I was asked recently what I thought about adding a mantra to the meditation technique.
I said it wasn’t a good idea, and here’s why.
It’s because the meditation works in a very special way.
And adding a mantra to it would destroy its effectiveness.
because when you practice the technique regularly, you’ll be connected to the greatest bio-feedback machine ever devised – your own body.
But if you use a mantra, the mind-body connection is broken and all you’re left with is a relaxation technique.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with a relaxation technique if that’s what you want.


But if you want more, you have to go deeper.
And look inside your mind.
Because there are memories, thoughts, and experiences in your mind – some good, some bad – some close to the surface and some buried more deeply.
And these thoughts have to be “allowed” to come up for review while you’re in an aware state.
But, by focusing on a mantra-sound you’ll drown-out all thoughts, negative and positive.
Have you ever said, “Keep the noise down – I can’t hear myself think!”
Well, that is what a mantra is doing – stopping you from thinking. (Well, actually it’s stopping you from watching your thinking.)
Because true meditation is about constantly watching the thoughts in your mind.
And, when you get lost in some memory or fantasy, pulling yourself back to the present moment.
And you have to do this continuously until, eventually your mind becomes still and clear, like the surface of a lake on a windless day.
But, if you use a mantra you’ll never get to the clear-mind-state.
Although you may get to something that seems like a clear-mind-state.
Because you’ll be “relaxed” (on the surface) but all those hidden thoughts, emotions and motivations will still be there – hiding like virus in your body.
And they’ll still be affecting you without you even being aware of them.

Yes, anger is a poison

But, you may be thinking, “I know someone who is angry all the time and it doesn’t seem to affect them badly.”

And anger will kill you also if you allow yourself to be consumed by it.

Now, I’m not saying that you should pretend to be angry.

Have you ever had a cold sore? It’s caused by a virus called herpes simplex.
If you’ve ever had it then you’ve got it for life.
When you’re healthy and happy, the virus slinks away and hides in your nerve cells just biding its time (a horrible thought, I know).
But, if you get run-down, very emotional or upset, out it comes like a vulture, ready to prey upon the weak and frail.
And, just like a virus, unresolved anger is hiding in your mind and body – waiting for a chance to come out and attack someone.
And that someone could be your wife, husband, son, daughter, mother or father – the anger doesn’t care.
Anger spreads by making other people angry as well.

How Do You Know if You Have Unresolved Anger?

Think back to a time when someone hurt you – either physically or mentally.
Perhaps they were mean, rude or out-and-out cruel.
What do you feel?
Do you feel resentment?
Do you get upset and emotional?
If so, you have unresolved anger.

If You Have Unresolved Anger, What Should You do?

The first thing is to make sure you meditate to control anger, as I teach, at least twice each day.
This will help you to control your anger now, in the present.
When you meditate you may see images of a time when you were upset and angry but now you’ll be able to re-experience them in an aware, objective state.
Simply observing the anger-memories in this state may be enough to resolve them so that they’ll no longer affect you.
Although, it may take a long time.
But you can use the zone-point technique to speed-up the process.

The Zone-Point Technique for Dealing with Anger

I want you to sit upright in a chair.
Put your hands on your knees or in your lap, take deep breath and let it out.
As you breathe out, allow your shoulders to fall down and relax. Do this another two times.
Now, become aware of your hands so that you can feel them. Give yourself a few moments and when you can really feel your hands you’re ready for the next step.
Your memories and experiences are stored in your brain like layers of an onion – the most recent experiences are on the outer layers and memories from the past lie in deeper layers.
I want you want to deal with the recent experiences first – those on the outermost layers.
Don’t attempt to go too deep and try to deal with an earlier memory before you’ve dealt with the most recent ones first.


Think back to a recent time when you were angry.
Perhaps a car cut-in-front of you when you were driving or someone was cruel or a work colleague was rude – whatever it was I want you to think about it.
Now, when you think about it do you get upset?
Because I want you to get upset – I want you to re-experience the emotion.
And I want you to put a number on the intensity of the emotion.
For example, if you feel no emotion at all, I want you to give it a ZERO.
And if it’s the angriest you’ve ever been, I want you to give it a TEN.
Of course, if it’s halfway between the two you’ll give it a FIVE.
Not only do I want you to feel the emotion but I want you to locate it in your body.
When you can locate the place (an Emotional Zone-Point) focus on it – feel it.
Try to pinpoint it. When you do this an amazing thing will happen – the zone-point will get smaller.
But what’s even more amazing is that your anger will get smaller too.
Keep focusing on the zone-point until you can’t feel it any more or until it’s shrunk so small that you can barely notice it.
Then, bring-up the same memory again. Now what do you feel? And what level is it?
Is it in the same place or has it moved?
Is the intensity the same or has it dropped?
If the level is greater than zero, focus on the zone-point again until it shrinks.
Keep bringing-up the memory until you don’t get a reaction.
When you’ve reached that stage, move on to another memory and repeat the process.
But don’t work on more than 2 memories per day as it may be too much.

Keep an Anger Diary

I want you to keep a simple diary of your zone-point exercises.
Pick about 5 recent anger-memories and number them from 1-5
For each memory write down a few words to describe the event – it doesn’t have to be detailed just as long as you understand it.
You could even draw a small picture.
Then work on the first one and then move on to the next one.
But remember, don’t work on more than 2 per day.
Then, the next day, after you sit down in your chair and become aware of your hands, start again with the first anger-memory.
Remember, you gave it a level of intensity from zero to ten the last time.
Now when you conjure-up that memory again, what level does it have this time?
Is it the same? Is it less? Has the Zone-Point moved?
If it’s zero you can move on to your next memory.
Do this for all of your 5 memories in turn.

The Zone-Point Technique for Dealing With Anger in Daily Life

When you’ve worked with the Zone-Point Technique for a while, you’ll be able to use it in your daily life.
In the past, anger would take control of you so quickly that you’d be completely unaware of the affect on those around you until it was too late.
Whether they were friends, workmates or your own children.
But now, if you feel anger rising, you’ll able to recognise it in an instant and focus on the Emotional Zone-Point until it shrinks and you can regain control of yourself.
This method doesn’t replace the meditation technique but adds to it.
The Zone-Point technique will help you resolve the anger issues you already have and ones from your past.
But your daily meditation will stop you reacting badly in the present and building up problems for the future.
The meditation technique is the foundation and you still need to do it every day so that you don’t pick-up more anger issues.
Because it only takes one bad reaction to ruin months of work on yourself.