The Rooted Business Podcast

10. EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS: Learning From (Instead of Running Away From) Our Triggers with Somatic Healer Jessica Benstock

July 01, 2020 Episode 10
10. EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS: Learning From (Instead of Running Away From) Our Triggers with Somatic Healer Jessica Benstock
The Rooted Business Podcast
Chapters
0:56
Introduction to Jessica Benstock, healer and coach
2:55
Subscribe, Rate and Review the Empowered Curiosity Podcast
3:59
Kat asks Jessica: What is your experience with accessing our emotional triggers?
4:32
Jessica talks about emotional survival instincts
5:50
The intelligence of emotions is designed by the same intelligence that designed our bodies
9:24
There is a lack of integration between mind, body and soul in our current clinical model
10:44
Looking at the body as the storyteller of our lives
12:57
We have been trained to bypass using our intellect
15:36
Kat to Jessica: What is an emotional trigger and how do they show up
17:29
Childhood triggers becomes a part of your story because we are energetic sponges between ages 0-7
20:44
Emotional triggers may feel unrelated and illogical
21:57
As adults, we access beta/theta brainwaves when we are meditating or dreaming
23:10
Kat talks about the effect of stress in the uterine environment and how it manifests in sensitivity to triggers
24:47
Jess shares a womb regression experience
27:18
Your human story is part of the collective human experience
29:54
Our lives begin already feeling plugged into the collective and then we differentiate into individuals and then the work of becoming conscious is about coming back to our original state of being a part of the collective
30:37
Relates to the Black Lives Matter movement and the coronavirus epidemic
31:57
Our brain is very binary
32:20
Noteworthy from Jess: When I feel the most justified, the most likely I am in my Ego and I am not seeing the situations very clearly
34:49
Letting go as a form of emotional bypassing
35:36
If you’re having an emotional breakdown, it’s a sign that there is something that you’re not attending to.
36:20
Watch for patterns in your emotional triggers
40:31
Question from the Audience: How do you create safety in the body when starting to connect to the body around amplified negative emotions
40:50
Breath and awareness in the lower centers of the body regulates your nervous system
44:48
Emotions are undomesticated and we have no control over how it comes out
46:00
The deepest healings come when the person feels held and unjudged enough to be able to fully go into the depth and rawness of what’s there
46:33
We have to allow ourselves to go through the full expression of the emotions without attaching to an answer
48:35
Invitation to future podcast tapings
49:09
Question from the Audience: What are some fundamental practices that we can utilize to check in with ourselves daily to prevent ourselves from getting to this place that feels escalated. How do we translate those sensations so we can address them?
50:16
Kat talks about how important it is to have a trauma-informed coach
51:30
Kat references Episode 3 of the Empowered Curiosity Podcast
52:54
Jess talks about her past experiences of anger
54:39
Using retrospection as a tool
56:10
Body scan
58:42
Kat talks about the balance between Masculine and Feminine
1:01:33
Jess talks about how the body gets compromised when we are not allowing ourselves to feel and be present
1:03:36
Kat talks about how each emotion needs a different container
1:06:09
Jess asks “What do you want right now?”
1:08:15
Asking the question of "How do I want to be held" can help you exercise the resilience muscle.
1:10:47
A comment from the Audience “This is an epidemic of unprocessed grief. It’s an emotion I struggle with the most and it requires a lot of grounding to hold it.”
1:11:07
Jess: Grief is a profound core emotion
1:13:58
Kat’s experience of embodied anger and grief with the Black Lives Matter March she attended
1:17:00
Grief as a purifying act
1:19:08
It’s ok to be messy
More Info
The Rooted Business Podcast
10. EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS: Learning From (Instead of Running Away From) Our Triggers with Somatic Healer Jessica Benstock
Jul 01, 2020 Episode 10

What if I told you that our emotional triggers are actually teachers in disguise. 

How does that land for you? Do you feel resistance? Fear? Acceptance? Surrender? 

When you feel wounded and triggered, every muscle fiber in your body (including that big beautiful beating Heart) feels unsafe and is seeking security. The default setting for most is to numb the feelings. When we numb, we feed our addictions, we retreat to protect ourselves, we apologize insincerely to avoid the hard conversation...

The thing that you do when you feel triggered might feel comforting in the moment, but in the long run, it buries the pain and creates more entanglements which might end up with you being

  • in a relationship that feels hollow and unfulfilling
  • in a career that doesn't feel like it has purpose and feel misaligned
  • exhausted
  • addicted 
  • frozen with fear
  • reactionary with the people who love you

When you are scared of your emotional triggers, you are afraid to feel the emotion beneath the trigger. You might be afraid to disappoint or hurt people so you keep martyring yourself. You might be afraid to look weak so you are selfless to the point you completely drain your cup. You might be afraid that you aren't living up to the image of The Good Wife/Daughter/Employee so you mold yourself to the point that you can no longer recognize yourself.

It's time to start looking at your triggers with compassion and curiosity. To stop numbing and step up to your triggers to see if you can learn anything from them.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn from this episode: 

  • Understand the physiology of your emotional triggers and where they come from 
  • Learn tools to create safety in the body when starting to connect to amplified negative emotions
  • Understand the nuance of the different containers that different emotions need to alchemize. For example, anger needs movement. Grief needs ceremony. The balms for each emotion is different.


