Are You Ready for Somatic Experiencing? A Practitioner’s Guide to Healing Trauma
What Is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based (“soma”) modality for healing and releasing trauma stored by the body. When the nervous system can get stuck in patterns of fight, flight, or freeze after a traumatic experience, this can cause someone to experience chronic stress if gone untreated. Somatic Experiencing therapy works by helping clients with nervous system regulation through body-based therapy. Learn More >
You might find yourself asking, “Is Somatic Experiencing right for me?” Here are five signs you are ready for Somatic Experiencing therapy.
5 Signs You Are Ready For Somatic Experiencing Work
You Understand What Somatic Experiencing Therapy Is
Somatic Experiencing is a body-based (hence the root word “soma) therapeutic intervention aimed at healing trauma. It was created by Dr. Peter Levine in the 1970s as an alternative to talk therapy, as he was observing that the nervous system had a huge role to play in healing from trauma. This approach does not ignore the cognitive pieces that trauma leaves behind, but is set apart from some other modalities in that it directly addresses the nervous system which has been deeply affected by the trauma as well.
During sessions, your therapist will help you to connect to body sensations and emotions in order to track patterns in the nervous system. From there, you and your therapist will work together to understand how these patterns want to complete; in other words, how they would like to end the trauma cycle by completing self-protective responses in session. Sometimes this happens by doing something physical while being connected to the memory or emotion, and sometimes it is by doing something in our imagination while still allowing emotions and sensations.
You Are Ready to Reconnect With Your Body
A lot of the time, people who have had trauma in their past experience a disconnect with their bodies. They find that they have little to no access or awareness to their sensations, leaving them to feel numb or stunted in their physiological experiences. These people can really benefit from Somatic Experiencing because they can become, in time, more in tune with basic signals their body is giving them. (These signals can range from needing to go to the bathroom, hunger, feelings of desire, feeling at peace, or other signals for connection.) One of the main ways that a Somatic Experiencing practitioner may find ways to tune into simple, safe sensations in the body (for example, “how does your hand feel right now?”) and then moving more into areas that hold more trauma. Starting in safe zones and moving into more charged territory helps to build tolerance and capacity for the emotion and/or sensation.
Those with chronic physical symptoms of trauma can benefit from Somatic Experiencing as well. It is important to note that this methodology does not seek to “fix” any medical condition, but rather bring awareness to any physiological symptoms that may be a result of trauma to the nervous system. If the physiological symptom is related to the trauma, a lot of the time it will cease due to being able to complete self-protective responses; thus ending the need for the symptom to be there in the first place.
Individuals who have experienced trauma may also experience some of the following physical symptoms:
Numbness
Tension
Headaches
Dissociation
Strange patterns within the body
These symptoms can often not be explained or resolved with traditional medicine. A lot of the time, these clients report that they have seen their medical providers (across multiple disciplinary settings) to no avail, and that their provider winds up referring them to therapy due to the possibility of the symptom being related to their “stress.”
You Have Trauma or Stress That Feels Stuck
In the context of Somatic Experiencing, the term “trauma” describes a wide array of phenomena. If you have ever heard of “big T and little T trauma,” this still may be too narrow of use of the word for Somatic Experiencing. While this work does treat traumas that have a specific date, time, and intensity (think sexual assault, car accident, etc), it also treats other traumas such as developmental trauma, patterns of relationship dysfunctions, chronic stress, unprocessed past experiences, and so on.
There are some symptoms that may hint that you have unprocessed or “stuck” trauma: flashbacks, hypervigilance, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and patterns of tension in the body. Any type of trauma can realistically cause this reaction; but being able to pay attention to it is important. If you find that you have any of these symptoms, or anything else that feels related to an event or emotional crisis, this work may be very helpful for you.
The reason most people try Somatic Experiencing therapy after doing years of talk therapy is because talk therapy often ignores the body; making it difficult to actually release the memories held in the body. The body can also help us to understand more about the memory and clue us in as to why the event was so traumatic. It is a fascinating experience that is often surprising to both the practitioner and the client. That is why this work is often so invigorating!
You Are Open to Exploring Emotions and Sensations
It can be really scary to try something new in therapy, especially when it comes to highly charged emotional content. Rest assured that your Somatic Experiencing Practitioner is ready and able to provide a safe (and not overwhelming) space in order to explore this trauma.
Clients absolutely must be open-minded and willing to try something new. A lot of the time, it requires the person to be able to turn some of their social filter off in order to follow some of their body cues. For example, some clients may tune into their “flee” response in session and need to get up and walk around, or kick, or stomp. Following through with this response can often feel silly, but your practitioner will be able to help you by either joining in or helping to normalize this response as much as possible.
At times, both the therapist and the client might not be totally sure what is going on in the session, but a willingness to follow the sensation, memory, or emotion is key. Sometimes a strange memory or sensation will arise, and without totally understanding why it is coming up, it is important to keep following it so that we can get more information about how the trauma is being stored. It can honestly be some really fun work to watch the nervous system do its thing, and to allow it to express itself in the session. However, this will be really hard if the person doesn’t feel ready to “go there” due to not being ready for the work, or not feeling safe, or not feeling comfortable with the Somatic Experiencing practitioner. That is why as an experienced Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, I work very diligently to provide this sense of comfort and safety.
Here are some things you might want to ask yourself to decide if you are ready for Somatic Experiencing:
Am I ready to talk a bit less in session?
Am I okay with tuning into my body’s cues, even if it feels weird or confusing at first?
Am I okay with welcoming whatever comes up?
Am I willing to try to not intellectualize all of my emotions, or at least be guided to break that pattern?
You Have Tried Other Talk Therapy for a While Without Relief
Many people start Somatic Experiencing therapy work after being treated by wonderful, compassionate, and competent trauma therapists who specialize in different types of talk therapies. It is important to be clear that these methodologies are so important and helpful, and this is not a case against such interventions. However, many clients find that they still have deeply engrained symptoms that are held in the body that haven’t been resolved through traditional talk therapy. This is when somatic therapy comes in.
Somatic Experiencing does utilize the cognitive part of each client in order to facilitate healing. It isn’t that there is zero talking and the whole session looks like a deep meditation (although, sometimes it can happen). This method utilizes the mind’s access to images, symbols, meaning making, and memories, in conjunction with body sensation in order to relieve trauma symptoms. Without curiosity about and guidance from the nervous system, full trauma healing is extremely difficult. This is why so many are starting to turn toward this healing methodology.
How to Get Started With Somatic Experiencing
The choice to pursue Somatic Experiencing to heal trauma is an extremely personal one. Please take the time to analyze whether or not you might actually be ready for this type of work, and if possible, consult a therapist who can answer your questions about Somatic Experiencing.
I am always happy to have a 10 minute phone consultation with prospective clients or answer questions over email! Your comfort and readiness is my top priority, so please let me know how I can help.
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Stevie Spiegel is a Licensed Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner located in Kansas City. She uses Somatic Experiencing as her main body-based trauma healing modality, as well as EMDR. As an Intuitive Eating Counselor, she uses these principles to help her clients challenge their relationship with their cultural misconceptions about their body and food. Learn More >
