A Meditation for When Something Has Just Happened: Somatic First Aid From a Dublin Therapist

Something has just happened. The body is shaking, the chest is tight, the mind is running. A 20-minute trauma-informed somatic practice — and what to do (and not do) in the hours that follow.

By Abi Beri | Integrative Therapist & Nervous System Specialist · Somatic Therapy Dublin, Naas, Newbridge, Kildare & Online

TL;DR. If you have just had a difficult conversation, received bad news, been triggered or are sitting with the aftermath of a moment that landed hard, the body is doing exactly what bodies do — the sympathetic nervous system has registered threat and switched on the response. The activation is not a malfunction. It is the system working. This article walks through a 20-minute trauma-informed somatic practice (you can do it alone, right now), the polyvagal science underneath it, and the things to do and not do in the hours that follow. If you are in Ireland and need a somatic therapist for the longer work — I see clients in Dublin, Naas, Newbridge and across Kildare in person, and online globally.

First — what is happening in your body right now

Quick answer: The shaking, the tight chest, the racing heart, the racing mind, the wanting to leave or freeze — these are the sympathetic nervous system doing exactly what it evolved to do when something is registered as a threat. The activation is not the problem. It is the response. The work is not to argue with the response. The work is to give the system the signals it needs to come back when the threat has passed.

There is a specific kind of moment that brings people to a practice like this. Maybe an argument with a partner that turned into something neither of you intended. Maybe a piece of news that you cannot quite take in. Maybe a phone call you knew was coming and were not prepared for anyway. Maybe a small thing that touched a much older thing and the body responded as if both were happening at once.

Whatever the trigger, the experience that follows is recognisable. The heart rate is up. The chest is tight. Hands might shake. Breath is shallow or held. Thoughts are running — what they meant, what you should have said, what happens now. Or, alternately, you are very still and very far from yourself, and everything sounds slightly muffled.

Both responses are the autonomic nervous system doing its job. The first — racing, shaking, running thoughts — is sympathetic activation (mobilisation). The second — distant, muffled, still — is dorsal-vagal (shutdown). Both are intelligent. Both are protective. Both, given the right conditions, will pass. The point of the practice is to give the right conditions.

The 20-minute practice — six gentle moves

These are the moves we use in the full guided meditation. You can do them alone right now. Take 20 minutes. Sit, lie down, or stand if you need to — there is no correct posture for this.

1. Look around the room. Eyes find the actual corners, the actual furniture, the actual colour of the walls. This is the most direct signal we can give the nervous system that the present moment is not the original threat. The thing that happened is not in this room.
2. Hand on the chest. One hand, over the heart. The weight, the warmth. The body recognises this signal without being taught. The someone, in this moment, is you.
3. Slightly slower exhale. Not deep breathing. Not forced. Just a breath that is a beat slower than what your body has been doing. Let the inhale arrive on its own. The exhale is the brake.
4. Thank the activation. Internally: thank you, I see you, I know you are trying to protect me. You can keep working. I just want to sit with you. The activated part has almost never been thanked in the middle of being activated. The thanking is often the thing that allows it to begin, slowly, to ease.
5. Let the body finish what it started. Shakes, sighs, yawns, tears, a deeper breath that arrives on its own — these are the autonomic system completing what the original moment did not give it the time to complete. Let them come.
6. The meaning can wait. The mind wants to figure out what it all means, what they meant, what you should do next. All of that can wait. Meaning-making is much better done after the body has come back. Conclusions reached in activation are almost always conclusions the calmer version of you would not have reached.

Calm-down advice that doesn’t work — and what works instead

Common advice	What a trauma-informed somatic therapist actually does
“Just take deep breaths.”	Slightly slower exhales. Inhale arrives on its own.
“Calm down.”	Honour the activation. It is trying to protect you.
“Try not to think about it.”	Let the body finish what it started before meaning-making.
“You’re overreacting.”	Your sympathetic system did exactly what it was designed to do.
“You need to fix this now.”	Don’t make major decisions while activated. They will look different tomorrow.
“Get over it.”	Settle the body first. Process the event later, with support.

What to do (and not do) in the next few hours

Three concrete things, drawn directly from the practice:

1. Water. The body uses water as it metabolises stress. Activation depletes it. A glass of water now is small but important.
2. No major decisions. The system is still settling for hours after a trigger fires. Decisions made now will look different tomorrow. Sleep on what happened, if it can wait.
3. Don’t do this alone if it’s large. If what happened is significant, tell someone. A friend, a family member, a therapist, a helpline. The body settles best in the presence of another safe nervous system. Reach out if you can.

And things to skip for the next twenty-four hours: alcohol (it suppresses the integration the body is trying to do), arguments you can postpone, social media (the dysregulation amplification machine), high-stakes communication.

