The most effective way to get control of your emotions is to stop trying. This is the basic foundation of taiji and qigong. 

It begins by noticing our mood, our emotional state. And with the slow practice of taiji and qigong you'll get better and better at it.

Here's what noticing does: Imagine yourself in the last stressful situation you experienced. Maybe work is overwhelming, or family life is really tense. You're right in the thick of feeling overwhelmed or furious. You want to lash out to end the overwhelm.

It's like the picture below. Who knows what that picture represents? We're so deep into the pixels that it could be anything. Just like emotional situations. You're right in the details. Focused in on the tiny pixels of whirling thoughts, emotions and physical reactions. You zoom right into the crisis. The picture is about one thing: this situation. There is no room or space for anything else.

Enter the act of noticing. 

Noticing allows you to step back. Noticing ends the ...