Have you ever wonder how many times a day you get aggressive? Do your
colleagues call you an angry bird? How many people you upset with your behavior?
And how many things you destroy before building due to this aggression?
Aggression is that behavior which you build up years ago right when you first
comforted yourself with the feeling of anger and then kept comforting yourself and
now has taken a great space of your personality. People today are living an
aggressive lifestyle and thus inviting troubles. Showing aggression can be good at
times, which doesn’t harm others but is a kind of trigger to achieve goals or to save
life, but the aggression that harms humanity either self or other leads to great
destruction .Violence is another name given to such kind of aggression. The reason
behind such aggressive behavior can be conflicts of thoughts, frustration of failures,
immaturity in understanding, not accomplishing goals, greed, jealousy and most
importantly fear. Humans are provoked to react on to situations and they react the
same because of indiscriminative knowledge or weak mental abilities or unstable
mind. Although aggression leads to great outcomes but only when rightly timed ;
Bhishma Pitamah in Mahabharat made only one mistake in his life i.e. not being aggressive when Dropadi was abused which gave him the bed of arrows and when died whereas Jatayu in Ramayan did one good thing in his life was tried to save Sita, which gave him the lap of supreme soul when died.
It is utmost important to learn when to be aggressive and when not. As the morning
mist covers the sunlight, Anger clouds the Intellect and people are more likely to
make mistakes and regret later when clouds disappear.
In chapter 6 verse 63 Shrimad Bhagvatgeeta says;
क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोह: सम्मोहात्स्मृतितवभ्रम: |
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति || 63||
krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛiti-vibhramaḥ
smṛiti-bhranśhād buddhi-nāśho buddhi-nāśhāt praṇaśhyati
From anger delusion arises and from delusion bewilderment of memory. The person then
forgets what is right and what is wrong, and flows along with the surge of emotions. The
downward descent continues from there, and bewilderment of memory results in destruction
of the intellect. And since the intellect is the internal guide, when it gets destroyed, one is
ruined.
The Aggressive behavior leads nowhere and is just a home for various physical and
mental disorders known as Adhi and Vyadhi in Yogic texts.
There are various yoga practice that helps to cope up with aggressive behavior. In
this article we are going to learn some of them to calm down your mind and create
a state of peace in your life.
BREATH IS THE KEY
Your breath owns your emotions and your emotions owns your breath. If you know
how to control your breath, you know how to be calm and quite and tackle the
situation. There are two things to be practiced most importantly when you are willing
to change this aggressive lifestyle:
Being aware when anger hits.
Practicing pranayama daily to have good mental health.
1. Being aware when anger hits
Let us start small by just being aware, but aware of what? of your breath, as when
you feel angry or anxious or stressed right away start observing your breath and feel
the pattern you are breathing in ; change the pattern if the breath is uneven or fast
make it slow by taking 10-15 deep breaths and Boom, your emotions are in control
and you are nomore an angry bird and are more responsive than before, you can now
opt for correct decisions and thus inviting abundance of happiness. Start practicing
this, hold on to take deep breaths whenever negative emotions trigger.
2. Practicing pranayama daily to maintain good mental health
Pranayama practice on a regular basis can help you a lot in this journey, one of the
best practice can be Anulom Vilom Pranayama. Anulom Vilom also known as
alternate nostril breathing, is been scientifically proven to activate the
parasympathetic nervous system and thus giving a calm and peaceful mind. To
practice anulom vilom:
Adopt a comfortable pose either with crossed legs, or padmasana or even can
sit on chair.
Now take your right hand make the Pranav mudra i.e. roll first two fingers
and put at the root of thumb, use your thumb and last two fingers for the
pranayama.
Exhale out the breath now close your right nostril with thumb, inhale through
left nostril, close your left nostril with last two fingers and exhale through
right nostril .
Again inhale through right nostril and exhale through left, this completes one
round.
Repeat the process atleast for 30 rounds at a time.
Anulom vilom gives incredible results, highly recommended to practice in morning
in an open environment.
“when we can lay down our fear and anger and choose response over aggression ,
we welcome prosperity, happiness and peace in our lives.
