Somatic Experiencing – Healing from Trauma

Human beings are tough. We’re resilient. As Brené Brown says, we’re made to struggle. And struggle we do. Most of the time, we move through difficult events and come out the other side wiser and stronger for the experience. Sometimes, though, we don’t move through at all. We get stuck. Our minds and bodies act as if it’s still happening. This is trauma.

No amount of skilled talk therapy alone will support the renegotiation of traumatic experiences held in the body’s memory. Not receiving what we needed to grow when we were children (called Developmental Trauma) can have systemic residual impact on the adult, contributing to depression and anxiety, perpetuate addictive behaviors, tax interpersonal relationships, compromise self-esteem, and/or manifest as anger or irritability. Somatic Experiencing offers a comfortable and powerful way to address the repetition of old patterns through incorporating the physical body experience dimension into the healing process.

With help from the principals of Somatic Experiencing, we can access our innate capacity to rebound from trauma. The body and the nervous system remember the ruptures to our sense of safety, priming our fight/flight/freeze response for constant vigilance. Consequently, we adapt to re-act more than act. Our sense of choice and freedom constricts. Meaning and purpose, that which brings a sense of vitality, is usurped by survival response. Again, this is the outcome of unresolved trauma.

Luminary trauma researcher Bessel Van Der Kolk asserts, “the body keeps the score.” As a talk therapist and a body-oriented practitioner (somatic therapy using the somatic experiencing model) I work with a unique blend of traditional psychotherapy and body-centered healing. This integrative array of tools allows for more flexibility in the healing process.