What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Therapy
in Brisbane
Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a body oriented approach created by Dr Peter Levine, that aims to resolve symptoms of stress, shock, and trauma that accumulate in the body when we are stuck in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze.
What is Somatic Psychotherapy
In our journey through life, we can encounter experiences that leave a lasting impact on our minds and bodies. Trauma, whether big or small, can have a profound effect on our overall well-being. But there is hope. In recent years, the field of trauma therapy has seen significant advancements, acknowledging the important role that the body plays in healing. One such approach is Somatic Experiencing (SE), a powerful modality that aims to release stored traumatic energy from the body.
Before we get into an explanation of Somatic Experiencing, let’s talk about Somatic Psychotherapy as a whole. Somatic psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on the connection between physical and psychological health. Somatic therapies generally combine traditional talk therapy with mindfulness and body-based practices like movement, yoga, nervous system regulation, grounding exercises and mindfulness to help people heal from trauma. Somatic psychotherapy works to bridge the gap between body and mind by exploring how our physical experience and body influence our emotional state, especially in the case of trauma.
Somatic psychotherapy is often referred to as ‘bottom up processing’ and it involves helping a person to focus on their physical sensations, emotions and thoughts related to the traumatic event. These body based activities can help people to become aware of their physical symptoms and emotional reactions, which can then be addressed through working somatically with body posture, gesture and movement. Many clinicans in the filed acknowledge that when we are working with trauma we need bottom up approaches because we cant talk our way out of trauma because. trauma is stored in the limbic or emotional part of the brain. This means we need a way to access the limbic brain, and the way we do that is through the body not our words. This doesnt mean that therapies and approaches that work with the mind or our cognitions are not important. These approaches are known ‘as top down processing’ and we need these cognitive approaches. Our pre-frontal cortex is the part of our brain that is involved in processing of emotions, rational and logical thought and making meaning! All of these things are also an important part of healing trauma.
Overall somatic Psychotherapy can help people to get a greater sense of control over their behaviours and reactions, which in turn can help them process the trauma more effectively. As a trauma therapist who is trained somatically I combine evidence-based psychotherapy with somatic interventions to support people to heal from the effects of trauma. This approach takes into consideration the mind-body connection and recognizes how physical symptoms are linked to the impacts of trauma.
10 Reasons to Try Somatic Therapy
Trauma can have a devastating effect on our emotional and physical wellbeing, but bodies are capable of healing is possible with the right kind of support. Somatic psychotherapy is an integrative approach to healing trauma that combines traditional psychotherapeutic techniques with more holistic body-based practices.
Here are ten reasons why you might want to try a somatic therapy:
1. It’s non-invasive
Somatic psychotherapy focuses on the impacts of trauma on a person, it does not require you to retell or relive the story of your trauma. Somatic therapy can be a gentle process to help re-pattern the body’s responses to stress and trauma. This makes it less intrusive than some traditional therapies, eg exposure therapy or talk therapy alone.
2. It can help reconnect you with your body
Trauma can disconnect us from our bodies, leading us to ignore physical sensations or feel disconnected from ourselves in general. Somatic psychotherapy helps us reconnect by focusing on becoming aware of bodily sensations in order to heal them.
3. It acknowledges mind-body connection
Traditional therapies often focus solely on talking about issues without considering how they may be affecting our bodies too, whereas Somatic Psychotherapy recognises that body and brain are connected.
4. It works holistically
Unlike other types of therapy which focus solely on one aspect of healing (e.g., cognitive behavioural therapy), somatic Psychotherapy takes into account all aspects of your life including thoughts, feelings, relationships and environment when working towards recovery from trauma.
5. It doesn’t require talking about traumatic events
If you find it difficult or frightening to talk about your traumatic experiences openly then this type of therapy gives you an alternative way forward where you don't have to verbalise what happened if that feels overwhelming.
