3 Steps to Navigate Triggers
When I was recovering from PTS (no 'D' because I don't think it's a disorder lol), knowing how to navigate triggers was a critical tool in my toolbox.
A trigger is that moment that catches you completely off guard. You're moving through your day… and BAM something hits.
A look. A sound. A sensation. A comment. A memory. And your whole system is lit up.
Your body tenses.
Your mind starts spinning.
Or maybe you go blank — distant, disconnected, gone.
Your nervous system suddenly registers something as dangerous or overwhelming, whether or not it makes “logical” sense.
For me, after growing up in London I suddenly couldn't ride the tube when my PTS started – being on the underground trains became a trigger.
Although the tube in theory had nothing to do with the experiences that led to my PTS symptoms, I came to lovingly understand what was happening on a primal nervous system level.
By connecting with the distress in my body, I developed a protocol that moved me through that time and those symptoms.
This is the 3-Step Process that supports me, and my clients, to this day…
STEP 1 – Map the Triggered Experience
Start before the moment happens.
Build awareness of what a trigger feels like in your body and in your mind.
Ask yourself:
Do I get tight in my chest?
Do I feel heat or tension in my stomach?
Does my mind flood with racing thoughts or completely shut down?
Get curious about your common trigger scenarios and begin to map your inner landscape. Scenarios like: a place, partner, family, work, around feeling abandoned, or trapped, for example.
Often, we don't realise we're triggered until we're deep in it. The goal here is to learn the early signals. Like hearing the sirens before the storm hits.
This awareness creates choice. It's the foundation for what follows.
STEP 2 – Drop the Story
When you're in the thick, activated and spiralling, the single most powerful thing you can do is drop the story.
The story might be:
“I thought I was over this.”
“This shouldn't be happening again.”
“It's their fault.”
“Why am I like this?”
But when you're triggered, trying to figure it out only tightens the knot.
It keeps you in the loop of mental distress.
Adding more distress when you're body is what actually needs tending to.
So instead, we drop the narrative.
No more analysis!
Not forever, just for now.
We move underneath the story and into the sensations. The heat, the ache, the shakiness, the shut-down etc. is where the real work is.
STEP 3 – Tend to Bodily Distress
Once you've dropped below the surface, it's time to ground and resource.
To tend to the system with what it actually needs to come out of distress.
Ask: What would help my body feel just 2% safer right now?
That might be:
Making tea
Wrapping yourself in a blanket
Taking a walk outside
Shaking or moving the body
Lying down and putting a hand on your heart and belly
Asking for a hug
**Remember** your body primarily speaks the language of sensations, not english/thoughts.
If the trigger was big and left you rattled, not just for an hour, but for days?
Strap in and double down on the things that resource you. Book the massage. Cancel the extra commitments. Take the bath. Schedule the session.
It's not a quick fix, or about “snapping out of it.” It's about tending to your system, with care, which needs time to register the absence of threat in the present moment.
When met with enough care, triggers can become portals. They show us what's ready to be seen and healed – but only after we tend to the body's distress.
One of my teachers once said…
“dealing with triggers is like filing your taxes: not always fun, but once you have your protocol, you just follow the steps.”
You've got the steps now, so rinse, repeat, and go gently.
There's nothing wrong with being triggered.
It's your body doing its best to protect you.
But now you have a choice: to meet that activation with presence, with care, and with practice.
