When experiencing anger, it can be challenging to see beyond your own hurt, pain, rage, or anguish. It can, therefore, feel never ending and all-consuming. You would like to experience heart-centered, expansive anger that could be expressed in a way that serves love, but you are unsure how to find it.

This is a practice John led for his Embodied Women's Relationship Immersion program in June 2020 during the Coronavirus Pandemic and the collective rise against racial injustice with the Black Lives Matter movement after the murder of George Floyd.

It is an embodied practice to express anger through the lens of David Deida's three stages of self-expression as a way to bring anger more consciously. Here, John defines the three stages as: 1. The Self, 2. The Collective, and 3. The Sacred. Each of these expressions lives in your body.

1. Self-Centered or Self-Generated Anger (i.e. you're not getting something you want; you might lose something you have; you're personally offended, hurt or upset; you're angry at yourself) has a certain frequency of anger that is often not heart connected very much, or at all. This is because it is normally the type of anger most connected to your childhood wounds. I'm angry as "Me."

2. Collective Anger is anger connected to humanity and what is happening in the world beyond your personal anger. I'm angry as "Us" or "We."

3. Sacred Anger is the expression of wrath as love. The Hindu Goddess Kali is the quintessential expression of anger as fierce love. I'm angry as "Love."

If you would like to expand beyond your own anger into a sacred expression of fierce love, try this 18-minute practice.

Be aware throughout the practice as to where the anger of each of these expressions lives in your body.

Begin standing with your ankles together, shoulders back and down, knees slightly bent, and hips tilted forward so that your sacrum points down toward the ground. Cross your hands and place them over your womb or dantian and take three deep breaths into this place. Feel both the space in your womb that has a pulse, and the space that is still, silent, and infinite -- the Feminine and the Masculine. Then, maintaining the pose, bring your hands up to your heart and take three deep breaths here. Again, feel the space in your heart that is still, and the space that is active, beating, vibrant and energized. Lastly, bring your hands up to cover your eyes and forehead, and take three deep breaths into your frontal lobe, third eye, and the space of your mind. Once again, find the part of your mind that is still and stable, and also find the part of your mind that is always active.

Lower your arms to your sides and begin a gentle bounce from your feet. Your heels will rise slightly, but you will not completely jump off the floor. Allow your arms and hands to swing loose and free.

Through this bouncing, connect to the anger as Self. Allow this anger to bubble up to the surface and express through your voice in a sound or growl. Amplify this personal frustration through your body for 30 seconds and give it full permission to express. For the last 10 seconds, let this become a full-blown tantrum, stomping your feet, shaking your hands or fists, screaming, or whatever else allows you to fully move the anger through your body.

Then return to stillness. Come back to the pose with your ankles together, heart lifted, hands by your sides, and sacrum rooted into the ground. Feel what might've opened and freed for you.

Then begin to connect to the anger of The Collective. The anger of racial injustice, of needless suffering and death, of illness, of abuse... Let your heart consciously connect to the collective anger and then feel the energy of "Protester." "I'm angry as Us. I'm angry as We." Like a collective scream. Connect to this "anguish of We" for 30 seconds.

Then let that relax and come back into the stance, feeling yourself rooted and paying special attention to the space in your heart that is still and infinite, and also the space in your heart that is active, alive and beating strongly.

Finally, begin to connect to anger as Love. Allow your heart to become very wide -- so wide it fills your chest and starts pressing out of your chest and into the space around you. Feel the part of you that is angry because, "This is not good enough. This is not right. This is not the Divine. This is not Consciousness. This is not Love." Feel this anger through your immense, wide heart; a heart so big that it fills the entire room. Be angry as the wide heart of Love. Feel your heart wrap around the injustice, the pain and the anger of the world. Express this anger fully for 30 seconds.

Then return to the pose where you started, with ankles together, heart lifted, belly full, and sacrum rooted. Take three deep breaths circling your upturned palms out and up to the sky and back down through the center line of your body. Pack the energy into your womb and navel center to seal the practice.

Before you open your eyes, scan your body and feel those three textures of anger. Anger as Me. Anger as We. Anger as Love. Notice where they live in your heart and your body.

Disclaimer: Although anyone may find this practice to be useful, it is made available with the understanding that we are not engaged in presenting specific medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual advice. Nor is anything in this practice intended to be a diagnosis, prescription, recommendation or cure for any specific kind of medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual problem. Each individual has unique needs and this practice cannot take these individual differences into account. Each person should engage in a program of treatment, prevention, cure, or general health only in consultation with a licensed, qualified physician, therapist or other competent professional. Any person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease or any local illness of his or her sexual organs should consult a medical doctor and a qualified instructor of sexual yoga before practicing the sexual methods described in this practice.