How To Deal With Emotional Triggers From Trauma: 9 Empowering Steps
Written by Wakana White Owl Medicine Woman, Co-Founder of Reunion & Lead Shaman
So, you’ve been triggered. Something happened that sparked a strong emotional response—anxiety, anger, sadness, shame, the instinct to fight, hide, or run. Your reaction may have felt disproportionate to the situation, leaving you wondering: Where did that come from?
Understanding emotional triggers is a powerful step on the path to healing and discovering a deeper sense of meaning. Below, we explore the nature of triggers, how an Ayahuasca journey can help, and nine practical steps to transform your response.
What Is An Emotional Trigger?
Let’s begin with a few definitions.
What is a contrast event?
A contrast event is an experience we didn’t want—something painful or uncomfortable that left a mark.
What is trauma?
Trauma is the energetic residue of a contrast event. When we lack the tools to fully process what happened, pain and the associated story become stored in the body and spirit. This unprocessed energy lingers, shaping our responses in the present. Trauma isn’t the bad thing that happened to you— it is how that experience shaped you.
How did we cope with the contrast and the trauma that occurred as a result?
To make it through a contrast event, we instinctively reached for whatever coping mechanisms we had available. These might have included:
Denial or avoidance
Dissociation
Lashing out
Numbing ourselves with things like drugs, alcohol, sex, or self-harm, among other things
Projecting onto others
Withdrawing socially
Hardening ourselves, putting up walls, and powering through the pain
These strategies were not failures—they were acts of strength. But they weren’t designed to clear the energy, only to get us through. And so, the contrast event remains unresolved and trauma develops, both often lying dormant until something in our current life brings us back to it. That’s a trigger.
What is a trigger?
A trigger is a powerful wave of emotion or sensation that pulls us into the energy of a past contrast event and the later trauma. It hijacks our awareness, making it hard to respond healthily or clearly to the present moment because we're reliving the past. The more this cycle repeats, the more entrenched it becomes in us.
Sometimes, during a contrast event, we disconnect from the parts of ourselves feeling the most pain. In psychology, this is known as dissociation; in shamanic traditions, it's called “soul loss” —a moment when a piece of our soul leaves our body to escape to a place of safety. Either way, we are left fragmented, depleted, and disconnected— until we find a way to reconnect with this part of ourselves.
Emotional triggers are not bad pieces of code threatening to snatch our quality of life. They can impact our quality of life if we don’t know how to use them. Triggers, when properly understood, are not disruptions to avoid but guides illuminating opportunities for growth and healing.
Dealing With Triggers After An Ayahuasca Journey
One of the gifts of Ayahuasca is a deeper awareness of our emotional terrain. During the integration period, triggers often arise—not as setbacks, but as opportunities to apply the tools and insights we gained during ceremony.
How To Cope With Triggers: 9 Steps To Heal & Reclaim Your Life
Step 1: Regulate First
When you’re triggered, deep reflection might not be immediately accessible. Begin with your breath. Repeat silently or, preferably, aloud if the moment allows: I am safe. Focus on simply getting through the moment as skillfully as you can.
Step 2: Welcome The Trigger
Afterward, rather than shaming or blaming yourself, view the trigger as a trusted messenger—one that is guiding you back to something ready to heal. Gratitude is also a powerful medicine; our practice of it strengthens and resources us to be better able to optimize our healing. Gratitude can move mountains, dissolve obstacles, and make things accessible that would never be so otherwise.
Step 3: Follow The Trail Laid
Don’t run from the trigger. Follow its breadcrumbs. What past event does this current feeling remind you of? What emotion is repeating itself? Make mental or written notes.
Step 4: Make Contact
In your mind’s eye, gently return to the version of yourself who first felt this pain. Start with a soft greeting - “Hello” - followed by a compassionate acknowledgment: “I’m so sorry this happened, and that it’s still with me today.”
Step 5: Express Your Willingness
Tell this part of yourself that you are ready to listen, to understand, and to reconnect—even if it means hearing perspectives of yourself you once pushed away.
Step 6: Listen
Be still. Notice what arises. Let this inner part speak without interruption. Offer your thanks for anything revealed.
Step 7: Set Your Intention
Declare your intention to release the energies of the past that are no longer serving your joy, vitality, and growth.
Step 8: Offer And/Or Ask For Help
Express, to all of the parts of you, that you are here to help. Call on your inner wisdom and, if you've sat in ceremony, ask Ayahuasca to support the clearing and reintegration of this energy and reclamation of yourself.
Step 9: Use A Mantra
End with a mantra to bring closure and transformation:
I recall to me all that is mine and I return to others lovingly all that is theirs. What belongs to no person, I release with a breath of kindness on the wind.
I share what is mine willingly with Ayahuasca, and together we lovingly heal and integrate it for the sole empowerment of my highest and best good.
Applying These Steps During An Emotional Trigger
Each time we meet a trigger with presence and compassion, we reclaim another piece of ourselves.
Each time we walk through these steps in the face of a trigger, we transform disruption into opportunity—an invitation to deepen our healing and return to wholeness. For those who have sat with Ayahuasca, this practice reinforces the integration work you began at Reunion, anchoring inner peace and expanding the transformation that began in ceremony.
Curious to learn more? Visit our homepage to discover how Ayahuasca can help release trauma and unblock the energies that are holding you back in life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wakana White Owl Medicine Woman, Co-Founder of Reunion
Wakana White Owl is a Ceremony Leader, Shaman, and Medicine Program Director. With over 40 years of experience, she has supported thousands of guests through their Ayahuasca journeys with deep care and sacred wisdom.
ABOUT REUNION
Reunion is a leading not-for-profit plant medicine center located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where ancient ceremonial traditions meet medically licensed, modern wellness practices. With a focus on safety, integrity, and sacred healing, Reunion provides guests with a beachfront sanctuary to reconnect with themselves, supported by experienced facilitators and a compassionate team. All proceeds are reinvested to advance its mission, support the land, and care for the community it serves.