6 .It can help manage symptoms
By helping people become aware of their bodily sensations associated with their traumatic experience/s and learning how these affect them emotionally, somatic psychotherapy can help reduce symptoms related to PTSD such as flashbacks and nightmares.
7 .It builds self-compassion
Building self-compassion through understanding how we respond emotionally when confronted by triggers related to past traumas is a key part of understanding and normalising the impacts of trauma. Trauma is not an illness, rather the word trauma comes from the word wound, which means that a wound requires healing. Somatic therapy can help us to develop more self compassion, which is crucial for healing.
8 .It creates new neural pathways
As people become more familiar wth their body's response patterns they start creating new neural pathways allowing them to process stressful situations differently than before which leads to positive changes in our behaviour and experience over time .
9 .It reduces feelings of fragmentation
Traumatic experiences often lead people feeling fragmented from themselves due to their awareness being split into different parts leading them to behave differently in various situations or feel dissociated from their own bodies . Somatic therapy can help us to reconnect to parts of ourselves that have been split off or disconnected.
10 .It increases resilience
By becoming more connected with our body and working with our nervous system, we learn the skills to manage triggers and build a new relationship between body and mind. As we practice new skills and build resources, we build our confidence and resilience. Our ability to ‘bounce back’ psychologically and physiologically can be strengthened.
How Does Trauma Get Stored In The Body?
Trauma can be an incredibly difficult experience to process and work through, but it’s even more difficult when it isn’t just stored in the mind, but in the body as well. Traumatic experiences can have lasting physical effects that are often overlooked or ignored. When trauma isn’t addressed, it can lead to chronic pain, tension and other physical issues that can cause further difficulty in our lives.
Trauma is not just an event; it is an experience that imprints itself on the body and mind. When faced with a threatening situation, our bodies respond by releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones are meant to help us survive the situation by providing us with increased energy and focus to escape danger or fight back if necessary. This is known as the “fight-or-flight response” and is an evolutionary adaptation humans have for survival. The challenge today is that this response does not always turn off after a threat has passed or when we may no longer be in danger. Even if we know we are now safe, we don’t always feel safe because our body and brain still think there is something wrong. This means that our body and brain remain in a state of constant high alert or hypervigilance for long periods of times. This causes chronic tension throughout our muscles which may lead to aches, pains and bracing throughout the body. We can experience things like headaches, neck pain, ongoing tension, lower back pain, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, insomnia and a whole range of other symptoms.
In addition to muscle tension being one way that trauma gets stored in the body, research has also shown that psychological trauma such as childhood abuse can cause changes at a cellular level which affect how we respond to stress later on down the line (known as epigenetic changes). When these epigenetic changes occur they may make us more sensitive towards stressful situations by making us more prone to anxiety attacks or depression when faced with triggers related to past traumas causing further distress both physically and mentally.
It's important for people who have experienced traumatic events in their lives recognize this effect of trauma getting stored within their body so they can get treatment accordingly from practitioners who specialize in treating trauma so they don't continue living under constant fear of re-experiencing their traumas
Watch Peter Levine explain how trauma gets stuck in the body
The Science Behind Somatic Therapy: Understanding the Body-Mind Connection
Somatic therapy operates on the premise that the mind and body are intricately connected, and that traumatic experiences can become trapped in the body's tissues and nervous system. Research in the field of neuroscience has provided valuable insights into how trauma affects the brain and body, shedding light on the physiological mechanisms underlying somatic therapy interventions. Studies have shown that trauma can dysregulate the autonomic nervous system, leading to chronic stress, anxiety, and other physical symptoms. Somatic therapies such as Somatic Experiencing aim to restore balance to the nervous system by gently guiding clients through regulated experiences of sensation and emotion, promoting neuroplasticity and resilience.
