Five Practices to Calm Your Nervous System After a Trigger
If you’ve experienced trauma, you likely know what it’s like for your body to react long before your brain catches up. One moment you’re moving through your day, and the next you feel flooded—your heart racing, your thoughts spiraling, your muscles tense or frozen. This is what we call being "triggered."
Triggers aren’t always obvious. Sometimes they’re subtle cues—a tone of voice, a smell, a situation that reminds your nervous system of past danger. And while your logical brain may know you’re not in immediate harm, your body reacts as though you are.
That’s the power—and pain—of unresolved trauma. But with the right tools and support, it’s possible to soothe those intense responses and create a sense of safety from the inside out. Trauma therapy helps you learn how to do just that.
In this article, we’ll explore five trauma-informed practices you can use to calm your nervous system after a trigger. Each one is grounded in the principles of trauma therapy and offers gentle, accessible ways to reconnect with your body and the present moment.
Understanding Triggers Through the Lens of Trauma Therapy
A trigger is anything—external or internal—that sets off a trauma response. Your brain and body interpret the trigger as danger, often based on past experiences, even if the current situation is objectively safe.
In trauma therapy, we often talk about the nervous system in terms of:
Fight – Reacting with anger or aggression
Flight – Feeling anxious or needing to escape
Freeze – Feeling paralyzed, numb, or dissociated
Fawn – People-pleasing or appeasing to avoid conflict
These responses are not flaws. They are your body’s survival mechanisms, shaped by earlier experiences—especially those where you didn’t feel safe, seen, or in control.
The goal of trauma therapy isn’t to eliminate these reactions entirely, but to help you recognize when they arise, respond with compassion, and develop new tools for regulation.
1. Practice Grounding Through the Senses
When you’re triggered, your mind often races to the past or jumps to worst-case scenarios. Grounding practices help bring you back to the here and now by engaging your five senses.
Try this simple technique:
The 5-4-3-2-1 Method
5 things you can see
4 things you can touch
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste
You don’t need to use all five senses—start with what’s most accessible. The key is to shift attention from internal distress to external reality. In trauma therapy, grounding is one of the first skills clients learn because it’s both powerful and portable.
2. Breathe Like You’re Safe
In the aftermath of trauma, the breath often becomes shallow, fast, or even constricted without us realizing it. That’s because your nervous system associates deep breathing with calm—and shallow breathing with stress.
To send a signal of safety to your body, try a simple breathing practice:
Box Breathing
Inhale slowly for 4 counts
Hold your breath for 4 counts
Exhale slowly for 4 counts
Hold your breath for 4 counts
Repeat for 1–3 minutes
This kind of rhythmic breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system—the "rest and digest" mode that helps deactivate fight-or-flight. Trauma therapy often incorporates breathwork to help recondition the nervous system to associate slow breathing with safety.
3. Move the Energy Through
After a trigger, your body may feel like it’s carrying an electrical charge—shaky, agitated, tense. Trauma responses live in the body, not just the mind, and movement is one of the best ways to discharge that stored energy.
Here are some gentle movement options:
Walk around your space
Shake out your arms and legs
Do light stretching or yoga poses
Press your hands into a wall or the floor
Rock back and forth in a chair
The goal isn’t exercise—it’s expression. Trauma therapy helps people reconnect with their bodies in safe, empowering ways. Even small movements can help you feel more grounded and less stuck.
4. Use Self-Soothing Touch
Trauma can make it hard to trust your own body. Self-soothing touch is a gentle way to offer your nervous system comfort without needing anything external.
Try one of these:
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly and notice your breath
Gently rub your arms or shoulders as if hugging yourself
Place a hand on your cheek or cradle your face
Hold a warm mug or soft object
You might feel silly at first—but your nervous system recognizes soothing touch as safety. In trauma therapy, therapists may guide clients in learning these techniques until they feel intuitive and accessible in daily life.
5. Create a Sensory Safety Toolkit
In the middle of a trigger, it can be hard to remember what helps. That’s why creating a pre-planned toolkit of soothing items can make a difference.
Here’s what you might include:
A calming essential oil (like lavender or peppermint)
A textured object like a smooth stone or soft fabric
Headphones and a favorite calming playlist
A photo that makes you feel safe or loved
A small journal with affirmations or grounding phrases
A piece of chocolate or hard candy for taste grounding
In trauma therapy, these toolkits are sometimes called "coping boxes" or "rescue kits." The key is to personalize it to your needs—and keep it somewhere accessible.
What Trauma Therapy Can Teach You About Safety
These practices are powerful—but they’re even more effective when used within a supportive therapeutic relationship.
Trauma therapy can help you:
Identify your personal triggers and trauma responses
Understand how your nervous system reacts to perceived danger
Learn self-regulation tools that work for your specific needs
Reframe self-judgment and shame with compassion
Create a life that feels safer and more connected
It’s not about avoiding all triggers. It’s about trusting that you have the capacity to care for yourself when they arise.
You Are Not Broken
If your body sometimes reacts in ways that confuse or overwhelm you, you’re not alone. Triggers are not signs of weakness—they’re signs that your body remembers and is trying to protect you.
With time, practice, and support, it’s possible to respond to those moments with gentleness instead of fear. Trauma therapy offers a roadmap for that journey—one rooted not in fixing you, but in helping you feel safe enough to be fully yourself.
You deserve safety. You deserve peace. And both are absolutely possible.
