What does a typical Somatic Experiencing session look like?

In this segment of our Somatic Experiencing video series, Chelsey Valeri, LSMW and Somatic Experiencing Therapist, discusses what people can expect in a typical Somatic Experiencing session. She explains how a therapist can help a patient tap into the nervous system’s reaction to the trauma in order to move past it. Learn more or find treatment at our website www.scottsdaleprovidence.com

[@xxBreakxxAwayxx3]

So basically, the body stores trauma, pain, or rage. It habitually releases these things as a way to return to normal. But people can override that when we create stories around and escalate that pain. Or distract ourselves not deal with it. Which reinforces familiar habits and old coping mechansisms. So the way that somatic therapy works is to gently approach that sensation or tension and...allow the body to change its habitual response. By focusing on physical sensations, we allow the feeling to pass without internalizing it. We also physically allow the trauma to move from our body/posture/gestures so that we arent reacting the same way to pain every time.

[@Justeet]

Reading the discussion. Just wanted to make sure, that nobody would blame themselves for not being able to change their internal stage by only themselves or using only their minds. You can try to overstep your believe system, but if it is a long term freeze (depression, dissociation or numbness), most often where isn't any real felt safety in the nervous system, there is no safe baseline to come back. The nervous system doesn't have a memory how to self sooth, self regulate. So most often trying to work on ourselves in the early beginning of healing ends up in retraumatizing ourselves. It happened for years for myself and I did't understood what the heck, as I was doing various programs on internet, where would be some shifts, but I would end with even more inner confusion, chaos and physical symptoms. Everything changed when I met integrated body mind therapist (similar to SE), she tought me how the real safety feels in the body and I realised that oh my it was only illusion what I thought what is safety. For years working on myself I would come not into safety but into false window of tolerance, basically freeze and I called that safety. Now I am working with her for 1 year and the healing spead up amazingly.

[@rawandmahmood5760]

This is similar to something you'd read in the body keeps the score. It really is all about your body coming back and incorporating a sense of safety. I hope you're doing well btw.

[@Justeet]

@@rawandmahmood5760 thank you, yes, I am way better, getting stronger day by day! The book you mention talks about that a lot and recently I was listening to Peter Levine courses, amazing! The body keeps so much and how important to come back to it and to befriend it. 🙏

[@Krzysztof_Kasprowiak]

@@Justeet Thank you for your comment! It's great you shared this! I currently realized that my feeling of disconnection and mild derealisation is a frozen trauma. It was a shocking yet welcomed realization because now I don't feel so confused. I had sudden remission of tension for a few days (due to a long conversation with my wise friend) and could experience real relaxation and connection with life. Oh my, it felt so good, like a miracle. Trauma is a serious issue and is hard to realize if you are constantly in it but it's impossible to have a quality life being traumatized. It's like broken software that pushes you into doing things that ultimately lead to retraumatization, exactly as you said. Therapy, conventional or unconventional is a must and better if it's a body-mind therapy. Take care and good luck with your healing!

[@Justeet]

@@Krzysztof_Kasprowiak yes, it can be scary and shocking than a realisation hits that there was so much time spent in trauma and false believes, but also what a beauty to sense a bit more aliveness and the life force energy within yourself! Remeber probably Peter Levine said, that living with unresolved trauma is living in hell on earth. Ofcouse it depends on the level of trauma, we all have them, but severe cases definantly is hell on earth. Thank you so much for your comment, it makes me feel that at least my journey can give smth good for others.

[@ritaevergreen7234]

Can I ask which programs you did on the internet made things worse for you. So I know which ones to avoid?

[@user-cc9vz3ud9e]

This comment section is wild. It was a good video and the lady explained herself well.

[@brandnewnew9905]

Beautiful explanation omg finally

[@Meisterling]

What if my body is totally numb and I'm an extremely apathetic person? On top of that I have social anxiety, I don't even open up to close family members. I've been abused and I look very calm on the outside because I learned to never show weakness or anything that could be used against me. I don't allow myself to be happy, I'm constantly selfsabotaging. Can SE really help me?

[@TheSaz16]

Form what I understand SE is perfect for your symptoms you mention, as you are in freeze state. i.e. dissociated from you feelings and shut down from people. I have booked my first session in 2 weeks.. I really hope you can overcome your social anxiety and try contacting a practitioner.

