Somatic Experiencing™
A Practice Guide to Nervous System Regulation &
Trauma Resolution
Michele Solloway, PhD, SEP, LMC, LMT/BCMBT
Somatic Experiencing International, Board Chair
Presented to
California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists Annual conference
Learning Objectives
When working with a client who is or has experienced trauma, participants
will be able to:
1. Identify key symptoms and expressions of trauma (knowledge)
2. Distinguish between cognitive (top down) and somatic (bottom-up)
techniques (analysis)
3. Explain the concept of the “window of tolerance” and its role in nervous
system regulation (knowledge)
4. Explain and apply simple practices to reduce trauma symptoms
(application)
Disclosures
I have a volunteer affiliation with and am representing Somatic Experience
International™.
I do not receive financial compensation from SEI.
I have a private practice in the somatic experiencing modality.
Agenda
• Brief review of trauma – what it is, how we hold it in our bodies
• Neuroscience of trauma
• What is Somatic Experiencing
• Self- Regulation Practices: SCOPE Tool
• SE Training opportunities
• Q&A
Grounding
Exercise
What is Trauma?
Trauma is an “experience”
There are Many Perspectives
• Dictionary definition: acute, chronic, complex
• DSM definition: clinical perspective, based on symptoms
for purposes of treatment, reimbursement
• Bio-psychological definition: It is the result of a threat
(real or perceived), of acute, severe, chronic or
persistent (toxic) stress
• Social, holistic definition: Loss of connection, loss of
wholeness; anything that leaves us feeling helpless,
hopeless, out of control
Many Types of Trauma:
Timing, Chronicity, Complexity
• Shock/Acute trauma: an event that happened too fast and too soon, and
overwhelms our capacity to cope and respond
• Developmental trauma: due to an ongoing mis-attunement between a child and
the primary caretaker.
• Chronic trauma: repetitive and occurs over a long period of time
• Complex trauma: Multiple traumatic experiences without the time to heal between
them.
• Intergenerational Trauma: Dysregulated or negative beliefs, attitudes, world view
passed from one generation to another; recent evidence of intergenerational
genetic transmission (epi-genetics)
• Systemic/Institutionalized trauma: racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia,
transphobia, societal oppression
Various Sources & Aspect of
Health, Well Being Impacted
Physical Emotional
Spiritual Mental
Societal/Social Psychological
Environmental
Trauma is Prevalent & Foundational
Prevalent in our society and world
• Global, simultaneous trauma with COVID
• 25% of adults grew up with alcoholic parents or relatives
• 8.7 million children are living with at least one parent with substance use disorder
• 25% of children are beaten by their parents sufficient to leave a mark
• 33% of couples engage in physical violence;
• 1 in 3 pregnant women experience domestic violence.
• 20% of Americans report having been sexually molested,(based on reported incidents).
Economic costs are staggering; human costs of suffering even more so
• Average (mean) cost for 1 year per patient for trauma care was $75, 210; large majority was
for hospital care
• Adults’ major trauma conservatively estimated at $27 billion annually
• Cost of childhood exposure to crime is estimated at $458 billion annually
• Societal, long-term and ripple financial impacts are harder to estimate
Sources:
1. Lipari, R.N. and Van Horn, S.L. Children living with parents who have a substance use disorder. The CBHSQ Report: August 24, 2017. Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality,
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD.
2. Gilad M. Falling between the cracks: Understanding why states fail in protecting our children from crime. U Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 17-32, Univ Illinois Law Review,
2019.
Trauma
manifests in
the body
Trauma also
heals in the
body
Trauma & the Brain
How does Trauma Work in the Brain & Body?
