A takeaway from the Emotional Regulation webinar with Sriven Naidu

Emotions can sometimes feel like a sudden downpour—unexpected, overwhelming, and hard to manage. So what do you do when the rain starts falling hard and fast in the form of anger, sadness, anxiety, or frustration?

One helpful way to understand emotional regulation is through a simple metaphor: rain. When emotions hit, we can either use a towel to dry off after we're soaked or wear a raincoat that helps prevent us from getting soaked in the first place. In this blog, we’ll explore both short-term strategies and long-term practices to manage emotional intensity more effectively.

Towels: Quick Tools for Immediate Emotional Relief

Let’s start with the tools that help once you're already caught in an emotional storm.

1. Create Distance From the Emotion

Instead of saying “I am angry,” try saying “This is anger.” This subtle shift helps separate your identity from your emotion. When you name the emotion as a passing experience, not who you are, it immediately gives you more control over your response. Emotions are transient. What feels overwhelming today may not even register a week from now.

Similarly, if a thought comes up—“They hate me”—reframe it as “I’m having the thought that they hate me.” That phrase helps you take a step back from believing every thought as fact. It gives your mind the space it needs to be curious, flexible, and more balanced.

2. Recognize the Trigger

To regulate your emotions, you must first be aware that you’re being triggered. This is where many people stumble—they react instinctively without realizing they’ve been emotionally hijacked. Developing this self-awareness is crucial. Without it, the emotion runs the show.

Raincoats: Building Resilience for the Long Term

Short-term tools are essential, but long-term mind training offers the deeper resilience that makes you less reactive to life’s challenges in the first place.

In Himalayan traditions, emotional suffering is often traced back to the "three poisons of the mind": ignorance, desire, and anger. By cultivating their opposites—wisdom, gratitude, and compassion—we can strengthen our emotional immunity.

But how do you do this in daily life?

1. Practice a Body Scan

One foundational mindfulness practice is the body scan. By slowly bringing attention from head to toe and noticing sensations—tightness, heat, numbness—you become more attuned to the body’s signals. These physical cues often show up before you’re consciously aware of your emotions. When you feel your heart rate rise or your chest tighten, it’s a signal to pause.

2. Increase Self-Awareness Through Daily Practice

Many of us were taught to ignore our emotional and physical needs growing up: “Now is the time to study, not rest,” or “Stop crying and keep going.” Over time, this trains us to ignore the body's wisdom. Reconnecting with yourself through daily mindfulness, journaling, or reflection helps you respond more consciously rather than reactively.

Join Sriven’s Mindfulness for High-Performance short course to learn more tools & strategies. 

Final Thoughts

Emotional regulation isn’t about suppressing or controlling your feelings—it’s about witnessing them, understanding their source, and choosing a wiser response. Like rain, emotions will come and go. But with the right mix of towels and raincoats, you can weather the storm and even dance in it.