[@alexb8926]

@@TheSaz16 Hi did you have your first session? I would love to hear your feed back

[@TheSaz16]

@@alexb8926 hi Alex, it went well, she helped me ground myself when I get stuck in an emotional flashback. It’s still early days. I’d recommend looking at Pete walkers book and website on CPTSD. And see if the 4fs and emotional flashbacks resonate with you. You body is stuck in the past always looking for safety, so somatic helps bring your body into the present moment.

[@callmekells802]

Hey I really sympathize with you. I totally know how you feel. I really hope you are able to find healing.

[@shiraliprajapati5804]

Did you study in a boarding school?

[@sidraali5674]

I feel helpless and powerless and stuck in old patterns of thoughts and behaviours though I am aware of my sensations. I am being snubbed alot from my family specially and I remain triggered. I never express myself. I never vent out

[@ironclad452]

Yes, I keep talking about it and becoming hyperaroused. I'm trying to learn to let it be released from my body but I need HELP

[@wild_cub_times]

Please share this education across the world. That is what I need, but seems that no one in the country (or atleast nearby) is skilled enough...

[@AdoptedbyAliens]

I still have no idea what a session would look like. She had a four sentence dialogue example with a fake patient at the end of the video? Was that it?

[@ritaevergreen7234]

I can explain it. It depends on the practitioner but for me I did foundational excercises that are important before you do the one excercise lying down that open the body up for tension to come through. So there are new vocab and excercise you tend to practice as tools to help you when tension comes out. It’s to aid you so you can help yourself through the process. So many things can occur such as crying spells, body trembling, body temperature change. You can also feel tingly sensations which is usually an indicator that something is being process out. Everybody’s body responds differently.

[@FOJO27]

@@ritaevergreen7234 Is there a good video example on KZbin you could point me/the OP and others to that would demonstrate an SE session?

[@lilah3078]

@@FOJO27 In case you're still looking, there are some recorded sessions shared by people who wanted to encourage others to do therapy. One is Somatic Experiencing - Ray's story and some more are on the SE international youtube channel. I think it's important to point out that the developer Peter Levine always emphasizes vetting your therapist very well because even if they are certified and licensed, they often specialize on different types of trauma and it's also important for them to offer you an individualized treatment that works for you.

[@lemuelwilliams1205]

​@@FOJO27sukie baxter... founder of whole body revoloution

[@carlymateos9790]

I'd love to know what to expect after a somatic release. I can't find any info on the internet. I had one a few days ago and my lungs have been a little sore and my sternum pops here and there. I don't smoke or drink alcohol and am very healthy. I'm wondering is this is a symptom??

[@AmigoMonge]

Show dont tell

[@heyu123]

Had my first session. Felt like I didn’t do anything 😅

[@user-fp8yq5wh6p]

In my experience of an acclaimed online course about somatic approach, there had been shared private information (distorted on the top) about me that had to be kept private due to the confidentiality obligation of therapist. These information had been been shared without my consent, publicly in front of many people and simultaneously recorded and being put in the platform of the The Brook Institute and subsequently sold. I had been publicly shamed in the live videos by Annie Brook. Annie Brook shared without my knowledge and without my consent some private information I might have been elaborating on in a private session with her that I paid for. She suddenly started to claim in the live videos publicly that I have apparently a mentally sick parent and this is why I am "CONFUSED" . Confused means less intelligent, possibly as well mentally sick. I wondered where Annie Brook had this statements from. Thus Annie Brook tried to shame me publicly with some distorted information that had the capacity to harm my reputation. Nobody likes to be shamed and told some lies about him in the public. These videos were recorded by Annie Brook and she must have been selling them to other people until today, more than one year. She has the videos available at her platform to anybody to see who has access to this platform. Despite me asking to put these videos down because of laws of private protection, it is assumed that she did not put them down. I asked Annie Brook to send a record of data she stores about me (she herself states this legal obligation of her in her website), but I had received no answer. Annie Brook seems not to need to follow the legal obligations. Further Annie Brook claimed about me in another video that when I am being bullied, it means that the bully wants to eliminate a weak person. As the animals naturally attack a weak member of the herd in order to make the herd healthier, so the bully does. Thus, in seeing this in this whole way, what Annie Brook wanted to claim about me publicly, is that this is proper to eliminate me. Eliminate like the animals do - which means to kill ? When I asked for repair, Annie Brook started to attacking me that "I am making this up " and that "I am projecting something" and " if I do not share her reality, I have nothing to do in The Brook Institute. Subsequently Annie Brook had removed my access to the platform I am still paying money for. I had pointed in an e-mail to Annie Brook some 20 points of misbehavior towards in those paid services. Annie Brook claimed that I am projecting it and it is a complete lie. Then Annie Brook went and changed her website and used my points, sometimes even literally my words. So her website suddenly showed that her therapists are actually not therapists, but coaches and are not registered nor licensed and are in fact just friends of Annie Brook. There showed up the information that Annie Brook helps folks with double binds and that she records the videos and that the purchaser has the right to ask her for personal records of data she stores about the person, the so called therapist who were hairdresser became a therapist within two weeks from my complaints. Her entire webpage had been rewritten. So, this is strange, when I was lying about the ethical misbehavior towards me, why did she made this effort to change her webpage so swiftly ? I have the impression that I had been chosen by Annie Brook like a animal to experiment on. She knew that I search a somatic approach, but she tried to implant some thoughts about me having some mental troubles/esp. apparently wanting to commit suicide/ in my head and she used all her stuff for it to do so. It is possibly not so often to get somebody so naiv, living in poor country far away from rich US, who has physical troubles and who has heard about somatic therapy, but never tried it before. It was probably very easy to lure me on the scholarship and force me to have sessions (paid by me) with her so called therapists (aka her friends as said her website later) and make the videos of me where she is showing me to to the others as an animal object, sharing many condescending information about me. Professional psychotherapeutic ethics does not say anything to Annie Brook, I suppose. She must know that I will have hard time to access the US legal forces from the place I live, with the money I have at my disposal and with physical disease. Good calculation. My first and only experience with somatic therapy had been very unsafe. All for my money I paid to Annie Brook. Thus as well, significant portion of money had been lured out of me by the fradulent representation of the work of Annie Brook.

