases if you express anger, the person would get your message and he may make the necessary cor-rection. If you yourself actually experience anger there are a number of facts behind it and we will discuss here.

What really happens to our body when we are angry? In or-der to understand this, we have to go back in time millions of years and think of all Stone Age man. Stone Age Man did not face threats like crossing the road or angry boss or deadline. Stone Age Man faced threats like facing a wild animal, may be a fight with another Stone Age Man and his body has to gear up over the challenges by either of the two ways i.e., fighting or by fleeing from the situation by running away. Now in order to fight or flee there are certain changes which occur in the body. Just think what you would need to do to either fight or flee. Well, you will require more Blood Sugar and more energy. Blood Pressure has to go up to see that enough blood reaches



the muscles. The heart would have to pulsate very quickly and at greater forces and of course, faster breathing and obvi-ously breath-rate becomes more. Experiencing and expressing anger are extremely dangerous for health. Then what is the option? Many times people are trained not to express anger. Imagine a totally different scene a person who is working in an office and has a very annoying boss who blames him for every-thing that goes bad and this person who is in the office, has been trained from childhood to please his parents, to please all authority figures and then he talks very nicely to the boss ev-ery morning. He shows that he is very pleased with him. But inside he is boiling with rage. Is this good for health? It is not. In fact, such personalities have been called type “C” personal-ity. The type “C” personality is a person who suppresses the emotions repeatedly. If you suppress your emotions, it is not going to be good for health. The disease which has been most common with suppressed emotions is quite a serious disease even today and that is Cancer. That is why we say, ‘anger’ is such a powerful emotion.

So now let us see is it good to experience anger and run the risk of developing diabetes or hypertension? Is it good to sup-press anger and run the risk of developing the disease like Cancer? Or is it better to do something else? Let us think what that something else could be? For this, I am going to give you yet another example and this is an example of a Manager of a Company. Imagine that you have a very nice Manager. He wants all his employees to be happy. He goes on holiday and when he comes back from holiday, he finds that all of them are totally laid back. Some of them have gone on leave, other peo-



ple are sitting around and talking something among them, still others are sitting on the tables, on the desks, may be surfing the net for something which is totally unconnected with their job. He is a very nice Manager. He does not shout. He says very gently, don’t do this. I expect you to work as well when I am away as when I am there and he thinks his message has gone home. Over the years the Manager goes on holiday again and he returns from holiday and finds just exactly the same scene. Now what should he do? He should ideally express emotions, express anger. Why? If he expresses anger at this time, the employees would get the message that they are doing something wrong. If he continuously remains unconcerned about it, then they would get wrong message. But what is the key here? He should be able to express that he is angry but not have any of those bad changes that occur in the body. His blood sugar should not go up. He should not have any tension in the muscles; his blood pressure should not go up. In other words, Yoga will really help. Learn how to express anger when we need to, but not really experience all the unpleasant conse-quences of anger. So there will be a deep peace within you and the person is totally unperturbed. But he is expressing anger effectively. Thus we see that anger can be experienced but one may need to face bad consequences. Anger can be suppressed but it has very bad consequences. Through Yoga training, we can effectively learn to manage anger and learn yoga success-fully so that we no longer experience anger, but only express it as and when it is required in different situations. This will be unfolded in the subsequent chapters.



YoGA FoR AnGeR MAnAGeMentA MoVe FRoM LYMBIC BRAIn to CeReBRAL CoRteX

As we all know anger is an emotion familiar to all of us and quite obviously that it is generated in our brain. So let us look at our brain and try to understand where and how anger is generated and what we can do to our brain to reduce the anger response, because in last chapter we saw how bad anger is for us. Anger is an emotion which is experienced by almost all species. What do I mean by that? You have more primitive life forms like reptiles, you have a bird, you have a fish, you have mammals, of course at the top of the scale, you have man and



all of them experience and express aggression and anger in different forms. In the brains of all living vertebrates there are certain areas which can actually generate what is called the aggression or anger response. So in other words when a crocodile is provoked a part of the brain is activated and very interestingly the identical part of the brain is activated when a man is angry. So in other words whenever we are angry, we are behaving just like a crocodile, or just like a shark, or just like an eagle or any primitive, we call them living a primitive form of life. But fortunately for man, there are not just these sorts of most primitive areas of the brain which are located in what is called emotional brain or the Limbic brain. There is also something much more newly developed, much more sophisticated called the cerebral cortex. Let us look briefly at the Cerebral Cortex.

