A new book published last month includes contributions from Somatic Experiencing® Practitioners reflecting on the epiphanies they’ve encountered in their practices. Defining Moments for Therapists features first-person accounts by eleven therapists from diverse backgrounds and training. One chapter, for instance, shares the experience of a therapist integrating SE® touch into her psychodynamic practice. Read on to learn how you can download your free copy!

Serge Prengel, a regular contributor to this blog and host of the SEPTalk series of podcasts, served as the book’s co-editor. He describes the concept behind Defining Moments as follows: “If therapy is a relational process, it takes a person on the therapist’s end. The goal of the project is to capture the therapist’s evolving sense of self as it is shaped by our experiences as active participants in a creative interaction.”

As the publisher reports, the essays in the book share some “Aha!” moments when therapists came to understand themselves better— and to understand better why they do what they do. Here is a book review from Farrell Silverberg, Ph.D., a psychoanalyst and author:

“The process of therapy encompasses an ongoing series of defining moments, and not just for our clients. This book offers a compelling account of tipping points in therapy from the perspective of a variety of practitioners representing many schools of treatment. From psychoanalysts, art therapists, body-centered psychotherapists and others, we encounter those moments of discovery that define the process and highlight the meaningfulness of those daily intersubjective journeys we take to accompany our clients on the path to health.”

The authors and publishers wanted the book available to anyone interested and so they have made a free PDF version available for download. It is also available for purchase in paperback and other digital formats. Click the following link to claim your copy today and let us know what you think about the book by adding a comment below.

http://www.LifeSherpa.com/therapists

Thanks for reading,

Laura

The horrific events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, remind us of the terror and uncertainty of trauma.

At the SE® Trauma Institute, we believe that with the right techniques and support, children, adults, and communities can begin to heal the effects of trauma. This page describes how the principles of Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) can be applied and how we can begin the healing process.

What Happens During Trauma?
It is important to understand the naturalness of our responses to traumatic experiences. Biologically, we have only a few ways to respond to overwhelming circumstances:

• We can become hyper-aroused or constricted in our bodies, emotions, and thinking
• We can dissociate, as if we’re just not even there
• We can numb ourselves to the point of feeling helpless and hopeless

We are born pre-wired with a process for recovering from these symptoms. Think of an animal in the wild: after surviving an attack, the animal may tremble, but will eventually go back about its business. As humans, we have those same circuits; the problem arises when our bodies cannot complete these natural processes. The incident becomes stuck in our wiring and our body.

Example: At Sandy Hook, children and adults had to hide while listening to terrifying sounds of gunshots. It’s likely that impulses to run, to shout, to look to see what was happening— all strong, natural survival impulses— had to be contained or overridden, or were in direct opposition to equally natural survival impulses to hide, to freeze, to look away. These powerful impulses bring the body and nervous system into a terrible state of conflict, as if one foot is full on the gas and the other is on the brakes.

Without the chance to complete these intense physical reactions the body locks them in place, and this is when trauma symptoms can begin to develop.

How Somatic Experiencing® Works and How It Helps:
Maggie Kline, MS, LMFT, SE® Practitioner and faculty member, points to the premise of SE®:

“We believe that trauma is not in the event itself; it lies in the resiliency of the nervous system.  In other words, how quickly does the person who experienced the overwhelm bounce back, if at all?  This means that after the event is over, if the children or adults affected are still registering danger signals in their body, they may easily get stuck in a vicious cycle of fight, flight or freeze, become alternately hyper-vigilant or dissociated and aloof.  Either of these states may cascade into a myriad of symptoms, including sleeplessness, aggression, social problems, academic problems, and eventually, if unresolved, PTSD.”

It is important to understand that for many (especially children) talking about the event and re-living it may actually deepen the trauma and further cement it into the system. Watching or listening to media coverage, especially with graphic images, may have the same imprinting effect.

In Somatic Experiencing®, the Practitioner urges us not to follow the overwhelming and horrifying details of the story but instead to listen and watch for what the body needs to do to move out of the state of shock and distress. (Is a leg restless?  Perhaps there is an unfinished instinct to run.  Are the shoulders tight? Perhaps there is a self-protective instinct to push or fight causing tense muscles that need help to relax and let go, returning to the “pre-event normal.”)

