What To Do When You Get Triggered - by Tariro Mundawarara

COURSE

What To Do When You Get Triggered

With Tariro Mundawarara

There are moments when something small happens. A comment. A look. A tone. An email. A text. And suddenly everything shifts. You don't feel like yourself. You get anxious. You get triggered. You react in ways you don't fully understand. You shrink, or snap, or reach for something to take the edge off. You feel overwhelmed. Insecure. And you don't always know why. Sometimes you rush to find someone or something to help pull you out of it — a video, a friend, a colleague, a coach, a therapist. And afterwards, when the dust settles, you wonder: Why do I keep doing this? How do I stop getting so overwhelmed? And at times, you get really hard on yourself, especially when you are going through a traumatic time. But nothing is wrong with you. What you're experiencing is a part of you being triggered — a protective response formed in your early years that has been trying to keep you safe ever since. In this 12-day course, you will: - Understand why certain moments activate old reactions in you - Meet the parts of you that protect, perform, shrink, and over-give - Learn to recognise when a part of you has taken over - Discover how to return to yourself in the moments you feel most overwhelmed - Build a healthy relationship with parts of yourself - Access the calm, steady presence within you that can lead, instead of react This course is not about becoming someone who never gets triggered. It's about building a different relationship with the moments that undo you. A different response for when it happens. And it will happen. But when it does, you'll know how to find your way back to the steady, calm part of yourself that has always been there. You are not your reaction. You are the one who can witness it. And that changes everything.


Meet your Teacher

Tariro is a guide, mentor, and NLP practitioner who has been working with individuals on Insight Timer since 2021. His work spans meditation, personal growth, and the kind of deep inner work that supports people through life's most challenging moments — and sustains them through the ordinary ones too. What makes Tariro's approach unique is its universality. His work speaks to everyone, from the startup founder to the teenager preparing to write finals, equally. To the person navigating a divorce, a loss, or a major transition — and to the person for whom life is going well but something still feels quietly off. This course is personal. It is a distilled version of Tariro's own journey over the last five years — how he built a relationship with himself, learned to understand his own triggers, and developed a daily practice that continues to support and guide him. Not from a place of having arrived, but from a place of knowing the way back. What to Do When You Get Triggered is the first in a series of courses that follow that journey — and invite you to walk a version of it yourself.

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12 Days

0 students

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20 min / day

Authenticity

English


Lesson 1

Recognising The Trigger

There are moments when insecurity appears without warning. Your chest tightens. Your stomach drops. Something shifts — and suddenly you don't feel like yourself. Most people fight that feeling or hide it. Today we do something different. Today you'll discover that insecurity is not all of you — it is a part of you. A part that learned, a long time ago, how to protect you. And that single distinction changes everything. In today's session, you will begin to notice where this feeling lives in your body, what situations tend to activate it, and what it might be trying to tell you. This is where the journey begins. Not by fixing anything. Just by seeing it clearly for the first time.

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Lesson 2

Meeting The Insecure Part

Yesterday, you noticed the trigger. Today you meet it. Not to fix it. Not to push it away. But to sit with it — with curiosity, with openness, and with the kind of compassion you would offer someone you truly care about. Inside you lives a part that feels insecure. A part that has been working hard to protect you for a very long time. And today, for perhaps the first time, you are going to turn toward it instead of away from it. Through today's guided practice you will learn how to locate this part, listen to what it's been carrying, and begin building a relationship with it. Because here's what changes everything — When you meet a part with compassion instead of judgment, it no longer has to work so hard. It can finally begin to soften. And in that softening, something steady and calm begins to emerge. That steadiness is always there. Today, you start to find it.

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Lesson 3

The Roles We Learned To Play

Have you ever walked into a familiar room and suddenly felt like a different version of yourself took over? Your voice changes. Your posture shifts. You say yes when you mean no. You become the responsible one, the quiet one, the peacekeeper, the achiever — and you're not quite sure how it happened. This isn't weakness. This isn't regression. This is simply your nervous system remembering. Today we explore the roles you learned early in life — the ones that once kept you safe, earned you love, and helped you belong. They were never mistakes. They were survival strategies. And they worked. But here's what happens — these roles don't know you're an adult now. They still step forward in certain rooms, certain relationships, certain dynamics. And when they do, you lose access to the steadiest, most grounded part of yourself. Today you begin to recognise the pattern. Not to shame it. Not to get rid of it. Just to see it clearly — because seeing it is the moment everything begins to change.