Central to somatic therapy is the cultivation of embodied awareness, or the ability to attune to the sensations and felt experiences of the body. Through practices such as mindful breathing, body scanning, and gentle movement, clients learn to develop a greater sense of presence and self-regulation. Embodied awareness allows individuals to access the wisdom of their bodies and navigate the complexities of trauma with greater ease and resilience. By fostering a compassionate and non-judgmental relationship with their bodies, clients can begin to unravel the layers of stored trauma and reclaim a sense of wholeness and vitality.
Somatic therapy offers a safe and non-invasive approach to releasing stored trauma from the body. By engaging in gentle body-based techniques and mindfulness practices, individuals can gradually access and process the somatic sensations associated with traumatic memories. Through the therapeutic process, clients learn to differentiate between past trauma and present reality, reclaiming a sense of agency and empowerment over their own healing journey. Somatic therapy provides a supportive environment for individuals to explore and integrate their experiences, fostering a deep sense of connection and resilience.
While somatic therapy offers a powerful and effective approach to trauma healing, it is often most impactful when integrated with other modalities and treatment approaches. Collaborative care teams, consisting of trauma therapists, psychiatrists, bodyworkers, and other healthcare professionals, can provide comprehensive support to individuals navigating the complexities of trauma recovery. By combining somatic therapy with evidence-based interventions such as Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and mindfulness-based practices, clients can access a diverse array of tools and resources to support their healing journey. This integrative approach addresses the multifaceted nature of trauma and honors the unique needs and preferences of each individual.
Somatic psychotherapy supports individuals to process trauma from the ground up rather than from a top down approach where cognitive interventions are used first before addressing underlying feelings and experiences related to trauma. This method seeks out an individual’s inner resources rather than relying solely on external sources such as medications or therapies which do not address underlying issues related to trauma directly at its source level of experience within oneself. Bottom-up processing gives individuals access to their own unique healing journey by providing them with tools that allow them acknowledge what has happened while providing opportunities for growth through self reflection, compassion, and resilience building activities such as art therapy or mindfulness practices which help promote positive change over time even after difficult times have passed
The therapist helps the client to become aware of their body’s sensations in the present moment so they can better understand their emotions and underlying causes for distress. By doing this work together in a safe environment with an experienced practitioner, clients learn skills for self-regulation which allows them to process difficult emotions without getting overwhelmed or stuck in dysfunctional patterns of behavior.
The goal of somatic psychotherapy is not only to reduce symptoms but also create lasting change by helping clients gain insight into their patterns as well as develop skills for managing stress more effectively. Clients learn how to access deeper levels of awareness within themselves which enable them to make healthier choices in life while being more connected both physically and emotionally with those around them. It's important to note that somatic psychotherapy is not a substitute for medical care or medication but rather it is intended as an adjunct therapy when appropriate. With proper guidance from a qualified therapist who understands both traditional psychological approaches along with somatic techniques such as yoga or meditation this type of treatment can be highly effective at helping people find relief from emotional pain and live fuller lives.
How Does Somatic Therapy Help With Trauma?
Trauma is a common experience that can cause lasting physical, psychological, and emotional impact to a person. Somatic therapies can help to heal the physical, mental and emotional effects of trauma. Somatic therapies are based on the idea that our bodies are able to store memories of traumatic events on a cellular level. This is known as implicit memory, where there may not be an explicit narrative or story for some of our experiences, but in the words of Bessel Vander Kolk, the body keeps the score.
This means that when we experience traumatic events, our bodies will remember them even if we don’t consciously recall them. Somatic therapies focus on helping individuals release these stored memories from their body in order to reduce the impact of trauma and foster healing. One type of somatic therapy is Somatic Experiencing (SE), which uses gentle body-based techniques to help people process their trauma without reliving it or becoming overwhelmed by it. SE helps people become aware of how their bodies react during moments of distress so they can learn how to better manage those reactions in the future. It also focuses on helping people build resilience by teaching them how to recognize and regulate stress responses before they become overwhelming or harmful.
