What are triggers? These internal knots, granthis in Sanskrit, what are they really composed of? This we may never know, as they exist in the unseen layer of our world.
In the understanding of yoga, there are three unseen or psychic knots, Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. In our daily life, we experience these knots as impediments to our happiness.
Trigger Points in the Body
When we are physically hurt, there are signs of it on our body in the form of bruises, so physical hurts leave an imprint that can be observed by the naked eye.
Emotional hurts are felt intensely, but their impact, as resounding as it may be, remains unseen. Unresolved trauma, whether physical or emotional has the potential to become a knot lodged in the unseen layers; these points at which energy gets blocked. These points are vulnerable to triggers.
A trigger is a spring that sets off a chain of uncontrolled events; a tumultuous response or unbridled movement of energy. We have several such trigger points. You don’t need a therapist to uncover them. Just observe yourself for a day, and your reactions will give them away.
Trigger points keep us triggered, which means we are in fight-or-flight mode. This is a triggered state of being, in which the nervous system is not relaxed. It is standing on guard, ready to act in case the need should arise.
Trigger points can be transformed into a conscious and guided movement of energy with the practice of yoga.
Source of Triggers
How are triggers created? Stress is the obvious answer. But triggers are not just a function of stress.
Even if we don’t have any stress of money or relationship or work, we do have disagreements in the course of our daily interactions. These disagreements create a memory, a defense mechanism and a pattern. These are also triggers. Anything that triggers that memory starts the whole cycle of defense and a behavior pattern.
This is the stuff of daily life. It happens many times each day. Especially in the information age, where somebody or the other is always breaching our space with unsolicited offerings.
Soothing the Triggers
Yoga soothes our triggers. Yoga is a daily practice, a discipline that we can embrace now. Everybody who practices yoga is on the path to becoming a less triggered person. That is why when we finish a yoga class we feel relaxed, light and energetic.
Yoga takes us closer to who we really are, beyond our hurts and reactive nature. It awakens the witness in us. In this state, we can more clearly see our pain, discomfort, trauma, and our responses to them. The act of bearing witness to triggers lessens their hold over us, and who we really are is uncovered by our practice.
Losing the Triggers
Sage Patanjali emphasized in his sutras the need to practice (abhyasa) daily (nairantarya) with determination (dridh bhumi) and regard (sevito satkara).
It takes roughly 40 days of practice to release or loosen a trigger. One trigger less makes its absence felt immediately in the resilience of the body and mind. We are less likely to form new triggers and patterns with a daily practice, while simultaneously releasing old ones.
These knots or granthis that yogis spoke about can be released with the practice of yoga and its many techniques, prominent amongst them being the neuromuscular locks, or bandhas.
More about bandhas and how they can be practiced in the next blog.
