Areas › Anger › Cool the body first
Hum. You cannot hum without a long out breath, so the technique makes you do it right whether you are concentrating or not.
Most breathing instructions leave you judging whether your exhale was really slow enough, which is a poor thing to be assessing while you are furious. A hum settles that for you: as long as the sound is going, the air is going out steadily. An angry snort is not a hum, and you will hear the difference yourself.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Remember your Lord inwardly, in all humility and awe, without raising your voice (Quran 7:205). A quiet sound kept low in the throat is about as close to that instruction as the body gets.
وَٱذۡكُر رَّبَّكَ فِي نَفۡسِكَ تَضَرُّعࣰ ا وَخِيفَةࣰ وَدُونَ ٱلۡجَهۡرِ مِنَ ٱلۡقَوۡلِ بِٱلۡغُدُوِّ وَٱلۡأٓصَالِ وَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ ٱلۡغَٰفِلِينَ
[Prophet], remember your Lord inwardly, in all humility and awe, without raising your voice, in the mornings and in the evenings- do not be one of the heedless
Qur’an 7:205read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
In a randomised controlled trial, a single session of slow breathing biofeedback reduced performance anxiety in musicians, which shows that one stretch of controlled breathing can change how a stressful moment feels. Humming has not been tested against silent slow breathing, so the reason to prefer it is practical rather than evidential: it is the version you cannot do wrong.
Wells R, Outhred T, Heathers JA, Quintana DS, Kemp AH. (2012). Matter over mind: a randomised-controlled trial of single-session biofeedback training on performance anxiety and heart rate variability in musicians.. PloS one doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
The sound only continues while the out breath continues, so keeping the note going does the work for you.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Shouting it out does not empty the tank. Going over it loudly, in your head or at somebody, tends to keep the anger topped up rather than draining it.
Rather than noting each impulse in your head, touch a finger for each one. Thumb to index, thumb to middle, and on round the hand.
Anger numbs. If it is doing the work of a painkiller for you, it will be hard to put down while the pain underneath is still untreated.