The Science Behind Somatic Therapy: Understanding the Body-Mind Connection
Somatic therapy operates on the premise that the mind and body are intricately connected, and that traumatic experiences can become trapped in the body's tissues and nervous system. Research in the field of neuroscience has provided valuable insights into how trauma affects the brain and body, shedding light on the physiological mechanisms underlying somatic therapy interventions. Studies have shown that trauma can dysregulate the autonomic nervous system, leading to chronic stress, anxiety, and other physical symptoms. Somatic therapies such as Somatic Experiencing aim to restore balance to the nervous system by gently guiding clients through regulated experiences of sensation and emotion, promoting neuroplasticity and resilience.
Image credit: Brian Wheelan
Central to somatic therapy is the cultivation of embodied awareness, or the ability to attune to the sensations and felt experiences of the body. Through practices such as mindful breathing, body scanning, and gentle movement, clients learn to develop a greater sense of presence and self-regulation. Embodied awareness allows individuals to access the wisdom of their bodies and navigate the complexities of trauma with greater ease and resilience. By fostering a compassionate and non-judgmental relationship with their bodies, clients can begin to unravel the layers of stored trauma and reclaim a sense of wholeness and vitality.
Somatic therapy offers a safe and non-invasive approach to releasing stored trauma from the body. By engaging in gentle body-based techniques and mindfulness practices, individuals can gradually access and process the somatic sensations associated with traumatic memories. Through the therapeutic process, clients learn to differentiate between past trauma and present reality, reclaiming a sense of agency and empowerment over their own healing journey. Somatic therapy provides a supportive environment for individuals to explore and integrate their experiences, fostering a deep sense of connection and resilience.
While somatic therapy offers a powerful and effective approach to trauma healing, it is often most impactful when integrated with other modalities and treatment approaches. Collaborative care teams, consisting of trauma therapists, psychiatrists, bodyworkers, and other healthcare professionals, can provide comprehensive support to individuals navigating the complexities of trauma recovery. By combining somatic therapy with evidence-based interventions such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and mindfulness-based practices, people can access a diverse array of tools and resources to support their healing journey. This integrative approach addresses the multifaceted nature of trauma and honors the unique needs and preferences of each individual given that there is no one modality or intervention that works for everyone, what works for one person may not work for another person and we all have our own preferences, which is totally ok!
What is Somatic Experiencing
Developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, Somatic Experiencing is a unique therapeutic approach that recognizes the body's innate wisdom in healing trauma. It was developed by Dr. Peter Levine in the 1970s as a way to address trauma that has been stuck in the body.Somatic experiencing helps to address various forms of physical and emotional trauma. It's based on the understanding that trauma is stored in the body and mind and is not just a psychological phenomenon but also a physiological one. Traumatic experiences can leave imprints in the body's nervous system, leading to symptoms such as hypervigilance, anxiety, and chronic pain.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, Somatic Experiencing focuses on the sensations and physical experiences that arise in the body during traumatic events. By carefully attending to these sensations, Somatic Experiencing allows the body to complete its natural stress response and discharge the accumulated energy.Through Somatic experiencing, individuals are guided to renegotiate their relationship with these sensations, leading to a profound transformation in their overall well-being.
Somatic experiencing works with the body's response to threat and trauma, particularly focusing on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Somatic Experiencing works with the charge and discharge of activation (the physiological energy of fight/flight/freeze that the body mobilises during trauma) that gets stuck and unable to be effectively processed by our ANS due to a trauma event happening too fast, too soon too much or without enough support, as in the case of childhood emotional neglect.
Somatic Experiencing works to identify the areas where trauma is stored in the body and then gently encourages release or deactivation from them. The goal of somatic experiencing is to help individuals process their traumatic experiences in a safe and supportive environment. It does this by targeting different aspects of the nervous system, primarily focusing on regulating overactive responses such as hypervigilance, fight, flight or freeze responses
It aims to resolve the activation to the degree the discharge cycles are effectively completed. This involves uncoupling different emotional states like intense fear from states of freeze or immobility, allowing the energies bound up in freeze to be accessed, freed, and ultimately transformed. Somatic Experiencing also involves re-establishing body boundaries, re-associating under coupled elements ( see explanation below) and working with the sensory and physiological experiences of the individual to help a person regain a felt sense of safety, reconnecting to their body and trusting in their own body and environment.
