Practices

Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.

What matches

29 practices

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If one sigh helps, take another. Nothing says you have to wait for the hard part to be over first.

Waiting makes the sigh a report on something already finished. Repeating it while you are still in the middle turns it into an intervention instead.…

Five minutesCool the body firstBody basedQur’an 17:79One line of research

For a child who is boiling over: eyes closed, fingers gently over the ears, and a long humming breath out. They can feel the buzzing inside their own head.

Blocking their ears is something an upset child often does already, so you are borrowing a movement their hands know rather than teaching a new one.…

Five minutesCool the body firstBody basedQur’an 78:10One line of research

Instead of shutting your eyes, let your gaze go soft and wide: the sky, the far wall, the space above someone's shoulder. Keep them open and let the focus loosen.

Closing your eyes in front of someone reads as walking out of the conversation, and it often makes things worse. A soft open gaze breaks the lock…

Five minutesCool the body firstMindfulnessQur’an 48:4One line of research

Find something with nothing in it to look at: sky, a blank wall, a ceiling, a stretch of grass. Do not concentrate on it. Let your attention spread out over it.

Hostile thinking needs something to grip, and it will use whatever the eyes hand it. An expanse with no features gives it nothing, so the replay…

Five minutesCool the body firstMindfulnessQur’an 40:61One line of research

Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.

Moving your body

Obsessions and compulsions

Reading, numbers and learning differences

What worry does

Feeling from the inside

Breathing

Emotions as signals

When you use something to cope

Being seen and judged

Breaking the worry loop

Remembering to do it

Treatment and medication

Practising under provocation

Growing empathy

Bringing the future closer

Structure and routine

Exercise, food and other supports

Question the thought

Posture and how you carry yourself

When you go numb

Making it stick

When anger turns to harm

Letting it out safely

Living with uncertainty

Facing it a step at a time

What you are actually defending

Self-compassion

Rest and pacing

Use your strengths

Righteous anger and perfectionism

Anger, alcohol and the body

Panic and the body

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.

Some people want something to do, not something to understand, and that is a perfectly reasonable way to be. A bottle in your bag or your van is a…

Five minutesCool the body firstBody basedQur’an 8:11One line of research

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.

Ask what tends to be there in the half hour before you flare: a bit of shame, feeling small, an old fear about being left. The anger often arrives to…

Twenty minutesCool the body firstCoreQur’an 94:1One line of research

If the irritability came in alongside a low patch, or a spell of racing thoughts and hardly any sleep, have the mood looked at rather than treating the temper on its own.

Irritability is part of depression, and it belongs to the mixed and elevated states of bipolar disorder too. Anger skills are still worth having, and…

Twenty minutesCool the body firstBody basedQur’an 78:9One line of research

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.

There is a difference between letting pressure out of the body and rehearsing the grievance. A walk, a swim, hard cleaning, prayer: all of that…

Twenty minutesCool the body firstBody basedQur’an 89:27One line of research

Anger leaves fuel in the body with nowhere to go. Spend it on something physical, without replaying the argument while you do.

This is not getting it off your chest. The target is the surplus energy, so stairs, a brisk walk, or a hard ten minutes of almost anything will do…

Twenty minutesCool the body firstBody basedQur’an 28:73One line of research