Why anger has such a bad reputation
Most of us were taught, directly or indirectly, that anger is dangerous.
We watched it blow things up. We felt it land on us in ways that left marks. Or we grew up in environments where anger was so controlled, so buried, that it leaked out sideways – in criticism, in withholding, in a coldness that was somehow worse than the explosion.
So we learned to manage it. Push it down. Redirect it. Turn it on ourselves. Decide we were “not an angry person.”
And still it shows up. In the overreaction that surprises even you. In the resentment that builds quietly until something small finally breaks the surface. In the exhaustion of holding it all in. Or the scorched-earth response.
Here’s what no one told you: the problem was never the anger. The problem is that you never learned what anger actually is – and how to use it skillfully.
What anger actually is
In yogic science – and in this work, which is informed by it – anger is understood as power. Your power.
Power is how you meet your needs – how you protect yourself, speak up, set limits, go after what matters, and refuse what harms you. Without it, you get taken advantage of. You become someone’s doormat. You shrink. Or you spew your toxic anger everywhere – and burn the people closest to you
Anger rises whenever something threatens your wellbeing – a violation, an injustice, an unmet need, a boundary crossed. It’s not a character flaw. It’s a signal. One of the body’s most intelligent ones.
The issue isn’t the anger. It’s how it gets used. Skilled use means feeling it fully, understanding what it’s pointing to, and stating your needs calmly. That’s not suppression. That’s mastery.
The two ways anger goes wrong
Most people recognize only one misuse of anger – the explosive kind. The blow-up. The words that can’t be taken back.
But there’s another form that does just as much damage. Quieter. Harder to see.
Chronic blaming. Constant criticism. Sarcasm used as a weapon. Withholding – love, cooperation, presence. The silent treatment. Sabotaging. Withdrawing. Passive harm of every variety.
These are all anger… anger that never made it past survival mode.
What I work with instead
In our Emotional Liberation® work, we don’t pathologize anger. We work with it as the protective, generative force it actually is.
We start by giving the thinking brain what it needs – the full story of what anger actually is, where it comes from, and what it’s been trying to do.
Then comes the emotional release work: psycho-spiritual inquiry, body-based practices (movement, breath, sound), and often the inclusion of plant medicine – the tools that drop you into your deep inner knowing, beneath the story the mind has been telling. Not analysis. Direct contact with what’s actually there:
- Psycho-spiritual inquiry – getting underneath the anger to what it’s protecting. What need has gone unmet? What boundary was crossed so many times you stopped expecting it to hold? What softer emotion – grief, fear, shame – has anger been standing in front of?
- Expressive and active movement – stirring the blocked energy giving the body permission to express and release what it’s been holding.
What the research says
The research on anger, movement, and plant medicine all point in the same direction.
Suppressing anger doesn’t diminish it. A 2025 meta-analysis of 81 studies found consistent links between anger and avoidance, rumination, and suppression — and consistent benefits from acceptance and engagement instead.[1] Pushing it down keeps it circling. Same trigger, same response, same damage.
On movement: a 2024 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that mind-body practices integrating intentional movement with inner awareness consistently reduced anxiety and depression across diverse populations.[2]
On psilocybin: a neuroimaging study from the University of Copenhagen found that psilocybin significantly decreased the amygdala’s response to angry faces — the brain’s threat-detection alarm.[3] When that alarm quiets, what’s underneath becomes more accessible.
A separate naturalistic survey of 2,510 adults found that 72% associated psychedelic use with improved control over aggressive impulses, alongside reductions in alcohol use and healthier eating habits.[4]
“Anger is your power. Power is how you meet your needs. Skilled use of anger allows you to state those needs calmly – and be heard.”
— Becca Williams
Plant medicine and anger – what’s worth knowing
Traditional ceremonial use of both psilocybin and cannabis for emotional healing predates the clinical research by centuries. The science is now catching up.
Psilocybin
Psilocybin works partly by quieting the amygdala – the brain’s threat-detection system. When that system has been running on high alert for years, the anger response fires easily, often, and disproportionately. When it settles, there’s room to access what’s underneath.
The research backs this up. A 2024 neuroimaging study found psilocybin significantly reduced the amygdala’s response to angry faces.[3]
A separate naturalistic study found that people associated psilocybin use with meaningful reductions in frustration and anger over time.[4]
Cannabis
Cannabis, held ceremonially and with clear emotional intention in a supported setting with a skilled facilitator, can open access to what chronic anger has been defending against.
Grief in particular – unexpressed, unwitnessed grief – often sits beneath long-standing rage. With intention, preparation, and the right support, cannabis can help that material surface. Without those conditions, it can amplify reactivity instead.
When plant medicine is included in this work, dosing, contraindications, preparation, and integration are all part of what we cover together. You go in fully prepared.
Where healing meets real life
The goal of this work isn’t to become someone who doesn’t feel anger.
It’s to become someone who can use it skillfully.
Someone who can feel it rise and know what it’s telling them. Who can speak up without blowing up. Who can set a limit without a wall going up. Who can say “that’s not okay with me” and mean it – calmly, clearly, without apology.
That’s not a small thing. For a lot of people, it’s a complete rewiring of how they’ve been moving through the world.
One of the realities I want to share with you about this is that, in the beginning, your awareness of your own patterns will start to outpace your outside life. You’ll see what you’ve been doing. But the relationships, the dynamics, the roles you’ve played – those don’t update overnight.
This is what some of my students have come to call the shaken snowglobe. The inner landscape is shifting. Old defenses are loosening. But the outer life hasn’t caught up yet. That gap can feel destabilizing. Even frightening.
This is a vital part of your transformation. Learning to stay present when the anger fires. Learning to say what’s true instead of what’s loudest. Learning to let your power work for you instead of against you.
The Emotional Liberation work harmonizes with your needs, whether there are areas in your life that simply need tending to or there are deeper issues you would like to explore in order to process and release.
And you don’t do any of this alone.
One of the most powerful aspects of this work is that it happens in community.
Group masterclasses, retreats, and ceremonial gatherings create a dynamic that accelerates healing in ways one-to-one work simply can’t replicate – people learn from one another, and there is profound medicine in witnessing and being witnessed.
Sources
- Pop, G.V., Nechita, DM., Miu, A.C. et al. Anger and emotion regulation strategies: a meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 6931 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-91646-0
- Dong, Y., Zhang, X., Zhao, R., Cao, L., Kuang, X., & Yao, J. (2024). The effects of mind-body exercise on anxiety and depression in older adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychiatry, 15, 1305295. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1305295
- Armand, S., Larsen, K., Madsen, M. K., Ozenne, B., Preller, K. H., Knudsen, G. M., Stenbæk, D. S., & Fisher, P. M. (2023). Amygdala response to emotional faces following acute administration of psilocybin in healthy individuals. Neuroscience applied, 3, 103934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nsa.2023.103934
- Teixeira, P. J., Jain, R., Penn, A. D., Cole, S. P., Jain, S., Moller, A. C., Amaro, H., & Raison, C. (2025). Health-related behavioral changes following the use of psychedelics in naturalistic settings. Preventive medicine reports, 56, 103161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2025.103161