The body wants to self-regulate and return to peace and balance. The SE® Practitioner helps us re-inhabit our bodies, often in tiny steps, allowing our bodies to move at their own pace and complete their natural processes. SE® offers the needed support to regain natural nervous system regulation.

How Do I Learn More about Somatic Experiencing®?
Trauma-Proofing Your Kids by Peter Levine PhD, founder of Somatic Experiencing®, and faculty member Maggie Kline, MS, LMFT, is essential reading for parents, teachers, and caregivers— anyone who hopes to help a child through something like the shooting at Sandy Hook— or any number of other less-dramatic difficulties that children face every day. Peter and Maggie show you how to develop your own calming presence and offer detailed exercises you can use to help children become resilient and confident.

This book and many other resources are available online at the SE® Trauma Institute’s bookstore: http://www.traumahealing.com/somatic-experiencing/bookstore_all.html

You can also use our site to locate a professional trained in Somatic Experiencing® and find further information about this gentle and profoundly healing work. You can visit us at: www.traumahealing.com.

Click here to download a PDF of this article:

The Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and outreach organization dedicated to the worldwide prevention of trauma. The Institute’s mission is to provide outstanding professional development programs to train qualified, compassionate, and caring SE® practitioners. The Institute supports outreach to under-served populations and victims of violence, war, and natural disasters.

In the latest installment of SEPTalk, we hear from physical therapist and yoga instructor Patti Lentz. Right off the bat, the conversation turns to the topic of passion— which Patti finds both in her professional work as a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and in the larger context of her life.

Patti says: “The more I learn about how this organism I live in works, the more deeply I experience it: the more deeply I feel and the less afraid I am of my emotions— joy, anger, or fear.”

The discussion moves into the details of Patti’s perspective from her background and training in physical therapy and as a yoga instructor. The conversation runs just over 40 minutes and for those new to SEPTalk, this is a series of dialogues between SEPs, hosted by Serge Prengel, LMHC (an SEP in New York City). The tone is conversational and experiential, to convey a sense of what it’s like to see things through this person’s eyes. Click the link below to listen in:

http://www.septalk.com/2013/02/lentz/

We hope both practitioners and clients will enjoy this latest exploration of ways we use SE in our professional practices.

Rock on Trauma Healers,

Laura

Patti Lentz is a physical therapist, yoga therapist, and SEP in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She also instructs physical therapists and yoga teachers internationally to recognize and adapt treatment for trauma symptoms in their clients. Patti was part of the first SE® team to respond to the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, and also worked in New Orleans and Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. Those efforts allowed Patti to see first-hand the benefits of helping clients to understand their own nervous systems, so they are better prepared when stressful or traumatic events occur.

Photo by Andrew Kalat

This is the conclusion of a three-part series. In Parts One and Two, Annaliese recounted how being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Sjogren’s Syndrome sent her spiraling into “a pharmaceutical rabbit hole.” After frustrations with traditional western medicine, she experienced major benefits from SE® and began developing a theory that MS and trauma are interrelated.
Jump to: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Like any good alpha-personality with a task-oriented mentality, I found going slow was the hardest and yet the most crucial part of the work I was facing. My Type-A personality wanted to address every issue and be done with the past. I had a future to enjoy. Stealing a line from one of psychotherapist Belleruth Naparstek’s Guided Imagery CDs, I was ready “to return to my strongest self” and help others cope with their life issues. I was definitely ready for the next chapter of my life.

I quickly found a local Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP) and proceeded with private sessions in addition to my formal SE training. Between the two, I was covering a fair amount of ground. I must say, that my SEP was excellent. There’s a certain flow to somatic work and she held the line so that I could adjust to the proper pacing and ultimately get the results that I was looking for. I know I was not the easiest client to work with. As I mentioned previously, many of my symptoms were listed in the Somatic Experiencing manuals. I felt like a walking, talking poster girl for what we call Global High Intense Activation (GHIA). Note to other aspiring poster girls: this is NOT a poster you want to be on!

Our sessions were diverse and elicited a variety of responses from my system. Sometimes I laughed. Sometimes I cried. And I remember talking a lot at first (this won’t surprise those who know me best). But sometimes I didn’t and just let my body communicate for me. One thing I found recurrent was the need to rest afterwards, almost as if my system was in healing mode and needed some time to reboot. I didn’t love this feeling because it reminded me of my MS fatigue. But I learned to accept it as a part of the process.

