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Areas › Anger › Cool the body first
Clenching runs itself. Opening on purpose takes a small piece of attention back from the automatic. It fits in a pocket, nobody at the table can see it, and it works in the middle of a conversation, which matters more than how clever it is. Anything you cannot do in front of other people will not be there when you need it.
After performing the ritual prayer, continue to remember God (Quran 4:103), standing, sitting and lying on your sides. Remembrance is attached to whatever the body happens to be doing, so a small movement of the hand is a fair place for it.
النساء
فَإِذَا قَضَيۡتُمُ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ فَٱذۡكُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ قِيَٰمࣰ ا وَقُعُودࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِكُمۡۚ فَإِذَا ٱطۡمَأۡنَنتُمۡ فَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَۚ إِنَّ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ كَانَتۡ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ كِتَٰبࣰ ا مَّوۡقُوتࣰ ا
After performing the ritual prayer, continue to remember God- standing, sitting, and lying on your sides- and once you are safe, keep up regular prayer, for prayer is obligatory for the believers at prescribed times
Qur’an 4:103read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A pilot study with male athletes found that rhythmic breathing with biofeedback shifted heart rate variability, brain asymmetry and self reported anxiety. That was breathing rather than hands, and a small pilot at that, so it cannot be stretched into support for this particular gesture. It backs the modest claim only: deliberate control of a simple bodily action can move the state you are in.
Dziembowska I, Izdebski P, Rasmus A, Brudny J, Grzelczak M, Cysewski P. (2016). Effects of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback on EEG Alpha Asymmetry and Anxiety Symptoms in Male Athletes: A Pilot Study.. Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Doing one small thing deliberately interrupts a body that has been running on its own.
If someone already has a practice in their life, hang the new skill on that rather than handing them something foreign.
Look along a shelf of anger books and the advice converges: bring the body down first. Mostly what differs is the packaging, so take whichever version you will actually use.
Angry eyes are not unfocused, they are too focused. Everything funnels down onto the person or thing in front of you and the rest of the room goes missing.