Areas › Anger › Cool the body first
If open awareness sounds like too much, put it plainly: look at the background instead of the thing in front of it. That is the entire instruction.
People who bounce off contemplative language will happily follow a physical direction about where to point their eyes. Say background, say the space around them, say the wall behind their head. The same move works later on for how someone reads a situation rather than sees it, so it is worth setting the habit up in the eyes first, where it is easy to check.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth (Quran 3:191). Attention is turned to the widest thing available, which is roughly what looking at the background asks of the eyes.
ٱلَّذِينَ يَذۡكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمࣰ ا وَقُعُودࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمۡ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلۡقِ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقۡتَ هَٰذَا بَٰطِلࣰ ا سُبۡحَٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
who remember God standing, sitting, and lying down, who reflect on the creation of the heavens and earth: ‘Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose- You are far above that!- so protect us from the torment of the Fire
Qur’an 3:191read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Fitting the language to the person is not window dressing. In a randomised controlled trial with Latino adults who had both asthma and panic disorder, a culturally adapted programme combining cognitive behavioural therapy with heart rate variability biofeedback improved panic and asthma outcomes compared with music and relaxation therapy. The adaptation was part of the treatment. That was one trial in one population, so take it as a direction of travel.
Feldman JM, Matte L, Interian A, Lehrer PM, Lu SE, Scheckner B, Steinberg DM, Oken T, Kotay A, Sinha S, Shim C. (2016). Psychological treatment of comorbid asthma and panic disorder in Latino adults: Results from a randomized controlled trial.. Behaviour research and therapy doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
A plain instruction about what to do with your eyes is something a person can actually carry out while angry.
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
If techniques and explanations are not for you, carry a bottle of water and drink it down whenever you feel yourself going up. That is the whole method.
An open hand has meant coming unarmed for a very long time. If that meaning does something for you, keep it. If it does not, the gesture still works.
Anger is the most physical of the feelings. It goes straight into the muscles, so talking yourself out of it while your arms are already ready to move is hard work.