Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a trauma therapy that focuses on how the nervous system responds to stress and how healing can occur by gently guiding the body back to a state of regulation and safety. Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE is rooted in understanding the autonomic nervous system (ANS)—specifically how trauma can dysregulate it, and how healing comes from restoring its natural flow.

 

The Nervous System’s Role

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) governs automatic bodily functions like heart rate, digestion, and breathing. It has two main branches:

• Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) – activates the fight or flight response.

• Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) – responsible for rest, digest, and repair.

 

Another key component, often emphasized in SE, is the dorsal vagal complex—a part of the parasympathetic system linked to freeze, shutdown, or dissociation responses.

 

When we experience a threat:

• The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) activates to help us fight or flee.

If we can’t escape or defend ourselves, the freeze or collapse response may kick in (a dorsal vagal response).

If this energy—mobilized for survival—isn’t fully discharged, it can get “stuck” in the body.

This leads to dysregulation: symptoms like anxiety, numbness, hypervigilance, chronic pain, or emotional detachment.

 

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How Somatic Experiencing Helps

SE works by gently guiding the nervous system back into regulation using techniques that track and release this stuck survival energy. Here's how:

 

1. Tracking Sensations

Clients are guided to notice physical sensations—tightness, tingling, heat, breath patterns—without judgment. This helps locate where survival energy is held.

 

2. Titration

Traumatic memories or sensations are approached slowly and in small doses to avoid overwhelm, allowing the nervous system to stay regulated.

 

3. Pendulation

Clients are supported in moving back and forth between distress (activation) and comfort (regulation), helping the nervous system learn flexibility and resilience.

 

4. Discharge and Completion

As survival energy is released, the body may tremble, yawn, cry, or spontaneously move—signs that the nervous system is completing a stuck response and returning to balance.

 

5. Resourcing

Clients develop internal and external “resources”—safe sensations, images, or memories—to ground themselves when difficult sensations arise.

 

Goal: Nervous System Regulation

The ultimate goal of SE is to restore nervous system flexibility, so the person can respond to life’s challenges without getting stuck in survival mode. Rather than focusing on the traumatic story, SE helps the body complete what it couldn’t during the original event, leading to:

• Greater sense of safety in the body

• Improved resilience to stress

• Reduced trauma symptoms

• Increased emotional regulation