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Lesson 4

Understanding What Your Parts Protect

Every part of you that reacts, withdraws, performs, or shuts down — is protecting something. Yesterday, you began to recognise the roles you play. Today, we go one layer deeper. Today, we ask the question that changes everything: What is this part so afraid would happen if it didn't step in? Because beneath every triggered reaction is a fear. And beneath that fear is something tender — a younger part of you that learned, in its earliest years, that certain things weren't safe. Rejection. Shame. Abandonment. Criticism. The feeling of simply not being enough. These aren't just words. For a part of you, they are memories. And that part has been working ever since to make sure you never have to feel them again. Today we sit with that. We meet these parts not with judgment but with genuine curiosity. We ask what they've been carrying. We listen to what they need. And what you'll find — almost without trying — is that understanding a part naturally softens it. Compassion doesn't have to be forced. It arrives on its own when you finally understand why a part does what it does.

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Lesson 5

The Inner Protector

There is a part of you that is always working. Always scanning. Always managing. Always making sure things don't fall apart. It pushes you to perform, to stay in control, to keep everything together — even when you're exhausted. Even when you don't want to. You might have spent years thinking this part of you is the problem. It isn't. This part — your inner protector — developed for a reason. It learned early on that if it stayed vigilant, if it managed outcomes, if it kept you performing and presenting and holding it all together, you would be safe. You would be loved. You would belong. And it has never stopped doing that job. Today we meet this part directly. Not to dismantle it. Not to silence it. But to understand it — perhaps for the very first time. Because here is what happens when a protector part finally feels understood: It relaxes. It no longer has to work so hard. It no longer has to run the show alone. Because something steadier, something calmer, something wiser has shown up to lead. Today, something shows up for your protector. And everything begins to shift.

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Lesson 6

Listening Beneath The Reaction

Most of us have been taught to manage our reactions. To calm down. To breathe through it. To push past it and get on with the day. But what if the reaction isn't the problem? What if it's a message? Every emotional reaction — the anxiety, the shutdown, the snap, the withdrawal — has something beneath it. Something quieter. Something that has been trying to get your attention for a very long time. Today we slow down enough to listen to it. Not to analyse it. Not to fix it. Just to hear it. Because here is what most people never discover — beneath the reaction is a part that simply needs to be acknowledged. A part that has been carrying something heavy, waiting for someone to notice. Waiting for you to notice. Today, you become that someone. Through today's practice, you will learn to move beneath the surface of what you feel — past the reaction, past the noise — and into the quieter, more honest place where your parts actually live. And what you'll find there will surprise you. No more pain. No more complexity. Just a part of you that needed to be heard. And a relationship that begins to change the moment you listen.

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Lesson 7

Creating Space For Self

You've spent six days meeting your parts. The ones that react. The ones that protect. The ones that shrink, perform, manage, and over-give. You've listened to them. You've begun to understand them. And now something is starting to happen. As your parts begin to feel seen — as they begin to trust that you are here with them — they start to step back. Just a little. Just enough. And in that space, something emerges. Something calm. Something clear. Something steady. Something that has always been there — beneath every reaction, beneath every role, beneath every triggered moment — quietly waiting. This is Self. Not a part. Not a performance. Not something you have to create or chase or earn. Self is who you are when your parts no longer have to run the show. Today we focus on accessing that presence. On feeling what it's like to be grounded in yourself — not in a role, not in a reaction, not in a story about who you have to be. Just you. Clear. Calm. Present. Solid. This is the beginning of leading from Self. And once you feel it — even for a moment — you'll know exactly what you've been returning to all along.

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Lesson 8

Triggers As Messengers

What if your triggers weren't the enemy? What if every moment of anxiety, every sudden shutdown, every reaction that left you wondering why do I keep doing this, was actually pointing you somewhere important? We spend so much energy trying to eliminate our triggers. To avoid the situations that activate them. To manage, suppress, or outrun the feeling before it takes over. But triggers don't disappear when we fight them. They get louder. Because they were never the problem. They were always the message. Today we make that shift. We stop looking at your triggers as obstacles to overcome and start seeing them as guides — pointing directly toward the parts of you that need understanding, compassion, and care. Every trigger has a story. Every reaction has a reason. And when you learn to follow the trigger inward instead of pushing it away, you find something remarkable waiting on the other side. No more pain. Not more chaos. A part of you that finally feels found. Today, we learn to listen to what our triggers have been trying to tell us all along.

