Anchoring Back to Yourself: Reclaiming Your Power When You Feel Triggered
As a yoga teacher and reiki master with a strong personal practice, I spend a lot of time helping others find balance and calm. But the truth is, no matter how grounded we are, life has a way of testing us. Recently, I found myself caught in a situation that stirred up all sorts of uncomfortable emotions. What began as a small trigger soon gathered momentum, my thoughts looping, my energy scattered, my body tight and uneasy. I found myself in my head and out of my body. I felt ungrounded, like my whole body had a life of its own and I was the onlooker unable to do anything to stop the reaction. Ultimately I realised I’d lost my anchor.
This troubled me. My tried and tested tools that I return to over and over were somehow not helping me in the moment I felt triggered. Quite honestly I began to feel a little powerless around the situation.
Over the weeks that followed the universe conspired to guide me through this life lesson. What I learned over the following weeks is that when we’re triggered, our energy literally leaves the body. It’s as if we give our power away to a thought, a memory or a person and we become unanchored. Our minds spin, our hearts race, and suddenly we’re no longer here we’ve transferred our energy to someone or something else.
The Practice That Found Me
As often happens I found myself listening to a podcast where the guest was describing a simple energy technique she called anchoring. This involves simply calling your power back. It landed deeply. I knew it had found me for a reason, in my world there are no coincidences! There is a link to the podcast episode at the end of the blog.
I started to use this technique every time I felt that familiar discomfort, when my head took over and my body felt wobbly. I’d imagine pulling my energy, my thoughts, my light, back into my body. Back into my center. I’d visualize it coming home, filling me again. The shift was instant, my energy returned to my body and I felt safe in my body again.
This anchoring technique has found its way amongst my other grounding practices. Sometimes I use self reiki, other days it’s time on my mat, a few minutes of movement or a root chakra meditation. I might journal, tap, or repeat affirmations like ‘I am safe, I am home in my body.’ Different moments call for different medicine.
This experience was a reminder that every trigger is an invitation to get curious and come home again. To notice where we’ve lost ourselves and to gently call our energy back. Each time we anchor, we strengthen our sense of safety, our presence, and our connection to ourselves. It’s not about never getting triggered because we know that life will present us with these moments, it’s about remembering that we have the power to return. When we are in a balanced state we can begin to work on whatever was out of balance.
The next time you feel triggered and your energy scattering, pause. Breathe. Imagine calling your energy back home to you, no person or thing gets to take your energy without your permission because your power belongs with you.
Try This 3 Step Anchoring Practice
1. Pause and Notice
When you feel that familiar rush of anxiety, reactivity, or looping thoughts pause.
Take a slow breath and ask yourself: Where is my energy right now?
You might sense that your thoughts or emotions are projected onto someone or something else, to a person, a memory, or a story. Notice, without judgment.
2. Call Your Energy Home
- Imagine gathering all the threads of your energy your power, your thoughts, your emotions and calling them back into your body.
You might picture golden light returning to your center, flowing into your heart, belly, or root chakra.
Quietly say (out loud or in your mind):
“I call my energy back to me.
I am safe, whole, and grounded in my body.”
Feel yourself filling up with your own energy again, safe, centered, steady.
3. Anchor into the Present
Take a few grounding breaths.
Feel your feet on the earth or your seat on the chair.
Let your awareness rest on the rhythm of your breath or the rise and fall of your belly.
You might even place a hand on your heart or your belly as a signal to your body: I’m here now.
Notice how your energy feels different, calmer, more contained.
Practice this whenever you feel scattered, reactive, or ungrounded. Over time, you’ll start to recognize the signs earlier and anchoring will become your natural way of returning home to yourself.
Link to Podcast https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZkBzEKDfmR4
