A Meditation For Releasing Emotional Triggers

In this meditation, you will learn why emotional triggers are so persistent and tenacious. You will discover that emotional triggers have a somatic component in the body as well as the mind. As Ed guides you through this meditation you will be releasing these two aspects of any trigger and begin the process of lasting relief and healing.

Transcript

Hi there,

This is Ed,

And welcome to a healing meditation for emotional triggers.

Emotional triggers are so tenacious.

We think that we work on what troubles us,

What triggers us.

We think about it,

We accept it,

We surrender to it,

And yet still it keeps triggering again and again.

And there's a very powerful reason why just working on our triggers mentally does not actually completely let them go,

Doesn't allow us to be free of that triggering effect.

And that simply is because there's a component to every trigger that's more than just a mental alertness,

A mental fear,

A mental belief.

There is a physical sensation that is inside of our bodies,

Our sinews,

The tissues.

When a stress,

A wound occurs to us,

Both mental and physical parts of our central nervous system is affected.

And within ourselves,

Within our physical body,

Somatically,

There is a representation of the positive stress that relates to the mental belief,

The mental wound.

And so when the mental part of it is relived,

The physical part is also relived,

And vice versa.

And this accounts for sometimes we feel a physical pain in our body,

And all of a sudden we start thinking negatively.

We get triggered by a physical response.

So not only can the thoughts trigger the body,

But a body sensation that feels like is familiar to an old wound will trigger the mind.

So in this meditation,

We're going to address the physical sensations,

The physical deposit of stress that was in the body.

We're going to relate it and connect it to the mental portion of stress that went into our mind.

And we're going to heal them together so that there is a complete release.

Are you ready to begin?

Great.

So I'd like you to sit comfortably with your feet on the floor,

If possible,

And close your eyes.

Take a nice deep breath in,

Filling the lungs and your diaphragm if you breathe diaphragmically.

And when you breathe out,

Just allow your body just to relax.

Good.

Let's take another breath in.

Good.

Now I'd ask you to choose a trigger that you'd like to work on in this meditation.

Maybe it's something that happened to you a long time ago when you were a little child,

Or maybe something that just happened recently.

Choose something,

A circumstance,

A person,

A place that triggers you,

And think about it for a while.

Take yourself back to that moment when it first occurred.

Where were you?

Who was with you?

Where were you?

What were you wearing?

Recall that circumstance.

Good.

And ask yourself,

Now that you're remembering it,

What must I have believed about myself?

What must I have believed about someone else,

A circumstance,

That have caused this uncomfortableness?

When you think about the belief,

It might be that people don't love me,

Or that I'm not good enough,

Or this person hurt me for no reason.

I just want you to think about that belief as you remember the circumstance,

And allow the understanding and the feeling of the belief to sort of accentuate and put a flame under the memory of what happened.

Go ahead and do that.

They hurt me because.

.

.

This happened to me because.

.

.

They never see me or love me because.

.

.

Why didn't I get the attention that I needed?

It must have been because.

.

.

Fill in the blank as best as you can,

And notice that you're beginning to get yourself in that reliving of the wound.

Allow yourself to go there.

Good.

And now,

I'd ask you to put your attention on your body.

Many people use something that's called the body scan.

Become aware of your body.

Where is there a sensation in your body?

You might notice a pain in your heart,

Or your abdomen,

A tingling in your shoulders,

Your back,

Your legs.

Find the part of your body that seems to be telling you,

I am the physical corresponding sensation to what you are thinking.

What is the strongest sensation,

And where is it in your body?

And when you locate it,

I want you to become aware of it.

Put your attention on it.

Take your dominant hand and put it on that part of your body,

If you can reach it,

And feel the sensation.

The emphasis here is feeling,

Not thinking.

If you hear your mind tell you the story of what happened,

Say,

Thank you mind,

But right now I just want to feel the sensation.

And with that,

You say,

There you are,

Sensation,

That corresponds to my mental pain and anguish.

There you are.

I see you,

I feel you,

Without any judgment,

And I invite you to release.

Use the powerful intention of your mind to invite it to release.

Go ahead.

Remembering if the mind pops in,

Just say thank you,

But go back to feeling the sensation.

Good.

Notice that three things can happen at this point.

Once you've recognized the belief,

The mental pain,

And you've discovered the corresponding physical sensation,

And you're asking it to release,

Three things can happen.

That sensation can get stronger.

Don't be fearful.

Allow it.

It may get stronger.

