Dear Somatic Experiencing Community,
With each letter I have written over the years, a consistent theme emerges – there is always something big going on in the world. We can look at that big event or experience at any given time and talk about it here. Inevitably, we would miss something else. Therefore, I find myself asking: what is the place of Somatic Experiencing® within a world that feels so big, so overwhelming at times? What is the place of Somatic Experiencing® International?
So much of the energy of the world today asks us to be polarized – “this group” is right and “the other” group is therefore wrong. “This comment” falls within safety while “the other comment” harms. In my current role at SEI, I find myself in conversations, often multiple times per day, with people all over the world interested in bringing SE™ to their communities. I have lost track of the number of times I have heard “this place needs SE™ more than anywhere else because the trauma here is so much different, unique, region-specific, etc.”
There are so many ways to interpret that statement, all valid. I wish to focus on one aspect of it – there is recognition in the world that SE™ has the possibility to heal. Very little in life is simple; in fact, I would argue almost nothing is. I believe with every ounce of my being, however, SE™ has the power to heal, meaning more than just resolving stuck nervous system energy that we call trauma, it can heal, and transform lives
SE™ has the power to slow us down. When we slow down, we have choice. When we slow down, we can feel the complexity in our own lives and experiences as well as other people’s experiences. Disagreements occur, ruptures happen, and I can sit in their resonance and feel our shared humanity. SE™ helps us to see, hear, and feel the paradox underlying SE™ and life. Each of us has a nervous system that operates in very similar ways, while we all have our unique experiences, manifesting how each nervous system shows up in its own way. We are all deeply connected as humans and each unique in our individuality. Of course, SE™ helps us to see our connection to other animals, the Earth, and even the cosmos. Alas, I only have this letter, so I’m going to stick to humanity for now.
Since I joined the SEI board more than seven years ago, SEI has doubled in size, new faculty members have been added all over the world, and new countries added where SE™ is taught. I have a front-row seat to the SE™ community who bring more healing into the world. I have had some of the most beautiful conversations of my life and some of the most difficult (often those are the same). Still, I cannot believe I am going to use this word, I have come to realize one simple fact – SE™ belongs to everyone. The more complex way to say that is that I want SE™ to get to people with whom I disagree, even to people who would want to do me harm, whatever their justification for it may be at any given moment. We are all perfectly imperfect, and SE is for everyone. Too often I look at the work still to do in the world, and my heart breaks. The overwhelm is palpable. Then I remember that in this job, as a member of this community, I have one task – bring more SE™ into the world as quickly as possible, without overwhelming our community. SE™ has the power to make a huge difference in the world. It has the ability to remind us to comfortably sit in the beautiful paradox of connection and uniqueness, to hold polarity and know multiple truths can be true simultaneously. It has the power to remind us to always begin with curiosity, compassion and social engagement. There will always be potential for moments of feeling physically unsafe and in those moments, we must protect ourselves. SE™ gives us the tools to sit with discomfort and work through it, often with the people with whom we may otherwise disagree. In that space, lives can change.
Not many parts of my life have brought me to the brink of my capacity the way being in this community has. I have had to sit with discomfort, with fear of being unsafe to speak my truth because of any number of identities I walk with in the world. Through the tools I learned by becoming an SEP™, SE™ continues to enhance how I navigate it all and I always come out stronger on the other side. Perhaps even more importantly, SE™ gave me you, a community in which I am encouraged to engage authentically. What greater gift can SE™ be than the space where we learn to navigate the complexity of humanity and hold each other closer not farther apart? Can that percolate out into the rest of the world? Every single person who says their community needs SE™ is correct; the world needs SE™. Every person deserves to have SE™ in their lives as a possibility for healing. And it is through healing that we change the world.
Thank you for being part of this community, for bringing more healing into the world, and for holding the complexity of humanity together. May we all find our way to seeing humanity in everyone and the healing potential in the world.
With deep gratitude and respect,
Rebecca Stahl, SEP™
Interim Executive Director