Reclaim your authentic self and rejoice with aliveness
"the body, with its innate capacity to heal, melts the iceberg created by deeply frozen trauma." — Peter A. Levine
What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing directly targets your nervous system in order to help you regain your full expression. Unlike traditional psychotherapy, it does not define trauma as a memory of the past; it treats trauma as a “freeze” in the nervous system in the present moment. Do you feel disconnected from your core self? Have you ever felt like a zombie living day to day without a sense of joy? Chances are your nervous system shut down at one point in order to protect you, just as how animals freeze their bodies when they sense a threat. But whereas animals can typically shake off their fears and come back to a regulated state, humans have more difficulty returning to homeostasis. Somatic Experiencing helps the body come out of such a freeze by allowing your system to complete the movement it wanted to make in the moment of threat. It thaws the nervous system back to health so that the body can feel fully alive again and awaken you from trauma’s deep slumber.
"I have come to the conclusion that human beings are born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma. I believe not only that trauma is curable, but that the healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening—a portal opening to emotional and genuine spiritual transformation."
-Peter A. Levine
What does a session look like?
Imagine if you could heal from your capital T trauma, but this time there is no need to regurgitate the story to your therapist. You can grab all your allies and resources in order to feel extra safe then think about your tiniest stressor in your present life. That’s where the Somatic Experiencing journey begins. In each session, the therapist will stabilize and bring safety to your body first with your favorite memories or images, movements, and objects. Then we work with the tiniest trigger to avoid overwhelming the nervous system. There is never a need to work with capital T trauma because the smallest fractal will spiral down into the biggest T just like how the smallest leaf on a plant is connected to its center. The practitioner will help you track your bodily senses and the body’s inner healing intelligence. Then we follow whatever comes up until your body feels an impulse to express in a certain way—to growl, to push away, walk around the room. You might experience some discharges—a sigh, yawn, emotional releases—along the way as well. By following the body, your nervous system will begin to thaw and shift back to homeostasis.
Would you like to connect?
I offer a free 15-min consultation call for prospective Somatic Experiencing clients to see if we are a good match. If you are interested, please fill out the form or email me at miri.ritual@gmail.com.
