Somatic Experiencing
What to expect…
SE is a gentle approach that works directly with the autonomic nervous system. This part of our nervous system speaks in the language of sensations, emotions, images and thoughts. It also communicates using subtle movements and gestures.
During an SE session we will both be gently ‘tracking’ what’s happening in your nervous system. You might describe sensations, emotions, thoughts and images. Together we might notice gentle signs of physiological shifts in your body, like a spontaneously more expansive breath or even a yawn, as your body moves through its cycles of self-regulation. As you track your physical sensations, you might become aware of a softening, tightening, tingling or changes in temperature in the body. It might also be that I bring your attention to a subtle movement or impulse in the body, and encourage you gently follow it to completion. This is how the body gets to tell its own story.
With patience and kindly awareness, you learn to gently hold and be present to sensations and feelings that up to now might have felt intolerable. And so, we gently expand our window of tolerance.
During a session I might also ask you to slow down and just become aware of what’s here now, even whilst you’re in the midst of a story. It’s not that I’m not interested, but what we are really wanting to give our full attention to, is the story of your nervous system. This is where healing happens. By listening to and gently following what it’s telling us, the nervous system is able to release unresolved survival responses and come back into healthy balance and healing. This mindful attention is the doorway back to vitality, joy and presence.
What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing is a body centred therapy developed by Peter Levine for the healing of trauma, chronic stress and symptoms of overwhelm.
But before we go any further, we need to define what trauma is. For many of us trauma feels like such a BIG word and not something we identify with. But trauma simply put, is anything that was ‘too much, too soon, too fast’ for us to process and make sense of. What this means is that whilst some traumatic events might involve a threat to life, any event that leaves our nervous system feeling overwhelmed can be deeply traumatising and leave us feeling lost, dis-oriented and not ourselves.
One of the key principles of this pioneering approach is that trauma is in the body, not the event. Unlike talking therapies that focus on the story of the what happened, Somatic Experiencing works in the here and now, communicating directly with the nervous system that regulates our responses to overwhelming events.
Our bodies have a natural and healthy capacity to self-regulate, but when we are ongoingly overwhelmed or traumatised we lose this ability. Thankfully this capacity can be restored, and it was through the observation of animals in the wild that Peter Levine discovered how. What he noticed was after a traumatic event, animals naturally discharged the energy in their bodies through gentle shaking and trembling. If they failed to do this, they would be much more vulnerable to future threat or even die of shock. As human animals we have a tendency to over-ride or repress this very natural process, for the completely understandable fear of feeling out of control. But the survival energies of these undigested events can become written into our neurobiology, manifesting in all sorts of symptoms, beliefs and unhelpful behaviours.
SE works gently and effectively to renegotiate this survival energy in the body, helping your system return to a natural state of rest and ease. This renegotiation builds resilience and reconnects you to your true self and vitality.
Some traumatic events and symptoms…
- Accidents, falls and serious illness
- Medical and dental procedures
- Sudden loss of a loved one
- Inescapable attack, violence or threat of violence,
- Torture, war and conflict
- Childhood neglect or abuse
It might also be that we don’t recall a major life event. We can find ourselves with symptoms of overwhelm, feeling disconnected, numb or deeply anxious without really knowing why.
Syndromes might also be symptomatic of trauma, such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune diseases or persistent pain patterns like chronic back pain.