After almost two years of SE sessions, I can honestly say that I now understand the importance of the SE techniques of titrating (dealing with small portions of the event at a time) and pendulating (moving back and forth from the event to a calming resource) ever-so-slowly in order to give my sensitive nervous system the chance to assimilate and recover. Through these specific SE techniques, I noticed parts of me were coming back, both physically as well as emotionally. You can’t rush SE.

All that hard work I was doing each week with my own personal SE therapy sessions and two years of training was really starting to pay off. As my system renegotiated outcomes or released trapped energy I felt healthier, stronger, and more resilient. Subtle changes were occurring as well as larger energy shifts. The fruits of my labor became increasingly obvious— even to others. People reported that I looked healthier and seemed calmer. My breathing was deeper and more natural. I noticed that I was able to better sustain eye contact and not cringe with loud noises— two indicators that my system was more regulated. I laughed at myself. I felt more open, settled, and connected with the world. I hated to admit it, but I had been a hot mess when I started this journey. But that sense of shame gave way to kindness and empathy for myself— and for others who were dealing with their own forms of trauma.

Equally important, even when not in a session, I found myself knowing how to resource myself when I got “activated” and I showed more interest in what my body was telling me (versus trying to ignore it). I had learned to ask: “What is it my body is trying to tell me?” My behaviors had changed. I felt I had absorbed SE to the point where I was living it, not merely practicing it.

I wasn’t perfect, though. Despite all the training and private work, there was one time when I went too deep, too fast, and felt the repercussions of asking too much from my nervous system. During one particular session, I remember that the subject matter was definitely serious. We’d been discussing it for a day before I sat down to have a break-out session so I was pretty activated to start with. Going back to the scene of the crime proved to be too much too soon. I left the session feeling as if I had been drugged and in the subsequent weeks found myself spiraling down into a major “brown out”— no energy, concentration issues, overly emotional, body sensations spiking, and isolating myself until I finally asked for some help. I was seriously scared. I thought I had triggered an MS relapse and visited many of my doctors and people on my wellness team.

Ultimately, my SEP and I felt that the fight-or-flight response that I had experienced had exceeded my capacity, or threshold, and I was in what we call overwhelm (which for me looks and feels a lot like a relapse). My SEP resourced me and focused on getting my system to a place where we could start chipping away at the event, only MUCH slower this time. This was an immensely valuable lesson to learn at this early stage of my SE career; and it has helped me be a better practitioner for others who are equally zealous to get to the root of their issues. Trust in patience. Less is absolutely more when it comes to this work.

I’ll be honest: there have been days when I wondered if I was stretching the MS/SE connection. Perhaps MS was just a disease that had nothing to do with trauma. I kept reading things online and continued to make myself a guinea pig in pursuit of answers. I tried to find others who had MS and were using SE as part of the healing process. I found examples of chronic pain and other medical conditions, but I was not able to find anyone addressing my particular situation.

That led to another thought: wouldn’t it have been helpful if any of my neurologists had asked me about chronic stress and trauma in my past? What if they had introduced me to SE to be coupled with traditional western medical approaches when I was first diagnosed? We could have also discussed chiropractic care, acupuncture, myofascial massage, guided imagery, and other holistic practices instead of numbing me with muscle relaxers, antidepressants, and other pharmaceuticals. Please know that I’m not saying all drug therapies are unnecessary: I, for instance, will always have a neurologist on my wellness team. What I am saying is that there is also a place for somatic work in the neurological/autoimmune world. More importantly: It’s up to each of us to get the word out.

At this point, I am happy to report that my body is quieter, I’ve got more sustained energy, and I find that I deal with life stresses in a much healthier way. Am I completely cured? No, there is more work to be done. But I’m definitely beating the odds. In general there has been a dramatic decrease in body “static” and the symptoms within me. I no longer take any drugs except for my monthly infusion of Tysabri for my MS. I am not as angry or scared of my MS and Sjogren’s Syndrome as I once was. I firmly believe the body wants to heal itself— sometimes it just needs to be heard. I’m prepared to listen. For as long as it takes.

Two years into my SE experience and training, I can unequivocally say that connection is real. SE has the power to help restore the central nervous system— make it more resilient— and therefore contribute to the healing of MS. I eagerly await the day when it’s routine to see somatic therapy used in conjunction with other current traditional protocols used to treat neurological disorders. The potential for healing is limitless. I’m living proof.

