Healing trauma through the body — a certified SEP approach that goes where talk therapy cannot.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-oriented approach to healing trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine. It is based on the understanding that trauma is not stored in the event itself — it is stored in the nervous system. When a threat overwhelms our capacity to respond, the survival energy that was mobilized gets stuck in the body, creating the symptoms we know as PTSD, chronic stress, anxiety, and disconnection.
SE works by gently guiding awareness into bodily sensation, tracking the nervous system’s natural rhythms of activation and settling. Unlike traditional talk therapy, SE doesn’t require you to re-tell or re-live your trauma. Instead, it helps your body complete the responses that were interrupted — releasing held survival energy in small, safe increments and restoring the natural flow of your nervous system.
Who Can Benefit from Somatic Experiencing?
SE is particularly effective for people who feel stuck despite years of talk therapy — those who understand their trauma intellectually but still feel it living in the body. It works with:
- Complex and developmental trauma (CPTSD)
- PTSD and acute traumatic events
- Chronic anxiety, panic, and hypervigilance
- Chronic pain, fatigue, and somatic symptoms with no clear medical cause
- Dissociation, numbness, and emotional shutdown
- Attachment wounds and relational trauma
- Spiritual emergency and kundalini awakening
Artists and creatives experiencing blocks
My Approach to Somatic Experiencing
I am a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) — a designation that requires over three years of training, supervised clinical hours, and a deep commitment to this work. SE is not a technique I apply; it is a lens through which I understand all human suffering and healing.
My SE work is woven together with Jungian depth psychology, EMDR, Narrative Therapy, and Parts Work (IFS-informed), and — when appropriate — ketamine-assisted therapy and psychedelic integration. This means we are working not just with the nervous system’s dysregulation, but with the meaning, imagery, and soul dimensions of your experience. Narrative Therapy brings a post-structural lens to how you have constructed the story of your trauma and your identity — helping you author a new relationship to your experience rather than being defined by it. Parts Work recognizes that we are not monolithic selves but a multiplicity of inner voices and states, each with its own history and protective logic. Together, these approaches allow healing to happen at every level — body, psyche, story, and soul.
Alongside my clinical training, I bring decades of personal practice in meditation, yoga, and the exploration of mystical traditions. This is not background color — it shapes how I sit with clients, how I understand states of consciousness, and how I recognize the difference between pathology and genuine awakening. When the body opens in unexpected ways, or when healing touches something that feels larger than psychology, I am not a stranger to that territory.
I also bring a spiritual depth to this work. Many of my clients are navigating not only trauma but profound awakenings — kundalini experiences, spiritual emergence, existential openings — where the body itself becomes the site of both crisis and transformation. I hold this territory with knowledge and care.
What to Expect in a Somatic Experiencing Session
SE sessions look and feel different from traditional therapy. Rather than primarily talking about your history, we slow down and tune in — to sensations, impulses, images, and the subtle language of your body.
Titration
We work in small doses — approaching difficult material gradually, with enough space for the nervous system to process without being overwhelmed. This is not about flooding you with feeling; it is about restoring your capacity to feel safely.
Pendulation
SE works with the natural oscillation between activation and settling. We move back and forth between more difficult sensations and places of relative ease in the body — building resilience and expanding your window of tolerance with each session.
Completion
Trauma freezes incomplete biological responses. SE helps your nervous system finish what it started — movements, impulses, and discharges that restore a felt sense of safety and aliveness. Many clients describe this as finally being able to exhale.
Somatic Experiencing Combined with Other Approaches
SE pairs exceptionally well with other modalities I practice. When combined with EMDR, it deepens the body’s capacity to process and release traumatic memories. When integrated with ketamine-assisted therapy, the expanded neuroplasticity of the medicine session can be anchored somatically — making integration more embodied and lasting. And within a Jungian and Narrative therapy frame, SE gives symbolic material a place to land in the body, moving insight from the head into lived experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to talk about my trauma?
No. Somatic experiencing therapy does not require you to retell or relive traumatic events. We follow the body’s lead — sensation, impulse, and felt sense — rather than the narrative mind.
What does body-based therapy actually mean?
It means we track what is happening in your physical experience — breath, sensation, tension, movement impulses — because that is where trauma lives. The body holds what the mind cannot yet process, and SE works directly with that.
How long does somatic experiencing therapy take?
It depends on the depth and history of the trauma. Some clients notice real shifts within a few sessions; complex or developmental trauma typically calls for longer work. I offer an honest assessment early on so you know what to expect.
Do you offer somatic experiencing therapy online?
Yes. SE works well via telehealth — nervous system tracking and body awareness translate fully to video sessions. I see clients throughout California remotely, and in person at my Los Angeles office at 5055 Wilshire Blvd or at my Santa Monica office location
Begin Healing at the Body’s Own Pace
If you have tried therapy before and felt like something essential was missing — like the words were right but the healing wasn’t landing — somatic experiencing may be the missing piece. The body knows the way. My role is to help you listen.
Contact me to schedule a free 20-minute consultation and explore whether SE is a good fit for where you are right now.