When we talk of a person being intelligent we say he has lot of grey matter. We also talk a lot about white matter. Grey matter refers to the nerve cells and we actually have in our skulls about 1.4 Sq. Mtrs of grey matter that means nerve cells. Imagine it like 1.5 Sq. Mtrs of cloth folded up inside our skull and this constitutes what is called the Cerebral Cortex. This thinking brain is really what makes man so different, so special compared to a crocodile or a shark or even a Chimpanji or a Gorilla. The thinking brain is what allows us to make choices and as we saw in the last chapter, it is important to be able to express anger sometimes but not go through all the psychological feelings of anger and that choice whether to express it or not and experience it or not can happen if we ac-tivate our thinking brain or cerebral cortex. Now the Cerebral



Cortex is essentially the main part of our brain immediately below the skull. But among all parts below the skull which is most important in dealing with our emotions? A part which is most important is that which lies behind our forehead and this is called the Frontal Cortex. Through a small story you can understand its importance.

About 100 years ago, there was a person who was working on a road. At that time working on roads was a very labori-ous process where people were to use Gunpowder and had Steel Rods or the metal rods with which they had to break stones. So this person was using Gunpowder and blasting the rocks and in this process, something really terrible happened to him, the metal rod went right through the forehead through the skull. One would imagine that after a terrible accident like that the person would die immediately. But that did not hap-pen. This person continued to live for another twenty years. But was he normal? The answer is no. He was drastically altered. From a very peace loving, quiet and good citizen he became extremely aggressive, abusive and the type of person who would be easily arrested and be in Police custody. Why? The part of the brain which lies immediately behind the skull, the Frontal Cortex that is really vital to help us behave within the norms laid down by the society that is damaged in his case. This part is so vital that it has become commonly known as the Character Cortex. Then how should we train our brain to function more at the cortical level and less at the level of our instincts or at the reptilian level? How then do we train the part of the brain which is there in a shark or in a reptile and how then do we cultivate the part of the brain which is pecu-



liar to human beings so that we can make choices when to get angry or whether to get angry or not. Today we would see how specific yoga techniques can help us to realize the possibility of activating cortical areas so that intellect can overrule our instinct and in this way we can control and regulate our anger responses. This should be extremely good for us because it is very common experience for all of us. Sometimes we say something in an angry moment and later we regret it. How nice it would be if we would have the choice before saying the thing itself to decide whether we should say it or not? That is why Yoga has such a big role to play.



HoW YoGA WoRKsFoR AnGeR MAnAGeMent

In the last two Chapters we have seen that why anger is a natural phenomena and a natural emotion that has several bad consequences. You have also seen that there are certain parts of the brain which can help us to regulate our control when we want to get angry and whether we should get angry or not. Now we will look at different Yoga practices and see how through the practice of yoga we can gradually calm down the mind and regulate our anger responses. For those of you who are familiar with yoga practices, you would know that there are several practices. There are Yoga Postures called Āsanas. There are cleansing practices called Kriyās and there are vol-untarily regulated breathing practices called Prāṇāyāmās and Meditation. I am going to tell you a bit about the philosophy of yoga. The scientific research about how each of these prac-tices (with one or two examples of each) help us in regulating anger.

Let us take physical postures to begin with. Anyone who has started practicing yoga, you may remember as a first time practitioner in doing yoga posture your body tends to rebel. There are certain muscles which are never used for example, when we bend forward and try to touch our toes and those muscles send the signal to the brain that they have been stretched and this message is indeed almost like a message



of pain. Now what one gradu-ally has to learn to do is to regulate this message so that we do not experience it again but you gradually learn to comfort the pain, discomfort into the feeling of calmness,

into the feeling of tranquility. So even though the muscle is telling you straighten up I don’t want to be pressed in this way, you gradually train the muscle to be relaxed in that posi-tion and in so doing the muscle sends message to the brain that you are relaxed. So it is like a cycle. The muscle which is being unduly strained in a particular posture sends a mes-sage to the brain but the brain does not respond and this is the whole essence of yoga postures, yoga āsanas, learning to relax even when you experience discomfort. This of course not extreme discomfort and that is why this is so important that we practice Postures under the guidance of a Yoga Guru so that you can get to know the important difference between the postures in which you actually experience discomfort which can be harmful and postures in which you actually experience discomfort but which you are able to bear and is harmless.