The “river of life” model
Traumatic event ruptures boundaries
The Stress Spectrum
This is NOT This has the potential to This is trauma
trauma be traumatic
Trauma & the Nervous System
FIGHT/FLIGHT
• High Reactivity
• Hypervigilance
Sympathetic • Mania
Nervous System • Anxiety, Panic
Activation, • Anger, Rage
arousal
• Pain
FREEZE
• Depression
• Numbness
Settling • Dissociation
• Unresponsive
• Flat Affect
• Fatigue
Parasympathetic • Pain
Nervous System
Healthy Regulated NS Dysregulated (traumatized) NS
Window of Tolerance &
the Nervous System
Sympathetic
Nervous System HYPER-AROUSAL
Healthy Regulated NS
Dysregulated
(traumatized) NS
Window of
Window of Tolerance
Tolerance
Parasympathetic HYPO-AROUSAL
Nervous System
Tracking
Exercise
What Happens When We Experience Trauma?
We either release the experience or retain it in our bodies and our
nervous systems. More specifically:
Changes in hormone levels Neurological Changes
• Cortisol and adrenaline are released during • Reduce neural connections in part of brain dedicated to
stress learning, reasoning
• Prolonged release can lead to Type 2 • Temporal lobe responsible for vision, memory, sensory
diabetes, disrupt immune and inflammatory input, language, emotion, comprehension
systems • Subsequent reduced cognitive ability
• Higher risk for depression, abdominal • Strengthening neural pathways to amygdala, survival brain
obesity, lupus, and multiple sclerosis as while weakening other neural pathways
adult • Subsequent reduced ability to deal with adversity
Immune system changes Epigenetic changes
• Thymus involution, • Induce changes in genes related to mental health, obesity,
• Spleen and lymph nodes atrophy • Drug addiction, immune function,
• Telomere shortening • Metabolic disease, heart disease
• Increased stress hormones
Source: A. Merck. 4 ways Childhood trauma changes a child’s brain and body, 2/6/18 [Link]
What Else Happens When We Experience Trauma?
• We make meaning from our experience. Trauma is in
the eye of the beholder
• Self-judgement and endless loop of self-blame and
shame
• We develop symptoms (sometimes temporary,
sometimes long-lasting)
• We develop coping responses and behaviors that help
us survive the event/experience.
Trauma Responses are Survival Responses
• Initial actions, responses are ALWAYS in service of survival. It’s how the body is wired
to respond.
o Our neurophysiology and body chemistry dictate that the survival part of the brain operates
first and faster than the “thinking” brain
• Later, we may have the same responses to a perceived or real threat, especially if the
stimulus is the same or similar (e.g.: PTSD)
o The survival brain does not distinguish between real and perceived threat
o The survival brain operates in ONLY in present moment – no past or future
• What was helpful during the original event may be quite dysfunctional later on
• That’s why it’s really important to understand what trauma looks like – people’s
behavior is often misunderstood
Impact of Trauma - Symptoms
Physical Mental
• Lack of exercise, self care • Fuzzy thinking
• Insufficient or poor sleep, • Inability to learn,
insomnia concentrate (can look like
• Hypersensitivity ADHD, learning disabilities)
• Increase numbing activities: • Poor job performance
o Food
• Loss of confidence
o Alcohol, Other drugs
o Computer, Social Media • Easily distracted
o TV • Unresponsive to requests,
o Work directions
• Pain • Chronic negative thinking
• Poor, declining health
• Chronic disease
Impact of Trauma - Symptoms
Emotional & Psychological Social
• Fear of rejection • Social Isolation
• Anxiety, depression
• Alienation
• Shame, humiliation
• Fear of rejection • Fear of relationship
• PTSD • Lack of intimacy
• Lack of Impulse control • Inability to be authentic
• Anger, reactivity, aggressive • Inability to connect with
behavior others
• Dissociation, Inability to
feel (out of body and
present time)
• Suicide ideation
A Word about Childhood Trauma (ACEs)
A Word about Childhood Trauma (ACEs)
Children’s brains are not fully
developed until mid-20s
All aspects of child development
are impacted by trauma:
• Cognitive development
• Executive decision-making
• Impulse control
• Emotional regulation
• Brain systems wiring
• Learning and memory
• Behavior
• Immune, hormonal development
• Genetics
Source: Hitreset: [Link]
What is Somatic Experiencing?
