internal anger

[zero]

Even though anger/hate is toxic vibration. Can it also be empowering if forced upon you? For example someone projecting this hate and anger to force you to fight. Can anger be empowering in these moments?

 

[TheCove]

In my experience when faced with open hostility I tended to either deflect or let it pass through.  Anger taken in from another can have a weakening affect,  well it has weakened me.  This of course, can trigger the fight or flight response.  But I hated giving in to common reactive patterns so often I would do my best to acknowledge the person and their energy but hold,  or try to hold control of my own reflexive energy.  Always more options that way. So I would say empowerment comes from keeping a equilibrium even when ones ingrained response demands otherwise.

 

I word this wrong, but that is my two cents.

Edited October 31, 2019 by TheCove

[thelerner]

Sure, we get an adrenaline rush when we're threatened.  It gives us a bit more strength, speed, less pain.  Problem is it also limits peripheral vision and doesn't help with thinking and strategy.  The higher heart rate and tight muscles can tire us out quickly. 

 

I think the best is to feel it, get the hit and let it go.  Understand your thinking isn't at its clearest and your focus limited.  A master has many options, to get caught in heat of the moment tends to limit them. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by thelerner

[sean]

 

[zero]

It's interesting. Bruce Lee had a theory. Emotional content, not anger. I think it's possible to exert force, power and assert strength without contracting that anger. Though mastery and control of emotion is definitely a must. It takes a master level of discipline in my opinion. Anger definitely does weaken you. You guys are right.

[Michael Sternbach]

I totally agree.

 

However, there's but a narrow line between anger and determination.

 

And it is this line that separates the true warrior from a raging maniac. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Michael Sternbach

[Jim D.]

For me, when I felt anger and acted upon it, it led to risky behavior and then confusion. When I felt determined to do something, I knew the outcome of its opposite...this is equal to personal growth. 

[Earl Grey]

Here's my experience with anger and combat: 

 

It feels empowering, but you're actually quite vulnerable. An experienced fighter, whether they do Judo or Aikido, or any internal art, has a great degree of control and sensitivity along with flow. 

 

Before I learned any of this, I was bullied a lot and thought by exploding that I could surprise my enemies and overpower them. 

 

What happens is that you look like a child throwing a temper tantrum. You become as easy to control as a toddler throwing a tantrum whose parents are bigger and stronger and gentler. 

 

I am not tall, but when I had a former patient doing this during one of his more difficult moments, I was able to control him by staying calm. I say patient by the way because he was never going to develop any internal skill until he grew up and matured from being a perpetual 10 year-old at the age of 33. 

 

The patient was drunk and belligerent, and had an audience to show off to, thinking he could beat me and look good because I just happened to be with him as a chaperone for the weekend. While remaining calm, my body instinctively applied the sensing hands to hold and simultaneously parry and block the way anyone who does tuishou would understand best as controlling the opponent. 

 

Palms stuck to his forearms and redirecting him in a circular manner while walking around him and pushing him back gently as he began sweating and desperately flailing about, getting angry because his punches were getting nowhere. He began shouting at me saying I'm cheap and he tries to kick me, and I simply move one hand down to catch it and redirect it before throwing him up and backwards. Mind you, he's almost a full head taller than me as I'm only 1.7m tall. 

 

This is the story I use as an example as to why uncontrollable anger can't beat someone who is calm and skilled, and I have seen people do this time and again whether they were Israeli army veterans in a marketplace, Turkish oil wrestlers who are known to be sportsmen rather than fighters and don't consider themselves fighters either, Muay Thai boxing champion retirees who were defending ladyboys from being harassed by foreigner bigots, or former Navy SEALs at a bar who sidestep someone and kick their hind knee.