So what are we to do? We learn to regulate our nervous systems with the help of a therapist. We release old, trapped and damaging memories. We attend to ourselves, learn to track the things that disturb us on the level of the “felt sense”, and we find the inner resources that have been there all along. We notice the things that make us “feel good”. We tap into the calm and the strength that is within us. We heal through renewed confidence, self-awareness, courage, and hope.
The Somatic Experiencing method is a body-oriented psychotherapy approach to the healing of trauma, along with other stress disorders. Dr. Peter A. Levine invented the therapy method as a result of a multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics—together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The Somatic Experiencing approach works to release traumatic shock, which is one of the keys to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.