The science underneath: what your nervous system is actually doing

Brief, because this is not a textbook. When something is registered as a threat, the brainstem activates the sympathetic nervous system through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Cortisol rises. Adrenaline floods. Heart rate up, breath shallow, attention narrows. The amygdala, the brain’s threat-assessment system, lights up. The thinking brain — the prefrontal cortex — is structurally downregulated. This is by design. In an acute threat, you need to react, not think.

The same response, fired by an argument or by traffic, doesn’t care about the modern context. It cannot tell the difference between a sabre-toothed tiger and a difficult email. Stephen Porges’s polyvagal theory adds nuance — the autonomic system also has the dorsal-vagal shutdown response (freeze, collapse), which fires when fight or flight isn’t available. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing work showed that allowing the body to complete the activation cycle — shakes, sighs, small movements — is how the system reliably resolves the residue.

What the 20-minute practice is doing, mechanism by mechanism: orienting downregulates the amygdala; hand on chest activates the vagal brake; longer exhale engages parasympathetic; honouring the activation reduces the secondary fight-with-the-feeling that prolongs the response; allowing the body’s involuntary completion lets the cycle finish. Twenty minutes is, conveniently, also about the length of time the cortisol curve takes to begin descending if no new threat fires.

Frequently asked questions

What should I do right after an argument with my partner? Don’t try to fix the argument. Settle your body first. Orient to the room. Hand on chest. Slightly slower exhale. The conversation, if it needs to happen, will happen better in an hour when both of you have come back.

Why am I shaking after the conversation? Shaking is the autonomic nervous system metabolising the sympathetic charge. Levine’s work showed it is the body’s natural completion mechanism. Let it happen. Don’t try to suppress it.

Is this a panic attack? Possibly, possibly not. Acute stress activation and panic attacks share many symptoms. The practice supports both. If panic attacks are recurring, working with a trauma-informed therapist (somatic, IFS, EMDR) is the appropriate longer step.

Should I drink alcohol to calm down? No. Alcohol suppresses the body’s integration of what just happened. The symptoms feel quieter; the integration is incomplete; the residue stays. Wait, settle, drink water.

Do you offer trauma therapy in Dublin? Yes — integrative somatic therapy in Dublin, Naas, Newbridge and across Kildare in person, and online globally. Free 20-minute intro at somatictherapyireland.com.

What if what happened is much bigger than an argument? Then you need real support. Call Samaritans Ireland on 116 123, or Pieta House on 1800 247 247, or speak to your GP, or seek out a trauma-informed therapist. You should not do this alone.

Working with a Trauma-Informed Somatic Therapist in Dublin, Naas, Newbridge & Kildare

A 20-minute practice is excellent first aid. If something keeps firing — if the same kinds of moments keep landing the same kinds of ways — that pattern is the territory of somatic therapy. I work as an integrative somatic therapist in Dublin city, Naas, Newbridge and across the wider Kildare area, in person, and online globally. The approach draws on Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine), polyvagal-informed practice (Stephen Porges, Deb Dana), IFS, inner child work and Family Constellations (Hellinger lineage).

Sessions are 60 minutes, weekly or fortnightly. There is a free 20-minute intro call before any commitment, with no expectation. Book at somatictherapyireland.com.

About the author

Abi Beri is an Integrative Therapist, Family Constellation Facilitator and Nervous System Specialist based in Dublin, Ireland. He is trained in somatic methods, family constellations, polyvagal-informed practice and inner child work. He is IPHM-accredited. He sees clients in person from a practice base across Dublin, Naas, Newbridge and the wider Kildare area, and online globally. More at somatictherapyireland.com and blissfulevolution.com.

Authoritative resources (external links)

Polyvagal Institute (founded by Stephen Porges) — polyvagalinstitute.org · research and training in polyvagal theory.
Somatic Experiencing International (Peter Levine’s training body) — traumahealing.org · the global home of Somatic Experiencing.
Trauma Research Foundation (Bessel van der Kolk) — traumaresearchfoundation.org · The Body Keeps the Score research lineage.
IICP College Dublin — iicp.ie · the integrative counselling and psychotherapy college in Dublin where I trained.
IPHM (International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine) — iphm.co.uk · my accrediting body.

If you need urgent support — Irish mental health helplines

Samaritans Ireland — samaritans.org/ireland · free, 24/7 emotional support · call 116 123.
Pieta House (Ireland) — pieta.ie · free crisis support for self-harm and suicidal ideation · call 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444.
Aware Ireland — aware.ie · depression and anxiety support · call 1800 80 48 48.
HSE Mental Health (Ireland) — hse.ie/mental-health · the Irish national health service mental health gateway.