Somatic Experiencing
“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.”
-Peter Levine PhD
Somatic Experiencing’s method is rooted in our “wild” physiology. Animals in the wild are not traumatized by routine threats to their lives. While humans, living in the relative safety and comfort of modern lives, seem unable to access with body’s natural wisdom. Blending physiology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, psychology, SE restores our capacity to release traumatic shock, restore connection, reset our nervous systems, flow within the body and establish robust pathways of resilience.
Somatic Experiencing Practitioners are devoted to bottom up, somatic based processing. We understand that no two nervous systems are the same. Our relationship and our healing pathways will be negotiated. Each human organism is surging with untapped power.
Somatic Experiencing’s aim is to access the body memory (procedural memory) of the event, not the story. By exploring the sensations that lie underneath our feelings and beliefs, as well as our habitual behavior patterns, SE engages self-protective motoric responses, facilitates completion, allowing the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body and nervous system, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms.
Resources
To explore further, see:
Nature’s Lessons in Healing Trauma
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
In an Unspoken Voice by Peter Levine
Animals resetting after life threat:
Find a provider who practices Somatic Experiencing
Other Therapeutic Areas