The Rage Room, these free rooms where dishes are broken and other new places designed to be… missed

One weekday evening, after their day’s work, dozens of people gather at a Parisian gym. They quickly remove their jackets and coats to appear in comfortable clothes, barefoot or in socks, on the parquet floor. Everyone is there for one reason: to dance. But be careful, there is no question of following the instructions of the teacher with a bun as firmly as her demands. Here we move as we please, giving absolute freedom to the body and mind.

We are not in a rave party either. During the three hours of the experiment, it is forbidden to talk to each other, to be under the influence of prohibited substances or alcohol. “The only guide is the music, we must be fully aware to resonate with our body and reach a state of transcendence. We dance to unblock the body and mind, let off steam, recharge and leave happy,” explains Virginie Brun, organizer of these Ecstatic Dances.

Moments of breath

Searching for an almost esoteric bliss or a simple need to let off steam in a limited time, whatever the motivation of the participants, more and more of them are joining these ecstatic dances. So much so that after exporting the concept to several cities in France and opening a new location that seats over a hundred people, Virginie Brune is giving up on people. Why such success? For Jeremy Peltier, co-director of the Jean-Jaures Foundation and author of the book Is the party over?these moments of breathing, where we can release pressure without being judged by the gaze of others, have become rare, and therefore precious.

“It’s hard to be carefree these days without being afraid to tell people. We live in a corseted and self-centered society that values ​​performance and takes itself very seriously. Everything we do must be subject to the gaze and recognition of others, especially on social networks. We are paralyzed by the fear of doing or saying the wrong thing, of being thought irresponsible, when we should be serious about the issues of the moment…” Dance until you lose your mind, without fear of ridicule, for three. hour, almost like trespassing.

However, it is necessary to bring some spontaneity into our lives. Benjamin Moussergues, a trainer at the MVMT club in Paris, understands this well and offers cardio workouts designed for skipping. For fifty minutes, he raises his heart as much as possible, taking care of his repertoire. And at the climax of the session, he recreates the conditions of a disco, throwing the room into darkness and inviting the participants to do whatever they want with their bodies. “At first, people are surprised,” says the coach. Without direction, they don’t know what to do with themselves. So I suggest them to close their eyes, to go further by forgetting themselves. They shout, they cry, they laugh… We meet a little bit of this spirit of universal joy that exists in discos, in a very childish way of life, which brings a lot of joy. »

here we scream, shout, jump and even cry

Romain Guenec, creator of La Break Room

Become one with yourself

Cut off from each other’s gaze, tired from so much effort, their bodies finally release their emotions and appear as if they pressed a button. reset. “This letting go is lifesaving, because nowadays the mind is no longer sufficiently connected to the body,” adds Virginie Brun. The growing, ubiquitous place of social networks in our lives hasn’t helped. “Conscious contact with the body was already relatively little developed in the past, but now screens have made us more sedentary,” analyzes psychiatrist Christophe. About the author of the book Knowing how to protect yourself, mental immunity (Ed. Odile Jacob). The Age spawns beings that are technologically extremely connected… but disconnected from themselves.

However, getting back to yourself is vital. “I would go further, sometimes you should also let off steam because it’s good for your health,” adds Christoph Masin. The immediate response to excessive tension, letting off steam allows you to temporarily lower blood pressure and avoid psychosomatic disorders. But these decompression valves sometimes open the breach to all sorts of excesses. “This is the case of the last Agricultural Show, which was distinguished as a place of great celebration, where people drank more than was reasonable, no doubt to forget and forget themselves,” notes Jeremy Peltier. So much so that the organizers had to call for a more reasonable use of alcohol. “Leave steam yes, decompose no…

E:release negative emotions

The enemy continues to be repression. It is sometimes so entrenched in us that we are forced to resort to more drastic techniques to evacuate the excess of emotion that is beyond us. In recent years, so-called scrap yards have opened almost everywhere in France. In these places, cleverly called Fury Room or Rage Room, you pay to come and smash dishes, appliances or even computer junk. If some come there to have fun, do something team building or with family to restore contact with a recalcitrant teenager, others seek to distance themselves from any judgment. This act, which is close to transgression, quickly brings all kinds of emotions to the surface.

“Here, too, we scream, shout, jump and even cry,” explains Romain Guenec, who opened his Break Room in the suburbs of Paris two years ago with the idea of ​​linking entrepreneurship and well-being. “After all, breaking up is an excuse, I wanted to offer a closed and safe space where we can let off steam from any accusing eyes,” he explains, detailing that after twenty minutes of breaking, the body enters the same state as after. an hour of sports. Dare we call this therapy even briefly? After all, we are more in the evacuation of negative emotions, such as anger or anxiety, than in the pursuit of pleasure.

Long term release

According to the young entrepreneur, some people even come with the advice of their psychologist. However, if this type of release has positive effects in the short term, in the long term it is not certain that breaking plates on the walls, even for this purpose, helps to solve anxieties, injuries and other intimate problems. “It’s an easy answer that doesn’t question the origin of the tension,” explains Christoph Masin. Such ventilation is a relief, but is it really liberating? “What do we do to control our emotions?” It is important to understand what causes emotions to set boundaries. Which doesn’t stop us from pairing it with three thrilling hours on the dance floor.