How to Know If You’re Triggered—and What to Do About It (Through a Somatic Lens)

You know those moments when something small—like a look, a tone, or a message left on read—hits way harder than it “should”? Suddenly, you’re anxious, shut down, or overwhelmed. Maybe you snap. Maybe you freeze. Maybe you spiral and aren’t even sure why.

That’s a trigger. And from a somatic perspective, it doesn’t mean something’s wrong with you. It means your nervous system is doing what it learned to do to keep you safe.

In this post, we’ll explore:

• What it means to be triggered

• How to recognize the signs in your body

• Why these responses happen

• And what might help when you’re in it

What Is a Trigger?

A trigger is anything that activates an old survival response—often one that was formed during overwhelming or unresolved experiences from our past.

You might not consciously remember those moments, but your body does! The nervous system stores these experiences as patterns, not memories. When something in the present reminds your system of something hard from the past, it reacts automatically.

That can look like:

• Fight → defensiveness, anger, snapping

• Flight → anxiety, overthinking, urgency

• Freeze → numbness, shutdown, zoning out

• Fawn → people-pleasing, over-apologizing, disconnecting from your own needs

Somatic Experiencing (developed by Dr. Peter Levine) helps us to notice and work with these responses in the body, rather than getting swept away by the reaction.

How to Tell If You're Triggered:

What it might feel like in your body:

• A sudden rush of heat, panic, or tightness

• Your stomach drops or clenches

• Your jaw tenses or your chest feels heavy

• You feel foggy, frozen, or far away

• You urgently want to escape, fix, or make things okay

• Your reaction feels way bigger than the moment seems to call for

Often, the body picks up on something long before the mind does. One of the core parts of somatic work is learning to notice these signals with curiosity—not shame.

Why Triggers Happen

From a nervous system perspective, triggers aren’t random—they’re your body’s way of trying to protect you.

Here are a few examples:

• If your anger was punished as a child, your body might freeze or fawn the moment conflict shows up.

• If your early environment felt chaotic, someone needing space now might feel like abandonment.

• If you’ve experienced trauma, even subtle things—tone, posture, facial expressions—can feel threatening.

These responses aren’t conscious. They’re shaped by survival, and they often make perfect sense when you understand their origins. The good news? They can shift. And that shift doesn’t come from “thinking differently”—it comes from creating safety in the body.

What Might Help When You’re Triggered

Here are a few things that can support you when a trigger shows up. They aren’t rules—just gentle options you can experiment with.

1. Pause and Look Around

Before reacting, give your body a moment to remember that this is now—not then.
Let your eyes move slowly around the space. Feel your feet on the ground. Notice what’s around you. You could try:

• 5 things you see

• 4 things you hear

• 3 things you can feel

Sometimes just orienting to the present helps your system begin to settle.

2. Track the Sensation

Bring awareness to what’s happening in your body. Is there heat in your chest? Tightness in your throat? A pit in your stomach?

There’s no need to change it—just notice. Let it be there, gently, without pushing it away.

3. Name the State

Naming the survival response can help bring clarity and compassion:
“This feels like a flight response—my body wants to run”

OR

“I’m shutting down right now. This is freeze.”

It doesn’t fix the trigger, but it creates a little bit of space between you and the reaction.

4. Support Your System

Instead of pushing the feeling away, try giving your body something to regulate:

• Fight/Flight: Shake out your arms and legs, push into a wall, or go for a brisk walk.

• Freeze: Wrap yourself in a blanket, hold something warm, or gently stomp your feet.

• Fawn: Place your hand on your chest or belly and ask: What do I need right now?

These are small ways to say to your nervous system, “I’ve got you.”

5. Circle Back Later

Once the wave has passed, you can revisit what happened with more perspective.

• What set me off?

• What was I protecting in that moment?

• What might this connect to from earlier in life?

We don’t heal by avoiding our triggers—we heal by learning to move through them with support, clarity, and care.

Final Thoughts

Getting triggered doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means there’s a part of you that’s still trying to protect you—even if it’s using old strategies.

With somatic work, we learn to listen to those parts with curiosity, not shame. We build the capacity to stay with what’s hard—without being overtaken by it. And over time, those moments that once felt overwhelming become more navigable. More workable. Less defining.

If any part of this resonates, know you’re not alone. I support clients in learning how to work with their nervous systems, gently unpack patterns that no longer serve them, and move through life with more choice, steadiness, and connection.

You don’t have to figure it all out before reaching out. You just have to start somewhere—and we can work through this together.