P.S. I’d love to hear from others in the SE community who live with (or work with others who have) MS or other neurological disorders. How has SE helped? What have you learned? Did you alter your sessions to slow things even more than usual? Please share below. Thank you!

Author Annaliese Train‘s career practicing law and working in corporate America took a radical turn when she was diagnosed with MS. She has launched an SE®-based consulting practice called Healing Strategy and is writing her first book.

Photos courtesy of the author

This is PART TWO in a three-part series. In Part One, Annaliese recounted how her soaring career ambitions were derailed by many years of intense physical ailments— and their cognitive and emotional fallout. Dr. Peter Levine’s writings led her to SE® training, which provided her first opportunity to successfully “connect the dots” and forever changed the course of her career and life aspirations.
Jump to: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

When I first began training in Somatic Experiencing® I felt like a fish out of water: completely inept. The corporate war stories and meticulous makeup that had served me so well in my previous career seemed totally out of place. But what I found was a rare acceptance at a most human level from my fellow classmates and instructors. They were students of life, highly educated individuals with amazing backgrounds in cognitive behavioral therapy, bodywork, equine rescue, and many other healing arts. Among them were first responders, crisis center directors, and social workers. I was inspired by their warm welcome and indebted to them for their wisdom and skill. But there was a learning curve to contend with and in many ways I was back in kindergarten.

Prior to reading In An Unspoken Voice I’d never given much thought to my triune brain: the primitive, limbic, and neo cortex. For that matter, I can’t say I’d ever given much consideration to my autonomic nervous system either. Biology, ecology, and anthropology were courses I took to earn a degree, but they didn’t apply to me personally, did they? I recognized the concept of a fight or flight instinct and the need for safety, and had, of course, heard of trauma. But to me the term always connoted blood-and-guts war stories from battlefields or horrible near-death experiences. Trauma was something always spelled with a capital ‘T.’

When discussed in the mainstream, there was more than a hint of negative connotation about trauma (quite similar, come to think of it, to the bias and discrimination I was facing in sharing my health diagnosis with employers and others). When Peter Levine wrote, “trauma is not a disease … but rather a human experience rooted in survival instincts,” he opened my mind to a richer context of trauma than I had ever imagined. I began to consider the possibility that people could be traumatized by emotional angst such as betrayal or abandonment, chronic stress, medical procedures, auto accidents, and so many other overwhelming “stream of life” situations we all face. I began to see trauma as a normalized part of living on Planet Earth.

Finishing my first year as a student of SE, my practitioner skills were developing and I had learned an entirely new vocabulary. Terms like trauma vortex, discharge, felt sense, container, and dysregulation helped me understand what was going on within me. It appeared that I had over-coupled and under-coupled certain memories, images, places, people and emotions from my past (I was stuck in a natural response of still overreacting to some stimuli and completely underreacting to others). My central nervous system was doing the best it could, but it was dysregulated: I may have looked normal but I was a car with both the brake and the accelerator engaged.

My system had developed strategies attempting to deal with the unresolved trauma. They had seemed to work for years— but unresolved trauma that is not properly dealt with continues to grow. You can only sweep things under the rug for so long before you find yourself living a disconnected life. I felt like an elastic band that had been stretched too far, for too long, and had cracked.  I quickly learned that in order to work in this arena, it is critical that your own nervous system be regulated and have the capacity to hold the space for others. I wanted to be available to help others. So, first things first, I had some work to do.

The “work” was that I needed to honor, and not override, my body and its communications. My ever-burning shoulder and knotted viscera were telltale areas in my body. Each SE training session was a vehicle that took me miles into foreign territory. I found myself exploring sensations I had always wanted to “move past,” “get over,” or just ignore. Exploring them stimulated more physical sensations which just made it all the more confusing and uncomfortable at first. My body and legs would ping and pang, feet on fire, controlled shallow tight breathing, pulses and visible muscle twitches were common, and at the close of each session I’d drift off into some sort of glassy-eyed place. I was told this was a normal discharge of the trapped energy. It was hard material and hard work— but after each session I was calmer and it felt right.

