Somatic Experiencing – Linda Fenesova

If you bring forth that which is within you, Then that which is within you Will be your salvation. If you do not bring forth that which is within you, Then that which is within you Will destroy you.

Peter Levine

What is Somatic Experiencing?

“Trauma is in the body, not in the event.”

- Dr Peter Levine

Somatic Experiencing is a body-centred approach to healing trauma, chronic stress and symptoms of overwhelm. Trauma has a direct impact on the body by destabilising the autonomic nervous system (this is the system that governs our response to overwhelming events). When the survival energy from a traumatic experience is not discharged from the body, it remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds.

Somatic Experiencing works with the autonomic nervous system to develop resilience and facilitate the slow release of the residual traumatic energy that is stuck in the system. This approach addresses the root cause of the symptoms associated with traumatic shock and developmental trauma. Though born with the same instincts, in humans the regulatory flight or fight response can be overridden by overwhelming fear; we ‘freeze.’ When a powerful surge in life force gets locked in the body it can lead to a constellation of symptoms. This is when we need to reach out and ask for compassionate assistance to find our feet again.

Somatic experiencing contends that negative symptoms of trauma—such as anxiety, hypervigilance, aggression, and shame—result from denying the body the opportunity to fully process the traumatic event. It is a subtle and gentle way of working, which takes into account the client’s threshold so as not to cause overwhelm or re-traumatisation.

How does a session look like?

Environment/safety

The first step is getting comfortable in the therapy environment, both with the therapist and the physical space, to have a sense of trust. Only after that, when trust is established, will the process of addressing the trauma begin.

Explore event

After that, it might start by the therapist asking a client to revisit the time around the traumatic event, but not the event directly.

For example. Using the experience of a car crash as an example, instead of immediately exploring the trauma, the therapist might begin the process of revisiting it by asking what the weather was like the day of the crash before it happened. This gentle and indirect approach to revisiting the trauma allows our bodies to build the resilience needed and slowly release stuck traumatic energy, a bit at a time.

Learn self-and coregulation

The pace of progress, though, is determined by the client’s comfort level at each step along the way. The gentle exploration continues until the client builds enough resilience to productively and completely engage and release the trauma energy.

Origins of somatic experiencing

Dr. Peter Levine developed Somatic Experiencing from his observations of how wild animals recover from repeated traumatic experiences like attacks by predators (imagine gazelles eluding a cheetah). What he noticed was, after a threat was gone, the animals experienced a physical release of their fight-or-flight energy by shaking, trembling, or sometimes running. He also saw that with completion of the physical release, they quickly returned to their normal state. Though born with the same instincts, in humans the regulatory flight or fight response can be overridden by overwhelming fear; we ‘freeze.’ When a powerful surge in life force gets locked in the body it can lead to a constellation of symptoms. This is when we need to reach out and ask for compassionate assistance to find our feet again.

Humans, on the other hand, often override these natural ways of regulating the nervous system with feelings of shame and pervasive thoughts, judgments, and fears. Somatic Experiencing aims to help people move past the place where they might be “stuck” in processing a traumatic event.