Jessica Benstock is a somatic healing practitioner who works in the realms of somatic and holistic psychology, energetic imbalances, source level trauma healing, emotional derepression, subconscious reprogramming, hypnotherapy, meditation, and feminine sexuality.

Kat HoSoo Lee is a trauma-informed Spiritual Business Mentor and host of The Rooted Business Podcast. She uses the tools of somatic and emotional alchemy to guide soulful entrepreneurs to approach their business as a spiritual practice. This allows them to cultivate businesses that are rooted in conscious values, ethical marketing and purposeful service.

Connect with Kat:



This podcast is made possible with sound production by Andre Lagace.

Show Notes Chapter Markers

What if I told you that our emotional triggers are actually teachers in disguise. 

How does that land for you? Do you feel resistance? Fear? Acceptance? Surrender? 

When you feel wounded and triggered, every muscle fiber in your body (including that big beautiful beating Heart) feels unsafe and is seeking security. The default setting for most is to numb the feelings. When we numb, we feed our addictions, we retreat to protect ourselves, we apologize insincerely to avoid the hard conversation...

The thing that you do when you feel triggered might feel comforting in the moment, but in the long run, it buries the pain and creates more entanglements which might end up with you being

  • in a relationship that feels hollow and unfulfilling
  • in a career that doesn't feel like it has purpose and feel misaligned
  • exhausted
  • addicted 
  • frozen with fear
  • reactionary with the people who love you

When you are scared of your emotional triggers, you are afraid to feel the emotion beneath the trigger. You might be afraid to disappoint or hurt people so you keep martyring yourself. You might be afraid to look weak so you are selfless to the point you completely drain your cup. You might be afraid that you aren't living up to the image of The Good Wife/Daughter/Employee so you mold yourself to the point that you can no longer recognize yourself.

It's time to start looking at your triggers with compassion and curiosity. To stop numbing and step up to your triggers to see if you can learn anything from them.

Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn from this episode: 

  • Understand the physiology of your emotional triggers and where they come from 
  • Learn tools to create safety in the body when starting to connect to amplified negative emotions
  • Understand the nuance of the different containers that different emotions need to alchemize. For example, anger needs movement. Grief needs ceremony. The balms for each emotion is different.


Jessica Benstock is a somatic healing practitioner who works in the realms of somatic and holistic psychology, energetic imbalances, source level trauma healing, emotional derepression, subconscious reprogramming, hypnotherapy, meditation, and feminine sexuality.

Kat HoSoo Lee is a trauma-informed Spiritual Business Mentor and host of The Rooted Business Podcast. She uses the tools of somatic and emotional alchemy to guide soulful entrepreneurs to approach their business as a spiritual practice. This allows them to cultivate businesses that are rooted in conscious values, ethical marketing and purposeful service.

Connect with Kat:



This podcast is made possible with sound production by Andre Lagace.

Kat asks Jessica: What is your experience with accessing our emotional triggers?
Jessica talks about emotional survival instincts
The intelligence of emotions is designed by the same intelligence that designed our bodies
There is a lack of integration between mind, body and soul in our current clinical model
Looking at the body as the storyteller of our lives
We have been trained to bypass using our intellect
Kat to Jessica: What is an emotional trigger and how do they show up
Childhood triggers becomes a part of your story because we are energetic sponges between ages 0-7
Emotional triggers may feel unrelated and illogical
As adults, we access beta/theta brainwaves when we are meditating or dreaming
Kat talks about the effect of stress in the uterine environment and how it manifests in sensitivity to triggers
Jess shares a womb regression experience
Your human story is part of the collective human experience
Our lives begin already feeling plugged into the collective and then we differentiate into individuals and then the work of becoming conscious is about coming back to our original state of being a part of the collective
Relates to the Black Lives Matter movement and the coronavirus epidemic
Our brain is very binary
Noteworthy from Jess: When I feel the most justified, the most likely I am in my Ego and I am not seeing the situations very clearly
Letting go as a form of emotional bypassing
If you’re having an emotional breakdown, it’s a sign that there is something that you’re not attending to.
Watch for patterns in your emotional triggers
Question from the Audience: How do you create safety in the body when starting to connect to the body around amplified negative emotions
Breath and awareness in the lower centers of the body regulates your nervous system
Emotions are undomesticated and we have no control over how it comes out
The deepest healings come when the person feels held and unjudged enough to be able to fully go into the depth and rawness of what’s there
We have to allow ourselves to go through the full expression of the emotions without attaching to an answer
Question from the Audience: What are some fundamental practices that we can utilize to check in with ourselves daily to prevent ourselves from getting to this place that feels escalated. How do we translate those sensations so we can address them?
Kat talks about how important it is to have a trauma-informed coach
Jess talks about her past experiences of anger
Using retrospection as a tool
Body scan
Kat talks about the balance between Masculine and Feminine
Jess talks about how the body gets compromised when we are not allowing ourselves to feel and be present
Kat talks about how each emotion needs a different container
Jess asks “What do you want right now?”
Asking the question of "How do I want to be held" can help you exercise the resilience muscle.
A comment from the Audience “This is an epidemic of unprocessed grief. It’s an emotion I struggle with the most and it requires a lot of grounding to hold it.”
Jess: Grief is a profound core emotion
Kat’s experience of embodied anger and grief with the Black Lives Matter March she attended
Grief as a purifying act
It’s ok to be messy