“ Healing begins when we are met with presence that listens - not just to our words, but to the rhythms of our breath, the stories in our body, and the emotions beneath the surface”

Bonnie Bainbridge -Cohen

Somatic Experiencing (SE), is a pioneering body based talk therapy capable of relieving physiological shock, stress and trauma .It can help relieve pain and anxiety, restore your sense of self, your curiosity for life, your ability to love and be loved.

What is Somatic Experiencing, and how does it work?

Somatic Experiencing is a body-first therapy developed by Dr Peter Levine over the last 50 years to heal trauma, chronic stress and symptoms of overwhelm, like feeling stuck, or unable to start or finish tasks.

What do we mean by trauma?

Trauma is a big word, and it’s currently used a lot. For me one of the most useful definitions that Dr Levine has given us is that trauma is anything that was ‘Too much, too soon, too fast’ for our nervous systems to make sense of or to process. It’s easy to understand that an earthquake can be profoundly disorienting, but any situation that leaves our nervous system overwhelmed is a trauma, leaving us with feelings of being lost, disoriented, even a stranger to ourselves.

One of the ground breaking principals of SE, is that ‘ trauma is in the body, not in the event’, it’s in the belly that never unclenches, the jaw that needs to grind, the body coursing with adrenalin. So SE looks to counter this by slowing down sensations and memories to work with small bits at a time. Pausing, moving slowly, no pushing, gently including more in our awareness. Not triggering or retraumatising, giving space for difficulties to find their own equilibrium and to resolve.

Where traditional talk therapy is all in the narrative of the event, SE includes what is showing up in the present moment. And because SE gives us access to the regulating (calming) function of the Autonomic Nervous System, being present with difficult feelings needn’t be overwhelming.

Peter Levine observed that although wild animals are regularly threatened with death, they do not become traumatised. He saw that the highly charged energy released in their body that enable them to fight back or run away, is discharged by shaking or trembling when the threat has passed. It is this primitive discharge process that helps the animal return to full normal health and not become overwhelmed or incapable of fleeing future predators. While humans too have the capacity to overcome an overwhelming experience, we also have a rational brain that can get trained to reject or override the powerful primal instinct of the body. The result is that huge fight/flight energy remains active in our nervous system giving rise to symptoms, either immediately, or maybe years later.

“Trauma is a fact of life.

It does not however have to be a life sentence.”

Dr Peter Levine