Hi readers, I know it has been a (long) while since I posted any blogs. I thought of sharing about what Somatic Experiencing is in brief and easily understood manner in a series of posts. The posts would come in very simple question and answer format. So no worries, no long-winded posts!
The first is shared below, have fun reading & learning!
How would you describe somatic experiencing? Is there a difference between somatic therapy and somatic experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is actually a naturalistic approach to healing trauma and stress related disorders. It is the culmination of the life’s work of Dr. Peter Levine. He combined his knowledge as a biophysicist and psychologist as well as many other multidisciplinary studies to help the body to release trauma and restore goodness.
The term “soma” basically means “body” in Greek. While “experiencing” is a verb. Hence, SE is the process of working with the body in the experience of the here and now. There are various ways to work with the body using SE, some examples may include tracking of body sensations, movement, breath and touch work.
SE is a specific approach amidst the various somatic therapeutic approaches (i.e: Feldenkrais Method, Rolfing, Alexander Technique, etc) that have been created over the years.
To learn more about SE, you may want to try reading “Waking the Tiger” or “Unspoken Voice” by Dr. Peter Levine.
Thank you for reading! Stay tune for more!
About the contributor
Dominica is a psychotherapist at Soulmatics. She is also a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) and a certified TRE Provider. She enjoys integrating body-oriented approaches in the therapeutic process to help those who come to her to have a more holistic and experiential process. In her free time, she enjoys reading and playing with her pet dogs – Kopi & Xiaobai.
Soulmatics 