“Trauma is a fact of life. It does NOT, however, have to be a life sentence.”
Dr. Peter A. Levine
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is a body-based, clinically validated approach to healing trauma. It is the product of Dr. Peter Levine’s lifelong multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics. The SE™ approach releases traumatic shock stored in the body and is an important key to healing PTSD and other wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
Application of SE™ can lead to successful outcomes for clients with developmental traumas (such as childhood abuse or neglect, ongoing medical issues, or physical impairments) and with shock traumas stemming from events such as motor vehicle accidents, surgeries, assault, natural disasters, and falls.
Clients aren’t required to retell or relive traumatic events; this could be retraumatizing and is one of the shortcomings of traditional talk therapy. Rather, we work in a slow and supportive way to engage, complete, and resolve the body’s instinctual fight, flight, and freeze responses–that is, what didn’t get to happen during the traumatic event(s). This allows the stored energy from the trauma to move through the body, resetting the nervous system and enhancing resilience to stress. Many clients experience improved vitality and capacity to engage in life. In our sessions, we’ll pay attention to sensations in the body and integrate movement and mindfulness.
I have completed the 3-year training and earned my Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certification (SEP) through the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.
Stephen Porges, PhD, is a researcher in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology. Through the development of his Polyvagal Theory, Porges created a framework for understanding and working with the emotional and physiological symptoms that come with trauma.
Porges identified what he called “the social engagement system”, a playful mixture of activation and calm that is functional when we feel safe. The social engagement system helps us navigate relationships and the activities of our daily lives. After trauma, we might experience emotional overwhelm, anxiety, dissociation, and have difficulties with social interactions and learning. Polygaval Theory gives us a lens for expanding the capacity of the social engagement system and lessening the negative effects of trauma.
According to Deb Dana, a close colleague of Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory is “the science of feeling safe enough to fall in love with life and take the risks of loving.”
You can learn more about Somatic Experiencing here:
