Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing is a neurophysiological approach to post-traumatic stress disorders including the physical presentations of chronic pain, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbance, gut issues, and autoimmune disorders.
Tools of Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Titration
Activation of the safety “alarm” system is measured and dosed to the appropriate amount which can be handled by the neurological system in the present moment. Progress can be slow but is more meaningful with fewer backslides.
Pendulation
Pendulation honors the inherent rhythm of the universe as demonstrated in the alternating expansion and contraction of life.
Tracking of restored somatic regulation following activating felt sense memories re-estabilishes normal ANS reciprocity for a graduated increase in energetic capacity.
Energy Vortex Work
People with long term stress tend to get “sucked in” to the story and associated milieu of sensory-motor reactions. Focusing on new stories/sensations helps counteract this tendency.
A compassionate witness is key and develops internally for the parts of ourselves that need empathic holding.
Completion of Defense
A stress pattern gets locked into the body largely because there was not effective resolution. In the course of an organic unfolding of the pattern, the body can successfully defend itself through an active response. In this way, success is experienced in the present which was elusive in the past.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
Peter Levine PhD
Founder of Somatic Experiencing