Anger: 7-minute letting go meditation, in a five-minute break

About this practice

When anger shows up in a five-minute break, this 7-minute letting go session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: anger

Anger is a fast, full-body response. Blood moves to the hands and jaw, heart rate climbs sharply, and reasoning comes back online several minutes later.

It tends to show up as:

• Heat in the chest and face
• The urge to speak before thinking
• A clenched jaw or fists

The physical peak passes in about ninety seconds if it is not fed. Slow breathing uses those seconds rather than spending them.

Doing this on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

How letting go works

Letting go is about loosening grip rather than dropping things. It works on the effort attached to a problem — the holding, rehearsing and bracing — which is separable from the problem itself.

• Pick one thing you are gripping and loosen a single finger
• Release the effort with the exhale, not the issue
• Set down temporarily; you can pick it up again after

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00There is nothing to get right here. Nothing is being scored.
2. 0:12We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
3. 0:22Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
4. 0:36Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
5. 0:47Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
6. 1:02Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
7. 1:13Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
8. 1:24Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
9. 1:36Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
10. 1:49You do not have to win against the white-hot moment before you speak. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
11. 2:07Imagine softening the edges of the heat rising in your chest. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
12. 2:25Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
13. 2:38Keep following the air.
14. 2:47Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
15. 3:03Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
16. 3:15If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
17. 3:30A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
18. 3:41Nothing here needs to be efficient.
19. 3:51If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
20. 4:05Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
21. 4:19Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
22. 4:30Notice how the urge to snap changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
23. 4:46If the white-hot moment before you speak shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
24. 5:07Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
25. 5:20Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
26. 5:34Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
27. 5:46A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
28. 5:57There's no need to try harder than this.
29. 6:08Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.
30. 6:21Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
31. 6:34Stay here a little longer.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.