When you’re angry, it can affect every area of your life. Those feelings bubble up after a minor inconvenience, lead to arguments with friends, and sometimes even come back up for no obvious reason at all. Suddenly, you’re slamming doors, crying, or honking wildly in traffic.
These are all signs you have rage built up in your body, and it needs somewhere to go — and according to Mia Magik, an intuitive advisor, one of the best ways to let it out is through a “rage ritual.” It’s something she talks about in Witchual, her new book. It offers a modern approach to mindful living with the use of daily practices that can help you live a more authentic life.
“The whole book is an exploration of the impact of losing ritual in our lives,” she tells Bustle, noting we should all be looking for ways to add routine back into our day. “Ritual is all about utilizing your attention and intention to make just about anything that you're already doing more magical, fun, or ceremonial.”
Some of the habits are sweet and grounding, like getting dressed with intention or stirring positive manifestations into a glass of water. Others involve punching a pillow and screaming into the void. Magik offers international in-person retreats that include a rage ritual where people can scream and beat the forest floor with a stick. While that’s probably an amazing experience, you can recreate those same benefits at home. Here, Magik talks about making a rage ritual of your own and why it’s so important.
Why Everyone Needs A Rage Ritual
Whether you’re angry about the state of the world, overwhelmed by everyday stressors, or carrying around a lifetime of fury, a rage ritual can help you let it all out. Along with morning routines and daily self-expression, scheduling a regular anger release sesh is about giving yourself permission to feel and express your negative feelings.
Anger can form for a variety of reasons. “Some of us have never been able to stand up for ourselves, or say what we need, or tell someone how we feel,” Magik says, and it really adds up.
While it’s called a rage ritual, she says it’s actually closer to a “release” ritual, during which you can let go of grief, sadness, or any other suppressed emotion. Once it’s all out, you should feel better mentally and physically. Suddenly, you’re grounded, calmer, and able to handle what life throws your way.
How To Create A Rage Ritual
To make your own rage ritual at home, Magik recommends taking a trip down memory lane. Start by doing a 20-minute meditation to recall all the moments where it wasn’t safe for you to express your feelings or when your boundaries were crossed. Take a deep breath and, if you can, remember the people and experiences that hurt you.
It could be something your parents said when you were five, a comment from a high school art teacher who didn’t believe in you, a situation with a toxic ex in your 20s, or a painful rejection. Start with your earliest memories and travel through the timeline of your life. If it helps, write it down in a journal.
Once the meditation has brought everything to the surface, move on to somatic exercises, which are movements meant to release any stuck energy. “A really beautiful, trauma-informed practice is to do the thing you’ve always wanted to do, but in slow motion,” Magik says. Think about how you’d like to release your agitation. Act it out at home. If you want to punch something, pull your fist back and slowly push it into the air, feeling all your muscles engaging in the movement.
According to Magik, this exercise is about being in your body, instead of numbing or ignoring your thoughts and feelings. You can also push against a wall while saying “Get away from me!” or grab a pillow off your bed and slam it down. If you’re in the woods, grab a stick and (safely) whack it against the ground. Whatever physical release you choose, do it for another 20 minutes — or until you get tired.
When implementing this practice at home, remember that a rage ritual isn’t about losing control. “I want you to reclaim control,” Magik says. “No one is harmed during this practice. No is triggered. It’s just you and the earth.”
What you do afterward is important, too. Take care of yourself. Soak in a warm bath. Call a friend. Walk in nature and listen to the birds. To ensure your emotions are released, Magik says you can do this practice every day for a week to get it all out of your system, but after that, once every four months is enough. That way, the anger won’t become ingrained in your brain, but instead will move out of you.
