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ABOUT SE™
Somatic Experiencing® trauma resolution is a body based modality for healing and thriving through trying times.

Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE™ builds on the innate ability of the body to heal itself. The modality is practiced and adopted by a wide variety of professionals worldwide.

SE™ practitioners include psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, nurses, craniosacral therapists, EMDR practitioners, acupuncturists, art therapists, massage and physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths, coaches and teachers. It has been integrated in Family constellations, systemic constellations and many other body based modalities.
UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA THROUGH THE LENS OF SE™
“The trauma is in the body and not the event.”
-Dr. Peter Levine

When faced with situations that appear life threatening, the autonomous nervous system prepares for either fight or flight. However, when neither of these responses are possible, the system goes into freeze.

This stuck energy plays out through different physical, psychological and behavioral ways such as chronic diseases, ineffective patterns, unresolved anger, anxiety etc. It remains locked up, activated continuously by seemingly obscure events, giving the individual a pervasive sense of threat. This is trauma.

Somatic Experiencing® helps us connect to the body and release this stuck energy safely, leading to both healing and a sense of wholeness.
HOW DOES SE™ DIFFER FROM OTHER MODALITIES?
Based on the premise that the client’s body knows what will help. Connecting to one’s own body to resolve issues becomes more important than the knowledge of the therapist.
Works with what the body experiences in the now, rather than what has occurred.
Supports the client in connecting to their body and working with it, thus empowering the client to become independent of the therapist sooner.
Develops the client’s capacity to connect to the body beyond the neo-cortex, i.e that part of the brain which is beyond language – the emotional brain and the instinctual brain.
Before there are words, there is the wordless communication of the body.
- Michael Changaris, Psy D., SE™ Institute Chair of the Board
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM SE™?
As the name suggests, SE™ is a modality based on experiencing the body. Anybody who wants to connect to their own body, to its aliveness and sensitivities, will benefit from this modality.
SE™ has also been used to successfully work with
Physical trauma such as accidents, surgeries, attacks, etc
Trauma as an impact of surgery, medical intervention, long illnesses
Chronic pain
Chronic diseases, exhaustion
Chronic psychological conditions such as excessive anger, anxiety, depressive states, phobias
Impact of abuse, bullying, sexual assault, emotional abuse
Impact of natural disasters, excessive loss, grief, war, violence
Loss of loved one, loss of property, loss of opportunity
High level of stress
Setting boundaries, working with relationship issues
Childhood trauma, neglect
Birth trauma
Developmental trauma, birth issues, prenatal and perinatal trauma
Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.
- Dr. Peter Levine
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE PRINCIPLES OF SE™?
Safety: Before working with any material, a client must feel safe, supported, and resourced. The SE™ practitioner works with the client to create this embodied experience.

Awareness: It helps individuals identify and track their sensations and feelings within the body. Thus they can safely experience the highly aroused survival energies and release them, allowing the nervous system to self-regulate.

Grounding: SE™ practitioners bring the client in a state where they can connect to their body and regulate themselves.

Titration: SE™ works slowly within the range of the client’s resiliency, so that the client heals rather than relives the traumatic experience and emotions.

Touch: Although SE™ is a body oriented approach, touch is used only in certain situations when acting as a container, a resource, or a source of support.
PETER A LEVINE, Ph.D
Peter A Levine, Ph.D., is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma, which he has developed over the past 50 years. His work has been taught to over 30,000 therapists in over 42 countries, and he continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally.

He holds a doctorate in Biophysics from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in Psychology from International University. He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education, dedicated to Community Outreach and Post-Advanced Somatic Experiencing® Training, and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International.

To hear about himself in his own words, click here.
Peter A Levine, Ph.D.
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