Online: Understanding Anger – From Poison to Presence
A Trauma-Informed, Four-Part Series with Amma Thanasanti
Thursdays, September 10th – October 1st, 2026 | 6:30pm – 8:30pm ET
Anger is one of the most misunderstood experiences in contemplative life. We’re often taught to manage it, release it, or simply watch it pass. But anger can carry real intelligence — about what matters to us, where our boundaries are, what we’ve lost, and where we need healing.
This four-part series offers something different: not a technique for getting rid of anger, but a framework for understanding it more clearly — so it can become useful rather than destructive, a doorway rather than a trap.
About the Series
Across four sessions, we explore four distinct families of anger:
- Everyday anger — the irritation, frustration, and friction of ordinary life. Left unexamined, it accumulates into resentment and reactivity. Understood clearly, it reveals what matters to us and offers early signal before the fire grows.
- Defensive anger — the anger that arises when a boundary is crossed or a value is violated. When it hardens, it can tip into self-righteousness or aggression. When heard, it carries the intelligence of protection and moral clarity.
- Attachment anger — the fire of disconnection, longing, and relational rupture. When it runs unconsciously, it can drive the very disconnection it most fears. When understood, it reveals how much connection matters — and what it needs in order to heal.
- Projective anger — when the charge of what we feel exceeds the present moment, pointing toward something unresolved in ourselves. When unexamined, it keeps us locked in cycles of blame and reactivity. When met with honesty, it becomes one of the most direct pathways to self-understanding and healing.
Throughout the series we will also explore how each of these families of anger shows up in our collective life — in polarization, moral distress, ecological anxiety, and the erosion of community. This is not only personal work. It is also practice for staying human in difficult times.
How the Sessions Work
Each two-hour session includes:
- A 30-minute guided meditation with multiple anchor options
- Teaching grounded in nearly 50 years of Theravada contemplative practice, trauma-informed understanding, and attachment theory
- Optional break-out inquiry or private journaling
- Group discussion and Q&A
All experiential components are optional. You are in charge of your level of engagement throughout. Backing off or slowing down is understood as wise and skillful practice.
This is a mindfulness and educational series. It is not therapy and not a replacement for therapy.
Who This Is For
This series is well suited for you if:
- You have some meditation experience and want to work more skillfully with anger
- You sense that your current practice hasn’t fully addressed your anger patterns
- You’re curious about trauma-informed approaches to difficult emotions
- You want to understand the difference between anger that needs to be heard and anger that needs additional support
No advanced practice is required.
Who This Is Not For
This is not the right container for you if:
- You are regularly destabilized and finding it difficult to regulate in daily life
- You are looking for a space to process deep emotional wounds or traumatic memories — this series is educational, not therapeutic
- You are in an early stage of trauma recovery where educational content about anger might be activating without sufficient support in place
- You are not yet connected to a therapist or support system and sense this series may be a substitute for one
Online Registration:
Please register below. If you are able, registering at the “Supporter” level enables others to attend at the “Subsidized” level. Thank you for your generosity! (Please note that the registration price includes a base level of teacher support, and you will have the opportunity to donate more after the program.)
If you are registering via a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, you can scroll right and left and up and down within the below form if it is partially obscured or cut off.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Bring a Buddy: If you are a member of our Circle of Friends, you’re invited to bring a Dharma buddy to this program for no additional cost. Simply select “1” from the drop-down next to the Bring a Buddy level, and enter your special discount code (provided in your Circle of Friends welcome email) to reduce the price to that of a single, standard registration. This registration will grant attendance for you and your buddy.
Volunteering
All of our programs rely on volunteers to support our teachers and staff with various tasks and responsibilities. Volunteering allows you to participate in our programs at no cost. To inquire about volunteering opportunities, please fill out our inquiry form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Teacher(s)
Amma Thanasanti
Amma Thanasanti has practiced meditation for over 45 years and has been teaching since 1989. She spent 26 years as a Theravada Buddhist nun, including 20 years in Ajahn Chah monasteries. Her teachers have included Dipa Ma, Ajahn Chah, and the Dalai Lama.
She is the Spiritual Director of Awakening Truth and founded the Integrated Meditation Program (IMP), which brings attachment repair and trauma-informed tools to address baseline patterns that meditation alone may not shift. She also developed the SHINE meditation practice, which helps practitioners access positive states to build resilience alongside working with difficult emotions. She is currently writing a book on anger from a trauma-informed Buddhist perspective.
Thanasanti teaches nationally and is committed to making dharma practice accessible, healing, and transformative for diverse practitioners. Her teaching integrates profound insight experiences, early Buddhist teachings, nature-based wisdom, and embodied knowing.