Now we move on to the next set of practices which are volun-tary regulated breathing Prāṇāyāmās. There are a number of practices which are useful in regulating breathing and in par-ticular three of them need to be mentioned which help people to reduce blood pressure and probably reduce anger. Definitely these practices reduce blood pressure. These are Alternative Nostril Breathing called Nadishuddhi Prāṇāyāma or Anuloma-



viloma Prāṇāyāma. There is also breathing only through the left nostril which has been called Chandra Anuloma Viloma Prānāyāma and the third one is Bhramari where a per-son breathes out with a humming Sound like a honey bee. Meditation is trickier. If a per-son is very angry and he closes the eyes and attempts to meditate, such a person is likely to have angry thoughts rushing around him. Fortunately there is something such people can do and that is a very special technique called cyclic meditation. It is actually devel-oped in Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation, by the founder director of this institution, Dr. H R Nagendra. This technique actually consists of cycles of Su-pine rest when a person lying flat and a few yoga postures. They are not just trying to relax, in between there is something they are doing to keep themselves busy and this technique is very ideal for people who are highly stressed, who are very anxious, people who are very angry. We have seen remark-able benefits of this in terms of reduced physiological stress, the blood pressure going down, less oxygen consumed. Stress level also reduces at the same time this technique is extremely wonderful because people preserve their levels of awareness. In other words we don’t want to be so relaxed that you cannot do your job. Cyclic meditation is a wonderful blend, where there is deep relaxation but alertness is preserved. We have been using it for a number of stress management programmes in various companies. In fact the most recent research that shows not just that cyclic meditation reduces stress in the day



time in the research paper (it is shortly to appear in medical science monitor), we have shown that the practice of cyclic medication twice in the day increases what is called deep sleep or slow wave sleep in the night. There are lots of reasons here why one should practice āsanas? Why one should practice prāṇāyāma techniques particularly the three that are men-tioned above; special emphasis being on cyclic meditation. But apart from these practices there is a certain philosophi-cal approach which is needed in yoga. Equally important is the practice of physical postures, voluntary regulated breath-ing. Meditation is the philosophical component. Yoga cannot be considered in isolation as only physical postures or only breathing or only meditation. We need to have a certain at-titude of mind for yoga to be complete. Yoga is after all a way of life and I hope this will take you effectively into the practice session and we can benefit a lot by yoga practice. Practicing postures breathing techniques, meditation and all that at the back drop of certain philosophical bent of mind.



AnGeR MAnAGeMent

sHAKtHI VIKAsAHA • Anguli Shakthi Vikasaha• Bhujabhanda Shakthi Vikasaha• Jangha Shakthi Vikasaha• Pindalini Shakthi Vikasaha• Bhujaìgäsana and parvathasana• Kaponi Shakthi Vikasaha

YoGÄsAnAs• Trikoëäsana • Virabhathrasana 1• Virabhathrasana I1• Vrabhathrasana I1I • Makaräsana• Veerasana

BReAtHInG PRACtICes • Dog breathing • Rabbit breathing

PRÄËÄYÄMA • Candra anuloma viloma • Nädi Suddhi • Stitali



• Nädi Suddhi with kumbhka • Candra anuloma viloma

KRIYÄs• Kapala Bhati – left nostril

BAnDHAs AnD MUDRÄs • Uttiyäna Bandha • Sästänga Namaskära Mudrä• Agnisara • Janusirasasana with jalantharbhanda

MeDItAtIon(Examine the raise and growth of emotions)



YoGA PRACtICesFoR AnGeR MAnAGeMent

ANGULI SAKTI VIKÁSAKA (Fingers)Sthiti: Tádásana

PRACtICe• With exhalation, throw out your

arms in front, keeping them par-allel to the ground at shoulder level.

• Simultaneously give the fingers of both arms the shape of the hood of a cobra.

• Now, stiffen the entire length of the arms from the shoulder joints to the finger tips as much as you can so that they start trembling.

• Inhaling bring the palms to chest.• Repeat 10 times.

Note• Tighten the arms until they start trembling.

