Trauma appears to affect all the pieces of a person; spiritual, physical, emotional and mental. Somatic trauma therapy works with the powerful, urgent survival energy that has been held on pause in the body.
The process of responding to a threatening moment is a process like digestion. Our body knows how to finish responding to traumas. It seems to ask us regularly, “in an unspoken voice” as Peter Levine says.
The culture most of us grew up in convinced us to ignore or resist the messages coming from our body about its own needs. Pain and tension seem to be like trailheads towards resolution. When we learn to follow the trails, we learn to move through terrible discomfort and on the other side lives relief and post traumatic growth.
Safety in the present moment is crucial for this type of healing work. Healing can be very disruptive, especially when we are not able to find any sense of safety in daily life. The first priority with somatic trauma therapy has to be settling into a feeling of safety. Only then can we move towards the sensations and emotions of pent up survival stress.