Somatic Experiencing?
Dr. Peter Levine’s book “Waking the Tiger“, explains that humans are often frozen in trauma, unlike animals who daily cope with the unpredictability of nature. If not released, the energy of a trauma remains trapped within the brain and within the body’s musculature, tissues, joints & organs.
Like Snow White awaiting her restoration to life once the poisoned apple is dislodged, those with deep psychological scars have disassociated the memory from their minds and are living in a numbed, tensed body.
After decades of dealing with patients with major traumas, Dr. Levine concluded that permanent healing comes when humans release their often long-held trauma. He calls his bottom-up ‘felt sense’ healing method ‘Somatic Experiencing’.
After trauma patients confirm that they are now in a safe place, practitioners of this method guide them back to a state of being prior to the traumatic event. They tell them to visualize the ‘attacker’ before the attack.
Then they let them imagine + experience in their mind + body what they would have done to avoid the attack. This allows them to release the pent-up emotions and energy.