Through this process, individuals learn how to better regulate their emotions while also developing skills for managing difficult thoughts or memories associated with their traumatic events. In somatic experiencing sessions, practitioners typically start by helping clients recognize their body sensations. This can include teaching people how to track what happens when they experience an emotion like fear or anger, working with the experiences of triggering in the body and then providing somatic (body) and cognitive (brain) resources to help regulate these sensations and emotions.
Principles and Techniques of Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing is based on several key principles that guide the therapeutic process. One such principle is the recognition that trauma is a natural response to overwhelming events and not a sign of weakness or pathology. By normalizing the experience of trauma, Somatic Experiencing creates a safe space for people to explore their inner landscape and release the stored survival energy of trauma.
SE also incorporates grounding techniques to help individuals establish a sense of safety and stability in the present moment. These techniques include deep breathing, sensory awareness, and somatic resourcing, which involve connecting with positive memories or sensations to counterbalance the traumatic experiences.
By combining these principles with various techniques such as tracking bodily sensations, working with the felt sense, and facilitating resource activation, Somatic Experiencing provides a comprehensive framework for healing trauma at its core.
OVER Coupling and under coupling
The concept of coupling dynamics is used both in psychotherapy and in trauma recovery models. In simple terms coupling dynamics speak to the way that things can either get linked together (over coupling) or how they can be disconnected (under coupling) Traumatic coupling dynamics occur as a common consequence of exposure to the overwhelming experiences that are at the root of trauma.
Over-coupling means that something has gotten linked (coupled) within a traumatic experience that shouldn’t be. In trauma this means that many different things can get bundled up and compressed together, things that don’t necessarily belong.
One example would be of someone who is walking outside near a park and they witnesses someone being assaulted. Even though that person was themselves not injured, walking outside or near a park may now be associated with the fear they felt from witnessing the assault. Walking outside or near a park has now become over-coupled with a fear response. When this over coupling occurs our brain moves into protection as it wants to avoid any situation like that ever happening again. So when something feels similar to the dangerous or threatening situation that happened in the past even though that isnt’ happening now, the reptilian part of our brain is responding with the same threat response we had initially. This can happen even though our logical mind (pre frontal cortex) knows we are ok now, the body doesn’t feel like it’s over.
Under-coupling means that things that should have been connected, which do belong together, have been disconnected. In trauma this means that instead of things being bundled up and compressed together, things are pushed away or disconnected. This can look like not remembering an important part or parts of a traumatic experience. This often happens because the experience is too overwhelming, and under stress, a part of our brain called the hippocampus get inhibited, and this can cause memory fragmentation or gaps in our memory. Using the same example as above, if the experience of witnessing the assault was so overwhelming for a person that it became disconnected or under coupled, it’s possible a person may later experience feelings of fear and anxiety when visiting a park but not know why they feel fearful or anxious. This part of the trauma expereince has become under coupled from the symptoms of fear and anxiety.
Over coupling or under coupling happens as part of our survival response. Due to the high levels of stress we experience in an overwhelming event or events, we find a way to protect ourselves from the overwhelm and move through it. Somatic Experiencing helps people work with the over couples and under coupled elements of trauma so that they can bring all the pieces of their experience back together as they should be, linking together what should be linked together and separating out things that don’t belong.
SIBAM
SIBAM stands for Sensation, Image, Behavior, Affect, and Meaning. It is a Somatic Experiencing framework used to understand the elements that make up our experience.
