What Does a Slinky Have to do with Trauma?
One of the conundrums in trauma therapy is that as therapists, we are trained and usually very good at being empathic. And for many of our clients, we see great success. But what do we do when our clients struggling with trauma and classic symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, chronic pain and stiffness don’t respond to kindness and soothing?
When the hyper arousal of our nervous system doesn’t get released, it leads to symptoms like PTSD, like flashbacks and nightmares, but also physical symptoms like chronic pain, and stiffness in different parts of the body.
Trauma has emotional effects, cognitive effects, but primarily – it’s a physiological process. Until we begin to resolve it at the physiological level, we can’t start the emotional.
But when a person is deeply traumatized, their ability to read emotions is very much compromised, and they not in to take in take in the empathy. Clients often feel like they’ve done something wrong because they aren’t able to take in the kindness and soothing of the therapist. And the therapist is frustrated because they don’t know why what they’re doing isn’t working.
Trauma therapy isn’t successful until your client can own their life energy. But how do you help your patients heal without forcing them to re-live their past and tell their story? The answer begins with a slinky.
In this free short video, you’ll see a transformational demonstration from Peter Levine, and learn why healing from trauma begins with accessing the body memory of the event, not the story.
When the hyper arousal of our nervous system doesn’t get released, it leads to symptoms like PTSD, like flashbacks and nightmares, but also physical symptoms like chronic pain, and stiffness in different parts of the body.
Trauma has emotional effects, cognitive effects, but primarily – it’s a physiological process. Until we begin to resolve it at the physiological level, we can’t start the emotional.
But when a person is deeply traumatized, their ability to read emotions is very much compromised, and they not in to take in take in the empathy. Clients often feel like they’ve done something wrong because they aren’t able to take in the kindness and soothing of the therapist. And the therapist is frustrated because they don’t know why what they’re doing isn’t working.
Trauma therapy isn’t successful until your client can own their life energy. But how do you help your patients heal without forcing them to re-live their past and tell their story? The answer begins with a slinky.
In this free short video, you’ll see a transformational demonstration from Peter Levine, and learn why healing from trauma begins with accessing the body memory of the event, not the story.
Online Course:
Peter Levine on Somatic Trauma Treatment
Peter Levine on Somatic Trauma Treatment
Add richness to your current trauma treatment plans and find permanent relief for your clients with Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing® method. SE® is the result of over forty years of observation, research and development, and now you can learn to apply the body-oriented techniques to your practice when you sign up today.
Online Course:
Integrative Somatic Psychotherapy Master Class
Integrative Somatic Psychotherapy Master Class
Join somatic healer Abi Blakeslee to master body-based skills for today’s trauma cases. Through real in-session videos, you’ll experience somatic healing in action with generational trauma, trauma-induced guilt and shame, trauma within couples therapy, and trauma in a client with autism. You’ll not only learn somatic interventions you can apply right away in your practice – but you’ll also get insight into key therapy decisions that lead to true trauma breakthroughs.
Meet the Expert:
Peter A. Levine, PhD, holds doctorates in both medical biophysics and psychology. The developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a body-awareness approach to healing trauma, and founder of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, which conducts trainings in this work throughout the world and in various indigenous cultures, with 26 faculty members and over five thousand students. Dr. Levine was a stress consultant for NASA on the development of the space shuttle project and was a member of the Institute of World Affairs Task Force of Psychologists for Social Responsibility in developing responses to large-scale disasters and ethnopolitical warfare. Levine’s international best seller, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, has been translated into 22 languages.
Learn more about his educational products, including upcoming live seminars, by clicking here.
Learn more about his educational products, including upcoming live seminars, by clicking here.
