Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach to healing trauma, developed by Dr. Peter Levine in the 1970s. The idea behind it is pretty intuitive: when something traumatic happens, our nervous system goes into survival mode—fight, flight, or freeze. But unlike animals in the wild, who naturally shake off this stress once the threat is gone, humans often stay stuck in that frozen state long after the danger has passed.
Dr. Levine noticed that this unresolved survival energy gets trapped in the body and can show up later as anxiety, chronic tension, panic attacks, or feeling emotionally numb. Somatic Experiencing helps people slowly and safely reconnect with those stored sensations—without having to re-live the trauma.
Rather than diving into the full story of what happened, the therapist gently guides the person to notice small shifts in their body: tightness in the chest, a flutter in the stomach, a subtle urge to move. These physical cues are seen as the body’s way of processing and releasing what got stuck. The goal is to help the nervous system complete those fight-or-flight responses and return to a state of balance and resilience.
It’s a very respectful, mindful process—paced slowly and focused on safety. And while it’s especially helpful for trauma, many people use it to manage stress, anxiety, or a general sense of being disconnected from their bodies.