The Viking therapy club

[Serpha]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/...t_their_demons

It looks like the set of Game of Thrones. Wolin in Poland hosts one of the world’s largest gatherings of Viking enthusiasts each year.

Hundreds come to recreate Viking culture - and take part in fierce, competitive battles. Many are drawn by a passion for history. But, for a significant number, it’s a way of escaping their past - a past scarred by violence.

The Viking scene attracts people who are combat veterans, former football hooligans and others struggling to come to terms with violence.

It also seems to appeal to men who have lost direction in their lives and are looking for a sense of purpose.

Four members of the international group called the Jomsborg Vikings, which is about 2,000 strong, explain what draws them to the Viking world, and how it has changed their lives.
Max Bracey - or Maximas von Bracey, to give him his Viking name - leads a British Viking contingent called Ulflag.

His day job is running a shop that sells Viking paraphernalia in Walthamstow, London.

“A lot of these people are adrenaline junkies,” he explains.

“They really want to take part in something where they feel alive, with a sense of brotherhood.”
He continues: “This is [also] a way of exploring how our ancestors lived.”

He embraced Viking re-enactment at a low point in his life.

His father had died of cancer, and a long-term relationship with his girlfriend had come to an end.

He tried various martial arts, but none fully satisfied him
Qanun Bhatti is the chief trainer of the Ulflag Vikings in the UK.

He suffered abuse as a child, when he was six years old.

“I had quite a lot of anger issues. Violence just became a bit of a way of life.

“An angry child doesn’t know how to deal with emotions, but by being violent.”

Even as he was struggling to come to terms with the abuse, he had more violence to deal with in his adolescence.

Growing up in London in the 80s and 90s, he says he was victimised for being Asian and Muslim, picked on at school and attacked by skinheads.

Qanun believes joining the Vikings has healed him.

“Being able to let out my frustrations and aggression in a controlled manner is very beneficial for me.”

It has also given him a new sense of belonging.

Cool thing, I always wanted to go to something like that. Would you? Do you? Why not?

[Wolfman31]

Yeah this sort of thing is huge in Europe, especially in the east. I'd love to go and do it but it's expensive and dangerous. If your equipment fails, you can lose an eye. These dudes really go at it. And most of them sacrifice everything else in life just to do this to the point that their lives revolve around it and nothing else. The Jomsborg guys were featured in a documentary called "To Go Viking". I watched it on Amazon Prime. It goes into detail about just how much this means to these guys. It's pretty intense and worth a watch.

[Independent voter]

Looks like the have actual iron spear heads on their spears.

Over here we have rubber spear heads or padded.

[Malacrass]

I guess some monkeys just have to let out their aggression somewhere, so better in some remote place in East Europe than in my train on the way home.

Same as those psychos meeting in the woods to beat each other senseless, mostly hooligans and nazis.

[Deleted]

I went to the one in York in 94 with school

http://jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/visit/

[Sorrior]

"Letting out aggression" is addictive, so probably not the best idea.

I can dig the idea of hanging out with people who like the same stuff as you do.

Also therapeutic otherwise just bottles up.

[Socialhealer]

Looks like the have actual iron spear heads on their spears.

Over here we have rubber spear heads or padded.

oh god that makes america so much safer, no wait you have guns nvm.

[Clone]

Sounds fun but I don't want to lose an eye. I will stick with kickboxing and being bruised up.

[McFuu]

"Come to terms with violence."

Violence is kind of like getting a boner from hentai. You know you shouldn't like it, but that won't stop you from reaching for the tissues.

[Malacrass]

you mean men right?

No, monkey fits just fine for the people I have in mind.

Because the vast, vast majority of men doesn't meet in the woods to beat each other bloody.

[Malacrass]

Do you hate boxing too? MMA? Judo? Not all men conform to your metrossexual ideas of how males are supposed to act.
Does not mean the are monkeys compared to you.

Sure, not all men conform to my metrosexual ideas. But I'm also not the one generalizing all men. You are.

you mean men right?

[slime]

Do you hate boxing too? MMA? Judo? Not all men conform to your metrossexual ideas of how males are supposed to act.
Does not mean the are monkeys compared to you.

Ill be a monkey compared to him... he sounds like an ant.

[Techno-Druid]

So it's a larp?

[Lochton]

It can be quite entertaining. Been part of a Viking market a few years back. Then again, wasn't for therapy but for social interaction and history.

[Hammerfest]

Dumb. Besides, Vikings attacked civilian populations, not standing militaries. Not a group of people I'd look up to.