When you notice you’re triggered and your heart is racing, what’s the simplest path to coming back to center in that moment?
This week, I’ve been noticing how easy it is for people to be triggered. Long airport queues and cancelled flights. A car going 20km per hour below the speed limit on a single-lane road. A process that seems non-sensical. Incomprehensible instructions to assemble an office chair. When we are triggered, we know it, although we don’t always acknowledge it. Our heart races. Our head fogs. Our muscles tense. Our survival brain senses a threat and we react, rather than respond, without thinking.
Walking around in a state of reactivity is a terrible feeling. It can feel like we’re not in control of what’s happening to us. It can feel like we will never be able to keep our head above water. Even the most experienced of meditators can be triggered and thrown into a state of disruption.
Meditation is often suggested as a practice to build the capacity to come back to center when you notice you are triggered. And yes, meditation is a wonderful practice. At the same time, I’ve had many coaching clients who struggle with meditation. It can be hard to get started. It can be hard to stick with it. So I want to make it a little simpler.
If your meditation practice isn’t sticking, just start by pausing and breathing when you notice you are triggered. Pausing and taking a breath can take less than five seconds. Notice how it soothes you, how it slows you down, how it gives your cognitive brain a chance to catch up. Maybe take another one. Maybe a third. Notice how it decreases your reactivity and increases your capacity to respond.
There are many alternatives to ‘classic’ meditation that promote a focus on the breath. When I lived in Dubai, I went scuba diving a lot. The whole world slowed down when I was underwater, and I learned that rapid breathing was counter-productive to buoyance and sustaining air supply. Swimming and running also encourage a focus on the breath (I love swimming because, unless you are a professional swimmer on auto-pilot, you have to be focused on what you’re doing or else you run the risk of inhaling water!). While I don’t endorse smoking, I suspect many people who smoke do so to create their own moment to pause and breathe in moments of high stress.
This week’s poem, by Rainer Maria Rilke, is a beautiful ode to the breath. Like nature, breathing is free, and yet we often neglect to actively focus on it. Take a moment to really notice your breath and the effect it has on your nervous system. It’s a great way for coming back to center.