Coincidentally, the sensations experienced during an SE session were very similar to the body sensations I routinely experienced with my Multiple Sclerosis.  From the body tingling, tinnitus, burning feet, and light headedness to intermittent tightness in my diaphragm, my daily experience with MS seemed suspiciously similar to my own version of a discharge. Of course, it wasn’t an exact match: living with MS and Sjogren’s entailed many moving parts that wouldn’t be part of experiencing a discharge during an SE session. In watching others, I learned there were many ways to release the energy (from body movements to laughter, deep breathing, and tears). While I shared these similarities with other students, I discovered that everyone is truly unique. But what had once been utterly frustrating now had a possible explanation. Either my trauma had created a system ripe for autoimmune attack— or my autoimmune system was mimicking SE’s discharge process. I didn’t know which was the chicken or the egg, but I felt there was a connection to be made.

I wondered: “Was my body trying to renegotiate outcomes from traumatic events I’d experienced?” There were many suspects, ranging from childhood bullying and romantic betrayals, to surgeries and falls, to family alcoholism and a suspicion of a drugged date-rape incident, just to name a few. Certainly the multiple autoimmune diagnoses and living with these diseases contributed to (and could be defined as) a traumatic event— one I lived with on a daily basis for three years before I found SE.

“Could my chronic overworking have contributed to the trauma?” I asked myself. “Or were those habits my system’s way of staying safe?” I had done a pretty good job of constantly staying in motion, always ahead of everyone so I couldn’t get hurt. Keep everyone happy. Keep everything organized and ready to go. It wasn’t all bad and it made for a pretty good strategy for the short haul. I was able to rely on my hard-won education, make a good living, and enjoy a nice lifestyle. I had earned some of life’s bragging rights; but I’ve come to understand that life is a marathon. Now that I’ve run several of those grueling races I know (particularly in my body) that you can’t run non-stop marathons your entire life. No one is built for that. What was I running from? Looking back, I was locked into patterns of non-stop activity from which I would ultimately crash. That or they would take me into a zombie numbed-out kind of space. Hello autoimmune disease, come on in!

In the midst of my second year of SE training, my ideas cemented. I was encouraged to flesh out my theory that my central nervous system was simply expressing trauma. If so, then SE had the potential to release and heal that trauma and rebuild my “wiring”— and this would make SE the most powerful holistic tool I had found thus far. Could it be true? I began to seriously share my theory with others that if SE can regulate a normal person’s nervous system then why can’t it do that— and more— for those of us fighting autoimmune and central nervous system maladies? If we could release the stored trauma through somatic work and build more resilience back into our nervous systems could we effectively put an end to the disease processes and stop the attacks? Or could we at least make ourselves healthier and more equipped to deal with the hurdles of life?

About this time my chiropractor introduced me to the book The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, MD. The book’s theory of neuroplasticity was a concept that I was quick to recognize on a sort of organic level.  Neuro is for neurons, the cells that process all the stimuli we encounter, and plastic means “changeable or malleable.” This is what SE professes to do: It restores our system so it can handle the world again. Through just the beginning stages of experiencing SE, I’d been overjoyed to see my system renegotiate old trauma and build new neurological pathways. It felt like I was operating on fresh ground, no longer automatically stuck in old repetitive ruts. It became my heartfelt belief that SE was contributing to my system’s neuroplastic change. With that change came a quieter and healthier central nervous system and body. I had more strength, more hope, greater clarity, and less fatigue. I was getting positive results.

And of course, I wanted to heal the world. Shout it from the rooftops! I had information to share and work to be done! It was all I could do to not talk about SE to anyone and everyone who would listen. I not only wanted to heal myself, but I greatly wanted to heal and help others who were in my shoes. I found myself dreaming into the future and building a plan to help others regain their lives and their futures. With this dream I found my light and there was meaning. Health was on the horizon: not just for me, but for many others.

Next > Part 3: Slow it Down or Risk a Relapse
In the concluding entry, Annaliese discovers she must listen to her body’s sense of proper pacing— a shock to this alpha-personality. Through the tools of SE, she finds both her own relief and a calling to help others.

Photo courtesy of the author

This is a three-part series from Annaliese Train, J.D. whose career practicing law and working in corporate America took a radical turn when she was diagnosed with MS. She has launched an SE®-based consulting practice called Healing Strategy and is writing her first book. In the following entries, she shares her experience from multiple disheartening diagnoses through discovering the benefits of SE and developing a new theory about MS and trauma.
Jump to: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

It felt like a one-two knockout of my mind, body, and spirit. First came the diagnosis in 2008 that I had an autoimmune disease called Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Having MS, as I learned, means my immune system was mistakenly attacking my own central nervous system: brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. My energy reserves and emotions were paying a very heavy toll, not to mention the physical strains. It went from bad to worse in early 2009 when I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s Syndrome. This meant that now my moisture-producing glands and connective tissues were under attack as well, adding a whole new arsenal of worries and discomforts. Was this the universe’s way, I wondered, of telling a fast-moving corporate go-getter to slow down and pay attention to her body? If so, then the universe could sure be one tough mother. But so was I.

