Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing Gets to the Root

Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) is a gentle, empowering approach to effectively heal the impact of unresolved trauma and stress. Peter Levine developed SE by observing how wild prey animals are constantly exposed to threat but rarely show symptoms of trauma. But why? When a prey animal identifies a threat, their nervous system creates energy for a defensive response: either fight, run away (flight) or play dead (freeze). Once the prey animal experiences safety again, she discharges the survival energy by gently shaking or trembling. This completes the wave of energy and restores her ability to connect with a sense of safety, allowing her to look around and explore with curiosity.

Humans have the same primal mechanism and need for completion, but our rational brain often overrides the impulse. If the energy does not discharge and the wave does not complete, the charge of energy becomes trapped in our body and the nervous system believes we are still under threat. Thus, trauma symptoms emerge.

“Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the ‘triggering’ event itself. They stem from the frozen residue of energy that has not been resolved and discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits.” – Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger

Translating this Process into a Session

In our sessions, we gently and gradually explore the trapped energy. This energy often speaks through the “felt sense”, or the experience of physical sensations. We explore small pieces of discomfort and activation at a time. I guide you to connect with physical sensations as well as imagery, behavior, emotions and thoughts. As these elements form and change, they express important information. As we listen, we may spend time with what you notice and continue to track what is happening or we may bring in an invitation or gentle interruption, and then see what happens next. Through this intuitive, organic and creative process, the nervous system can gently release bound energy and restore equilibrium and capacity for regulation.

We also support your reconnection to safety, or the sense that “I’m okay.” We do this by bringing awareness to anything that feels supportive and resourceful, whether it’s the physical support of your chair, the pleasing colors in your current environment, or the supportiveness of the memory of the breeze blowing by a river.

“I so appreciate Emma’s deep intuition that I wasn’t ready to get in too deep. I had apprehension about Somatic Experiencing work, but Emma was so sweet and gentle and did such a beautiful balance of taking the lead and offering explanation when I wanted it.” – Ana A.

The Foundations of an SE™ Session

During sessions, we “resource”, which is the practice of focusing your awareness on something that brings a sense of “okay-ness”. Doing so increases your capacity to contain uncomfortable sensations without getting overwhelmed. It also teaches your system that it can return to a state of calm and connection, helping cultivate resiliency and self-regulation.

We “titrate”, meaning we work with small pieces at a time so that we don’t re- overwhelm your system. If you’re sharing a story, I’ll often pause you and invite you to notice what is happening in your system. By slowing down and inviting your awareness to the present moment, your nervous system will often carry out the completion of protective responses that it wasn’t able to do before. The process can be subtle and may take time to sense into what’s happening.

We “orient,” meaning we look around our environment. Orienting is a natural behavior in which we take in the world around us through our senses. Doing so opens up access to our peripheral vision, expanding our awareness and creating space for curiosity to emerge.

We “pendulate,” meaning we move back and forth between two experiences. We can pendulate between an uncomfortable sensation and a pleasant one, or between our inner experience and our outer environment. We do this to cultivate the ability to move between alertness/action and settling/rest. Pendulation is the natural process of expansion and contraction; it is the rhythm and process of a regulating nervous system.

We work with the “felt sense”—the “medium through which we experience the fullness of sensation and knowledge about ourselves” (Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger). I guide you to become aware of and track your physical sensations as they form and change. Peter explains, “These sensations serve as a portal through which we find the symptoms, or reflections of trauma. In directing our attention to these internal body sensations, rather than attacking the trauma head-on, we can unbind and free the energies that have been held in check… The felt sense encompasses the clarity, instinctual power and fluidity necessary to transform trauma” (Levine).

In addition to the felt sense, or physical sensation, we explore four other elements of experience. These 5 elements are known as S.I.B.A.M: Sensation, Imagery/Impressions, Behavior, Affect, and Meaning.

“I’ve been on a healing and self-growth path for most of my adult life so I’ve experienced a LOT of different forms of therapeutic and growth-oriented practices over the past 20 years. Not all of them have resonated or had lasting effects, but some of them have been profound for me. I’d say SE has that profound power. I really like some of the tools and languaging Emma has introduced, and notice how I’ve carried those beyond our sessions into my daily life. And I gotta say, Emma has capacity to hold vulnerable stories in a way that’s remarkably grounded—with warmth and acceptance, and also with an attention to when we may need to pause to tend to the feelings that are emerging. She makes sure it’s a really gentle process, almost like she’s wrapping me in nourishing resources as I explore the hardest places in myself. I dig it!” – Kay’a H.

Somatic Experiencing can effectively support you if you’re…

Often feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or stressed out,
Regularly noticing numbness, disconnection, low-energy, or symptoms of depression,
Finding yourself reacting rather than responding,
Experiencing chronic symptoms or pain in which health professionals can’t identify the cause,
Unable to connect with physical sensation or your body,
Struggling to connect with others,
Exhausted and burnt out, or experiencing chronic fatigue,
Aware that you’re nervous system is stuck in the same pattern.