BHUJA BHANDA SAKTI VIKÁSAKA (Arms)Sthiti: Tádásana



PRACtICe• Make fists of your hands with

the thumbs tucked in.• Bend the elbows and raise the

forearms till they are parallel to the ground (forming 90o with the upper arm), and the fists facing each other.

• Now, push both the right arm forwards forcefully and vigor-ously to the level of the shoul-der with exhalation.

• Then, pull it back to the starting position with inhalation.• Repeat 10 times.• Repeat with left hand. Repeat for 10 times.• Repeat the same thing with both hands together.• Repeat twenty times.

Note• When pushed forward, the arms should be parallel to the

ground and palms facing up.• When pulled back, the elbows must not go back beyond the

body (i.e., the starting position).

JANGHA SAKTI VIKÁSAKA (THIGHS)Sthiti: Tádásana

Variation 1:• Stretch out the arms straight in front at shoulder height,



palms facing downwards.• While inhaling bend your knees gradu-

ally till your thighs come parallel to the ground.

• Hold the breath and maintain this posi-tion.

• Come up while exhaling.• Repeat 5 times.

Note• The knees must be together throughout

the practice.• You must not raise the heels or toes from the ground at any

time during the practice.• If you find it difficult to hold the breath, you can do it with

normal breathing initially for a few days.• Keep the arms parallel to the ground all through.• Keep the back, neck and head as erect as possible.

Variation 2:• Stretch out the arms straight in front

at shoulder height, palms facing down-wards.

• While inhaling bend your knees gradu-ally till you come to squating.

• Hold the breath and maintain this posi-tion.

• Come up while exhaling.• Repeat 5 times.



Note• The knees must be together throughout the practice.• You must not raise the heels or toes from the ground at any

time during the practice.• If you find it difficult to hold the breath, you can do it with

normal breathing initially for a few days.• Keep the arms parallel to the ground all through.• Keep the back, neck and head as erect as possible.

Variation 3:• Inhaling jump spread your legs away come on toes, raise

the hands up bring them close together above the head. ( No clapping )

• Exhaling bring the legs together and drop the hands come down to tadasana.

• Repeat 10 times.

Variation 4:• Exhaling jump spread

your legs away come on toes, raise the hands up bring them close to-gether above the head. ( No clapping )

• Inhaling bring the legs together and drop the hands come down to Tadasana.




Variation5: • Stretch the hands on both sides of the body at the shoulder

level horizontally. Exhaling, bend the knees and spreading the knees with maximum separation come down raising the heels, heels together.( Do not sit on the heels).

• Inhaling come up.• Repeat 10 times.

PINDALI SAKTIVIKÁSAKA (CALVES)Sthiti: Tádásana

PRACtICe:• Clench the fists and stretch your

arms forward at shoulder height.• While inhaling, squat and go

down as far as you can.• Holding your breath, stand up

while your arms describe one full circle in the style of rowing a boat.

• On completion of the circle, the arms should be held before the chest, fists touching each other.

• Then exhale sharply while pulling the arms slightly backward and expanding the chest.

• Repeat ten times.

Note• Maintain balance of the body throughout the practice.



• The knees should remain close to each other all through.• The feet should remain on the ground all through.

BHUJANGASANA AND PARVATASANASthiti: Prone Sthiti

PRACtICe:• Place the palms at the level

of the last rib bones. Elbows close to the body. Tuck the toes. Inhaling, raise the head, chest, abdomen up making the back concave and the only parts of the body touching the ground are palms and toes.

• This is Bhujangasana posi-tion.

• While exhaling raise the hips up bring the head down coming into inverted V pose. In this position palms and foot touch the ground. This is Parvatasana position.

• Repeat to go into bhujangasana position with inhalation and Parvatasana position with exhalation.


KAPHONI SAKTI VIKÁSAKA (Elbows)Sthiti: Tádásana



PRACtICe• Stretch the arms straight down beside the body, palms fac-

ing upward.• Inhale, bend the arms at the elbows • Exhaling, stretch them straight.• Repeat twenty times.

Note• The upper arms should remain stationary.• The fists must come up to the level of the shoulders but

should not touch the shoulders and then down straight.• The fists must, not touch the thighs when they come

down.

YoGAsAnAsTRIKONÁSANASthiti: Tádásana



PRACtICe• While inhaling, take the right leg away from the left by

about a meter and raise both the hands simultenously till they reach the horizontal position.