Truth be known, I hadn’t been feeling consistently well for a long time. I had visited many specialists over the preceding two decades about a variety of what I thought were random health issues. They had ultimately manifested in a cacophony of bizarre symptoms including constricted breathing, unbelievable fatigue, burning feet, dry eyes and mouth, random yet continuous body sensations, twitches and tremors, intolerance to heat, numbness to my waist, and a dropped foot which made walking a challenge. In addition to the physical strain, all these mystery symptoms had been jeopardizing my cognitive and emotional world as well. Diagnoses had trickled in over the years identifying non-life-threatening irritations like Raynaud’s Disease (a circulatory disorder) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome. But identifying my MS and Sjogren’s was a completely unexpected shock.

Who is ever prepared to hear they have two autoimmune diseases that are intent on shutting you down? Limiting your mobility? Making you go blind and use a cane or wheelchair? I certainly wasn’t. I was in the prime of my life, prime of my career, running my own business, and dreaming of starting a family. Attorney turned corporate girl, for years I was a hired gun living on Starbucks, skilled at launching new products and closing just about any type of sale. I lived in a very competitive world and felt that I was sitting comfortably atop the pile. Well, perhaps comfortably isn’t the word.

I’d gotten really good at ignoring my body. Basic needs like sleeping, eating routinely, stretching, even taking bathroom breaks were shelved in pursuit of business. There was always another call, another client or contract to negotiate, another drive or flight or somewhere, or something seemingly urgent that needed to be done. My body was suffering. It finally gave out.

The pair of ominous diagnoses I received in 2008 and 2009 led me quickly into the pharmaceutical world of western medicine. Welcome to the land where pills and shots were a significant part of my new autoimmune life. I was in denial and planned to pop the prescribed pills and keep working. Throughout 2009 and 2010 prescriptions for my various “chemical cocktails” kept growing and shifting till it felt like I was falling into a pharmaceutical rabbit hole. By December 2010 I was relapsing again. At my neurologist’s advice, I finally conceded the point and stopped working. We upped the ante with the introduction of monthly infusions to try and hold the line. As a result, I lost my identity as the bread winner and simultaneously was growing more fearful of the permanent neurological damage my body was experiencing.

Around that time I knew I needed to expand my horizons if I were truly going to outsmart these diseases. I reached out to my yoga teacher who encouraged me to read Dr. Peter Levine’s books. What I read rang many bells inside me and made so much sense. I discovered that my body had much to say: I had a tiger within me, too! So many stories in my body! Within minutes of reading In an Unspoken Voice I knew I would attend training. I jokingly say that it was only after I “stumbled and bumbled” my way into and through my first Somatic Experiencing® class in Colorado that I was able to start connecting some dots. I was determined to make sense of why this had all happened and heal my mind, body, and spirit. I also aspired to help others facing similar challenges. Finally, there was hope.

Next > Part 2: Seeking Answers … and a Theory is Born
In the next entry, you’ll learn how Annaliese turned the corner, found some relief and healing, and started developing a theory that her experience with MS and Sjogren’s was a form of the body’s response to trauma.

Photo courtesy of the author

For many people, the word ‘mindfulness’ still has a mystical connotation; i.e., something that could not easily enter the daily lives of most Americans. Things are changing, though. As one example, Congressman Tim Ryan has published the book A Mindful Nation extolling the practice of mindfulness. Ryan’s publisher calls him an “all-American guy from the heartland,” suggesting there is a growing opening for mindfulness in mainstream America.

But what is mindfulness? Often the word is associated with meditation, or more specifically, sitting meditation. While there is, in my opinion, nothing wrong with sitting meditation, this view is limiting. It limits the benefits of mindfulness to a specific practice, as opposed to emphasizing its broader functionality. By functionality, I mean: What is it that makes mindfulness good for us, and in what way?

