What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing is a therapeutic body-oriented therapeutic approach that helps to heal trauma and other stress disorders. Development of this modality was created by Peter Levine, Ph.D. Dr. Levine created SE to include a multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices and medical biophysics with more than 45 years of successful clinical application.
SE began out of Peter Levine’s curiosity in exploring how animals, who are constantly under the threat of death, appear to not show any signs of trauma. He learned that animals have a quick way of clearing out survival energy from the body without it getting stuck or trapped inside. What creates blocks or loops within human beings is the human brain (ego state arising out of the left side of the brain). SE accesses the primitive part of the brain, in a gentle way, with the use of pendulation (emotional regulation versus emotional dysregulation) helping to expand and contract the autonomic nervous system responses (e.g. fight, flight, freeze or collapse). The technique is helpful when working with individuals who experience anxiety, depression, chronic pain, relationship trauma and post traumatic stress responses. The goal is to access body memories of the event and renegotiate a new and different response rather than verbally telling the story of a person’s trauma.
SE is an active process between practitioner and client, inviting the left side of the brain to take a moment to metaphorically rest on the shelf, while allowing the primitive part of the brain to access the body via the autonomic nervous system.
For more information on Somatic Experiencing, please visit: somaticexperiencing.com/somatic-experiencing
Explore Other Methods: