How To Release Anger With EFT Tapping
Releasing Anger With EFT Tapping
This article talks about anger; its causes, symptoms, types, healthy ways of tackling anger and overcoming it with EFT Tapping Technique & Energy Yoga. Since anger tends to build over time, releasing anger with EFT Tapping technique happens to be very effective; this alternative therapeutic technique allows the body to relax and maintain a positive and peaceful energy.
Have you had those days when something made you so angry that you ended up venting it out in a harmful way? Then you ended up feeling guilty about it and kept repeating the incident in your head, over and over again?
It’s just so frustrating when something gets on your nerves and you don’t know how to maintain your calm; but, anger is a basic, natural human emotion that everyone experiences. It is experienced as an unpleasant feeling.
Different people feel and show anger in different ways - which is why some people express anger in the heat of the moment when their emotions are perturbed. They get angry for a very short period and then forget about the issue.
On the contrary, other people hold on to anger deeply within them. It may be for days, weeks, months, or years.
Holding on to anger for a long time makes you a grumpy person. It steals your peace of mind and happiness.
“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
Mark Twain
Anger can range from a short outburst to intense fury. However, it is very normal to feel frustrated as a response to certain situations.
Sometimes, people also experience extreme anger that escalates and makes everything worse for themselves and for those around them.
I remember once when I lost my cool and took it out on my mom, even though it wasn't her fault. I had stuffed so many unwanted thoughts, feelings and emotions inside myself that they began to surface suddenly, and caused me to explode.
I felt so guilty - like a terrible daughter - and made a commitment to myself to figure out how to free myself from taking my anger out on the people I love.
WHAT ARE THE CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF ANGER?
Research also shows that individuals who have been exposed to violent childhoods have a tendency to grow up with problems relating to anger; they find it difficult to trust people (1).
This could lead to uncertainty, bottled up feelings and negativity, which could trigger aggression and anger at some point of time.
Some other common causes of anger are:
- Hurt
- Betrayal
- Stress
- Abuse
- Substance Abuse
- Genes
- Upbringing / Background
- Childhood Trauma
- Loneliness
Since anger is a common emotion, its symptoms are experienced by many individuals. The only difference is how they decide/choose to cope with it.
Some symptoms of anger are as follows (2):
- Being physically or verbally abusive to others.
- Threatening people.
- Staying in your own shell, since you get afraid of a sudden outburst.
- Allowing your mind to be flooded with negative thoughts.
- Focusing on the negative aspects of life.
- Causing harm to oneself or to another person.
- Doing something impulsive in a fit of rage.
- Being unkind to yourself.
- Yelling and screaming at people around you.
These are just some things that usually depict aggression and could lead to major mental illnesses as well. Our responses to anger depend on the communication between our brain regions, since aggression triggers our body’s fight or flight response.
DO YOU REALLY BOTTLE UP YOUR ANGER?
The way we process our anger or negative emotions affects our mental health.
Which means that even though we decide to suppress our emotions and not act on impulse, all of it ends up being too much for us to handle - which is known to lead to diseases and illnesses in the long run. And if we choose to vent out our anger and do something impulsively, we could harm/hurt ourselves as well as those around us.
If we bottle up our anger, it would reach a point where it'll get so bad that even if one minor issue takes place, you'll just burst/explode, and it could be really harmful to other people.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANGER
Anger is not always the same. Different causes can lead to different types of anger, further leading to different symptoms (3).
Various types of anger include:
1.
Chronic Anger
Anger that is constant and can’t be shaken off of your mind.
2.
Judgmental Anger
When you expect people to do something or behave in a certain way, but they don’t, it frustrates you. You usually end up commenting and judging the other person’s character and personality for not living up to your expectations of them.
3.
Overwhelming Anger
When you can’t cope with the bottled-up anger and emotions anymore. You’re continuously stressed about it because you just don’t know when might you have an outburst.
4.
Self-inflicted Anger
This is when you respond to angry emotions in the form of self-harm. You often tend to punish yourself for not doing something or failing to do a particular task properly. For example, binge-eating, cutting or starving oneself.
5.
Volatile Anger
This is a type of anger in which you are raging and everything just builds up to such a point that you can’t help but explode. This could be extremely harmful to anyone and everyone who’s around you at that point of time.
6.
Passive Anger
An internally directed anger which you don’t do anything about; you decide to bottle it up and control it instead of talking it out with the other person and fixing it.
You can identify which type of anger you go through, most of the time. While you do so, you could ask yourselves a couple of questions like,
- “What makes me angry?”
- “Who makes me angry?”
- “Is there any way I can vent out my anger without being aggressive?”
- “How can I resolve this issue without being negative about it?”
There is a saying – “like attracts like” which basically means that if you’re angry, you will tend to attract people and do things that end up making you all the more frustrated.
The way you choose to behave on a regular basis is a base for how people perceive you, how you perceive them and how you interact with them. Which is why, many a time, individuals resort to coping mechanisms such as addictive habits like smoking and drinking to deal with anger, but these methods don’t really last long and are temporary.