Trauma from Somatic Experiencing Perspective
• Trauma occurs when an experience exceeds the body’s (nervous
system’s) capacity to cope or assimilate it - “Too much, too fast, too
soon”
• Trauma is in the nervous system. It is stuck energy from something
that happened previously being triggered in this moment
• “Anything that overwhelms our capacity to cope or respond and leaves
us feeling helpless, hopeless and/or out of control”
• Capacity for regular, everyday responses is diminished
• Compromises quality of life
“Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They
arise when residual energy from the experience is not
discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the
nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and
minds.”
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in
the absence of an empathetic witness.”
- Peter A. Levine, PhD
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING® APPROACH
• Gentle, titrated, body-oriented approach to healing trauma and other stress
disorders (bottom-up)
• Based on multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology,
biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical
biophysics
• Therapeutic model applied in multiple professions and professional
settings—psychotherapy, medicine, physical therapy, body work, coaching,
teaching
• Focused on interoception – sense of self, body – guides clients to develop
increasing tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed
emotions.
• Facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the
release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the
root cause of trauma symptoms.
A Word about Interoception
• Interoception: Perception of the internal sensations of
the body
• “Emotions are often felt in the body, and interoceptive
feedback is an important component of conscious
emotional experiences”*
• Consistent across cultural and sex
• SE tools can help therapists understand and connect
emotional experiences with various parts of the body
(embodiment)
*Volynets, S., Glerean, E., Hari, R., and Hietanen, JK., and Nummenmaa, L.. 2019. Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal, 2020
Self
Regulation
SCOPE
These somatic (body-centered) exercises are
designed to help you slow down, connect with
yourself and “down regulate” (calm down) by
engaging your parasympathetic nervous
system.
Exercises are designed to be:
• Short: <5 minutes,
• Accessible: you can do these anywhere
• Build resilience
• Address burnout and stress
SCOPE is based on neuroscience, principles
of body-psychotherapy, and trauma research
SLOWING DOWN
Slow Stepping, Slow Breathing
Purpose: To ground and track what is happening in
the body. Regain sense of time and space.
During a crisis, we can lose sight that it is temporary,
that it is not going to last forever. Slowing down our
steps lets our body remember that time still exists
Exercise: Take 5 steps very slowly. Notice any
sensations on the bottom of your feet, how your
weight is distributed
• If seated, feel weight of body on chair, slowly
move body around, notice how weight is
distributed
Outcome: Being more present in our bodies and with
a sense of time and space
Notice
Your
Breath
CONNECT TO BODY (Closed Loop Connection)
Purpose: Closes your system off from outside
world, allows you to go inside and settle, slow
breathing. You’re telling your body, “These are my
boundaries, and there’s nobody here except me.”
Familiar to children – they will do it naturally when
they are upset
Exercise: Cross your arms, tucking your hands
under your opposite armpits. Next, cross your
ankles maybe squeezing them a little tightly if that
feels good, and slowly lower your head, tucking
yourself in. Breathe – continued 30-60 seconds or
until you feel calm, complete.
Outcome: Feel more contained, supported, and
more present when you’re under high pressure.
of body-psychotherapy, and trauma research
Closed Loop
Connection
to Self
ORIENT TO EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
Purpose: Use a sense of sight to signal our
automatic, unconscious “fight flight or freeze”
survival response that it is safe to look around,
expand ourselves in space.
Exercise: Look around and notice something that
you enjoy looking at, that brings neutral or
pleasant sensations. As you orient, notice what
happens in your body
If you’re not finding anything in your environment
that you’re drawn to naturally, you can give yourself
some feature to look for. This can be searching for
a specific color, shape or a certain pattern
You can orient to touch and sound as well.
Outcome: Lets our nervous system know that we
still exist in our environment, that is it safe to look
around.
Orienting
PENDULATE
Move back and forth between different internal
experiences
Purpose: Crisis takes away your choice of what you
would pay attention to. This exercise empowers you
and restores sense of having choice.
Exercise: Noticing what is going on in your body,
where you are feeling a sense of tension or
discomfort. After a brief moment, shift your focus
to where are you feeling ease or comfort. Move
back and forth very slowly from one state to
another
Outcome: Reintroduces a sense of choice at the
neurological level. Choice is the opposite of
helplessness. It’s a restorative relief practice.