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at UMass Medical School, has proposed just that sort of functional definition. “Mindfulness,” he says, “means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” In his preface to Congressman Ryan’s book, Kabat-Zinn shares his perspective in a way that SE® practitioners can resonate with: “Instead of losing our minds just when we need them most, with the help of mindfulness we can integrate all the dimensions of our experience— emotional, somatic, cognitive and social.”

In other words, mindfulness can be defined as our ability to override the default mode of impulsively reacting to events from a fight-or-flight mode. Having access to all the dimensions of our experience, and integrating them, allows us to see whether or not the situation is as threatening as it first appears to be. This gives us the power to react in a way that is appropriate to the present moment.

We could say mindfulness is the process of shifting from a reactive mode to a proactive one. We move past reactivity (sympathetic activation) through self-regulation that uses awareness of body as a gateway to the experience of self-awareness. And in this process, Somatic Experiencing® can be seen as skillful means to enhance mindfulness. You may already see the connections, which leads me to ask a favor …

I am writing an essay about SE as a mindfulness practice, and would love to hear from my fellow SEPs their experiences in this regard. I am happy to mention contributors by name or anonymously— whatever you prefer.

The essay is focused on the transformative effects of paying attention to somatic experience in the context of developing our ability to self-regulate. So this is different from writing about SE as a way to heal trauma. And it’s different from exploring SE as a tool that therapists can integrate with other modalities as they conduct therapy. In this essay, I am not examining pathology, but rather the potential for personal development in the practice of SE.

I hope to hear your experiences in this respect. For instance, here are just a few thought-starters:

• Can you describe how you explore difficult (but not traumatic) situations with the tools of SE?
• Share your experience, in ordinary situations, of the moment-by-moment attention that reveals (as if in slow motion) what we normally don’t even notice?
• Describe a moment where you realized you were reacting to a situation without a sense of fight-or-flight. What was it like to experience it in that way?
• With your clients, do you notice changes over time, not just in terms of healing trauma, but also in overall reactivity?
• Have you ever imagined the sessions you conduct, as an SE practitioner, as a ‘mindfulness practice’ in the ways I’m describing?
• In your sessions— through tracking of the client as well as self-tracking— do you notice the interplay of reactivity and regulation in the dyad as well as inside each of you?

Would you share your experiences below? Simply mention if you prefer to keep them anonymous and they’ll come to me without publishing here. I would appreciate your perspectives as fellow SE practitioners.

Best,

Serge

Photo by mindfulness

In this latest installment of SEPtalk, host Serge Prengel (an SE® Practitioner in New York City) speaks with Frances Sommer Anderson, PhD about the benefit of adding the Somatic Experiencing® method to her psychoanalytic practice. As a specialist in treating pain and other mindbody disorders since 1979, Dr. Anderson has fairly recently added SE training into her approach.

As Dr. Anderson explains in this conversation: “SE gave me some tools that helped me to refine what I was doing, do it better … in helping people link up what was happening in their bodies … integrat(ing) the emotions with the narrative.”

The conversation is 40 minutes in length and includes examples from Dr. Anderson’s clinical practice as well as principles that form the foundation of SE techniques. Please listen to the full conversation here:

http://septalk.com/2012/10/anderson/

This is part of SEPTalk, a series of audio conversations, each with a different SE Practitioner. Other recent topics include: Developmental Trauma, SE Outreach, plus Relationships and Couples Therapy.

Rock on Trauma Healers,

Laura

Top photo by Roland Tanglao

This is the conclusion of Dennis Moorman’s three-part series on spirituality and SE®. Previously, Dennis discussed trauma and the loss of our lives’ key connections plus how clients’ spiritual perspectives can aid in their own healing process.
Jump to: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Imagination is another excellent spiritual resource for healing trauma, especially when working with the materially impoverished. Oftentimes in Haiti, people would talk about the trauma of living in abject poverty, sometimes not even knowing where they might find their next meal. For these people it was very difficult to get beyond the stark reality of their suffering. When I would ask them to imagine the kind of life they would like to have, they usually responded: “What’s the use of imagining something that isn’t real?”

This is where some gentle challenge was often helpful. I would try to help them discover that as long as we continue to dream, we keep hope alive. And when we can imagine the good that we wish to have for ourselves, this in turn attracts goodness to our life. Imagination is a gift that allows us to transcend our present reality, providing the power to open us up so that we may create new possibilities for ourselves. This resource— available within all of our own minds— approximates divine power in that its possibilities are unlimited.

