What is rage yoga?

Rage yoga is a sort of alternative yoga method. Lindsay Istace, the founder of rage yoga, is a Canadian. She came up with a method of working out that involves regular yoga asanas, stretching and breathing exercises, combined with a lot of bad jokes and angry swear words—and called it rage yoga.

Rage yoga provides practitioners with a safe and healthy outlet for anger that they have stored for a long time.

Even before rage yoga came on the fitness scenes, we knew that raging and swearing occasionally can reduce pain and improve the mood. There’s scientific evidence that cussing and letting it all out once in a while improves our ability to deal with a difficult situation. (In an experiment, the researchers found participants who were told to cuss could keep their hand in ice-cold water 73% longer than those who were asked to repeat a non-swear word.)

To be sure, rage yoga is not an exercise in complaining or griping about something, but in letting out bottled emotions and achieving a sense of release. It allows the practitioner to have a safe space, to let go of all their frustration and rage. And once it is all done, this all-new cathartic workout regimen allows practitioners to take beer breaks in-between.

While it does sound like fun and games because of its unique set up, rage yoga claims to have some great benefits, too:

• Promoting self-control: The programme involves running for a few minutes. The time spent on this exercise allows the participants to reflect on why they felt angry in the first place and what they can do to release that negative energy.
  Rage yoga lets participants assess what triggers their anger, control how to process their thoughts and develop a nonviolent method to respond to their impulses.
• Helping with anger management: The brain feels aroused and fueled when we are exposed to situations that trigger our anger. People normally have a fight or flight response to these situations. Bursts of anger may cause high blood pressure or an acute cardiovascular event like irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) in some people. Rage yoga tries to ease frustrations and address anger issues, in a bid to help practitioners avoid these health problems. (Read more: how to control anger)

Rage Yoga is a programme that helps people release their frustrations in a safe and accepting environment. Swearing and screaming are the methods used to reduce stress and anger.

Rage yoga may not be for everyone, though. It is a new development in the field of fitness which is why not much is known about its long-term effects. But from what we know so far, the participants seem to shed their feelings of anger without resorting to violence in these sessions.