Somatic Experience
“Somatic Experiencing (SE) ™ is a trauma healing modality that works with the felt sense of the body. The approach was created by Dr. Peter Levine who observed animals in their natural state in the wild. He noticed that animals would come into contact with life threatening situations daily, yet they did not seem to have signs of trauma long term such as chronic anxiety, PTSD, or shutdown. Dr. Levine explored how the nervous system reacted during times of stress or trauma and how the body naturally resolved high stress physiological states in animals initially and then came up with a therapeutic approach to working with people.
SE ™ therapy works with a person’s autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system responsible for control of the bodily functions not consciously directed, such as breathing, the heartbeat, and digestive processes. We do not consciously think of how the autonomic nervous system works. Bringing awareness to our experience at any given moment can alter our physiological state. For people who are in chronic pain or high stress physiology, the goal is to encourage the body’s innate ability to heal.
This somatic modality works with fight, flight, freeze and flow systems of the body and its goal is to bring folks back into nervous system coherence (balance). Often during times of shock, distress or stress our bodies become stuck in maladaptive patterns. During times of danger, our bodies are meant to react but then we are meant to come back into flow. Sometimes, people get stuck in dysregulated states which can cause a variety of physical, emotional, psychological, immune system, and nervous system ailments.”
Heather is a Wichita Somatic Experience Therapist. She provides somatic experience therapy services in Goddard, Maize, Wichita and other nearby areas of Kansas. Feel free to contact Heather for free consultation.