Somatic Experiencing ®

Somatic Experiencing®

Trauma is not what happens to us but what we hold inside in the absence of an emapathic witness.

Peter A. Levine

The Somatic Experiencing® method is a naturalistic, neurobiological and body-oriented approach to healing trauma and other stress-related disorders developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, PhD and has been clinically applied for more than four decades. It has been acknowledged as a highly effective way to work with the impacts of recent trauma as well as the long-term impacts of traumatic experiences held in the nervous system sometimes over extended periods of time. It is based upon the observation that wild prey animals, though threatened routinely, are rarely traumatised. Instead, they utilise innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy associated with the defensive survival behaviours of fight, flight or freeze. These mechanisms provide animals with ways to deal with trauma that enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly charged life-threatening experiences.

Although humans have virtually the same regulatory mechanisms as animals, the function of these instinctive systems is often overridden or inhibited by the rational part of our more highly developed brain, the neo cortex, or by learned behaviours and conditioning. These restraints prevent the complete discharge of survival energies and do not allow the nervous system to regain its equilibrium. For example, when we prepare to fight or to flee, muscles throughout our entire body are tensed in specific patterns of high energy readiness. When we are unable to complete the appropriate actions, we fail to discharge the tremendous energy generated by our survival preparations. The person then stays in a state of acute and then chronic arousal and dysfunction in the central nervous system even if the danger is no longer present. Over time a variety of physical and psychological symptoms can develop and it is difficult if not impossible to function normally under these circumstances.

The SE approach releases survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms offering a framework to assess where a person is stuck in the fight, flight, or freeze responses. SE provides tools to resolve these fixated physiological states, facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and restores connection, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.

It teaches clients how to be aware and track sensations in their body (somatic experiencing) to unleash it’s intrinsic capacity to heal and overcome trauma. Connecting the client to the experience of their innate healing wisdom supports mastery and restores the authentic self, self-confidence and the inner experience of wholeness and aliveness regardless of previous experiences.

Gently pacing the process allows each individual to safely integrate the changes within their nervous system and prevents clients from getting overwhelmed again. Clients develop increasing tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions and build their capacity for containment and resilience.

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