Understanding Somatic Experiencing®
What Is Somatic Experiencing®
and How Does It Work?
Trauma is not experienced only through our thoughts and memories.
Our bodies and nervous systems can also respond to overwhelming
experiences long after immediate danger has passed. Somatic
Experiencing® offers a body-oriented framework for exploring
these responses and supporting greater regulation, connection
and resilience.
Dr Peter A. Levine
Body & Nervous System
Trauma, Stress & Regulation
More Than the Story
Trauma can be experienced through the whole nervous system
When we think about trauma, it can be easy to focus entirely
on the event itself — what happened, when it happened and
how we remember it.
Somatic Experiencing® invites us to pay attention to another
part of the experience: what is happening within the body.
Developed by Dr Peter A. Levine, Somatic Experiencing®,
often shortened to SE™, is a body-oriented approach that
explores the physiological responses associated with stress,
threat and overwhelming experiences.
Instead of working only with thoughts or the conscious
retelling of an event, SE™ brings attention to sensations,
movement, impulses, activation and settling within the
nervous system.
A Different Question
What is the nervous system doing right now?
Somatic work can shift attention away from analysing
every detail of an experience and towards noticing how
the body is responding in the present moment.
Our Protective Responses
Understanding fight, flight and freeze
Our bodies are designed to respond quickly when we perceive
danger.
The nervous system can mobilise energy to confront a threat,
prepare us to escape, or move towards immobilisation when
fighting or fleeing does not feel possible.
These responses are not simply behaviours we choose.
They are deeply rooted protective patterns intended to
support survival.
Fight
The body mobilises energy towards protection,
defence and confronting a perceived threat.
Flight
Energy is mobilised towards movement, escape
and creating distance from danger.
Freeze
When other responses are unavailable, the system
may move towards immobilisation, shutdown or
reduced engagement.
An Important Shift
Rather than asking only, “What is wrong with this response?”
a somatic perspective can invite us to ask,
“What might the nervous system be trying to protect?”
Peter Levine’s Exploration
What can natural survival responses teach us?
An important influence on the development of Somatic
Experiencing® was Dr Peter Levine’s observation of how
animals respond to threat.
Animals in the wild encounter potentially life-threatening
experiences, yet they can often return to ordinary activity
after the danger has passed.
Levine’s work explored the physiological processes involved
in survival responses and what may occur when defensive
responses remain unresolved or the nervous system continues
behaving as though danger is still present.
This helped shape SE™ into an approach that pays close
attention to the body’s responses rather than treating
trauma solely as a cognitive or narrative experience.
Working Somatically
What might Somatic Experiencing® involve?
Somatic Experiencing® practitioners are trained to help
people notice and explore bodily experiences in a gradual,
supported way.
Rather than pushing directly into overwhelming material,
attention can move between sensations, resources and
different levels of activation while maintaining awareness
of what is manageable in the present moment.
Notice
Bringing awareness to sensations, breathing,
posture, impulses or other signals arising
within the body.
Orient
Becoming aware of the present environment and
noticing cues of safety, support and connection.
Track
Observing how sensations and nervous-system
activation shift and change over time.
Integrate
Supporting greater flexibility, choice and
connection as new responses become available.
to what happens around and within us.
Mobilisation, alertness and protective energy
Capacity for connection, presence and response
Returning towards greater balance and stability
Nervous-System Awareness
Building greater capacity, not forcing calm
Regulation does not mean remaining calm all of the time.
A healthy nervous system needs the capacity to respond
appropriately to changing circumstances.
There are times when mobilisation is useful. There are
times when stillness is needed. The difficulty can arise
when the system has limited flexibility and repeatedly
returns to protective patterns even when the original
threat is no longer present.
Somatic Experiencing® aims to support greater capacity
to move through different nervous-system states without
becoming overwhelmed or remaining fixed within one
protective response.
Restoring Resilience
Resilience is more than simply coping
Resilience does not mean never experiencing stress,
fear or adversity.
It includes our capacity to respond to challenges,
recover, reconnect and access support when we need it.
Through greater awareness of bodily experience and
nervous-system responses, somatic approaches can help
create opportunities for more choice in how a person
responds to stress.
This is one reason Somatic Experiencing® places such
importance on working gradually. The goal is not to
overpower protective responses, but to work with the
nervous system in ways that respect its existing
strategies for survival.
Healing in Relationship
Regulation is not only something that happens inside
an individual. Safety, connection and relationship
can profoundly shape how our nervous systems respond
to the world around us.
Professional Practice
Bringing body-based awareness into the way we support others
Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training provides
practitioners with a framework for recognising and
responding to the physiological aspects of stress and trauma.
This can complement existing professional knowledge by
developing greater awareness of nervous-system states,
bodily cues, pacing, regulation and the relational
environment surrounding a person.
A Different Way of Listening
The body is part of the story
Somatic Experiencing® offers a reminder that our experiences
are not held only in words.
Breathing, movement, tension, sensation, orientation and
shifts in activation can all form part of how our nervous
systems respond to what we have lived through.
By learning to notice those responses with curiosity and
appropriate support, practitioners can develop another way
of understanding what may be happening beneath visible
behaviour.
At its heart, the approach invites us to listen differently:
not only to the story being told, but also to the body
experiencing it.
Somatic Experiencing® Professional Training
Ready to deepen your understanding of the nervous system?
Restoring Resilience hosts Somatic Experiencing®
Professional Training in Australia for eligible
practitioners wanting to integrate body-based trauma
awareness into their professional practice.
