Bottled up anger and Martial arts???

[Empty Flower]

I dread people with anger studying things like Yoga - it turns them into a liability and a danger to everyone around them. Non-combative exercises like that help people bottle up even more repressed anger, while also giving them a persona which denies that they CAN be angry. The result is that they passive-agressively mangle and abuse everyone around them, and can't even acknowledge it.

If you are worried about anger, take up something that includes solid aggressive sparring as a regular part of it's routine. Something like boxing, grappling, or other contact sparring teaches you to control and harness your anger, giving it a safe and controlled release that helps you to accept it as a part of you without simply blocking it up and letting it break out wildly to rampage. Good arts for that include things like boxing, wrestling, kyokushin karate, BJJ, escrima/kali, savate, muay thai, most any gungfu that emphasizes heavy sparring (there are many of those, but I don't know enough about CMA to know what ones are good to look for in this), probably judo.

That,like the other answers here ,is a good one. Your right about denieng you can be angry. An old friend of mine is always angry but it comes out unexpectedly.He learned some judo, but then would use it (shamefully) to bully others when his rage got the better of him. Boxing is a good solution, because it has a sort of acountability factor. If you hurt your opponent unfairly thay just might have a bigger anger issue and hurt you more!!

Good thread or discussion!

EF

[jarrettmeyer]

I worry about students with so much pent up rage. I was picked on a lot in middle school and high school because of my excessive weight and my total geekiness. It sucked.

To deal with it back then, I avoided them, and I ate comfort food. Avoidance doesn't always work with the confines of a school. There's always lunch times and the occassional classes. Comfort food only makes one problem worse. It was rough.

Then I went to college, and I found my home. Geeks, it turns out, do quite well in college. That's where I was able to find my peace.

Now, I use MA to work my body and my mind. The anger is gone. Only when I am relaxed, not tense, am I successful. Anger only makes me more tense, and slows me down even more.

I would agree very wholeheartedly with parkerlineage. Working out is great for venting. Beat the stuffing out of the heavy bag, but do not take that anger to your opponent. It doesn't teach you to live without anger, you won't spar as well, and it's not safe for you or your classmates. Trust me, you do not want a modern-day sensai to see you as a liability.

*Edit: fixed typos.

[Menjo]

Yea boxing, and muay thai are good angry energy suckers.

[scad]

if you are going to use martial arts to vent anger, do it the right way, don't seek revenge on a person, but every time you yell in class or every time you kick a pad, think about your anger and let it out. learning to control your anger is very important though. what you learn in martial arts can't be used against someone that calls you names or makes fun of you. the best thing you can do is avoid a situation and take it out on a pad.

[Sam]

So long as your letting it out in a controlled way and not directed at anyone in particular i dont see the problem, martial arts is a great de-stressor for a lot of its practitioners.

[Anakin_Skywalker]

I am told by many people studing martial arts never to attack in anger anyway. because it blocks supposed chi or ki channels thereby making your attack not as effective as when your chi or ki is flowing. It can also disrupt targeting. Its abit like star wars and the force. This is what I'm told by a karate experience anyway. It could be be lies

[Kieran-Lilith]

Anger can be released through MA, of course, as long as it's not directed at any particular people. Pretend to kill somebody, kill the bag, use it that way, in a way that's productive. Using it in a sparring match usually does not work. Actually, all it does is it tends to tire you out faster, and you lose the focus that helps you.

And I agree with the Star Wars reference. You could compare the ideal MA with the Jedi. The Jedi don't allow any emotions in general to cloud their view of what must be done. And speaking of the force, that could be like ki, IMO. It flows through everything. It is.

[Anakin_Skywalker]

i like that ki stuff. does ki exist?

[Sam]

that was sort of a thread hijack there.... check on Internal Arts for stuff on KI