• Slowly bend to the right side until the right hand reaches the right foot. The left arm is straight up, in line with the right hand. Palms face forward. Stretch up the left arm and see along the fingers.

• Maintain for about one minute with normal breathing.• Return slowly to Sthiti.• Repeat on the left side.

BenefitsHelps in preventing flat foot, strengthens the Calf and thigh muscles, corrects curvatures of back, strengthens the waist muscles and makes the spine flexible.

Limitations



People who have undergone recent abdominal surgery , slip disc or sciatica may avoid this posture.

VIRABHADRASANA-1:Sthiti: Tadasana

PRACtICe:Stand in Tadasana. Raise both the arms and adopt namaskar above the head. Take the right leg away from the left by about one meter. Turn the right foot rightway by 90 Degrees. Bending the right leg at the knee bring the right thigh par-allel to the ground making 90 De-grees angle at right knee. Slightly turn the left foot towards right side. Look up at the palms. Maintain the posture for half minute. Come out the same way.

Benefits:Relieves the stiffness in shoulders and back, tones up the an-kles and knees and cures stiffness of the neck. It also reduces the fat around the hips.




PRACtICe:Stand in Tadasana. Raise both the arms and stretch them to the sides at the shoulder level par-allel to the ground. Take the right leg away from the left by about one meter. Turn the right foot rightway by 90 De-grees. Turn the body to the right side. Bending the right leg at the knee bring the right thigh parallel to the ground making 90 Degrees angle at right knee. Slightly turn the left foot towards right side. Look at the right palm. Main-tain the posture for half minute. Come out the same way.

Benefits:Leg muscles become shapely and stronger. It relieves crams in the calf and thigh muscles. Brings elasticity to the leg and back muscles and also tones the abdominal organs.


PRACtICe:Stand in Tadasana. Raise both the arms and adopt namaskar above the head. Take the right leg away from the left by about one meter. Turn the right foot rightway by 90 Degrees. Bend-



ing the right leg at the knee bring the right thigh parallel to the ground making 90 Degrees angle at right knee. Slightly turn the left foot towards right side. Inhale, raise the left leg up si-multaneously straightening the right leg at the knee, bringing the front part of the body parallel to the ground. In this posi-tion, the whole body weight on the right leg and the rest of the body perpendicular to this leg and is parallel to the ground. Maintain with balance for half minute and return.

Benefits:Balances the body. Balances the mind. Tones the abdominal organs. Makes the leg muscles strong.

MAKARASANA: Sthiti: Supine sthiti

PRACtICe:• Lie down on the ab-

domen. Legs apart, heels inwards. Right palm on the left shoulder, left



palm on the right shoulder. Chin on the cross of both the hands.

• Gives nice relaxation. Normalizes the Blood Pressure.

VEERASANA: Vira means a hero, warrior, champion. This sitting posture is done by keeping the knees together, spreading the feet and resting them by the side of the hips. The pose is good for medi-tation and pranayama.

Technique• Kneel on the floor. Keep the knees together and spread the

feet about 18 inches apart.• Rest the buttocks on the floor, but not the body on the feet.

The feet are kept by the side of the thighs, the inner side of each calf touching the outer side of its respective thigh. Keep the toes pointing back and touching the floor. Keep the wrists on the knees, palms facing up, and join the tips of the thumbs and forefingers. Keep the other fingers extend-ed. Stretch the back erect.

• Stay in this position as long as you can, with deep breathing.

• Then rest the palms on the knees for a while.

• Now interlock the fingers and stretch the arm straight over



the head, palms up. • Stay in this position for a minute with deep breathing.• Exhale, release the finger lock, place the palms on the soles,

bend forward and rest the chin on the knees.• Stay in this position for a minute with normal breathing.• Inhale, raise the trunk up, bring the feet forward and re-

lax.• If you find it difficult to perform the pose as described

above, try placing the feet one above the other and rest the buttocks on them. Gradually move the toes further apart, separate the feet and bring them to rest outside the thighs. Then, in time the buttocks will rest properly on the floor and the body will not rest on the feet.

