“It takes enormous trust and courage to allow yourself to remember.”
- Bessel A. van der Kolk
In the words of Dr. Peter Levine, psychologist and founder of Somatic Experiencing “Trauma is a fact of life — it does not, however, have to be a life sentence.”
We’ve all heard the old adages — “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” — “just don’t think about it” — “move on.” But for most of this, this simply doesn’t work. We can’t think our way out of our problems — out of grief, trauma, loss, or existential crisis — because our mind isn’t the source of the pain.
As Bessel van der Kolk, one of the foremost trauma researchers, says, “the body keeps the score.” We may attempt to represss, supress, or otherwise deny our most painful truths — but the body cannot. It is in turning towards the pain ( and the inherent wisdom of the body — that still, small voice within) — that we also find our healing.
If you’ve ever had a panic attack, a flashback or even that rush of energy when you see the “. . . " when you’re waiting for that text back, then you know this to be true: life is lived in the body.
Somatic Experiencing holds that certain painful or dangerous experiences get “stuck” in the body (and mind.)
By asking “what didn’t get to happen” we’re able to provide the body/mind with a restorative experience, releasing ourselves from the painful pas and restoring a “stuck-on-on” nervous system to equilibrium.