“There are lots of reasons you‘re special, but trauma ain’t one of them!”
-Camille Leak, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and Teacher
What is Somatic Experiencing (SE)?
Dr. Peter Levine created SE when noticing how wild animals are constantly fleeing for their lives and narrowly escaping the jaws of a death, but somehow never get traumatized. Martha Beck noted that Gazelles don’t go back to their herd after a day of terror and shock and say to each other “We can NEVER go near that watering hole again. You wouldn’t BELIEVE what just happened!”
Instead they seem to literally and figuratively shake it off, and resume their grazing with the Cheetah still in sight—until the next dramatic fight for their life occurs.
How are they not losing their minds out there? What’s their secret? Why isn’t every Gazelle on the planet in therapy for the rest of their lives?
“I’m never going to get out of this alive. I hate my life. Why me? I’m gonna scroll for 4 hours to feel better” - If Gazelles thought like us.
Their “secret” is allowing the nervous system to naturally express however it needs to — shaking, running, freezing and collapsing. They do it without blame or judgement or self consciousness about how they look. This permission lets the body know:
“What just happened is OVER. You SURVIVED. You may now continue grazing or move on. Up to you.”
“Wait…what? I made it out alive? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. It’s just going to happen again at some point. I still hate my life.” - If Gazelles kept thinking like us.
This natural function of the body has been suppressed and dominated by external and internalized systems of oppression for hundreds of years or more. Most of us live in a time where we feel like we are being chased by a Cheetah all day and night—a constant state of perceived threat. The best part about SE is unlike talk therapy, you don’t have to even know why your body is feeling or moving in a certain way. We practice skills like orienting, noticing parts that are comfortable and some that might not be, noticing thoughts, and letting the body express itself naturally in the movement with “titration” or baby steps. This is not about “getting relaxed” or “staying calm”. It’s about creating more space in your body for whatever arises in life so you can meet it with more options and recovery more completely.
Somatic Experiencing can you help get your body’s natural systems back online, slowly, gently, over time. When we allow this process to unfold without trying to control it, our life force naturally returns giving us resilience, energy, capacity for joy, and more resources for the next time a perceived threat becomes an actual threat.
Learn more about the science and intention behind SE by Dr. Peter Levine here
We were never meant to hold it alone.” - Luis Mojica
“Hey everybody we made it! We’re alive!” - What Gazelles , and our bodies, are here to remind us of in relationship.
Coregulation in nature is more than “safety in numbers”. It’s “We hold this together so no single body has to.” Community and Connection is where Recovery happens.