How Somatic Experiencing® works

Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing® operates under the following principles:

‣ The body has a natural ability to heal itself from trauma and stress when given the right support

‣ Trauma is not just a psychological issue, but it’s also stored in the body and manifests in physical symptoms and sensations.

‣ Trauma can result in a state of “freeze” where the body is stuck in a state of immobility or over-arousal where the body is in a constant state of hyper-alertness.

‣ In order to heal from trauma, the body needs to be allowed to complete its natural fight, flight, or freeze response.

‣ Your Somatic Experiencing® practitioner will guide you to become more aware of what’s happening in your body in a safe and regulated manner.

‣ Becoming more aware of your inner experience and allowing the body to complete its natural response helps to release pent-up energy and tension, re-balance the nervous system and reduce the symptoms of trauma and stress.

Overall, the goal of Somatic Experiencing® is to help you regulate your nervous system and find greater resilience and well-being in the face of trauma and stress.

Fight, Flight and Freeze

Somatic Experiencing® offers a system to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight, or freeze responses and provides tools to help release and free these fixated physiological states.

Fight, flight, and freeze are three automatic physiological responses that the body can have when confronted with a perceived threat or danger:

‣ Fight refers to the body’s instinctual response to confront a perceived threat or danger. This can involve an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension, as the body prepares to fight off the perceived threat.

‣ Flight refers to the body’s instinctual response to flee from a perceived threat or danger. This can involve an increase in heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure, as the body prepares to escape from the perceived danger.

‣ Freeze refers to the body’s instinctual response to immobilize or “play dead” in the face of a perceived threat or danger. This can involve a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration rate, as the body enters a state of stillness and immobility.

These responses are an adaptive survival mechanism that have evolved over time to help human beings respond to threats and danger in their environment. However, in the context of trauma, these responses can become dysregulated, leading to ongoing symptoms and difficulties in daily life. Somatic Experiencing® aims to address this dysregulation by working with the body’s natural self-healing mechanisms to restore a sense of safety and harmony in the nervous system.

Principles of Somatic Experiencing®

Somatic Experiencing® offers a unique and effective approach to healing trauma that is grounded in the body and its physical experiences. By emphasizing safety and encouraging active engagement with present experiences, Somatic Experiencing® invites you to move towards greater well-being and resilience.

A few principles of Somatic Experiencing®:

‣ Focus on the body: Somatic Experiencing® emphasizes the importance of the body and its physical sensations in the healing process. Rather than solely relying on talking, Somatic Experiencing® encourages you to tune into your bodily experience as a means of healing trauma.

‣ Emphasis on safety: Somatic Experiencing® places a strong emphasis on creating a safe and supportive environment. The practitioner will work with you to establish a sense of safety and security before delving into deeper inner experiences.

‣ Focus on the present moment: Somatic Experiencing® is an active technique that encourages you to engage with your experience in the present moment and to develop and refine your somatic awareness of what’s here now.

Somatic Experiencing® is also a gentle process that respects the organic, natural rhythm of the nervous system. At its heart are three key components: tracking, titration, and pendulation.

‣ Tracking involves paying attention to your inner bodily experiences, such as tension or discomfort, and allowing them to be experienced without judgment.

‣Titration involves slowly and gently exploring these sensations in a way that feels manageable, rather than overwhelming.

‣ Pendulation involves moving back and forth between sensations of discomfort and sensations of relaxation, creating a sense of balance and safety in the body.