A Somatic Approach To Healing & Transformation

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Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-centered approach to healing developed by Dr. Peter Levine, who spent decades studying how animals naturally release stress after life-threatening events. Unlike humans—who often override instinct with thought—animals discharge nervous system activation through movement, trembling, or breath. Dr. Levine discovered that when this process is interrupted or suppressed in humans, it can lead to stuck trauma responses, anxiety, and chronic dysregulation.

At its core, Somatic Experiencing is based on the understanding that trauma isn’t just what happened—it’s what happened inside your nervous system when you didn’t have enough support, safety, or time to process it. SE works not by reliving the event, but by restoring the body’s natural rhythm of regulation through slow, titrated attention to sensations, impulses, and boundaries.

Unlike traditional therapy, SE doesn’t rely on verbal processing or memory recall to create change. It’s not about fixing or rehashing your past—it’s about gently listening to the body's signals in real time and supporting your system to complete patterns that were once interrupted. There’s no pressure to “go deep” or uncover everything at once. In fact, the slower we go, the safer and more powerful the work becomes.

Rather than processing through stories, SE honors the body as the story. It teaches you to feel safe in your own skin, expand your capacity to stay present, and rewire old survival responses—at the pace your nervous system can actually integrate.

This work is not just for “big-T” trauma. SE is for anyone whose nervous system has learned to brace, shut down, spin out, or disconnect. That includes:

• Anxiety and chronic stress
   
• Grief and heartbreak
   
• Unprocessed or suppressed anger
   
• Old trauma stored in the body
   
• Relationship challenges and attachment wounds
   
• Creative or career blocks (especially when you want something but feel your system pulling away)
   
• Support for psychedelic integration and difficult journeys
   
• Making sense of transpersonal or spiritual experiences
   
• Reconnecting to your body after burnout or dissociation
   
• Or simply for those who want to deepen their relationship with their body and live more embodied, grounded, and alive
   

Your body holds more than just tension or pain—it holds wisdom, intelligence, and the capacity to heal. SE gently helps you reconnect with that inner intelligence. Over time, you'll feel more choice, more breath, more safety, and more capacity to be in life fully—not just surviving it, but actually experiencing it.

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Somatic Experiencing helps you build a healthier, more resilient relationship with your body and nervous system. Instead of getting stuck in cycles of overthinking, reactivity, or shutdown, this work supports you in returning to a sense of grounded presence—one step at a time.

Benefits of Somatic Experiencing can include:

• 🌿 Reduced anxiety and overwhelm
  Learn to track and shift nervous system activation before it spirals.
   
• 🛑 Improved ability to set boundaries
  Feel your “yes” and “no” in your body—and trust them.
   
• 🔥 Release of stuck survival responses
  Let go of fight, flight, freeze, or fawn patterns that once kept you safe but now keep you stuck.
   
• 🫁 Greater access to calm, breath, and presence
  Expand your capacity to stay in the moment—even when it's uncomfortable.
   
• 🧭 Clarity around inner desires and next steps
  When your system feels safe, your authentic direction becomes clearer.
   
• ❤️‍🩹 Healing from trauma without re-traumatizing
  This work doesn’t require reliving the past. Healing happens through the body, gently and safely.
   
• 🌊 Emotional flow and integration
  Feel more without being flooded. Express more without losing control.
   
• 🤝 Improved relationships and communication
  When you’re regulated, it’s easier to connect, stay present, and hold boundaries with others.
   
• 🌌 Support with psychedelic and transpersonal integration
  Stay grounded and embodied while making sense of expanded or challenging experiences.
   
• 🌱 A deeper, more loving relationship with yourself
  Learn to listen to your body not as a problem to fix, but as a wise ally in your healing.
   

Somatic Experiencing isn’t just about reducing symptoms. It’s about reclaiming your capacity to feel, connect, and live more fully. Whether you’re navigating grief, trauma, anxiety, or just craving deeper embodiment, this work meets you where you are—and honors the pace your system can handle.

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Somatic Experiencing is a gentle, body-first approach to healing that works directly with your nervous system. It’s not about rehashing the past or forcing emotional release—it’s about creating enough safety and capacity in your system to allow what’s been stuck to finally move and complete.

Here’s what the process actually looks like:

1. We start by building the counter vortex: Before touching anything overwhelming, we begin by strengthening your internal sense of safety and stability. In Somatic Experiencing, this is called building the “counter vortex.”

What is the counter vortex? It's the grounding, resourcing, life-affirming energy in your system that brings regulation, calm, and support. We build this by using somatic tracking—learning to notice subtle, neutral, or pleasant sensations in the body (like warmth in your hands, the feeling of your seat on the chair, or the rhythm of your breath).

Benefits:

• Teaches your system that not all sensations are dangerous
   
• Expands your capacity to stay present without getting overwhelmed
   
• Builds a foundation of stability so that deeper work feels safe

2. We practice pendulation & titration: Once a strong counter vortex is present, we begin to gently explore difficult or stuck sensations using two core SE principles: pendulation and titration. Pendulation means moving between ease & discomfort, between resourcing and activation. Titration means taking things in small, manageable doses, rather than diving in all at once. We don’t dive straight into the fire—we step close, feel the heat, and step back. Over time, your system learns that it can move through intensity without shutting down or getting stuck.

Benefits:

• Prevents retraumatization
   
• Builds trust with your body
   
• Creates a feeling of mastery and safety
   
• Teaches your system how to move through discomfort without collapsing or bracing
   

3. We Work with Releasing Stuck Survival Energy: As the system gains trust and capacity, it naturally begins to reveal where energy got trapped—often from incomplete survival responses like fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. These aren’t just mental patterns; they live in the body.

We work with what shows up, helping your body complete the movements or impulses it couldn't finish at the time of the original stress or trauma.

How do you know its working? You’ll know a survival pattern is complete not because you’ve talked it out—but because your body reorganizes. You may feel a deep exhale, a wave of relief, warmth spreading through your chest, a spontaneous stretch, or a sudden stillness. Something lets go, and you feel more here. Over time, you will naturally feel your body have more spaciousness and energy because your nervous system has released the survival energy.

Think of your nervous system like a tangled necklace. If you pull too hard or rush, the knots tighten. But if you go slowly, find one thread at a time, and gently loosen it, the whole thing begins to unravel with less effort. That’s what Somatic Experiencing does: it helps you unwind the knots in your system—without force, without overwhelm, and in a way that respects your pace.

Yes—you can absolutely do EMDR from the comfort of your own home. In fact, many clients find that being in a familiar, safe space supports deeper work and easier integration.

Online Somatic Experiencing sessions are just as powerful as in-person work. You don’t need special equipment—just a quiet, private space where you can sit or lie down, feel your body, and tune in. Some clients even feel more comfortable doing this work in their own space, with access to cozy items, pets, and grounding tools.

Together, we’ll create a gentle, attuned pace. I’ll guide you every step of the way, helping you track your sensations, notice your impulses, and slowly unwind stuck patterns—without ever needing to leave your home.

If you’re someone who values depth, privacy, and flexibility, doing Somatic Experiencing at home might actually enhance your experience.