The use of imagination was most helpful in renegotiating trauma in Haiti. It seems that it came most naturally for children. Some adults have become so overwhelmed, riding out trauma after trauma, that they have nearly forgotten how to dream. When they are able to reconnect with the power of their imagination, however, they are enabled to see different options and new possibilities for their lives. This, in turn, restores hope that things can get better.

The hope that things can get better prepares the way for new possibilities to emerge. For example, one young adult woman presented herself living in a very disagreeable situation with her mother and stepfather: she felt trapped and abused. When she was able to imagine a more agreeable living situation for herself, actually feeling it in her body, she experienced a discharge of energy from her nervous system that allowed her to begin to rise out of her depression. She started to feel her own power of choice. This power would ultimately allow her to make a change in her lifestyle, opening her up to the very real possibility of more freedom, joy, and happiness.

Above All: Openness and Tolerance

Finally, as a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, I find it essential to allow each client to identify their own spiritual resources. I strive to be open to diversity in spirituality and religious background (or none). I take care not to impose my own spiritual beliefs and practices, even if unwittingly, on the client. Each person is a singular being with a unique spirituality that merits respect and awe.

Spirituality proved to be a vital resource that led to successful renegotiation of trauma when no other physical resources could be found. The successful renegotiation of trauma helped people to reconnect with their body and become more fully present to self, others, and the surrounding world. What I witnessed in Haiti was a mutually beneficial relationship between SE and a client’s spirituality. Spirituality not only served as an important resource for renegotiating trauma, but at the same time, each client’s own spiritual perspective was strengthened and deepened by the healing experience.

Reverend Dennis Moorman, MM, SEP – Dennis is a Maryknoll priest and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, currently working in Brazil with trauma renegotiation and assisting with SE trainings.

Photos by Dennis Moorman

This is the second in a three-part series on spirituality and SE®. Dennis Moorman’s first entry discussed how trauma may result in dissociation, a loss of the key connections that define and enrich our lives.
Jump to: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Just one month after the earthquake in Haiti, a very thin woman, approximately 50 years old, presented herself to me complaining that she couldn’t eat anything. She said all she could think about since the earthquake was finding food for her eight children. I tried to help her identify some resources, somewhere she had some kind of support in her life, but she repeatedly focused on her traumas and worries.

Not only did this woman lose her home and all of her belongings in the disaster but she also lost her best friend. She told me that her friend had abandoned her, feeling too overwhelmed by this need to support so many hungry children. This client even revealed to me that she was so overwhelmed, the thought of taking her own life had often crossed her mind.

She had suffered so many losses that she was completely stuck in crisis mode. She was unable to think about anything besides the survival of her children. My attempts to find a source of physical or material support were not going anywhere helpful, so I tried a different approach. Not knowing her religious background, I asked if she had any form of spiritual support or protection in her life. Without hesitation, she told me: “Jesus is a source of support for me, I have great trust in God.” So, I invited her to call upon Jesus for support in her life in the present moment.

She still continued returning time and time again to her emotional pain and trauma, so I asked if she would like to feel some supportive touch on her back. My translator seemed very connected with her through the resonance of the session, so I asked if it would be alright for the translator to give the supportive touch. The client agreed and before long she began praying and singing. Eventually she raised her trembling arms in the air and her whole body began to shake. I encouraged her to gently allow the shaking to continue in order to liberate the traumatic energy held in her body.

After some minutes of trembling, praying, and singing, her body began to settle. After a while, she expressed that she felt like a new person with renewed hope. I was very pleased, since just minutes earlier she couldn’t even pay attention to her body momentarily, much less imagine a single supportive resource in her life.

I reminded her that she could call upon the presence of Jesus at anytime when she was feeling overwhelmed and a lack of support in her life. At the end of the session, she experienced a strong sense of gratitude and thanked us saying: “I think God has sent you to help me.” She felt like she could now start eating again. In the absence of any other physical or material support, the two resources that we were able to use to facilitate her renegotiation of trauma were touch and a spiritual resource of her choice.

Next > Part 3: The Healing Power of Imagination
In the next installment, Dennis will discuss how engaging clients’ hopes and dreams can contribute to their healing.

Reverend Dennis Moorman, MM, SEP – Dennis is a Maryknoll priest and a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, currently working in Brazil with trauma renegotiation and assisting with SE trainings.

Photos by Dennis Moorman