![]() ![]() SE is about re-accessing the body’s natural healing ability. As a culture, we have tamped down those natural healing abilities we have. We say, ‘Have a drink, have a smoke, take a pill,’ because we’re very uncomfortable with the physical signs of release. We tell ourselves, ‘Don’t shake, don’t cry, don’t tremor, don’t yawn, don’t do all the things the body naturally knows how to do to heal itself.’ The body is very elegantly designed it knows how to heal, but we interfere with it. In adults, both the nature of the trauma and the stigmatization of somatic expressions of energy release can keep us from our innate healing abilities. Children are particularly vulnerable, as they often have no option to fight or flee. ![]() The inability to complete the survival response can result from a number of causes. “We have that same ability,” Ellen says, “but we’ve cut it off.” As a result, we may experience physical symptoms such as digestive problems and sleep disturbances along with serious persistent emotional distress. In nature, the healthy release of traumatic energy can be seen in animals who shake after escaping a predator. When that doesn’t happen, it leads to dysregulation of the nervous system and a disruption of our natural ability to heal. If that energy isn’t used to survive, it stays in the nervous system through physical movements like shaking, yawning, tingling or crying. When we are threatened we go into fight, flight, or freeze mode, our survival brains take over, and we experience an enormous surge of energy as our bodies flood with the body chemicals needed to escape or flee. From his observations of animal behavior in natural environments, he developed the theory that PTSD and other trauma-related health conditions are psychological manifestations of physiological phenomena. Somatic Experiencing was first introduced by Dr. “Somatic Experiencing is based on the idea that the traumatic experience is not what causes Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but, rather, that the body holds on to the trauma unless it’s given the opportunity to resolve.” “There’s a long history of people making the connection between the body and the mind,” Ellen tells me. ![]() Today, she is one of four Somatic Experiencing therapists (who also do EMDR) at Bridges to Recovery, and here she shares her insight into this remarkable therapeutic practice. Originally trained as a talk therapist, for the past decade Ellen has devoted herself to helping trauma survivors find relief, tranquility, and renewed strength through SE. But there may be another path to recovery.Įllen Ledley has seen people heal from even the most enduring traumas through an innovative body-focused therapy called Somatic Experiencing (SE), that dramatically reframes our understanding of traumatic experiences and the recovery process. Sometimes it remains even after you’ve done everything you’re supposed to do after trauma, even after the talk therapy and the self-help books, the yoga retreats and the journaling, the trauma recovery groups and the medication. It courses through you, buries itself in your flesh, seeps into your bones, and entangles itself in your mind. Trauma can stay with you long after the threat of harm has passed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |