The first chapter of the upcoming book, What Sustains Me, is now ready and available for free download as a formatted PDF (it looks best on a tablet such as the iPad, but can be read on any...
Editor's note: This entry continues Dr. Abi Blakeslee's previous blog, “Jungian Dream Analysis Blended with SE.” Both entries are adapted from Dr. Blakeslee's master's thesis in counseling and depth psychology for Pacifica Graduate Institute. A young woman whom...
Dreams can be a key to understanding the nature of trauma— and that key can help therapists unlock the mysteries of preventing and healing suffering. In my master's thesis, I present a model of how to integrate Somatic...
Somatic Experiencing® is a powerful method for bringing awareness into the body to focus on its trauma syndromes and symptoms. In a very gentle way, this method works to address the overwhelming sensation that causes a vicious cycle...
Editor's note: the following is a blog by SE® Practitioner Betsy Polatin which originally appeared in HuffPost. It is republished here by permission. You can be doing everything right: eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, even...
Editor's note: This entry continues Dr. Abi Blakeslee's previous blog, “Jungian Dream Analysis Blended with SE.” Both entries are adapted from Dr. Blakeslee's master's thesis in counseling and depth psychology for Pacifica Graduate Institute. A young woman whom...
Somatic Experiencing® is a powerful method for bringing awareness into the body to focus on its trauma syndromes and symptoms. In a very gentle way, this method works to address the overwhelming sensation that causes a vicious cycle...
I have recently returned to my home in Brazil after a trip to Japan to teach the second half of the Intermediate SE® Professional Training, which included categories of natural disaster, war, horror, and torture. Japan has suffered...
We are honored to share a new blog in seven parts by Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner Suzanne Levy who has been working in slums and post-genocide communities of war-torn Africa. Suzanne wrote this series of entries on her fifth...
The Somatic Experiencing® training shifted not only how I view my personal history and how I work with clients in my psychotherapy practice but it has proven invaluable in my work at the DC Medical Examiner's Office. There...
Here, as an addition to my entry about Suicide in the Military, I offer my fellow healers and trauma specialists a few tips for working with military populations at risk for suicide (they are just brief tips, not...
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...
As a senior faculty member who teaches throughout Europe and the U.S., I have noticed a few universal themes with which SE® students and practitioners have difficulty. Today's blog addresses how to adapt Somatic Experiencing® to working with...
The dust had barely begun to settle from the Aurora tragedy when Americans were faced with yet another senseless killing. As we continue to hold space in our hearts and offer our support for the victims of the...
As medical director of Boulder, Colorado's Mapleton Rehab Center for 20 years, I saw hundreds of auto accident victims with PTSD and whiplash. These patients exhibited all of the pain, dizziness, and cognitive impairment associated with those conditions....
The first chapter of the upcoming book, What Sustains Me, is now ready and available for free download as a formatted PDF (it looks best on a tablet such as the iPad, but can be read on any...
In this lively installment of SEPtalk, author, psychotherapist, and longtime Buddhist and yogic meditation practitioner Lisa Dale Miller explores how SE® enriches her work with patients. She's a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner and author of a new textbook on...
In the latest installment of SEPtalk, host Serge Prengel, an SE® Practitioner in New York City, speaks with Pawan Bareja, PhD about the benefit of including the teachings of mindfulness meditation when working with clients using the Somatic...
In the Spring of 2011 two of us Somatic Experiencing® Practitioners began a collaboration to bring SE® to the Sonoma County agency for Children's Protective Services (CPS). We believed that SE services, tailored to the agency setting, might...
We see it all the time in our work with clients. An adult with significant childhood trauma lives in a state of persistent threat. She struggles to metabolize the imprints from an unfortunate early history that wreaks havoc...
Dreams can be a key to understanding the nature of trauma— and that key can help therapists unlock the mysteries of preventing and healing suffering. In my master's thesis, I present a model of how to integrate Somatic...
Editor's note: the following is a blog by SE® Practitioner Betsy Polatin which originally appeared in HuffPost. It is republished here by permission. You can be doing everything right: eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, even...
Here's a technique that came to me while working with a client who'd suffered a rear-end collision in her car with no warning. I was reflecting on the fact that she'd had no time to do any defensive...
What is mindfulness? In a previous entry, I provided Jon Kabat-Zinn's definition: “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” There is an elegant simplicity to this description, and this is probably...
Each day, 7.7 million American adults live with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Research shows that approximately 7 percent of all civilians experience PTSD at some point. For returning military veterans, depending on the combat theater, that number jumps...
My journey to becoming SE® faculty began with a love for ice cream. When I was around five years old, my aunt would buy me not just a scoop but a “Matterhorn,” a multi-level tower of any flavor...
We are pleased to announce the appointment of two new members of the board of directors for the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute. Please see the attached news release and join us in welcoming Mardi and Christian. click to...
Somatic Experiencing® principles applied to a community are as magical as when applied to a person. Resonance, containment, self regulation, titration, and intent are precursors to community resilience and healing. As you move slowly with a person, intervene...
Nelson Mandela was a great inspiration in my life. I grew up in The Netherlands, during a time when apartheid filled the evening news. Night after night I became outraged at the atrocities in South Africa, not understanding...
On Sunday, November 24 the CBS program 60 Minutes aired “The War Within: Treating PTSD,” a documentary about vets with PTSD in therapy. The treatment discussed was Prolonged Exposure Therapy. While CBS does not seem to take a...
A study published by the National Academy of Sciences has challenged the assumption that we can “rethink our feelings” under stress. After analyzing their results, the researchers chose a title for their work that tells you exactly where...
When it comes to talking about military veterans, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and suicide, nothing is simple. What is known is that these three categories are connected in complex and tragic ways. Whereas knowledge increases each year thanks...