From Emergency to Emergence
Noticing how our nervous systems are metabolizing the news, and 5 practices to shift towards a more expansive state.
Written Jan 29 2026
This post is for those of us who are living outside of the immediate threat of occupied forces and state violence.
When we are actively under threat, a state of emergency in our body / mind / spirit is a useful, helpful, and adaptive state.
But what about when we are not under immediate threat and still feel and react as if we are?
Our bodies, psyches & nervous systems can interpret the threats and violence we are witnessing through social media and news as if it were happening in our own immediate, physical reality. For some of us, it is. But for many of us, it is not.
If we are not conscious of this phenomenon, and we do not have practices to process and metabolize this stress, we may find ourselves unconsciously operating from a place of emergency.
For those of us who are called to help, speak up, and show up in service of life and collective liberation, we can dilute our power and cause unintentional harm to ourselves and others when we operate from a state of emergency while actually living outside of the emergency.
This essay is an invitation to notice if you are moving through your life right now from a state of emergency, and to gently shift and/or return to a state of emergence.
Moving from a State of Emergency
In a state of emergency, we sacrifice our own needs — physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual — so that we may show up in the immediate present for collective survival and safety. Our nervous system is activated for speed, agility, and immediate life-saving action. We scan for threats, find them, and react to preserve life.
In this state, our bodies utilize every available resource and energy for survival. We push past any limits in order to show up how we must in the moment. Our attention narrows to focus on the immediate, short-term needs for collective survival and safety. We set aside mid-term or long-term needs until safety can be assured.
This is what we are witnessing in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities, and the reality of our immigrant friends and neighbors all across our country. It is what we have witnessed across Gaza, the West Bank, the Congo, Sudan, the LA fires, the Asheville floods, and so many more places and times. It’s what I witnessed in my own family over the past summer, when my mom was in and out of the hospital and in active crisis. In emergency, this state of body / mind / spirit is adaptive for collective survival and safety.
When we’re actually safe but our nervous systems are perceiving threat, operating from this state of emergency isn’t helpful to others our ourselves. It burns us out. It weakens our immune systems. It zaps our creative power. It severs our connections. It leaks our energy. It dulls our mind and causes us to move with panicked urgency. It shifts our thinking into rigid binaries. It narrows us into hopelessness.
Moving towards a State of Emergence
If we wish to show up, to help make a difference, to contribute to collective safety and survival, we will be of greater service if we’re able to shift from a state of emergency to a state of emergence.
This is a body / mind / spirit that is grounded, rooted, and still enough to listen inward to discern what the moment is calling forth. This is pausing to breathe before we act. This is a state of presence and awareness that allows us to compassionately bear witness to all that is arising without turning away. This is feeling our pain and rage and fear, and allowing it to move through us. This is alchemizing our grief to move us towards courageous action.
In a state of emergence, we are able to tap into our creative, imaginal, and visionary forces. We are not limited by rigidity and narrow thinking. We can dream a better solution, a better world. Our intuitive senses are heightened and we become a vessel for something greater than us to move through us. We are connected to the greater web of life.
In this state, we are able to hold in balance the immediate needs alongside our mid-term and long-term needs. We’re able to show up for what is necessary and vital now without sacrificing our other responsibilities and visions.
And deeply importantly, we tend to our own physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. We know that we, too, are included in our vision of service. We understand that for our care work to be sustainable, it cannot come at the exclusion of our own care. We know that by caring for our own body / mind / spirit, we are better able to care for others.
This Isn’t a One-Time Thing
As we are continually facing new challenges, bearing witness to more state violence, and facing more collective uncertainty, we will have to practice, again and again, this noticing and shifting.
Noticing when our body is holding tension — a clenched gut, tight shoulders, a squeezed throat, a skipping heart. Noticing when our mind is racing and scanning for threats. Noticing when our spirit is tired and disconnected. Noticing when we are operating from urgency and panic.
We will have to evaluate whether or not we are under active immediate threat, or whether our bodies are simply perceiving that we are.
And we will have to return, again and again, to the practices that bring us from emergency to emergence.
Five Practices You Can Use to Return
We’ve long been in a time of escalating crisis and a call for deeper bravery and committed action for collective liberation. But, it’s quickening even more. A new protest song has emerged in Minneapolis and it goes like this: “No one is getting left behind this time. We get there together or we never get there at all.” It is with this spirit that we dedicate ourselves to our own tending, our own recentering, our own clearing and releasing, and our own revivification through spiritual practice.
In order to show up for others as our bravest selves, we have to tend to our own body / spirit / minds. A care for others that comes at our own expense is not sustainable. It is something that we can and must do in real states of emergencies, but until the day comes that we find ourselves in one, we better serve the collective by remembering that the collective includes us, too.
Below are some practices that I use every day, often many times each day, to bring myself back into (or closer towards) a state of emergence. And when it’s not possible to get out of the perceived state of emergency, I practice a deep gentle compassion with myself. Accepting what is and trusting that it will shift in its own time, and doing what I must to care for myself as I move through it.
breath as anchor
With hands on your belly, take several rounds of deep breaths focusing on where you feel the breath most in your body. Perhaps it is the chest, or the belly, or the nostrils.
As you take the cycles of deep breath, breath in through the nose and take a longer exhale out of the mouth with pursed lips (as if you are blowing on hot soup to cool it off). This pattern of breath is a calming signal to the nervous system. Repeat it several times.
You can return to this short breath pattern whenever you feel activated.
grounding into earth
Close your eyes and feel into your body’s point of contact with the Earth. Imagine that there are roots that begin to grow out of the bottom of your feet and go down into the soil. See them spread past layers of rocks and bones and aquifer and magma, as they descend deeper and deeper, until you reach the hot center of the earth. Here, imagine that the roots coming out of your body connect directly to the center of the Earth. Offer your gratitude for being held. Notice what sensations and emotions arise in you.
You can do this indoors or outdoors, laying down or standing. No matter where you are — you are on the Earth, and you are being held.
body wiggles
Play a favorite song and dance. Shake your body. Wiggle your arms. Move in what way feels good, knowing that no one is watching and you are totally free to move how feels good. Allow your body to lead — it knows what movement it needs to release tension and return to center. Ask your body what it needs. Listen.
prayer
Ask for help. Whether it’s from your soul, from the universe, from Mother Earth, from God, from ancestors, from nature spirits — whoever and whatever you relate to as a higher power, simply ask for help. You might say, “I need your help in meeting this moment. I need your help in holding this fear / despair / grief / rage. Please help me. I thank you.” And sit in the silence for a few moments. Feel what happens as you say these words. Are there any emotions rising to meet you? Do you notice any shifts in sensations in your body / mind / heart?
calling back energy
Close your eyes, take a few breaths to center yourself in your body, and say in your mind: “I call back all of my energy, right here right now. All of my energy that I have scattered, dispersed, or diluted, I call it all back right here right now. All of my energy that I have given to others, or has been taken from me, I call it all back right here right now.” Feel what happens as you say these words. Do you notice any shifts in sensations in your body / heart / mind?
in solidarity & love & the vision of a better world -
Lior
