Somatic Experiencing
1hr session
Online or face to face in Folkestone.
What is Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-oriented approach to working with trauma and the effects of stress, developed by Dr Peter Levine. Rather than focusing only on thoughts or the story of what has happened, SE also pays attention to bodily sensations, emotions, movement and patterns of nervous-system activation. Working gradually and at a manageable pace, it can help people become more aware of their responses and explore what supports greater regulation, safety and choice.
How We Work Together
In our one-to-one sessions, we work together in a supportive, collaborative space, bringing gentle awareness to sensations, emotions and other experiences in your body.
We work at a pace that feels manageable, with curiosity and without judgement, paying attention to both difficult experiences and what supports greater stability, safety and connection.
An important part of this work is developing confidence in recognising your nervous-system responses, needs and boundaries, so that you have more choice in how you respond and your sense of agency remains central to the process.
What to Expect in a Session
During a session, you may notice a range of experiences, including changes in breathing, warmth or coolness, tingling, trembling, movement, emotions, images or a sense of settling.
Sometimes these changes are subtle, and sometimes very little seems to happen at all. There is no particular response you need to have, and nothing that needs to be encouraged or interpreted as a specific kind of release.
We simply stay curious about what you notice, exploring your experience together at a pace that feels comfortable and manageable.
Understanding Trauma Patterns
Understanding patterns connected with trauma and stress can help us recognise how past experiences may continue to influence our responses in the present. Developing awareness of these patterns can create more opportunity for choice, regulation and a greater sense of agency.
Learning from Nature
Peter Levine’s development of Somatic Experiencing was influenced in part by observations of how animals respond to threat and return to ordinary activity afterwards. From this, he developed an approach that pays close attention to our instinctive responses to stress and threat. In practice, Somatic Experiencing explores these responses gradually through bodily sensations, movement, emotion and awareness, rather than assuming that talking about an experience is always enough.
Listening to and Tracking the Body
Talking in detail about a difficult or traumatic experience is not always necessary. Instead, we gently explore what is happening in the present moment through bodily sensations, emotions, images, thoughts and impulses.
This moment-to-moment awareness is known as tracking. It can help us explore the body's felt sense of an experience, noticing changes in breathing, movement or sensation, as well as experiences that feel supportive or settling.
Rather than trying to change what is happening, we approach it with curiosity, allowing time to notice what happens next while working at a manageable pace.
Uncoupling Past from Present
Sometimes something happening in the present can evoke responses connected with an earlier experience, even when the current situation is different. Somatic Experiencing can help us notice these patterns and gently explore what belongs to the present and what may be connected with the past.
By working slowly and paying attention to bodily sensations, emotions, thoughts and impulses, we can explore these responses without needing to push through them. The aim is to support greater awareness, choice and agency, while developing a stronger sense of what feels supportive and safe in the present.
Benefits of Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing offers a way of exploring how experiences of trauma and stress may show up in the body as well as in our thoughts and emotions. By developing greater awareness of bodily sensations and nervous-system responses, the work can support a growing capacity to recognise and respond to what is happening in the present.
For some people, this may include developing a greater sense of safety, connection and agency, becoming more able to notice their own needs and boundaries, and finding more choice in how they respond when difficult patterns arise.
The process is individual, and there is no single response or outcome that everyone should expect.
