Through trauma healing
into the life force
More about Somatic Experiencing
Was ist Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing® is a body-oriented approach to resolving traumatic stress, developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine. It is suitable for overcoming shock trauma as well as transforming early attachment and developmental trauma. The key to trauma healing is not to relive the trauma, but to create new experiences in the body.
How does Somatic Experiencing work?
An event becomes a trauma when it overwhelms us and we are unable to release the survival energy mobilized for fight or flight. This immense energy remains bound in the nervous system, and the body remains in a state of alert.
Working with Somatic Experiencing is about gradually releasing the bound energy. In a mindful and well-measured way, the traumatic experiences are traced in the body, and the body is stimulated to release the traumatic stress gradually. Every body has the capacity to do this and to close the traumatic experiences in a positive way. The ability to self-regulate gradually emerges, and the trauma is no longer overwhelming. Liberation and vitality, as well as a sense of safety in the body, return. The life force suppressed by trauma is regained.
The role of resources
Working with your resources, your inner sources of strength that have helped you through difficult situations, plays a crucial role in trauma healing. These resources counteract the helplessness of traumatic experiences and are the foundation upon which the traumatic experiences can be overcome.
No story is needed
Because Somatic Experiencing works directly through the body and releases the traces left by a traumatic experience in our body (in the autonomic nervous system), it is possible to work without recounting the content. This is particularly helpful when the traumatic event is very distressing or when no memories (but symptoms) are present because the experiences are pre-verbal (as is the case with babies and toddlers).
More about trauma
Importance of trauma
"Trauma is the most avoided, ignored, denied, misunderstood, and untreated cause of human suffering." (Dr. Peter A. Levine)
Trauma as a physical reaction to an event
Somatic Experiencing defines trauma not primarily by the event itself, but by the physical reaction to it. Trauma is not an illness or disorder; rather, the physical and mental reaction to a traumatic event described below is a normal reaction to an abnormal event.
How does trauma arise?
Any experience that we subjectively perceive as life-threatening and that we cannot cope with becomes a trauma. When faced with danger, we have three innate survival strategies at our disposal: flight, fight, or freeze. If we can flee or successfully defend ourselves, the organism returns to equilibrium. If fight or flight is not possible or sensible (for example, we are too small to run away), we freeze.
The energy mobilized by the body then remains bound as excitation in the body's nervous system and continues to signal alertness and danger. Those affected remain internally trapped in the situation and in a state of constant tension. This survival energy bound in the nervous system is what we call trauma.
How does trauma manifest itself?
Trauma is much more than the event and the story one can tell. Trauma is the sum total of all the body's stuck reactions to a life-threatening event. These include disorientation, palpitations, nausea, and the body's impulses to fight, flight, or collapse. Unexplained restlessness, the inability to calm down or feel joy, and being easily overwhelmed. Trauma is when you react to a harmless detail as if you're still fighting for your life. You become more vulnerable to stress. The world no longer feels like a safe place.
Traumatic experiences
Experiences that lead to trauma include not only war and natural disasters, but also sexual assault, traffic accidents, falls, surgeries, serious illnesses, injuries, the loss of a loved one, childhood neglect, or medical treatment. The younger we are, the more quickly an event can overwhelm us.
And their symptoms
After a traumatic experience, unexplained psychological and physical symptoms can arise. They may not manifest until years later, as hyperactivity, uncontrollable outbursts of anger, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and much more.
These symptoms are understood as the nervous system's attempt to somehow deal with this excess energy.
In the presentation of Somatic Experiencing and Trauma I followed the presentation in the flyer and on the website of
Somatic Experiencing Deutschland
Somatic Experiencing International