It's releasing.

If you notice your body using its normal healing properties to release,

It can get stronger and then subside as it releases.

Another thing that could happen is that all of a sudden that sensation can move to a different part of your body.

If that's the case,

Just follow it,

Noting,

Oh,

There you are.

Now you're in my shoulder.

Okay,

I see you,

I welcome you,

I accept you,

And I invite you to release sensations in my shoulder,

And then allow that to happen.

Encourage it.

Then in your shoulder,

It can either increase or decrease and release,

Or in some cases it could move again.

You see,

Many times we experience a wound as we interpret it in the world,

And every time we might take it in a different part of the body.

There might be many parts of our body that are holding a physical somatic stress that relates to the very same mental wound,

And so we need to practice this on a regular basis to release all of the somatic stress that's in our body.

So I'm going to give you a couple of minutes to be with it,

And allow it to move,

Encourage it to be released,

Feel it,

And if thoughts come with it,

And they may be uncomfortable,

Don't push them away,

But put your attention more on the sensation rather than the thought,

Because some thoughts may not want to leave.

So experience them both,

But favor the sensation.

Don't get lost in a story.

Go ahead,

I'll give you a few minutes to do that.

Okay,

Now notice once the sensation begins to subside,

How do you feel?

Check the feeling inside of you.

Notice that when the sensation is gone,

The mind is clearer,

Clearer to think another thought.

This is the beginning of lasting relief from triggers.

It doesn't happen overnight.

It will take some time of you practicing this meditation,

Encourage you to come back and listen to it again and again,

Or learn it and do it on your own.

Over the decades that you've lived,

You've accumulated a lot,

And so it will take some time for these to leave,

But you will notice a difference in the day when either a physical sensation occurs,

Or someone looks at you a certain way,

Or says something to you in a certain way.

You go,

Oh,

I don't feel so reactive.

I don't feel like yelling back or feeling anger.

It's beginning to let go.

The trigger loses its energy because the physical sensation that was anchoring the mind to stay on the thought and get excited has been loosened,

Been torn away like an anchor in a ship.

When the rope of the chain of the anchor is severed,

The ship can now float off.

It's not fixed to one point,

Not fixed on one thought,

On one negative emotion.

And like this,

What happens is although we never forget our wounds,

We can see something that reminds us of a wound,

But we have no reaction to it.

Isn't that wonderful?

Yes.

So now I want you just to take a moment to come back to your body,

Come back to the room.

Your eyes should still be closed and wiggle your hands,

Your toes,

And make sure that you feel centralized within your body before you slowly open your eyes.

Good.

You've energized not only your mind,

But in your body.

So drink lots of water today.

Water is a conductivity,

Not just of electricity,

But bioelectricity.

Keep yourself conductive so the energy can move through you today.

And thank you for joining this meditation.

I hope you enjoyed it and have patience and do this as much as you can and your triggers will eventually leave you.

Take care and have a great day.

Reviews

Such a powerful practice - and such a feeling of safety . Thank you so much Ed 🙏

Such a Beautifully voiced and practical technique. It really helped me identify and loosen around some stubborn thoughts and lower reactivity to the corresponding feeling. The memory remains but I feel less attached to the physical trigger after this practice. With love and Gratitude Ed 🙏💜

I was truly taken aback by the profound impact this experience had on me. I encourage others to find a space that feels right and safe for this work. My journey was deeply transformative, and I know I will revisit it in the future. Thank you 🙏

This was very beautiful and healing, thank you for sharing this Ed.
🙏❤️

Whoa! I will return to this many times I imagine. What a release 🙏

This is beyond wonderful. A million thanks…will listen to this over and over again 🙏

Thank you, I’ll be repeating this and checking your tracks out.

This meditation caught me by surprise. I was recalling an anxiety attack as an young adult (late 20's, now decades ago) but I was suddenly "transported" to feeling as if I were a very young child with mom physically pulling away from me and I felt great sadness. The meditation ended too soon.

Helped me converse with my mind and unidentifiy with it in a healthy way, fuego Ed

That was truly wonderful and enlightening. I knew I had triggers physically but I didn’t understand why until now. Thank you and I will continue to use this meditation to help me. Blessings 🫂🙏🏽

This was excellent. I had the movement which got so strong. I will be using this meditation regularly to help cope with an ongoing situation.

Very powerful, the tears fell, Ed’s voice resonated, so I felt safe, to relax and let go. I will definitely come and work with this meditation more. Thank you 🧡