Have you ever experienced physical reactions like tightness in your chest or a sensation of butterflies in your stomach when recalling a traumatic event? Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a powerful form of therapy that can help you manage and heal these physical reactions. SE is based on the idea that trauma can be held in the body and that healing can occur through connecting with the nervous system. In this article, we dive into the details of this specialised form of therapy and explore how it can be used to understand, acknowledge, and heal our bodies and minds.
1. Unlocking the Body’s Wisdom: Exploring the Healing Power of Somatic Experiencing
The Healing Found In Somatic Experiencing
Somatic experiencing (SE) is an incredibly powerful and natural way of healing, by unlocking our body’s wisdom. It was developed by renowned trauma specialist, Dr. Peter Levine, and is based on his observation of wild animals in nature — animals that instinctively know how to release and heal from trauma in their bodies.
SE is a body-based therapeutic process that creates a contained space in which we can safely explore our experiences. In the safety of this space we can escape the rigidity of our minds and get to the root of our old traumas that are often still stored in our bodies. Through gentle awareness and exploration we reconnect with the sensations of our bodies and learn to draw on our innate potential for resilience and healing.
SE helps us to become aware of the subtle body sensations associated with our deepest hurts and it teaches us how to observe and listen to these feelings — rather than try to push them away. In doing so we begin to experience a profound sense of relief from the pain, and this understanding and integration strengthens our resilience.
- SE helps us to become aware of our deepest hurts
- It teaches us how to observe and listen to these feelings
- SE helps us to explore our experiences in a contained space
- It helps us to reconnect with our innate potential for resilience and healing
- We experience Relief from the pain in our bodies
SE has the potential to help us learn to accept and understand our difficult emotions and experiences — and it can lead to a profound transformation in our lives. But it takes courage to take the journey, and each individual has to move at their own pace — with an experienced facilitator the guide. However, when we connect with the body’s wisdom more deeply and invite transformation into our lives, it really is the most rewarding experience.
2. Rewiring Trauma: How Somatic Experiencing Restores Balance and Resilience
When it comes to trauma, many of us have a tendency to bury it away in the recesses of our minds. This practice, while understandable, can be detrimental in the long run. By suppressing it, we risk throwing our nervous systems out of balance and diminishing our overall resilience. With Somatic Experiencing (SE) therapy, people now have a noninvasive, gentle way to rewire or counteract trauma and become better equipped to channel their energy towards a brighter, healthier future.
The foundation of SE rests upon the idea that the body holds wisdom that can help people heal their trauma. Rather than talking in detail about the experience, the focus is on the body and its physical manifestations such as tension and contraction. Through a series of intentional movements and touch, SE empowers people to form a solid internal relationship with themselves and heal through gentle guidance.
SE is beneficial because it:
- nourishes regulation: Through relaxed interactions between therapist and client, SE allows the body to become accustomed to a sense of containment and security.
- acknowledges rigidity: SE practitioners believe that when one is held in a nonjudgmental space, any unrest or resistance in the body should be accepted and named rather than ignored or pushed away.
- honours self-regulation: Instead of telling people what (or how) to feel, the patient is given the opportunity to identify and choose the intensity of feelings they are comfortable dealing with.
Added to all this is the fact that, due to its slow progressive nature, SE is a no-pressure approach where the patient can feel safe exploring the nuances of their emotional experience.
The most important thing, however, is that SE provides trauma victims the opportunity to reclaim control of their lives and overcome emotional disturbances that would otherwise hold them back.
3. Tapping into the Body’s Resilience: The Revolutionary Approach of Somatic Experiencing
As humanity continues to face a variety of physical and psychological traumas, the need for effective methods to help cope and manage associated pain and distress has increased. One such method that is receiving increasing attention is that of Somatic Experiencing (SE). SE is a revolutionary approach to helping individuals reconnect with their body’s innate resilience to cope with traumatic events. At its core, SE is based on the understanding that a single traumatic event is often experienced on both an emotional and physical level.
SE provides a safe and supportive space for individuals to re-experience and process trauma, in order to reclaim their body’s resourcefulness and resilience. It calls upon clinicians to integrate both physical and emotional responses to the healing process. The techniques employed are aimed at restoring an individual’s sense of safety and enabling them to regulate their reactions to the trauma, so they can eventually overcome the effects of the event.
- Gentle Touch: SE practitioners make use of gentle touch, and help individuals slowly and progressively move back into contact with their physical bodies. This helps them become comfortable with the sensations they experience within their bodies.
- Step-by-Step Processing: SE is all about slow and steady progress, one step at a time. The process requires individuals to pause periodically and check in with their bodies in order to notice any changes in emotional or physical states.
- Resources for Healing: SE also explores how healthy emotional states can be re-engaged and reconnected in order for individuals to access resources to help restore balance and stability. The practitioners employ tasks such as sensory-based exercises to help individuals engage with various aspects of their surroundings for improving physical and emotional states.
At a more practical level, Somatic Experiencing has been used successfully in many clinical settings. It offers a comprehensive approach to helping individuals reclaim their inherent resources and develop healthy coping skills. This educational and non-invasive practice has enabled many to gain greater insight into their condition and has helped them reconnect with resources for healing, and ultimately facilitate a more healthy and balanced approach to healing.
In the end, Somatic Experiencing is an extraordinary approach that seeks to unlock the body’s resilience and capacity for healing. SE is a powerful tool to help understand and process traumatic events, and is an instrumental part of the recovery process.
4. The Dance of Healing: Harnessing the Body’s Innate Ability to Recover from Trauma through Somatic Experiencing
The recovery process from trauma is challenging and difficult. But, there is an alternative that blends body awareness with direct, experiential techniques that can offer relief and release from trauma of all kinds. This alternative is often called ‘The Dance of Healing’, and its application falls under the realm of Somatic Experiencing.
Somatic Experiencing is a technique created by Peter Levine, a psychologist who observed certain animals, particularly horses, in the wild that would shake off a traumatic experience after a few seconds. It was through this observation that he developed a psychobiological approach to healing post-traumatic stress and trauma.
The key principle to healing through Somatic Experiencing lies in the recognition of the body’s amazing capacity to heal itself. It does this by accessing the conscious and subconscious experiences the body has gone through, then guiding the person back to a place of heal. This is why Somatic Experiencing is such an effective way to heal from trauma.
At the core, Somatic Experiencing is a compassionate, non-invasive process that helps clients to gently and gradually increase their tolerance to the intensity of their emotions. Through this, the client is able to re-establish resiliency to emotional stages. In addition to this, Somatic Experiencing emphasizes cultivating body awareness, slowing down breathing, and providing a space for the body to come back to a place of ease.
- Respecting the body and its own innate ability to heal.
- Trusting in the natural healing process.
- Releasing traumatic memories in a safe and secure space.
Somatic Experiencing can be used to address any and all types of trauma, on an emotional, physical, and spiritual level. It is a process of tuning into the body, listening to its wisdom, and allowing it to reconnect to its own inherent healing capacities. Through The Dance of Healing, you can foster a sense of trust and liberation, and discover deep and lasting healing.
As we’ve explored, Somatic Experiencing is an incredibly powerful method for people to heal from trauma and open up to a more fulfilling life. It connects us with our most vital resource—ourselves—allowing us to reduce our pain and reclaim our sense of well-being. By bringing awareness and courage to our body we can bridge the gap between emotion and physical health and rediscover our natural potential for healing.
