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Areas › Anger › Cool the body first
Someone who does yoga already knows what a hand gesture is for and will not find it odd. Someone who prays already has fixed times in the day and a body that knows what to do at them. Starting from the familiar means the reminders are already in place, and the whole thing is far less likely to be quietly dropped in week two.
Keep up the prayer so that you remember Me (Quran 20:14). The routine already sitting in the day is named as the means of return, which is what building on an existing practice is doing.
طه
إِنَّنِيٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۠ فَٱعۡبُدۡنِي وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِذِكۡرِيٓ
I am God; there is no god but Me. So worship Me and keep up the prayer so that you remember Me
Qur’an 20:14read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
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. Adapting to the person was part of what was delivered, not decoration around it. It is one trial in one population, so read it as a direction rather than a rule.
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.
A practice that fits a life someone already lives comes with its own cues and meaning, so it survives the days when willingness does not.
Clench your fist a few times, then open it a different way each time: fingers first, thumb last, slowly, all at once. The second half is the harder half, and it is the whole exercise.
The urge to punch a wall is the body trying to dump a load of energy. Give it somewhere to go that will not cost you a hand or a door.
Counting to ten asks you to keep track of numbers at the exact moment you cannot keep track of anything. Breathe out slowly instead and let the breath do the delaying.