[@martycrow]

I can tell she is a great therapst. I was already falling asleep 30sec in.

[@petsasquatch]

Sorry i was very distracted, what are they trying to hide in the painting that her hand waves thru at 1:31 ?

[@thirtythreeflavors]

This video was so weird....

[@euphorvic]

Matrix glitch?

[@jenniferlauter5523]

Does SE work for people who experienced chronic trauma? It seems like most explanations focus on the traumatic event

[@incensejunkie7516]

Yes. EMDR is better for PTSD (a one time event).

[@sorchaoreilly2633]

It can

[@gingerjones111]

Try both, try Somatic Experiencing and then if not, try EMDR.

[@toddmcsweeny]

I'd just like to add, emdr is not a one off event. I have cptsd & been in emdr therapy for years, I'm worse now than when I started tbh. I have tried so many different therapies & I honestly don't think there is a way out for the neurodiverse crowd suffering with multiple mental conditions that over time turn physical as well. What i have seen Is a rotating door of the same people at the psych ward. Everyone is promised the latest therapies and medications will work, nothing works, the years go by & the same people dragging their bags back to the psych ward if they have survived the in-between periods. It seems like a lot of people profiting off the sick & not a lot of improvement. The normies with only one traumatic experience in their entire lives seem to be the ones who scream about cures loudly.

[@miiiigxx]

What is the difference between this and TRE?

[@gingerjones111]

NOT a good explanation of somatic therapy.

[@kryslow]

Wow this video explained nothing and was all over the place.

[@meekellassidddiq4608]

I thought It was just me. What was that?

[@user-kh8cb5ik8h]

Pendualation works….thats what method she described

[@user-kh8cb5ik8h]

One really have to listen to this video on auto repeat to get what she means; she is also affecting a deep subconscious transmission, some teachers transmit this way from many levels of consciousness, one cannot just understand with the logical mind. It’s deep

[@maudlynhowell-nwaogwugwu]

Such a flat affect and she seems tense and uncomfortable.

[@livingintongues]

Is this the scientific explaination confession

[@vinnyray4665]

Garbage in...garbage out.

[@racheltheehermit7314]