Effects• The pose cures rheumatic pains in the knees and gout, and

is also good for flat feet. Due to the stretching of the ankles and the feet, proper arches will be formed. This, however, takes a long time and requires daily practice of the pose for a few minutes for several months. Those suffering from pain in the heels or growth of calcaneal spurs there will get relief and the spurs will gradually disappear.

• The pose can even be done immediately after food and will relieve heaviness in the stomach.

BReAtHInG PRACtICesDOG BREATHINGSthiti: Dandasana

PRACtICe



• Fold the right leg at the knee and sit on the right heel.

• Fold the left leg also at the knee sit on both heels.

• Place the palms of the hands on the ground beside the knees.

• Make the spine slightly concave and fix the gaze straight ahead.

• The mouth is opened wide, the tongue is pushed out to its maximum. Practice rapid, force-ful inhalation and exhalation, expanding and contracting the abdomen vigorously.

• Repeat the practice for 30 sec-onds.

• Relax in Sasáñkásana.• Feel the automatic stoppage of breath. It helps to reduce the

rush of anger. It helps to throw away the anger. The inner rush of energy is now governed. Relax.

NoteSince this dynamic nature of practice is a form of hyperven-tilation, epileptics and high blood pressure patients should avoid it.

RABBIT BREATHINGSthiti: Dandasana

PRACtICe



• Fold the right leg at the knee and sit on the right heel.

• Fold the left leg also at the knee sit on both heels.

• Keeping the knees together, bend forward and rest the forearms on the floor, keeping the elbows by the side of the knees and palms flat on the ground.

• Maintain the head at a distance of one hand length from the ground to chin. Open your mouth par-tially. Protrude the tongue par-tially. Touch the lower lip resting on the lower set of teeth.

• Gaze at a point about 2 feet on the ground in front of you.• Pant quickly like a rabbit, using only the upper part of the

chest. Feel the air moving beautifully in and out of the lungs. Feel the expansion and contraction of the chest muscles.

• Continue for 20 to 40 breaths.• Close your mouth and relax in Sasankásana. Stretch your

hands forward with the forehead resting on the ground. Feel the relaxation of chest and thorax. Allow your breath to re-turn to normal.

Note• Breathe rapidly through the mouth only, using the thoracic

muscles.• Make sure that the abdomen presses on your thighs, pre-

venting any abdominal movement.• Do not drop your head on to the floor.



PRAnAYAMACANDRA ANULOMA VILOMA PRÁÏÁYÁMASthiti: Dandasana

PRACtICe• Adopt Násika Mudrá with your right

hand.• Close the right nostril with the tip of

the thumb.• Inhale and exhale slowly through

the left nostril (Candra Nádi) only.• Keep the right nostril closed all the

time during the practice.• One cycle of inhalation and exhala-

tion forms one round.• Practice nine rounds.• This practice helps to deel with all

the energy imbalances which is the root cause for anger. Allow the mind to calm down.

Note• Time taken for exhalation should be

longer than inhalation.• Anxiety patients may practice this Práïáyáma 27 rounds

before breakfast, lunch, dinner and before sleep (4 times a day).

NÁDISUDDHI PRÁNÁYÁMASthiti: Dandasana



PRACtICe• Sit in any meditative

posture.• Adopt Násika Mudrá.• Close the right nostril

with the right thumb and exhale completely through the (left) nos-tril. Then inhale deeply through the same left nostril.

• Close the left nostril with your ring and lit-tle finger of the Násiká Mudrá, release the right nostril. Now exhale slowly and completely through the right nostril.

• Inhale deeply through the same (right) nostril. Then close the right nostril and exhale through the left nostril. This is one round of Nádiùuddhi práïáyáma.

• Repeat nine rounds.Note• This practice helps to maintain balance between Nádis.• If you feel headache, heaviness of the head, giddiness, un-

easiness etc.• it means you are exerting much pressure on the lungs.• The first symptoms of correct practice is the feeling of fresh-

ness, energy and lightness of the body and mind.

BenefitsPhysical :



It promotes balance between the two nostrils apart from cleansing the nasal tract. It increases the vitality. Metabolic rate decreases as in case of all other Práïáyáma practices. It increases the digestive fire and appetite.

Therapeutic :It lowers the levels of stress and anxiety by harmonising the práïas. It is beneficial in respiratory disorders such as Bron-chial asthma, Nasal allergy, Bronchitis etc.

