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Somatic Experiencing — Dr Peter Levine approach

Peter Levine’s specific approach to completing survival responses that stayed stuck in your body.

This might be your door if

  • You freeze, or you go blank, in situations that logically shouldn’t do that to you.
  • You carry a charge you can’t discharge: restless, braced, never quite off duty.
  • Something happened quickly — an accident, a medical event, an assault, a difficult birth — and your body hasn’t caught up.
  • Big emotional work has overwhelmed you before, and you want something more measured.
  • You feel hypervigilant, constantly on alert, or unable to fully relax.
  • You are living with ongoing health challenges or physical symptoms that affect how you feel.
  • You feel stuck, even though you understand intellectually why you feel or behave the way you do.
  • You fear judgement, rejection or abandonment.
  • You withdraw from relationships, or find it difficult to feel close to people.
  • You struggle to set and keep healthy boundaries.
  • You are highly self-critical, or find it hard to accept yourself.
  • You are living with low mood, sadness or depression.
  • You repeat behaviours, coping strategies or relationship patterns that aren’t good for you.
  • You struggle with emotional regulation, or with intense emotions and nervous-system responses.
  • You live with physical pain.
  • You have lived through something traumatic or overwhelming: losing your health, an accident, a medical event or diagnosis, a natural disaster, an assault, losing someone to suicide, war or other violence.

What actually happens

In Somatic Experiencing we move in tiny, titrated doses. We follow your internal experience — the temperature, the braced shoulder, the change in breath — approaching only a sliver of activation at a time.

The work is quiet and measured. We stay with the sensation until the shift arrives: a shiver, an exhale, the moment the grip of the past begins to soften. What we are waiting for is your nervous system finishing what it never completed.

You may be invited to notice moments of safety, support or steadiness alongside the difficult sensations. That is what builds the capacity to move through activation without being overwhelmed.

Three things carry most of the work:

  • Tracking: learning to listen to the language of your body — a shiver, a change in breath, a shift in temperature.
  • Pendulation: moving slowly between the activation of the past and the steadiness of the present moment.
  • Titration: working in very small, manageable doses, so your system can process what happened without becoming overwhelmed.

We will not force your body to get over what happened. We support your nervous system in finding more flexibility, more safety, and the capacity to complete a movement it couldn’t complete before.

What this isn’t

SE isn’t a cathartic release you can force, and pushing for one usually re-traumatises. I’m currently completing my Somatic Experiencing training, and I work within its pace, not around it.

It is not massage, bodywork, chiropractic treatment or physiotherapy. There is no manipulation or hands-on treatment of your body: you stay clothed and in your chair. Physical contact is one possible tool and never a requirement. Touch is rare: I only use it to help you regulate when you become very dysregulated, and always with your consent. If it ever happens, I ask first, every time, it stays outside your clothing, and you can say no at any point without explaining.

  • Reliving your trauma: you don’t need to retell every detail or revisit painful memories over and over.
  • Forcing emotional release: there is no expectation that you cry, shake, or have a dramatic experience for this to work.
  • Ignoring the mind and emotions: this doesn’t replace talking or psychological exploration. Thoughts, emotions, memories, relationships and body are worked with together.
  • Making you feel good all the time: healing isn’t about eliminating difficult emotions. It’s about the capacity to feel them without being overwhelmed or disconnected.
  • Fixing or changing who you are: you are not broken. The protective strategies you developed made sense for what you lived through.
  • Pushing your nervous system past its limits: we go gradually, at a pace your system can safely hold.

Common questions

Do I have to talk about what happened?
Not necessarily. Somatic Experiencing can work with how an experience is showing up in your body and nervous system now, without requiring a detailed retelling of the event. You remain in control of what you share and what you are ready to explore.
Is Somatic Experiencing the same as somatic therapy?
No. Somatic therapy is a broad term for approaches that include the body and embodied experience in the work. Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a specific, trauma-focused approach developed by Peter Levine, with its own principles and methods.
Is Somatic Experiencing just body exercises?
No. SE is not a collection of exercises for relaxation. The work involves carefully tracking sensations, emotions, impulses and nervous-system responses while staying connected to the present moment. Talking, reflection and meaning-making can also be part of the process.
Will I have to relive my trauma?
No. SE does not require you to relive or repeatedly describe traumatic events. The work is gradual and uses titration — approaching difficult material in small, manageable amounts — to reduce the risk of becoming overwhelmed.
What if I dissociate or go blank during a session?
That is something we can work with. Dissociation can be a protective response, and it is not a failure. Rather than pushing through it, we slow down, notice what is happening, and support your ability to reconnect with the present moment, with your body and with the room. Working slowly and in manageable amounts is how that capacity to stay present is built.
What if I become overwhelmed or emotional?
Difficult emotions can arise, but the intention is never to push you beyond your capacity. We pay attention to your nervous system and adjust the pace as needed, working in manageable steps so you can remain as present and connected as possible.
Can Somatic Experiencing help with anxiety or feeling constantly on alert?
SE can be helpful when stress or past experiences come with patterns such as hypervigilance, tension, shutdown or difficulty settling. We explore how those responses show up in your body and nervous system, and work gradually toward greater capacity and regulation.
Can Somatic Experiencing help with childhood or developmental trauma?
SE can be used alongside other approaches when working with childhood and developmental trauma. The focus is not on reconstructing the past, but on gently exploring how earlier experiences may still be influencing your body, nervous system, emotions, relationships and patterns today.
How is SE different from traditional talk therapy?
Talk therapy often emphasises thoughts, memories, language and insight. SE includes conversation and reflection, and also pays close attention to your moment-to-moment bodily sensations and nervous-system responses. The aim is to bring together what you understand cognitively with what you are experiencing in your body.
Do you use touch during Somatic Experiencing?
Touch is not required, and many sessions involve none at all: the work can be based entirely on your awareness of your own sensations, movements, emotions and nervous-system responses. Touch is rare: I only use it to help you regulate when you become very dysregulated, and always with your consent. If it ever happens, it’s an invitation: I ask first, every time, it stays outside your clothing, and you can say no at any point without explaining.
How long does Somatic Experiencing take?
There is no fixed number of sessions. The timeframe depends on your goals, circumstances, history and what you are working with. Some people seek support around a specific event; others choose longer-term therapy for more complex or developmental patterns.
Will I feel something during every session?
Not necessarily. Somatic work is not about producing a particular sensation, emotional release or breakthrough. Some sessions involve subtle shifts or increased awareness; others focus more on stabilisation, understanding, or simply building your capacity to notice what is happening.

Before we start, one important thing

This therapy is not a substitute for crisis or safety intervention. It isn't appropriate if you are currently in an unsafe or dangerous situation, or if you are at immediate risk of harming yourself or ending your life. In those circumstances you need crisis, emergency or specialised support first.

Somatic psychotherapy is also unsuitable for people who have recently faced, or are currently facing, legal allegations.

You might also be looking at

Somatic Trauma-Informed Psychotherapy

For a single traumatic event — surgery, an accident, an assault — or the cumulative weight of complex and childhood trauma. We work gently, at a pace your nervous system can safely hold, so you can reconnect with your body, with yourself, and with your capacity to move forward.

Somatic Counselling

Talking helps, and it has limits. Here we also listen to breath, posture and sensation: the parts that never learned words. It supports behaviour change, relationship skills, coping and decision-making. This is not for those who want to process trauma.

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