Product Description

Few recognize the enormous power of rage as a vehicle for healing, or possess the skillful means to transform rage from a destructive to a life affirming resource. Rage is fuel, the source of our empowerment. When we embrace this brilliance respectfully, rage teaches us how to live, love, and heal.

Self-help authors rarely distinguish between anger and rage, but Ruth King has devoted her career to exploring the subtle varieties of rage, while challenging the notion that rage is an “evil” emotion that must be eradicated. In Healing Rage, she gives all readers access to her pioneering, breakthrough program, which has already changed thousands of lives through workshops nationwide.

Rage, King explains, sits at the crossroads of personal transformation. Those of us seeking more self-awareness will inevitably stumble upon personal rage on the path. Rage is not to be understood as a useless emotion, empty of story or knowledge, but as clarity and untapped fuel. Embraced with compassion, the energy trapped in rage becomes an intimate and empathic teacher offering balance, integrity, and inner peace to your healing journey, relationships, and service.

King identifies six common disguises of rage (dominance, defiance, devotion, distraction, depression, and dependence) and provides healing exercises including:

* Discover your rage inheritance and how to transform your legacy.
* Learn how to Look Within before Acting Out.
* Learn how to break habitual pain patterns in relationships.
* Learn how to center yourself again and again in difficult situations.
* Learn how to stay true to yourself when others are raging.
* And learn how to stop contributing to your own suffering.

Many of us go through our lives maintaining a good front. We may have all of the trappings—good job, higher education, and material gain--yet we have an inherent discontent with our lives that won’t go away. Written for every woman—ranging from counselors and their patients to those who may not realize that rage is at the root of their unhappiness and have just begun to seek new paths of hope—Healing Rage is a unique invitation for transformation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126064 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-16
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
How to tell the difference between rage and plain, everyday anger? Anger, explains King, a life coach and management consultant, is primarily associated with a current injustice or disappointment. Rage, on the other hand, is accumulated anger from past traumas that is locked in our bodies and minds. Or as they say in 12-step programs: If it's hysterical, it's historical. This is essentially a workbook to unlock that childhood trauma. It includes ways to understand how rage can mask itself (dominance, depression, etc.), questions to locate the rage and exercises to help process it. The book may be a valuable first step in recognizing unprocessed childhood trauma, especially for women. King speaks with insight and empathy about her own rage, rooted in a harsh childhood in South-Central L.A., and the experiences of others. And the exercises, while not new (journaling, imagining an inner rage child), can perhaps help some readers become more aware of the triggers that ignite their rage. Some women might be well advised to seek professional help, too, but King offers a starting place for women whose lives are being distorted by unrecognized rage. (Aug. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Harriet Lerner, Ph.D, Author of The Dance of Anger
Here is a book of enormous scope that helps us to become more curious about our rage and better equipped to use it wisely. Ruth King's compassion and generosity of spirit will leave you feeling like she's right there with you on the journey to a fuller and more courageous life.

Review
“This is a book that can change your life.”
—Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Color Purple

“Here is a book of enormous scope that helps us to become more curious about our rage and better equipped to use it wisely. Ruth King’s compassion and generosity of spirit will leave you feeling like she’s right there with you on the journey to a fuller and more courageous life.”
—Harriet Lerner, Ph.D, Author of The Dance of Anger

“A classic … filled with the passion, earthiness, and wisdom of a self-described wounded healer. … This is a book that can change your life.”
—Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Color Purple

“A wonderful, wise and inspiring book. I feel the heartbeat on every page. Ruth's compassion and generosity of spirit will inspire us to do our own homework toward a fuller and more courageous life.”
—Sue Bender, author of Everyday Sacred

"Ruth King has done the unthinkable. She has written a book that empowers women to embrace their pain, confusion and rage in a way that opens a pathway to liberation, healing, leadership and vision. This is a powerful, wise and timely message - a brilliant piece of work."
—Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money

“King has articulated the painful history, patterns, and traps of a raging heart and offers the skillful means for liberation in their very midst. This is revolutionary work.”
—Jack Kornfield, author and co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center

“The psychology of our age is characterized by aggression. The antidote is an experiential process that utilizes the energy for healing. This book provides methods for transforming vital energies into positive, creative, life-enhancing endeavors for individuals, institutions, and societies.”
—Cecile McHardy, Anthropologist and Radcliffe Institute Fellow, Harvard University

Customer Reviews

Thank you, Ruth
As a Chinese Buddhist from Asia, I was initially skeptical about what type of practice this black American lady could offer. I came from "the traditional Buddhist religion" in Asia. I was told to "let it go", and to strive for "forgiveness", and "compassion" These are the virtues of being Buddhist. Yet, no matter how many retreats I attended, I just couldn't reach that level and I blamed myself for not being a good Buddhist. I found that Ms. King's book and CD offered deeper teachings than that which I had received back home. She used practical personal experiences and displayed the wisdom of her personal discovery process. She made the teaching become tangible.
From reading the book, I found that my upbringing and experiences were similar to the author's in some degree. I experienced a strong resonance while I was reading the book and listening to her CD. I found she spoke for me.
As a mostly devotion type personality, I was inspired from her book and CD to learn the teachings of self-care, and self forgiveness. Without healing my rage how could forgiveness happen truthfully? After I came to the North America, I took some workshops. I gained a lot of new perspectives from the new teachings and felt more confidence about myself. But I still felt that there was something missing in them (I couldn't figure it out in the time). Everybody knew how to talk about compassion but no one is encouraged to face their rage.
Perhaps most importantly I learned to "forgive myself for not being able to change my past, but also for not being able to accept it". I found it really took very small steps to "move from resentment rage to a more balanced truth". My karma with my mother became more gentle, although I am still provoked by her ignorance sometimes. Ms. King's book was a great help to me and I don't know how to express my gratitude to her. Thank you!

It's a wonderful and useful book
The title is, of course, a double entendre. First is the understanding and healing of the effects of rage, and second is the understanding that the rage is authentic, something we own and deal with daily. The person experiencing it develops many positive habits that add to her life and benefit people around her. I am grateful for the clear explanations and the idea that we do not cut out the rage, we embrace it as part of ourselves. Ellen Wall

Essential Healing Advice
I've read this book, worked with all the processes and have attended a Healing Rage Workshop. I write in support of this book from direct experience. I found Healing Rage to be a groundbreaking and inspired tool that enabled me to deal with powerful emotions surrounding abandonment, sexual abuse and self-loathing. My life work is personal healing, I have written several memoirs as part of that path and have been in many forms of counseling for more than ten years. Ms. King is a powerful (and much needed) healer addressing rage head-on and giving women ways to express, release, honor and work with that rage. I endorse this book without reservation.