Most people are exposed to stressful situations and traumatic experiences, both physically and psychologically. But this has physical consequences, such as tension and pain, fear, depression, anger, insomnia, and concentration and memory problems. Often, we try to find mental ways to achieve a balance, but without taking into account the body and its symptoms. 

Somatic Experiencing® is a method that helps to regain balance physically and mentally, starting with the body and the nervous system, so that we can recognize our natural, instinctive reactions.

Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) was invented by Peter A. Levine, Ph.D, after many years of studying animal behaviour. Levine was able to prove that, despite being under constant attack on their lives and safety, animals in their natural environment are not affected by traumatic experiences. He pointed out that people have similar reactions to animals when it comes to trauma and shock; however, these reactions are often suppressed by higher brain regions that emerged later in our development – i.e., the neocortex. This suppression of our instinctive response to trauma can result in the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a dysfunction of the nervous system.

The SE™ approach offers tools and methods for restoring the balance of the nervous system and the innate capacity for self-regulation. This helps to activate the innate process of eliminating the psychological trauma which would otherwise manifest with psychosomatic symptoms. (Fürstenwald, 2018)