Somatic Experiencing®
Somatic Experiencing, referred to as SE™, is a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine and is supported by research. It is based upon the observation that wild prey animals, though threatened routinely, are rarely traumatized.
Animals in the wild utilize innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy arousal associated with defensive survival behaviors. These mechanisms provide animals with a built-in “immunity” to trauma that enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly “charged” life-threatening experiences.
- SE employs awareness of body sensation to help people “renegotiate” and heal rather than re-live or re-enact trauma. You do not need to re-tell the story to engage in Somatic Experiencing.
- SE’s guidance of the bodily “felt sense,” allows the highly aroused survival energies to be safely experienced and gradually discharged.
- SE may employ touch, with the permission of the client, in support of the renegotiation process.
- SE “titrates” experience (breaks down into small, incremental steps), rather than evoking catharsis – which can overwhelm the regulatory mechanisms of the organism.
For more information about SE please note the following reference:
SE Touch Work directly supports the regulation of a client’s nervous system. This hands-on approach involves the client reclining, clothed, in a chair or on a massage table so that the whole body can be supported and at rest.
Together the SE Practitioner and client determine what joints, diaphragms or organs are to be physically supported. Touch work can be helpful for resolving injuries, recovering from surgical procedures, and in treating symptoms related to stress and chronic pain and fatigue.
