In today’s fast-paced world, anger can do a lot of damage. It only takes seconds to fire off an angry text, Slack message or email — which can harm relationships and lead to feelings of regret.
This simple mindfulness exercise can help you release the tension and avoid reacting in the moment. You can sit down or stand for this, whatever feels most comfortable. Keep reading for more guidance on coping with anger.
How to release anger
This exercise is intended to be used whenever someone feels like anger or frustration is boiling up.
There’s nothing wrong with getting angry — it happens to everyone. But anger is a more challenging emotion to process because it can feel so unpleasant.
It may help to think about why you feel angry.
Anger can arise because you feel let down, you feel ashamed, you feel judged, or blamed or hurt in some way. Or it may be that you are just overtired and your fuse is short. Sometimes the smallest of things can tip us over the edge.
Feeling angry doesn’t feel good. This meditation won’t resolve the underlying problem that led to anger, but it will help you cope with it and allow you to think more rationally about how to address it in a constructive way.
Eve Lewis Prieto is a Headspace meditation teacher in Los Angeles. You can find her on Instagram @meditatewitheve where she holds a live meditation every Monday.
Well+Being and Headspace have teamed up to bring you short meditations for everyday life. To learn more about our partnership, please read here.