Mindfulness Techniques for Anger
Mindfulness techniques can be put to good use in discharging acute or chronic anger. As one of our strongest emotions, anger can be hard to view objectively and defuse before getting out of hand, however, mindfulness can help by creating a space between stimulus and an immediate, impulsive response.
This technique can help you deal with the experience of anger:
- First, sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed and notice the places where your body is touching the floor, cushion, or chair.
- Draw in a few deep breaths, completely filling up your lungs and quickly exhaling.
- Think back to a time that you recently experienced anger, preferably a mild or quickly addressed episode. Allow yourself to experience the anger you felt in that moment.
- Disregard any other feelings that come up with this memory, like guilt or sadness.
- Turn your attention to how you are experiencing anger in your body. Notice whether any parts of your body are manifesting your anger, with sensations like warmth or cold, the intensity of these reactions, and whether they change as you observe them or move through your body.
- Bring compassion to the anger. This can be a difficult step, but remind yourself that anger is a natural human emotion that affects us all at one point or another. Try to hold your anger like a mother cradling a newborn, with love and understanding.
- Say goodbye to your anger. Gradually bring your attention back to your breath and rest here for a while, until your emotions have subsided or settled down.
- Reflect on the experience. Notice the sensations that this exercise brought up in your body, notice if they changed through the process. Take note of whether you applied compassion to your anger, and if so, how you did it. Think about what happened to the anger when you showed it compassion.
This exercise can be repeated as many times as necessary. It is recommended to work your way up from milder experiences of anger to the most intense and memorable episodes.
Practicing this technique can help you to defuse chronic anger in a rather counterintuitive manner: by accepting and mindfully feeling your anger, you can take control of the experience and compassionately address it.
You can also follow this 20 minute guided anger management mindfulness meditation
@SunFern
wow, that is a really helpful post. thank you so much.
@SunFern
Awesome post Ferny. Thank you for sharing with us <3
@SunFern
Sun thank you for this wonderful reminder of how mindfulness can help us
I know when I am angry I tend to over react to much, blow the situation outta hand, lose focus, feelings are all over the place and intense, I'm not focused on the whole facts
BUT,,,,,,,,,,,,,
When I take at least 7 minutes and breathe and focus on anything in my room or house or wherever, I tend to relax and then I can see the whole picture and the facts. I love using mindfulness for alot of anger issues or feelings
How much did I need this. Copied and pasted this for future reference.
To manage my anger I go shooting with my bow and arrows and with each arrow release tension.
Oh I was so frustrated and angry
One thing I don' know is to how practically show compassion and give attention?
@Popitzik hi showing compassion is not easy to practice. It involves first accepting ourselves. Then there is nothing left but compassion for others. Part of accepting ourselves is not to give attention to the judgements and put down thoughts that fill our heads sometimes.
Try this, be aware of your breathing, be aware of what you hear, smell, taste and sense. What do you feel like when you do this? For me it takes me off the thought train.