A Normal Response to an Abnormal Situation

It's hard to ignore the outrage in the media, with cases of violation in so many places. I'm not going into the details, but I do want to talk about what happens in our bodies when we see these stories.

It's a difficult form of evolutionary stress. Our nervous systems were built to respond to a threat and then settle once it passes. But these threats aren't passing. They keep arriving on our phones wherever we are, non stop, and we have nowhere to put them.

Where does the energy go?

When we see injustice, energy rises, and it has to go somewhere. When it's not harnessed, it can burn outward in eruption and destruction, or it turns inward and gets pushed down. Both take a toll.

In Chinese medicine, emotions are considered energy, one not better than the other, and they are meant to move just as all energy is. When emotions are swallowed or not expressed, Qi stagnates, and over time stuck energy can sit at the root of disease.

Emotions can be powerful tools for change however, especially rage. Rage tells us a boundary has been crossed and when we can wield this kind of energy, it becomes the energy that protects, that says no, and has potential to change things.

We rage because we don't have capacity. We haven't had experience with big emotions, no one has, and there's not much room to be loud or fierce. Can we have a place in ourselves where we don't attack ourselves or others, a place to pause before we react, so we can respond?

Change begins at home

The headlines can make us feel powerless, but change is within our personal domain and can start in our homes, in the way we speak to ourselves and our children, partners and communities. It starts with what we tolerate and what we no longer will.

That's why I created Rage Rising, an exploration of what happens with emotions in a woman's body, where they come from, where they want to go, and how we say no. Through a Chinese medicine lens, working with breath, qigong and somatic practice, we help this energy move with intelligence and clarity, rather than staying stifled or causing pain.

If something here speaks to you, you can work with me in person at my clinic in Preston and at The Yin Palace gatherings in Melbourne, or online through my qigong community and Rage Rising. The Three Treasures Pathway is offered both in person and online.

With Love,
Anny 🌹