In somatic experiencing sessions, SIBAM is used to help therapists recognize which elements are predominantly present in a persons experience and which may be absent. For example, if a person comes in and is able to tap into a lot of emotion but can't feel their body, it indicates that they lead with Affect but are less resourced, comfortable, or familiar with the Sensation element. Similarly, if a person experiences a lot of symptoms and beliefs but is emotionally cut off, it indicates they may need some support in building range, resource, and resilience in the Affect element.
We know that trauma can disconnect us from our bodies, which can lead us to ignore our physical sensations or feel disconnected from ourselves in general. Somatic Experiencing practitioners help people to connect with all the elements of SIBAM so that they can reestablish a connection to themselves and between body and mind. SIBAM is also used to help with the process of working with over coupling or under coupling (described above) that happens during trauma.
TITRATION
Titration in the context of Somatic Experiencing involves making sure that as we work with the body and the nervous system, we are doing so in small, gentle and manageable pieces. This means that we work with the smallest amount of activation or something distressing, to cause a shift in the nervous system and break down the stimulus or charge into bite sized pieces that can be integrated and moved through successively.
The goal of titration is to lower the arousal (physiological activation in the body) or constriction in small ways that support the nervous system not to go into overwhelm, but instead allow the gradual processing and discharge of overwhelming emotions or sensations in a safe and empowering way.
Titration involves creating distance from the overwhelming experience, and learning to track and sense how the manageable parts of the experience feel in the body. This gradual approach helps to uncouple the fear or overwhelming sensations, allowing the body to complete any of its natural impulses and responses in a safe and manageable way.
One example of titration is that instead of working with a trauma memory or experience in sequential order or getting people to go to the most intense of distressing parts of trauma, we titrate the work so that people are able to touch on a small amount of activation that doesn’t leave them flooded or overwhelmed. This could be working with what was happening before the trauma event, or when a person knew the event was over, or taking one tiny piece of memory that feels manageable to start working with vs the worst part of the memory. Titration means that gradually we can help build a persons capacity to be with the experience of the strong trauma survival energies of fight, flight and freeze and continue to keep working towards processing other parts of the trauma memory in a way that feels manageable.
TRACKING
In Somatic Experiencing the skill of tracking is an important aspect of the therapy. Tracking allows a person to develop awareness of their bodily sensations and nervous system responses. Tracking involves attuning to subtle shifts in physical sensations, emotions, and energy patterns within the body, with the goal of facilitating greater self-awareness and regulation.
During a somatic experiencing session, a person is guided by the therapist to notice and observe the sensations and feelings arising in their body, without judgment or analysis. This process encourages clients to become curious observers of their internal experiences, fostering a deeper connection to their bodily wisdom and innate healing capacities. Through tracking, people can identify areas of tension, discomfort, or numbness associated with past trauma, as well as moments of ease, relaxation, and expansion. By cultivating this heightened awareness, people can learn to regulate their nervous system responses, shift out of states of hyperarousal or hypoarousal, and integrate fragmented aspects of their traumatic experiences.
The skill of tracking also allows the therapist to guide the therapeutic process effectively, attuning to the persons somatic cues and pacing the interventions accordingly. By tracking the persons somatic responses in real-time, the therapist can titrate the intensity of the therapeutic work, ensuring that it remains within the client's window of tolerance and promoting a sense of safety and containment.
CONTAINMENT
In Somatic Experiencing containment is a skill that helps people manage overwhelming emotions and sensations during the therapeutic process. Containment involves creating a safe and supportive space, both internally and externally, to hold and contain intense or distressing experiences without becoming overwhelmed by them. Internally, containment involves developing the capacity to regulate one's own emotions and sensations, allowing them to be experienced without being overwhelmed by them. This may involve cultivating mindfulness, grounding techniques, and self-soothing practices to anchor oneself in the present moment and create a sense of safety within the body.
