Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing® is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders.
As a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with advanced training and mentoring in SE touch work and attachment work (DARE, BASE, TEB), SE is built into all of the services that I offer to clients as it is the lens from which I understand trauma. My use of SE as a psychoenergetic and Biofield Tuner, allows me to integrate the SE principles into my use of sound and vibration in various ways.
“Trauma is not what happens to us but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
- Peter Levine, PhD
Stress Response & Release
Developed by Peter A. Levine, PhD, Somatic Experiencing® is based on his multidisciplinary study of the stress physiology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, psychology, and indigenous healing practices. The SE™ approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motoric responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body and nervous system. It is a gentle approach that assists in building tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions.
Somatic Experiencing® is a body-oriented approach, helping individuals to create new experiences in their bodies; ones that contradict those of tension and stuckness. This means that healing is about exploring the sensations that lie underneath feelings and beliefs, as well as our habitual behavior patterns.
Dr. Levine discovered through his observations of animals in the wild, that as humans we can become overwhelmed by stress or life events so that we do not fully process or integrate experiences in and through the body. His unique method is a safe introduction into many of the current body-based therapies that are present today.
Stress Response & Release
Developed by Peter A. Levine, PhD, Somatic Experiencing® is based on his multidisciplinary study of the stress physiology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, psychology, and indigenous healing practices. The SE™ approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motoric responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body and nervous system. It is a gentle approach that assists in building tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions.
Somatic Experiencing® is a body-oriented approach, helping individuals to create new experiences in their bodies; ones that contradict those of tension and stuckness. This means that healing is about exploring the sensations that lie underneath feelings and beliefs, as well as our habitual behavior patterns.
Dr. Levine discovered through his observations of animals in the wild, that as humans we can become overwhelmed by stress or life events so that we do not fully process or integrate experiences in and through the body. His unique method is a safe introduction into many of the current body-based therapies that are present today.
Somatic Processing of Emotion
Somatic Experiencing is built into my sound healing and coaching practice as I work directly with the body and nervous system in all that I offer. As a nervous system expert, I can help guide the somatic processing of emotions and experiences that are stuck in the body. Today, my approach to SE is that I use sound as a portal into your somatic experience.
More Information & Resources
Key concepts that are central to SE are:
Titration: the “slow release of compressed survival energy”. The SE™ approach focuses on cycles of healing, where a person can sense their way through the normal oscillations of internal sensation – contraction/expansion, pleasure/pain, warmth/cold at a level that a person can tolerate without becoming overwhelmed. This repeated, rhythmic process helps to develop a greater capacity to handle stress and stay in the present moment.
Pendulation: this term coined by Dr. Levine, describes the natural oscillation between opposing forces of contraction and expansion. Somatic Experiencing® utilizes this philosophy to help a client experience a sense of flow in the body and its energy systems.
Trusting the Organicity of the Body: this concept is the basis of most body-based methods of healing. It is based on the belief that we all have an organic blueprint of health and homeostasis and that when we create the right conditions, the body and system knows how to move towards health and wholeness.
SE 101:
Click here to read Somatic Experiencing 101
Podcast:
Podcast about Peter’s New Book, An Autobiography of Trauma
Let's Connect
Let's connect to discuss whether Somatic Experiencing is a good option for you.