From Emotionally Hijacked to Free Via Meditation

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When Dominik came to me for his first meditation lesson, it was clear he was holding on by a thread. The tension in his jaw, the stiffness in his body—it was all speaking for him.

As I always do, I asked gently, “What brings you here today?”

He looked at me with tired eyes and said, “I’m so damn sick of my emotions.”

I put my pen down and gave him my full attention.

That was the beginning of a journey—from feeling hijacked by his emotions to learning how to pause, choose, and respond.

With Dominik’s permission, I’m sharing our path together in the hope that you, too, might find the kind of emotional healing he found.

Part I: Creating Space from Emotions

I asked Dominik what he meant by being “sick of his emotions.”

He told me it felt like his emotions were commands. If he felt anger, he had to yell. If he felt sadness, he had to cry. He didn’t feel like he had a choice—just automatic reactions.

What he was really describing was emotional reactivity. And there’s a human reason for it.

Emotions evolved to feel urgent—fast, physical, and unavoidable. They arise in the body as tight chests, clenched jaws, racing hearts. We’re rarely taught to pause and question them. So we obey without realizing it. But we can change that.

One of the most effective ways to begin is through mindful breathing meditation.

Mindful breathing helps us create a small but powerful gap between emotion and action. That little bit of space is where emotional healing begins.

How to Practice Mindful Breathing

  1. Sit comfortably with your spine straight.
  2. Close your eyes or soften your gaze.
  3. Bring your attention to the natural rhythm of your breath.
  4. Notice the inhale. Notice the exhale.
  5. If distracted, gently return to the breath.
  6. Let each breath anchor you in the present moment.

For Dominik, this was the first step in moving from emotionally reactive to emotionally aware.

Part II: Seeing Emotions with Vipassana

A few sessions in, Dominik was already more calm, more grounded. He laughed more. His face had softened. But we weren’t done yet.

I introduced him to Vipassana, a Buddhist meditation of observing thoughts and feelings with non-judgmental awareness.

Research shows Vipassana helps the brain become less reactive over time by training us to witness emotions instead of acting on them.

We practiced Vipassana together once a week. He also did it on his own, 20 minutes a day. One day, he shared: “Someone cut me off in traffic. I felt that old surge of anger—but I didn’t yell. I just sat with it. And it passed.” For someone who used to explode over small slights, this was a massive shift. It was the beginning of real emotional freedom.

How to Practice Vipassana

  1. Sit upright in a quiet place.
  2. Relax your body and close your eyes.
  3. Focus on your breath at the nostrils.
  4. Observe thoughts and sensations without reacting.
  5. If a feeling arises, label it gently: “Just a feeling.”
  6. Return to observing. Don’t cling or push anything away.
  7. Notice how everything rises and passes.

Vipassana helped Dominik become an observer of his emotions, rather than a prisoner of them.

Part III: Healing at the Nervous System Level

A month in, after just four sessions, Dominik said, “I feel like I’ve achieved what I came for. I can finally feel my emotions without reacting.”

I smiled and said, “There’s another level to this.” Because emotional reactivity doesn’t just come from habit. Often, it comes from an overwhelmed nervous system—shaped by past trauma, chronic stress, or unmet needs.

When the brain perceives threat—real or imagined—it fires off fight-or-flight responses. Over time, this creates a system on high alert. The smallest trigger can feel like a life-or-death event.

To work with this deeper layer, we turned to somatic meditation.

Somatic meditaton helps regulate the nervous system by reconnecting you with your body. It creates a felt sense of safety, which allows stuck emotions to finally move through and release.

How to Practice Somatic Meditation

  1. Sit or lie down in a safe, quiet space.
  2. Gently bring awareness to your body.
  3. Notice sensations—tightness, warmth, numbness.
  4. Stay with the feeling without analyzing it.
  5. Breathe into the area, allowing space around it.
  6. Let whatever arises come and go naturally.

This was the next step in Dominik’s journey—learning not just to observe emotions, but to process them at the body level.

Part IV: Release and Liberation

Fifteen minutes into our first somatic session, a tear came to Doninik’s eyes. Not from pain—but from release.

Because emotions don’t just live in the mind. They live in the body. And when the body is finally allowed to feel, to lead, to let go—that’s when true healing happens.

We ended the session in silence. I always give clients the option to simply sit after, without words, to integrate. Dominik sat quietly, but the shift in his energy was visible.

A weight had lifted.

That was the day Dominik found freedom—not by avoiding emotions, but by learning to be with them fully, and letting them pass.

We had finished part one of his journey. In part two, which I’ll share in another post, Dominik began to go beyond regulating emotions to consciously shaping his emotional world.

But for now, we pause.

Because sometimes, the space between the breath and the feeling is enough.