Why Scream Therapy in the Woods Might Just Save Your Sanity
Rage Rituals: The Next Big Thing in Therapy For Women
Ever feel so frustrated you just want to yell into the void?
Well, what if the void was a forest and came with a support group?
Welcome to the world of rage retreats, the latest trend for women who’ve had it up to here with keeping their cool.
Emotions — like that leftover Chinese takeout in the back of your fridge — can’t be ignored forever. They’re energy in motion, or “e-motion” if you’re trying to be cute about it.
And science says energy can’t be destroyed; it can only turn into something else — like, say, a midlife crisis or, I don’t know, your newfound skill in competitive yodeling.
Emotional energy can literally get ‘stuck' in your body.
Louise Hay — a best selling self-help author & speaker — tells us our bodies are like Airbnb for emotions. Don’t check out your anger properly, and it might just leave a nasty review… on your organs. Hay links suppressed rage to all sorts of ailments, cancer included (Hay’s full breakdown).
Studies have also shown the correlation of suppressed, repressed, or restrained anger as a precursor to cancer.
Here’s the kicker: society has slapped a big ol’ “handle with care” sticker on women’s anger. Men throw tantrums and it’s all, “He’s just being assertive!” But if a woman so much as frowns, it’s, “Whoa, hormones!” or “She must be on her period”.
Social conditioning teaches women their anger isn’t acceptable which can lead to them denying their own emotions for fear of being labeled — not good.
It’s kind of like sneezing without making a sound. Possible—but you might burst a blood vessel trying!
So, what’s a gal to do when she’s more ticked off than a teenager with a curfew?
Enter rage retreats: think group therapy meets a Viking invasion.
Organized by Mia Magik (yes, that’s her name, and no, she doesn’t pull rabbits out of hats — just emotions out of people), these retreats let women holler, sob, and smash things in a forest without any judgy eyes.
The camaraderie of being in a group of individuals with similar intent helps create a safe space. Here, you can vocalize your trauma and the emotions tied to it, then physically expel them through ‘loud’ motion.
Using intense motion to expel trauma can be seen in nature as well. Watch a gazelle after a lion chase — it shakes like it’s trying to win a dance battle, then trots off like nothing happened.
The animal literally shakes and expels the intense trauma from almost getting eaten so it can continue on with its life rather than sit around, paralyzed, waiting for the next lion.
Personally, I have not been to one of these retreats but see the value they would provide to women who have never felt the permission to expel the energy of their traumas.
Sure, they cost a pretty penny, but investing in your mental health? Totally worth it if you can swing it.
In my house–I hold pillow retreats. And they are for free.
I encourage my kids to scream their frustrations into a pillow. Just release those troubling emotions to clear the way for a better day.
Heck–I’ve done this myself, and it feels great.
Seriously, it does.
So next time you are feeling a burst of negative emotion, shake like a gazelle, book a rage retreat, or bury your face in a pillow and let it rip. Your pillow won’t mind — it’s seen you drool.
Just remember, repressed emotions are about as useful as decaf coffee — why bother?