About Somatic Experiencing®...
Where Healing Happens Beyond Words.
First Core Foundation
Trauma is held in the nervous system, not in the event itself.
Trauma is understood as incomplete biological responses to threat (fight, flight, freeze, collapse), rather than the external event. When these instinctual responses are interrupted or overwhelmed, survival energy remains trapped in the nervous system, leading to symptoms.
SE therefore works with autonomic nervous system regulation, rather than retelling or cognitively processing the story of what happened.
Second Core Foundation
Bottom-up awareness: the body leads the healing.
Healing occurs through interoception and proprioception: tracking sensation, impulse, movement, breath, temperature and subtle shifts in activation.
Instead of “top-down” analysis, SE invites:
- Slow, titrated attention to sensation
- Staying within the window of tolerance
- Allowing the body to complete what was once interrupted
This respects the body’s innate capacity to self-organise and restore equilibrium.
Third Core Foundation
Titration and pendulation prevent re-traumatisation.
SE avoids catharsis or flooding. Change happens through small, incremental doses of activation (titration), paired with movement between activation and resource (pendulation).
This rhythmic oscillation:
- Builds nervous system capacity
- Restores flexibility and resilience
- Allows discharge without overwhelm
The nervous system learns it can touch activation and return to safety.
Book A Discovery Call
A discovery call is a relaxed, no-obligation space to connect, explore what you’re needing and see whether my work feels supportive for you right now. This is a free, informal 15-minute Zoom conversation; an opportunity to meet, ask questions and sense if it’s the right fit.
Book NowA Body-Mind Approach to Healing.
Somatic Experiencing® is a gentle, body-based approach to healing trauma, stress and nervous system dysregulation. Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, it is grounded in the understanding that trauma is not defined by what happened to us, but by how our nervous system responded, and whether it was able to complete its natural survival responses.
Rather than focusing on recounting or analysing past experiences, Somatic Experiencing works from the inside out, supporting the body to release stored survival energy and restore a sense of safety, connection and vitality.
Somatic Experiencing invites awareness to the present-moment sensations of the body, such as breath, muscle tone, temperature, impulses, movement and subtle shifts in energy. By listening to these signals, we allow the nervous system to gently reorganise itself.
Your story is not required. You do not need to relive or retell what happened in order to heal. When stories do arise, they are explored and integrated through the lens of the body, rather than through re-immersion or emotional flooding. This allows insight and meaning to emerge organically, at a pace your system can safely hold.
SE sessions are slow, attuned and collaborative, supporting:
- regulation of the autonomic nervous system
- Increased capacity to stay present
- completion of interrupted fight, flight or freeze response
- a growing sense of internal safety and agency
Benefits of Somatic Experiencing®.
Somatic Experiencing® can help to:
- reduce chronic stress, anxiety and overwhelm
- ease symptoms of trauma and developmental trauma
- support recovery from shock, medical trauma or accidents
- improve emotional regulation and resilience
- soften patterns of collapse, hypervigilience or shutdown
- restore trust in the body and its signals
Many people report feeling more grounded, alive, spacious and connected; not because they “worked harder,” but because their nervous system learned it was safe enough to settle.
Reclaiming the Body:
The Problematic Legacy of Mind-Body Dualism
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Who Can Benefit?
Somatic Experiencing® is particularly supportive for people who:
- feel easily overwhelmed or shut down
- have tried talk therapy and found it insufficient or activating
- live with early attachment or relational trauma
- struggle to "think their way" out of patterns
- want a gentle, non-pathologising approach to healing
It is also well suited for those who sense that healing is not just cognitive, but deeply embodied.
Testimonials
Let Others Inspire You.
"I feel that I can access a space within me that is wild, deep and not yet known, but I'm excited to meet. Sandplay has helped me deepen this connection."
Larissa Swanson
"I now have greater capacity to play. Sandplay has allowed me to live the healing process I have so fantastically intellectualised."
Jennifer Wilson
Integrating Somatic Experiencing® and Sandplay
In my work, Somatic Experiencing® is often woven together with Sandplay Therapy - a symbolic, non-verbal modality that allows the psyche to speak through image, metaphor and form.
While Somatic Experiencing® works directly with the nervous system, Sandplay offers a protected space where unconscious material can emerge safely, without interpretation or pressure to explain.
Together, these modalities:
- support both nervous system regulation and symbolic integration
- allow trauma to resolve without words
- honour the intelligence of the body, the psyche and the imaginal realm
- create conditions for deep, organic transformation
The sand becomes a meeting place between body and soul. A place where sensation, symbol and meaning are allowed to unfold naturally.
