Somatic Experiencing
Addresses trauma held in the body through gentle awareness of physical sensations, releasing stored tension and restoring nervous system balance.
What Is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing (SE) was developed by Dr. Peter Levine after observing that wild animals, though routinely threatened by predators, rarely develop traumatic symptoms. The key difference: animals instinctively complete their stress responses (through trembling, shaking, and other involuntary movements), discharging the survival energy. Humans often override these natural mechanisms due to social conditioning or overwhelm. When the body's fight, flight, or freeze response is activated but never completed, that survival energy becomes trapped in the nervous system, leading to a wide range of trauma symptoms.
This is a fundamentally different perspective from talk therapy: trauma isn't caused by the event itself, but by the incomplete biological response that remains locked in your body. Intellectual insight alone is often insufficient because the dysregulation lives in your nervous system, not just your mind. SE works directly with your body's felt sense, the subtle internal awareness of physical sensations, to gently complete the defensive responses that were overwhelmed during the traumatic experience.
How Somatic Experiencing Works
SE helps you develop awareness of internal bodily sensations (the "felt sense") and then gently guides your nervous system through incomplete survival responses. A central principle is titration, approaching traumatic material in small, incremental doses rather than flooding your system all at once. Your therapist carefully tracks your activation through observable cues (breathing patterns, muscle tension, posture shifts) and your own reports of internal sensations.
Another key concept is pendulation, the natural oscillation between states of contraction and expansion. Your therapist helps you notice how your body moves between activation and ease, building trust in your body's inherent capacity to find its way back to balance. As your "window of tolerance" widens, you can handle more stress without becoming dysregulated.
SE also works with "missing protective responses," things your body wanted to do during trauma (run, push away, fight back) but couldn't. Your therapist may guide you to slowly, mindfully complete those movements, giving your body the experience of successfully defending itself. When these incomplete responses reach completion, clients often report a profound sense of relief, empowerment, and freedom.
What Somatic Experiencing Can Help With
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex trauma
Chronic pain and tension with no clear medical cause
Anxiety, panic attacks, and hypervigilance
Emotional numbness and dissociation
Sleep disturbances and nightmares
Difficulty regulating emotions or feeling overwhelmed easily
Shock trauma from accidents, falls, surgeries, or natural disasters
Developmental and attachment trauma
Grief and loss that feels stuck in the body
Burnout, chronic stress, and nervous system exhaustion
Is Somatic Experiencing Right for You?
SE is ideal if you've found that talk therapy helped intellectually but hasn't fully resolved your symptoms. If you catch yourself thinking "I understand what happened, but my body still doesn't feel safe," SE may be the missing piece. It's designed for people whose trauma manifests physically (as chronic tension, hypervigilance, constricted breathing, digestive issues, or a persistent sense of danger even when there's no present threat).
SE works for single-incident shock traumas (accidents, surgeries, assaults) and complex developmental trauma alike. It's particularly effective if you feel disconnected from your body, go numb under stress, or find that intense emotions seem to come from nowhere. You don't need a specific diagnosis. If you carry chronic, low-grade stress that erodes your quality of life, or simply want to develop a healthier relationship with your body, SE offers a powerful path back to balance, safety, and vitality.
What to Expect in Sessions
First sessions focus on building your therapeutic relationship, understanding your history, and learning foundational SE skills: noticing body sensations, identifying internal resources, and recognizing signs of nervous system activation and settling.
In a typical session, you'll be seated comfortably and fully clothed. Your therapist will guide you to notice internal sensations: areas of warmth or coolness, tightness or openness, heaviness or lightness. As you develop this capacity, your therapist gently works with areas of activation, carefully staying within your window of tolerance. You may experience involuntary movements, trembling, deep breaths, or waves of emotion as stored survival energy discharges. These are signs your body is doing exactly what it needs to heal.
Sessions are typically 50 minutes and often proceed more slowly than expected. Less is often more in SE. Many clients notice meaningful shifts within the first several sessions, including better sleep, reduced anxiety, more stable energy, and a greater sense of ease. After sessions, your therapist may suggest simple grounding exercises or gentle movement to support regulation between appointments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Approaches
Explore other therapeutic modalities that complement Somatic Experiencing.
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