Left of Bang: Training for What Hasn’t Happened Yet

There’s a moment in every critical incident—a before and an after. In military strategy, they call this moment the “bang.”

Everything that happens after the bang—when the shot is fired, the trauma hits, the panic spikes—is reactive. You’re surviving, responding, trying to make sense of what just happened. But what if your greatest strength isn’t forged in the aftermath—but in the before?

“Left of Bang” is the idea that real strength, resilience, and elasticity are built before the moment of crisis—before the trauma, before the chaos, before the call.

The Neuroscience of Preparation

Most of us are wired to react. That’s biology. When something threatening happens, your amygdala (your brain’s threat detection center) kicks off the fight, flight, or freeze response.

But if we don’t build strong connections from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for reasoning, decision-making, and perspective—we get stuck in survival mode.

This is where left-of-bang training becomes essential. It’s not about stopping the stress response. It’s about training the body and brain to integrate the stress response with calm, clarity, and control.

Research shows:

• Mindfulness, EMDR therapy, and other trauma-informed practices strengthen the neural circuitry between emotional and executive functioning centers of the brain (Lanius et al., 2015).

• Proactive resilience practices build stress inoculation—meaning you are literally less reactive in the face of trauma and more likely to respond with skill and emotional control (Meichenbaum, 2007).

• Functional MRI scans show that mindfulness increases activity in the anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, areas linked to self-regulation, while decreasing amygdala reactivity (Taren et al., 2013).

If you wait until the moment the trauma hits to try and build resilience, it’s already too late. Resilience is built left of bang.

The Cost of Living Right of Bang

Living right of bang means you’re constantly playing catch-up. You’re reacting, recovering, trying to come back from the impact.

This is often where we see:

• Emotional exhaustion and burnout

• Suicidal ideation and mental health breakdowns

• Strained relationships and isolation

• Increased mistakes and accidents on duty

These outcomes aren’t a reflection of weakness. They’re the natural result of chronic dysregulation and unprocessed stress. You’re not broken—you’re overwhelmed. And the longer you live right of bang, the harder it gets to bounce back.

Left of Bang: A Tactical Approach to Resilience

Dr. Debbie Sylveria, featured in this video and a trained EMDR therapist, offers a clear message: you have more control than you think—but you have to train for it.

To live left of bang is to intentionally and consistently develop the emotional, cognitive, and physiological muscle memory to meet stress with skill.

This is not soft science. It is neuroplasticity in action:

• Every time you practice breathwork, grounding, or self-awareness, you’re building myelinated neural pathways that make calm your default.

• Every time you reflect on your emotions and give them language, you’re expanding your window of tolerance, so you’re less likely to snap or shut down when it matters most.

• Every time you talk to someone you trust about your internal experience, you’re rewiring shame and trauma into strength and connection.

This is what makes a person elastic—not just capable of bouncing back, but becoming stronger at the broken places.

Your Daily Practice for Left-of-Bang Living

Want to start living left of bang? Here’s your training ground:

1. One-Minute Breathing Reset

• Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 6. Repeat 3–5 cycles.

• Do this after difficult calls, before bed, or when stress hits.

2. Daily EMDR-Inspired Journaling Prompt

• “What stressors came up today, and how did I respond?”

• “If a similar event happened tomorrow, how would I want to respond instead?”

3. Mindful Reps

• Practice observing your thoughts and emotions without judgment.

• Notice when you’re triggered. Take a pause. Re-engage with awareness.

Each of these is a rep. Every rep wires the prefrontal cortex to stay online in moments of stress.

Call to Action: Prepare for What Hasn’t Happened Yet

Don’t wait for the storm to build your shelter.

Pick one recovery or regulation practice. Just one. Commit to it daily for the next week—whether it’s breathwork, journaling, mindfulness, or talking to a therapist. Track how you feel.

If you want to be calm under fire, regulated in chaos, and resilient through anything—you train for that now. That’s living left of bang.

Works Cited

Lanius, Ruth A., et al. The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic. Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Meichenbaum, Donald. Stress Inoculation Training: A Preventive and Treatment Approach. In Principles and Practice of Stress Management, edited by Paul M. Lehrer et al., Guilford Press, 2007.

Taren, Adrienne A., et al. “Mindfulness Meditation Training and Executive Control Network Resting State Functional Connectivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Psychosomatic Medicine, vol. 75, no. 7, 2013, pp. 595–604.