It should be against the law for you to practice this without a patient’s explicit consent, which many of you do. I have just realized this was the “therapy” being practiced when I first sought counseling. I was at this clinic because my insurance said to go there. We made it through one of these sick little practices, during which I was baffled. Then I was told I needed to feel the trauma in my body rather than tell her about it and find ways that I could stop repeating negative life patterns. I didn’t feel anything in my body, which was apparently causing all my problems. She asked how I felt. I said, “Awful.” She said, “Where in the body do you feel awful?” I said, “Well, at the time of the incident, I could not breathe.” She goes, “No, not at the time. Now.” I said my leg hurt, and she asked why. Well, I hurt it yesterday. That was all I could come up with. She said I carried trauma in my leg, which I misinterpreted to mean I just have a bad leg. Why is that? Well, it’s my weak leg because the did PT on the left but not the when I was an infant. She told me to think about this. Why was this really? She said I ran toward my traumas rather than away from them. She though it would be enlightening for me to know this. (It wasn’t.) She told me it was interesting. Most people freeze or run away. I was uncertain if this was a complimentary or an insult. I always thought I ran away from things, or just appeased people. I thought that partly because it was happening just then. She asked me how I felt. I said, “I’m fine, thank you. That was . . . interesting.” I then went out into the parking garage and crashed my car into a pole. The next session, I explained I crashed my car, that this bothered me. She shouted, “What!? What in the *hell*!? Did that happen here!? *Right here in the building?! Oh, *shit.*” I said wasn’t going to file any insurance claim, if that was what she was popping off about. Didn’t want to do the thing again, though. If she wanted to know where I was holding my trauma, it was now in my neck because I crashed into pole while exiting the garage. Unfortunately, she seemed unable to function unless we did the thing. She instead just got angry, passive-aggressive, and accused me of inventing things. Steampunk, for instance. She decided I made that up, and was therefore stunned when she discovered all this stuff, like books, on Amazon. I said, “Ma’am, I’m not delusional. I’m just involved with an informal local Steampunk group at a tea house. That’s all. You ought to read the books you saw. They can be a lot of fun.” She asked how I felt that she told me she doubted everything I said. I said, “Well, that sucks, but I don’t control you. I’m here to stop making life mistakes that nearly get me killed, and I want a better job to pay for a paint job on my car.” It didn’t work out, and I didn’t return to therapy until I attempted suicide. Thankfully, the next therapist was very compassionate and traditional. She worked with me on strategies to manage the problems in my life. We didn’t talk about “past trauma” unless it related to something at hand. When a “close friend” did something nasty to me, she simply responded, “She’s not a good friend, Rachel. She showed you that. Move on.” I was stunned. I could do that? I could move on instead spending hours “processing” the trauma? I was allowed to do that? It was such a relief. Anyhow, I still have nightmares about crashing my car into the pole. I don’t think you should be allowed to practice this with minors, and adults should have to sign documents stating they understand they’re undergoing “somatic therapy.” If there’s ever a class action lawsuit, I’m right there.

[@lilah3078]

Just because you didn't like it, it doesn't make the therapy method bad. You're overgeneralizing and potentially discouraging people from getting help. I tried lots of different therapies (psychodynamic, EMDR, CBT etc. ) and they can all make things worse or just not work for certain people. It also depends on how a therapist applies a specific method and how good they are at it. It took me years to find the right therapists and the right combination of approaches (EMDR with SE and Yoga) and yes, some therapists and doctors are terrible but often it just didn't work for me so I didn't blame the therapists let alone claim that their whole approach is unethical or "sick".

[@Knightgil]

@@lilah3078 what rachel described is textbook incompetent/abusive therapist. Just because you didn't like what she had to say, perhaps you should have, you know, used a brain cell or two before answering and trying to make it look like her problem was a matter of "not liking it".

[@user-xq8bb3wx5f]

I'm so sorry you had an experience with a therapist who violated your consent. It may not be illegal, but it's certainly unethical (from what you describe) and not in line with many registered therapists' codes of conduct to proceed with any therapy procedure without the client's informed consent. Whilst it's true that just because a client doesn't like a therapy method, doesn't mean it's bad - it doesn't sound as though that's what you're communicating. You not just "didn't like it", you were retraumatised by it. Proceeding with trauma processing (or any aspect of therapy) before informed consent, the establishment of safety and stability and good rapport between the therapist and client, is not in line with basic therapy principales, let alone trauma informed practice principles. I'm sorry you received a victim blaming response from one commenter. Know that you're not alone, that there are others who believe you and are so glad you found a therapist who showed you the compassion and support you deserve. Anger is such an appropriate emotion to be experiencing in the aftermath of a "therapy" experience that violated your boundaries and consent. You may never see this comment, but hopefully others who read your comment and relate might find some support and validation in reading this, I want to add to the voices of support, and hopefully lighten the victim blaming load that the somatic therapist tried to dump on you and that was unfortunately reinforced here in the "Just because you didn't like it..." comment. That load is not yours to carry.

[@blackbird365]

Very hard to listen to all that gravelly, monotonous, low-pitched growling.

[@kitcassim4156]

This women looks traumatized and covering her shame with tattoos