A Liturgy for Entering a Triggering Environment

This liturgy is written as part of Body Liturgies, a prayer and prose project providing words to the experience of living with trauma. Trauma shows up in a myriad of ways in a survivors life, and praying through these experiences can be difficult and even unsettling. Body Liturgies seeks to guide a survivor by providing language paired with grounding actions to care for the whole person, honouring the nervous system and body of memory held in each body while fostering connection to Divine care.

A Liturgy for Entering a Triggering Environment
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How shameful it is that I do not fear only evil,
But I fear my own body
The way it responds to innocuous stimuli
The way it flings me to the past
To previous, dreadful places

Creator of this body,
May I not flee from myself
Or look on this body in shame
But may I offer it compassion
For the stories it has faithfully held

Inhale for four seconds,
Pause for one second,
Exhale for four seconds

Designer of this brain,
As I enter spaces that threaten to trigger me,
May my mind remain steadfast
Aware that this response may come, that it will go
And I will not be trapped in the past
But will find myself in the present, right where You are

Inhale for four seconds,
Pause for one second,
Exhale for four seconds

Architect of this soul,
As I enter spaces that threaten to trigger me,
May my spirit be full of Love
Of Grace
Of Presence
May I lay my hand on my heart and hear You whisper deep within,
“I am with you”

Inhale for four seconds,
Pause for one second,
Exhale for four seconds

Creator of this body,
May I not fear the multitudes this frame holds
But remember that this body is where You dwell,
And I dwell, too
So may I fully inhabit this dwelling
Trusting it to carry me through

[End by taking a moment to thank your body in a way that feels supportive to you]