The best way forward is to discover the root cause of the anger and eliminate it with a wellness or therapy technique that is clinically proven to set you free from the root cause of anger.
A technique like Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping which is an alternative therapy that helps people to let go of issues that cause discomfort to their mental or physical health, provides permanent solutions.
EFT Tapping can be learnt as part of a self-help technique or to get professionally qualified as an EFT Tapping Certified Practitioner.
New To EFT? Learn How EFT Tapping Heals, Including Anger
Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping) is clinically proven to lower stress, tension, anxiety, past-trauma to enable health, happiness and vitality.
HOW CAN YOU RELEASE ANGER WITH ENERGY YOGA?
Have there been times when you were really angry and someone told you to calm down; and it made you even angrier?
Telling someone to calm down when they are angry does not work. It gets them even more frustrated and annoyed. It is better to find a way to release the anger and get it out of the system.
Quick Anger-Release Techniques:
Tantrum Tapping With EFT Tapping and Energy Yoga
Follow these three steps to release negativity in seconds:
- Place your finger just below the collar bone
- Make an "Aaaaaa" sound.
- Stamp your feet.
- Repeat as often as needed
Stress Release With EFT Tapping & Energy Yoga
Place any negative tension such as anger, frustration or irritation in your hand.
Lift the hand from behind above you as you breathe in and as you breathe out, and expel the breath out from the mouth as if blowing out energy.
Repeat as often as needed.
Pillow Energy Release With EFT tapping
Method 1: Get a pillow and squeeze it tight, tight, tight, tight – get all that angry energy out of you – keep squeezing till you feel calm.
Method 2: Sit on a bed or sofa and place the pillow in front of you. Then throw your hands up and down onto the pillow, taking out all your frustration. Imagine the pillow as what you are angry about, and get the anger out of your system.
Hands And Knees Release On A Chair
- Get on your hands and knees
- Have a cushioned chair in front of you.
- Bang your hands up and down on the soft part of the chair while making the 'aaaaa' sound.
HOW TO RELEASE ANGER WITH EFT TAPPING Techniques
EFT Tapping for anger is a clinically proven therapeutic method. Since anger can cause damage to oneself and those close to us, releasing anger with EFT Tapping is very important and effective. Letting go of these harmful emotions can be beneficial to us personally and professionally.
Step 1
Enquire with great respect and rapport.
Ask yourself or your client the following questions:
- What makes you angry?”
- “Who makes you angry?”
- “What has to happen for anger to be triggered in you?
- “The next time you get triggered what is it you want for yourself?”
Step 2
Measure the intensity of Anger
Then enquire where in the body is perceived. For example, some people will respond will the following answers:
- “It’s at a number 10, and I can feel it in my heart”
- “The anger is at a number 7 in my stomach.”
All the different answers are welcome.
Step 3
Start with the EFT Tapping process
With one hand tap on the side of the other hand (also known as Karate Chop Point) using the following sequence:
"Even though I get angry when _____ and it makes me feel _____ and it is at a number _____ in my _____ , I deeply and completely love and accept myself".
Tap on the upper body, facial and hand EFT tapping points and repeat as often as needed.
Step 4
Explore the root causes
There can be so many different root causes of anger. For example, explore for:
- Failed expectations
- Being hurt
- Feeling like a failure
The best way to explore the root cause is to ask questions, for example:
- "When have you felt angry like this before?"
- "When was the first time?"
- "Anger is healthy because……."
- "Anger is destructive/bad because….."
Use the Movie Technique, Tearless Trauma & Tell the Story techniques to clear past memories.
A skilled practitioner who has been through EFT Practitioner Training can easily peel the different layers and get to the root cause quickly. In addition, they might explore limiting beliefs.
Step 5
Measure again - "Where the anger is at?"
- Ask yourself or your client, "What are you feeling now? What number is the anger at?"
- "Finally, breathe in and out; take a sip of water to be calm."
- This happens to be a very effective way to resolve anger, since you cannot ignore these emotions.
DOES EFT FOR ANGER RELIEF REALLY WORK?
Anger might be passive or aggressive. Either way while tapping it is okay for abusive words or negative emotions to arise. It is okay to not hold back and express exactly what you are feeling at that moment.
My client let go of the anger she was carrying over the years, using EFT.
One of my clients - Divya used to react very abruptly, even at petty issues and then would feel guilty. This was a repetitive behaviour pattern in her life. She often asked herself, "Why did I snap?", "Why did I react so loudly?", "Why did I get furious at small things?", "Why do I feel irritated so much?" These questions would upset her.
Then, she had a coaching session with her Practitioner. They started tapping with the surface anger (like the tip of an iceberg), and later, the practitioner reached the core issue.
The core issue was "neglected childhood". Her parents left her with her grandparents in her early childhood due to her mother’s health issues, and she had profound anger towards them. The underlying emotions were loneliness, insecurity, lack of love from parents, lack of belongingness, neglect, and many more. These feelings amassed in her and triggered even at very simple and small issues.