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Lesson 9

Responding Instead Of Reacting

There is a difference between reacting and responding. Reacting happens before you've had a chance to think. It's automatic. Familiar. Fast. A part of you takes over, and before you know it, the words are out, the walls are up, the damage is done. Responding is something different. Responding is what happens when the Self is in the room. It's the pause before the words come. The breath before the decision. The moment you feel the trigger rising — and instead of being swept away by it, you stay with yourself long enough to choose. That pause changes everything. It doesn't mean you stop feeling. It doesn't mean the trigger disappears. It means that something steadier than the reaction gets to lead. Today, we explore what that shift feels like in practice. How it begins — not with perfection, not with having it all figured out — but with one moment of awareness. One breath. One choice to stay with yourself instead of abandoning yourself to the reaction. This is self-leading. And the more you practice it, the more natural it becomes — until responding starts to feel more like you than reacting ever did.

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Lesson 10

Building Trust With Your Parts

Trust isn't built in a single moment. It's built slowly. Quietly. Through showing up again and again — even when it's uncomfortable, even when it's inconvenient, even when a part of you would rather look away. Over the last nine days you have been doing exactly that. You've been showing up for your parts. Meeting them with curiosity instead of judgment. Listening to what they carry. Beginning to understand why they do what they do. And something has been happening as a result. Slowly, quietly — your parts have been noticing. They've been noticing that you keep coming back. That you don't abandon them when things get hard. That Self is here — steady, present, and not going anywhere. And when parts feel that — when they truly feel that Self can be trusted to lead — they begin to relax. They begin to loosen their grip. They begin to realise they no longer have to take over so quickly, so completely, so desperately. Because someone reliable is finally at the helm. Today we deepen that trust. Not by forcing it. Not by demanding it. But through the only three things that have ever built real trust — Presence. Patience. Compassion. The relationship you are building with your parts is one of the most important relationships of your life. Today we tend to it.

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Lesson 11

Leading Your Inner World

Something has shifted. You may not be able to name it exactly. But something inside you feels different from the person who started this journey eleven days ago. The reactions that once swept you away — they still come. But now there's a moment. A breath. A flicker of awareness before the wave hits. That flicker is Self leading. And today we explore what that truly means. Because leading from Self isn't about being in control. It isn't about silencing your parts or overriding what you feel. It isn't about becoming someone who never gets triggered or never struggles or never has a hard day. It's about something far more profound than that. When Self leads, your parts no longer have to fight for control. They no longer have to take over to be heard. Because they trust that Self is here — listening, present, and capable of handling what comes. And in that trust, something remarkable happens. Your parts stop being obstacles and become allies. Each one with its own wisdom. Each one with something valuable to offer. Each one finally able to play its role without running the show. This is the beginning of inner harmony. Not the absence of struggle — but a different relationship with it. Today we step into that. Together.

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Lesson 12

Coming Home To Self

You made it. Twelve days. Twelve steps inward. Twelve moments of choosing to show up for yourself instead of looking away. That matters more than you know. When you started this journey you were looking for answers to a question that has probably followed you for a long time. Why do I keep reacting this way? And what do I do when it happens? Today we don't just answer that question. We integrate it. We embody it. We bring everything you've discovered over these twelve days into one final, grounding truth: You are not your triggers. You are not your reactions. You are not the roles you learned to play or the parts that learned to protect you. You are the one who can witness all of it. The one who can return — again and again — to the steady, calm, grounded presence that has been here the whole time. That presence is Self. And now you know the way back to it. Triggers will still arise. That is part of being human. There will still be moments when something small happens and everything shifts. There will still be days when a part takes over before you've had a chance to breathe. But something is different now. You have awareness. You have compassion. You have a relationship with the parts of you that once ran the show — and a growing trust in the Self that can lead instead. You know what's happening when you get triggered. You know what to do. And you know how to find your way back. Welcome home.

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