Pendulation
ENGAGE WITH OTHERS
Purpose: Social engagement is hardwired into
human survival. Trauma is often about
disconnecting or being disconnected… from the
sensations of our own bodies and other people.
This sense of connection is part of what it means
to be a person and is critical to our survival.
Exercise: Reach out to someone, either in person
or over technology, whatever you are most
comfortable with. Talk to someone you trust,
someone that you feel safe and comfortable
talking to or sharing your experience with. Reach
out to someone and just be with them.
Outcome: Counteracts feelings of isolation,
disconnection from others. Allows us to feel seen
and heard, cared for. Helps nervous systems
remember how to function in a world of other
people, beyond this current stressful event.
SCOPE Summary
• Effective short exercises to reduce stress, take us out of crisis mode,
builds resilience
• Engages parasympathetic nervous system – the part of our nervous
system that lets us know we are safe and all is well
• As we move back and forth between putting our attention inward, then
outward, we are flexing the nervous system “muscle” so to speak as we
move to a more regulated state
• (Re)introduces choice back into a sense of stress, remind us that we are
not helpless.
SE Professional
Training Opportunities
SE Professional Training
Three levels, 8 modules In-person & Virtual trainings
• 12 training days per level Domestic & International Trainings
• Beginning: 3-4 day trainings Requirements for SEP include:
• Intermediate: 3-4 day trainings • Completing the 8 module training
• Advanced: 2-6 day trainings • Personal sessions (12 hours)
• Case consult sessions (18 credit hours
[Link]
Resources
Books
• Levine, PA.
(1997). Waking the Tiger, North Atlantic Books. Berkeley, CA.
(2010). In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. North Atlantic Books. Berkeley, CA.
(2015). Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA
• Heller L and LaPierre A. (2012). Healing Developmental Trauma, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA
• Jackson Nakazawa, D. (2015). Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes your Biology and How You Can Heal. Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York, NY.
• Porges,S. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysicological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication and Self-Regulation, WW Norton and
Company, New York.
• Siegel, DJ. (1999). The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are. The Guildford Press, NY.
• Siegel DJ and Hartzell M. (2010). Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive. Mind Your Brain, Inc.
• van Dernoont Lipsky, L. & Burk C.,( 2009). Trauma stewardship: An everyday guide to caring for self while caring for others. Berrett-Kohler Publishers, Inc. Oakland,
CA.
Articles
• Andersen, TE., Lahav, Y., Ellegaard, H., & Manniche, C. (2017) A randomized controlled trial of brief Somatic Experiencing for chronic low back pain and comorbid
post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 8:1, DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2017.1331108
• Brom D, Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic Experiencing for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Controlled
Outcome Study. J Trauma Stress. Jun;30(3):304-312. doi: 10.1002/jts.22189. Epub 2017 Jun 6. PMID: 28585761; PMCID: PMC5518443.
• Kuhfuß, M., Maldei, T., Hetmanek, A. & Baumann, N. (2021) Somatic experiencing – effectiveness and key factors of a body-oriented trauma therapy: a scoping
literature review, European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 12:1, DOI: 10.1080/20008198.2021.1929023
• Payne, P., Levine, PA., and Crane-Godreau, MA. (2015). Somatic experiencing: using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy Front.
Psychol., 04 February 2015 Sec. Consciousness Research, Volume 6. [Link]
• Winblad, NE., Changaris, M. & Stien, PK. (2018). Effect of Somatic Experiencing Resiliency-Based Trauma Treatment Training on Quality of Life and Psychological
Health as Potential Markers of Resilience in Treating Professionals. Front. Neurosci., 16 February. Sec. Autonomic Neuroscience, Volume 12.
[Link]
• Wong, A. Why You Can't Think Your Way Out of Trauma: The importance of the body's wisdom in the treatment of trauma. (2020). Psychology Today May 7
[Link]
Thank You!
Questions?
Michele Solloway, PhD, MPA, SEP, RPP, LMT
msolloway@[Link]
503-544-8989