Externally, containment is facilitated by the therapist, who provides a compassionate and non-judgmental presence, offering validation, empathy, and support. The therapist helps the individual feel held and supported as they explore challenging or traumatic material, creating a container for their experiences that feels safe and secure. Through the skill of containment, people can learn to tolerate difficult emotions and sensations without becoming flooded by them. This allows us to gradually process and integrate traumatic experiences in a manageable way. Containment also helps prevent retraumatization by ensuring that the therapeutic work proceeds at a pace that is safe and comfortable for the person.
PENDULATION
Another important principle of Somatic experiencing is the emphasis on pendulation. Pendulation refers to the rhythmic movement between sensations of safety and sensations of activation or discomfort. This gentle oscillation allows the body to gradually process and integrate the traumatic experiences, preventing overwhelm and retraumatization.
In Somatic experiencing pendulation involves learning how to move between something that can feel challenging or constrictive in the body to something that feels more expansive or resourcing in the body. Peter Levine explains that human beings have a natural and inherent rhythm of the nervous system that involves the movement between expansion and contraction. This is our nervous system's natural ability to oscillate between states of chaos and order, disorganization and organization. This process is essential for self-regulation and reorganization of out physiological and psychological responses. Trauma can disrupt this natural process of helping us to regulate.
In a somatic experiencing session, a somatic experiencing practitioner helps a person to navigate through these experiences of contraction and expansion using the skill of pendulation. Pendulation involves observing and facilitating the natural rhythm of the nervous system as it moves through cycles of expansion and contraction, it may involve stabilizing a persons physiological responses, allowing the discharge of high trauma activation energy ( the energies of fight/flight and freeze) and supporting the client's awareness of each phase of the pendulation cycle.
Overall, pendulation plays a vital role in promoting self-regulation, reorganization of survival responses, and the integration of physiological and psychological functions within a persons system.
People often find it helpful to have someone else guide them through these activities since it can be challenging to manage emotional triggers alone while trying not to get overwhelmed by them at the same time. As people become more adept at recognizing and managing their own body sensations associated with traumatic memories, they are better equipped for processing whatever comes up during sessions without getting overwhelmed by it all at once. This helps create space for addressing underlying traumas without causing additional distress in the present moment—ultimately allowing individuals who’ve experienced trauma move forward with greater self-awareness and resilience than before.
What Happens in a Somatic Experiencing Session
A Somatic Experiencing session can be a deeply transformative experience that allows people to reconnect with their bodies and tap into their innate capacity for healing. During a session, the therapist creates a safe and supportive environment, guiding the individual through a series of gentle inquiries and interventions.
Through the exploration of bodily sensations, emotions, and memories, individuals gradually begin to unravel the layers of trauma that have been stored in their bodies. This process of unraveling can be both challenging and liberating, as it allows people to confront and release the held energy from past traumatic events.
As the session progresses, people often experience a sense of empowerment and agency over their own healing process. By cultivating greater awareness of their bodily sensations and learning to regulate their nervous systems, they become active participants in their journey towards transcendence.
The transformative power of a Somatic Experiencing session lies in its ability to create a safe container for individuals to explore their trauma and gently release the trapped energy. This process not only leads to symptom reduction but also fosters a deep sense of resilience, self-compassion, and inner strength.
Image credit by @Drawmore
Exploring the Three Phases of a Somatic Experiencing Session: Orientation, Titration, and Integration
A Somatic Experiencing session typically consists of three distinct phases: orientation, titration, and integration. Each phase serves a specific purpose in facilitating the healing process and supporting people in their healing.
The orientation phase sets the foundation for the therapeutic work. During this phase, the therapist establishes rapport with the client, explains the principles of Somatic Experiencing, and creates a safe space for exploration. The therapist also helps the client identify their current skills and resources as well as establish a sense of safety and grounding.
