Working at the edges

Somatic Experiencing® is a naturalistic body-oriented therapeutic model facilitating the completion of self-protective responses such as fight, flight, freeze that have been previously withheld from resolution and retained in the nervous system. 

At times in life, we will all experience moments in which we override our system or cannot fully express what our body is communicating to us through innate stress responses of fight or flight rather we succumb to freeze or shut down to protect our survival. If this response has been longstanding, we may now recognize that the container of our body feels tight or constricted with limited access to choice rather we become reactive through negative emotion, disruptive behavior, isolation and withdrawal, or addictive processes.

Through this approach, you are gently guided to increase tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions working towards completion of defensive responses that have been previously withheld from resolution in your nervous system. Moving slowly and in pace with what your body is communicating, we partner with sensation, emotion, image, meaning, and behavior as it naturally emerges within your nervous system.

Somatic Experiencing® is a multidisciplinary approach that can be found in medicine, education, physical and occupational therapy, bodywork, and mental health. Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE sits at the intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics. (SE 101)