The Practitioner worked with her in following 4 rounds to release all the negative emotions which she was carrying in her over the years:
Round 1
Karate Chop: Even though I am very angry right now. Something has happened and someone did something to me. I don’t think it’s right. I am very upset about it. I love and accept myself. (3 times)
- Eyebrow: I’m so angry.
- Side of the eye: I’m just fuming inside.
- Under the eye: I’m really heated up about this.
- Under the nose: I have a right to be angry.
- Chin: They did this to me.
- Collarbone: It made me upset.
- Under the arm: I’m just bubbling with anger.
- Thumb: This stuff is going in my mind.
- Index finger: And this makes me really outrageous.
- Middle finger: I just want to yell.
- Little finger: It's hurting me.
Breathe in and out and take a sip of water.
Round 2
Karate Chop: Even though I’m so angry that they did this to me and this situation is not okay with me, I choose to love and accept myself. (3 times)
- Eyebrow: I’m bursting with anger.
- Side of the eye: All this rage.
- Under the eye: All this anger.
- Under the nose: I’m so mad with this anger.
- Chin: Because this is just wrong.
- Collarbone: All the anger inside me.
- Under the arm: I feel it in my head.
- Thumb: I feel it in my body.
- Index finger: This person/situation made me so angry.
- Middle finger: This situation is not okay with me.
- Little finger: It is difficult to release it.
Breathe in and out and take a sip of water.
Round 3
Karate Chop: Even though I’m still angry and want to release it, but it’s so difficult for me to release it. It’s stuck in me, I choose to love and accept myself.
- Eyebrow: Still angry...
- Side of the eye: I want to release it.
- Under the eye: I feel it’s very difficult.
- Under the nose: It’s stuck in me.
- Chin: I’m exhausted.
- Collarbone: Whatever happened was wrong.
- Under the arm: They were wrong.
- Thumb: What if I could release it?
- Index finger: What if I could get a little calmer?
- Middle finger: It’s very distressing for me.
- Little finger: I choose to release it and move on.
- Top of the head: Suppose somehow, I can release this and feel completely peaceful.
Breathe in and out and take a sip of water.
Round 4
Karate Chop: Even though it was difficult to release this anger that they did this to me, I’m open to the possibility of releasing it and choosing to feel peaceful.
- Eyebrow: It’s melting.
- Side of the eye: I’m starting to feel better now.
- Under the eye: I have moved on and it feels released.
- Under the nose: I’m feeling peace in me.
- Chin: I’m feeling light in my heart.
- Collarbone: It’s all gone.
- Under the arm: My heart is vibrating with peace and love.
- Top of the head: I’m open to the possibility of feeling peace in me every time and choose to keep myself serene in all situations.
Breathe in and out and take a sip of water.
After a couple of sessions with the practitioner, the anger which was accumulated in her got released.
Now, Divya has started responding to the situations rather than reacting. This change in behaviour patterns brought peace in her life.
New to EFT? Learn How EFT Tapping Heals, Including Anger
Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping) is clinically proven to lower stress, tension, anxiety, past-trauma to enable health, happiness and vitality.
Negativity builds up in your mind every time you try and control your anger and this is unhealthy for your mental as well as physical health. The body often gives us signs and alerts when you tend to get angry, so you get to decide how to react to it.
But for this to actually help you, you need to allow yourself to accept that you’re angry and that you need to resolve it instead of storing it in your mind and choosing to ignore it.
One thing that is important in this entire process, is the choice you make about forgiving yourself and loving every part of your mind and body. You need to be cognizant of anger patterns, triggers and even the way you choose to resolve your conflicts.
If you find yourself being angry or frustrated constantly, you need to realize that there is a negative pattern attached to this that needs to change.
CONCLUSION
Emotional Freedom Techniques will help you figure out the root causes of your aggression and anger and will allow you to work on these problems in a way that it never really bothers you again; it will play a part in keeping your peace of mind in check.
Anger is a healthy emotion; however, if it gets out of control it can harm relationships and disturb your peace of mind.
By using anger release techniques and EFT Tapping for anger, you will no longer need to lash out; but instead, be able to observe when you get triggered and give yourself a choice on what to do about it.
Continue to love and explore!
Love,
Dr Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri (PhD)
P.S. Want to discover if EFT is right for you? Book a Complimentary Discovery Call.
HOW TO SELF HEAL & BECOME AN EFT PRACTITIONER
Discover how EFT can help you to self heal or to become professionally qualified as a Certified EFT Practitioner. Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping) is clinically proven to lower stress, tension, anxiety, past-trauma to enable health, happiness and vitality.
In summary, no one really wants to get angry. It can make someone feel guilty and yet suppressing anger is harmful to health, just like smoking a cigarette. With EFT Tapping, you can release anger quickly and safely, in your own private space, and discover and clear the root cause of anger with the benefit of no longer being triggered.
References:
Disclaimer: The information on this website is purely for educational purposes and does not in any way replace the requirement for medical and psychological diagnosis and treatment. Please do seek professional medical and psychological diagnosis and advice for all medical and mental health conditions. It is advised to always book any consultations with qualified professionals.
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