The titration phase is where the real work begins. In this phase, the therapist gently guides the client to explore their bodily sensations and emotions related to the traumatic event. The process of titration involves carefully pacing the exploration, ensuring that the client does not become overwhelmed. The therapist helps the client navigate between the activation and deactivation states, allowing for the gradual release of the bound up surviavl energy of trauma
The integration phase is where the insights and experiences gained during the session are woven into the client's everyday life. The therapist supports the client in integrating their newfound awareness and regulation skills, empowering them to navigate future challenges with resilience and self-compassion.By moving through these three phases, individuals can experience a profound shift in their relationship with trauma, leading to lasting healing and a sense of transcendence.
Somatic Experiencing is also a versatile therapeutic approach that can complement and enhance other modalities in the field of trauma therapy. Its focus on the body and physiological responses makes it an ideal adjunct to traditional talk therapy, as it addresses the somatic aspects of trauma that may be overlooked in verbal processing alone. Somatic Experiencing can also be integrated with other somatic-based approaches such as yoga therapy, dance movement therapy, and mindfulness practices. By combining these modalities, individuals can access different pathways to healing, allowing for a more holistic and comprehensive approach.
How to Find a Trauma Informed Somatic Experiencing Practitioner or Therapist
Some Somatic Experiencing practitioners are qualified and licensed Psychotherapists, Counsellors or Psychologists. Some Somatic Experiencing Practitioners will come from other backgrounds including, yoga, body work, medicine or other professions. This means that each practitioner will have differing levels of experience, expertise and specific training when it comes to working with trauma. As with choosing any practitioner, this means one persons scope of practice and what they can offer may be different to another. If you are looking too find a practitioner who works with complex trauma, it’s important that you feel comfortable with the person you are working with and that they have the skills and experience you need for therapy to be effective, consider the therapist's experience and specialization in trauma therapy, particularly in working with issues relevant to your specific needs, such as complex trauma, dissociation, or attachment.
Sometimes we also find practitioners who feel like a good fit, but who may not have the needed level of experience to work with us, if that is the case and the practitioner is willing to learn from you, get good supervision and case consultation specific to you and your needs you may also consider this to be a suitable option.
If you have experienced trauma or complex trauma, you may find the below list of questions helpful to ask any potential therapist you want to work with. My hope is that these 11 questions can help you to make an informed decision about whether or not a practitioner is the right fit for you.
11 Questions to Ask a Trauma Therapist
What is your understanding of complex trauma and what modalities or techniques do you incorporate in your approach to treatment?
How do you work with “safety” in your practice and how do you ensure I as the client will be as safe as possible ?
Many clinicians talk about being trauma informed, what does that mean to you?
Can you tell me your working definition of dissociation and how you work with dissociation?
What have your clients taught you about trauma and dissociation and how does this inform how your work?
What limitations do you see in the field of mental health and western diagnosis? Are willing to work collaboratively with other approaches to healing including indigenous wisdom and approaches ?
How will you handle it if I am not feeling safe/safe enough in therapy with you or if there is a rupture that comes up? Are you open to discussing this?
What is your general approach to working with parts and do you have a particular framework or model?
Can you tell me more about how you understands systems when it comes to dissociation?
How do you feel about working with or integrating my beliefs including spiritual beliefs that may sit outside of traditional structures or laws of science
What are the boundaries that you need to set when working with complex trauma clients ?
Resources to Find out More About Somatic Experiencing
For those interested in exploring Somatic Experiencing further, there are various resources available to deepen their understanding and knowledge. Books such as: Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice by Dr. Peter A. Levine provide insightful perspectives on the theory and practice of Somatic Experiencing. You can find a link to the book waking the tiger here.
In addition to books, there are numerous workshops, trainings, and online courses that offer practical guidance and experiential learning in Somatic Experiencing. These resources provide opportunities for individuals to connect with experienced practitioners, deepen their skills, and integrate Somatic Experiencing into their professional practice. It’s important to note that while self-study and personal exploration are valuable, Somatic Experiencing is best practiced under the guidance of a trained and certified therapist. The complexity of trauma requires the expertise and support of a qualified professional to ensure safety and effective healing.