A Mindful Approach to Triggers
Mindfulness can be thought of as a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s personal experience of the world. This type of moment-to-moment awareness, and an understanding of how to use it to handle my triggers, has been a great asset to my recovery. While this may not be true for everyone—and there have certainly been thousands of people who’ve been successful in their recovery with absolutely no knowledge of mindfulness techniques—I know for myself that, without mindfulness, I’d run the risk of being at the mercy of my triggers. In my experience, a trigger, which for me tends to be a combination of sights and sounds, gives me an anxious, unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sometimes it’s small, and sometimes it’s enormous and close to what I’ve heard people in AA meetings call a “God-Sized Hole.” Often I’m not aware of how it happened, but whenever I feel that sensation I immediately stop what I’m doing and implement the following mindfulness technique known as “The Four Rs” (Regulate, Relax, Recognize, Reassess):- Regulate the Breath: I bring my attention to my breathing. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, it’s always possible to focus on breathing. First, I just notice it; next, I breathe deeply into my abdomen (aka belly breathing) in the manner of seated meditation.
- Relax the Body: Once my attention is on my breathing and I’ve begun breathing in my abdomen, I bring my attention to my body. I relax my shoulders, my neck, my jaw and my face. Over the years, I’ve realized that there are very few physical activities that actually require a clenched jaw, raised shoulders and a stiff neck, and the simple act of relaxing these areas is, quite literally, like lifting a weight from my soul.
- Recognize the World: Once my breathing is steady and my body is relaxed, I begin to focus on what’s happening around me. This step may seem a bit silly at first, but here’s how to do it: look around and just notice things that are related to the five senses—the color of someone’s shirt, the sounds coming from the street or the next room, the immediate sensations of your own clothes against your body, any taste that might be lingering in your mouth, and any odors that may be present in your proximate environment. Doing this will help ground you in the here and now, and keep your mind off things you can’t control.
- Reassess the Situation: After regulating my breathing, relaxing my body and recognizing what’s going on in the world around me, I think back to immediately before I felt my “trigger” sensation and try to identify exactly what it was the caused it. Almost without fail, the first three steps of this process—regulate, relax and recognize—serve to transform my internal state from feeling triggered to feeling on top of the situation, and I’m able to understand what triggered me.