Spiritual :It induces tranquility, clarity of thought and concentration. It clears pranic blockages and balances Ida and Pingala nádis,causing Shuúumna nádi to flow which leads to deep states of meditation and spiritual awakening. It helps to main-tain Brahmacharya which is a pre-requisite for spiritual prog-ress.

LimitationsNo Limitations.

SITALI PRÁNÁYÁMASthiti: Dandasana

PRACtICe• Place the palms resting on the thighs.• Stretchthe tongue forward partly out of the

mouth and fold it so as to resemble the beak of a crow.

• Slowly suck in the air through the beak and feel the jet of cool air passing down the



throat into the lungs.• Slowly exhale through the nostrils, feeling the movement of

warm air all the way up from the lungs through the throat and the nasal passages.

• This completes one round of Sitali Pránáyáma.• Repeat nine rounds.• This helps to throw away anger. There is washing away

of CO2. Cleansing takes place. Activates right brain. The breath stops automatically. Allow it. This helps to reduce anger.

KRIYAs• Kapalabhati-left nostril: Close the right nostril with the

thumb with Nasika Mudra.• Exhale vigorously by flapping the abdomen though left nos-

tril. Inhalation is passive.

BAnDHAs AnD MUDRAsUddiyána Bandha and AgnisáraSthiti: Tádásana

PRACtICe• Stand with the legs 2 to 3 feet apart, bend

forwards slightly from the waist and place the palms on the thighs with the arms straight.

• Make yourself quite comfortable in this po-sition.



Stage I: Uddiyána Bandha• Exhale completely through the mouth by vigorously con-

tracting the abdominal muscles. • Simultaneously press the hands against the thighs, tighten

the arms, shoulders, neck muscles and lift up the ribs.• As a result of this, the diaphragm automatically rises up,

producing a concave depression of the abdomen. The ab-dominal wall gets sucked in as if to press the spine.

• Hold this condition as long as comfortable.• Then inhaling slowly release the abdominal muscles and

return to the upright position.• Rest for a while and then go for the next round.• Repeat 5 rounds.

Stage II: Agnisára• In the position of Uddiyána Bandha, move the abdominal

wall in and out vigorously like a pump as many times as you can (while holding the breath in exhalation). This movement of the abdominal wall is done through mock inhalations & exhalations i.e., it seems as if one is inhaling and exhaling whereas it is not so.

• Then stop the movement of the abdominal wall, release the bandha and while inhaling come up to Tádásana and re-lax.

• Repeat a few times.

Benefits• Helps in deeling with our anger.• It massages the abdomen, stimulating the associated nerves,

strengthening the muscles and encouraging optimum health



of the abdominal organs.• It improves blood circulation to the whole trunk area and

strengthens all the internal organs.• It is a panacea for many abdominal & stomach ailments in-

cluding constipation, indigestion, and diabetes.

JÁNU SIRSÁSANA WITH JALANDHARA BANDHA:Sthiti: Dandásana

PRACtICe• Bend the right leg along the ground, placing the heel against

the perineum and the sole touching the inner side of the left thigh.

• Place the palms by the side of buttocks keeping the spine erect.

• While inhaling raise the arms above the head.



• While exhaling slowly bend forward and hook the big toe of the left foot with the index fingers. Press both the thumbs on the big toe.

• In the final position try to touch the forehead to the knee. The elbow joints touch the ground. Adopt Jalandhara Band-ha. Hold the breath.

• Then release Jalandhara Bandha, while inhaling return to the starting position. Relax in

Sithila Dandásana.• Repeat the same practice with the left leg.

Note• The knee of the bent leg should be on the floor.• Do not bend the straight leg while in the final position.• Bend forward and try to touch forehead to the knee as far as

comfortable.• In the final position keep the back muscles relaxed and use

the arm muscles to hold the toe for maintaining the posi-tion.

MeDItAtIon

Examine the raise and growth of emotion:

Sit in any meditative posture and close the eyes.

Observe the changes going on in the body. Breath in the whole body gets energized. Breath out the whole body feels the lightness. Recall an incident in which you are very angry. Energy has gone up. Slowly breath out with slow exhalation. Inhale see the energy rushing up. Exhale and feel the relax-



ation. Emotions are coming up and emotions are dissolving into silence. Feel the movement of the energy pattern. Smile on the face. As you exhale whole body getting relaxed.