For an example of how to incorporate gradual reintroduction of triggers I chose an example of walking, bending, squatting, skipping, and running movements in this visualization, but you could use visualization to reintroduce eating a certain food or spending time with a certain person, or place, or wearing a particular item of clothing or sport equipment.
You can use visualization as a starting point to reintroduce any triggers.
the key with visualization is to visualize the whole scenario, bring all of your senses into it to make it real to your brain.
See the colours and textures around you. Smell the smells, feel the temperature, the clothes you’re wearing, the ground beneath you.
Let yourself feel the emotion behind the activity.
And above all else, bring CARE into your practice:
Have compassion for yourself.
No matter what your experience is, no matter what emotion is prominent right now. Emotions are constantly fluctuating, whatever is present right now is just your brain’s best guessed response to what’s happening in your world right now.
Consider how becoming more aware of your emotions – and the sensation of emotion in your body – might help you minimize your unique pain context.
Becoming more aware of emotions and how they bring about sensation in our body, we take away the fear of the sensation and our pain context gets smaller.
Reassure yourself.
Emotions have no bearing on who you are as a person. Everyone feels all the emotions (unless they’re sociopaths), and no emotion is bad, no matter how it might show up in your body. Even if there is painful sensation with emotions, they are not dangerous.
Let yourself be with every emotion.
Some of them are less fun for sure, but all of them are safe. It’s important to show your brain that you are safe with emotion… remember that by avoiding something we’re teaching our brain to see it as dangerous. If that’s a poisonous snake that’s a good thing, but if it’s anger (which is not dangerous, and is bound to show up in our lives) it’s going to increase our pain context.
Learn more in Empowered Pain Mastery, my supported 12 week program! https://amycarrhilton.com/store
And let us know how this all relates to your experience 🙂
Amy
