Somatic Experiencing (in training)

Trauma is a fact of life...

It does not, however, have to be a life sentence

Not only can trauma be healed, but with appropriate guidance and support, it can be transformative. Trauma has the potential to be one of the most significant forces for psychological, social, and spiritual awakening and evolution. - Dr. Peter Levine

Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a form of alternative therapy aimed at treating trauma and stress-related dis-ease. It helps to release blocked emotion, caused by any kind of trauma held by the body, to flow freely again.

It is a method that works with the source and the reason that caused the traumatic experience in the nervous system and aims to reinstate the natural ability to regulate the nervous system.

 

Through Somatic Experiencing

finding your own vitality again

Step by step you will feel more complete and by working on your trauma you’ll gain a better understanding of your body and regain access to your emotions. Meaning that self-regulation has re-started again. Symptoms retract or disappear completely. The “YES” to life is back and you trustingly reclaim your place in the world. The successful accomplishment of new energy and strength is set free and required to be lived.   

Through my own experiences, trauma and healing have been a topic I have been interested in for a long time. Therefore in 2021, I started the 3-year Somatic Experiencing Training.

I am starting to incorporate parts of SE® into my work, and it will become more and more part of Life Curation

I gently guide my clients, step by step, and hold space for the natural healing to happen.

Our body stores everything ...

even if we cONSCIOUSLY don't remember, our body does

Trauma can be triggered not only by large and big events but also by something small and at first sight unspectacular. It can seriously impair a person’s ability to function with resilience and ease. 

Anything in our lives that happens too fast, too intense, and with a big impact can be called a trauma. Something that is traumatic for one person, can be rather "peanuts" for the other person, and vice versa. But trauma is always an injury

A situation appears traumatizing when the nervous system is unable to cope and the ability to regulate is out of order. If this happens, it can lead to the non-function of the natural regulation, which in turn can lead to a permanent impairment of the nervous system. Some examples of what happens when the nervous system has problems regulating: restlessness, exhaustion, and irritability. 

Our body stores everything, even if we consciously don’t remember, our body does. Even traumatic events from generations back can be stored in our bodies, and we experience symptoms. The collective is strong, and current events and world history show that there are collective traumas

Mostly we think of primary trauma (it happened to me), however, there are also secondary (I witnessed something) and tertiary (somebody told me about it) traumas.


There are big & small traumas ...

and they all deserve our attention and to be taken seriously

Trauma may result from various stress factors such as accidents, medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, any form of abuse, neglect, war, natural disasters, loss, birth trauma, or the stressors of ongoing fear and conflict. Generational and collective events that we may “only” be indirectly affected by, development and childhood situations, betrayal or abandonment can all have traumatic consequences. 

Symptoms that often occur are a state of anxiety, panic attacks, depression, psychosomatic issues, migraine, sleeping disorders, nervousness, heart and circulation problems, fits of rage, burnout, etc.

WHERE DOES SOMATIC EXPERIENCING COME FROM?

Somatic Experiencing® has been developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine, psychologist, and medical biophysicist to heal shock and trauma

Dr. Levine was inspired to study stress on the animal nervous system when he realized that animals are constantly under threat of death, yet show no symptoms of trauma. What he discovered was that trauma has to do with the third survival response to perceived life threat, which is freeze. When fight and flight are not options, we freeze and immobilize, like “playing dead.” This makes us less of a target. However, this reaction is time-sensitive, in other words, it needs to run its course, and the massive energy that was prepared for fight or flight gets discharged, through shakes and trembling. If the immobility phase doesn’t complete, that charge stays trapped, and, from the body’s perspective, it is still under threat. The Somatic Experiencing® method works to release this stored energy and turn off this threat alarm that causes severe dysregulation and dissociation. SE helps people understand this body response to trauma and work through a “body first” approach to healing.