Mad Is Not Bad… Why the Body Needs Ritual, Movement and Release

Mad is not bad. Let that resonate for a moment. One of the biggest misunderstandings in mental health is the belief that difficult emotions are dangerous. They’re not.

Anger is not the enemy. Grief is not the enemy. Fear is not the enemy.

What harms us more often is what happens when emotions are suppressed, shamed, intellectualised, or trapped in the body with nowhere to go. As a somatic practitioner, I often remind clients: “The feeling itself is valid. What matters is what we do with it.”

A child feeling rage is not a problem. An adult feeling grief is not a problem. A nervous system mobilising after hurt is not a problem.

But when emotions are repeatedly swallowed, disconnected from, or pushed down, the body often carries the burden. Sometimes for decades. This becomes a problem either physically or mentally.

The Body Speaks in Sensation, Symbol and Movement

Talk therapy can be deeply valuable. Naming our experiences matters. But many people discover there are places words alone cannot fully reach.

Trauma, grief and anger are not just stories stored in the mind. They live in muscles, breath, posture, impulses, tension patterns, and nervous system responses. This is why symbolic and embodied practices have existed across cultures for thousands of years; crying rituals, drumming, keening, shaking, dancing, pilgrimage, prayer, fire ceremonies, water rituals and grieving circles.

Humans have always understood that healing is not only cognitive. It is physical. It is relational. It is emotional. It is spiritual. It is embodied.

The Stone Ritual

Sometimes when working with clients, I bring them to the beach nearby. We gather stones. Each stone can represent something; anger, shame, betrayal, fear, heartbreak, words never spoken, or the pressure of holding everything together.

One by one, they hold the stone, notice what happens in the body, and let it speak through movement… sometimes quietly, sometimes fiercely. Then they throw or drop the stone into the ocean. Not because the feeling magically disappears. But because the body needs a moment of: “I do not have to carry this alone anymore.”

The splash. The movement. The sound. The force through the arm. The rock sometimes breaking. The witnessing. And something shifts.

The nervous system often responds to action and symbolism in ways language alone cannot provide.

Anger Needs Direction, Not Suppression

Many people were taught; “Calm down.” “Don’t be dramatic.” “Good girls don’t get angry.” “Nice boys don’t cry.” “Stop overreacting.”

So instead of learning how to work with anger, they learned to fear it. But healthy anger has purpose. Anger can; protect boundaries, restore dignity, mobilise action, reveal unmet needs, interrupt harmful patterns and be a catalyst for change.

The goal is not to become emotionless. The goal is to build the capacity to feel deeply without causing harm to ourselves or others.

Feeling is valid. Violence is not valid. Suppression is also harmful.

There is another way.

What the Ocean Teaches

The ocean does not cling to the wave. It allows movement. That’s what healing often is: not the absence of emotion, but the restoration of flow.

Most suffering comes not from feeling but from staying frozen around what was never allowed expression. Maybe that’s why rituals matter. Not because they erase pain (they can’t erase), but because they help the body finally say: “This happened.” “This mattered.” “I survived.” “And I do not need to hold it all inside forever.”

There is something very powerful about combining nature, movement, symbolism, witnessing, voice and sensory experience that supports the whole being.

If you suspect there might be suppressed or repressed anger, know you don’t have to carry it alone. Reach out for support. In doing so, you liberate that energy for your life, not just the energy of the anger that is trapped but also the energy that is trying to hold the anger.