What is Somatic Experiencing? By Dr. Alexandra Cope

Have you ever hit rock-bottom with your health and been frustrated with your body for not cooperating? This is the most common reason that we are forced to listen to our bodies’ pleas for attention. And that moment is also when we are fed up with our bodies. Can you fathom telling your child or best friend to just wait until they are done with their task before they can have water or food? Or could you ever imagine telling a child who is full to the brim to be quiet and take one more bite?

Likely not…

And yet that is often what we do to ourselves; to our body, our greatest consort in life.

This is where I was when I found Somatic Experiencing. Peter Levine developed this healing modality after years of study in Physical Therapy and animals’ responses to stressors or traumatic experiences. He recognized that we each have our own unique nervous system architecture that determines our capacity to respond to stressful situations.

It turns out that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are the only direct link to health. The greater the stressor during childhood development, the greater causational connection to major illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. The only other direct link between science and health is smoking. Wow….  Nadine Burke’s The Deepest Well is a great book to refer to for more information.

Adverse experiences can cause psychological issues such as anxiety and depression. They can also lead to physical conditions such as chronic injuries, pain, autoimmune, fatigue, and diseases.

This is where somatic (pertaining to the body) experiencing shines as a therapy. Somatic Experiencing (SE) focuses on the mind-body connection in order to address both mental and physical concerns. The focus of SE is to help you complete processing experiences, notice the mind-body connection, and cultivate awareness until you have enough capacity to work through distressing situations.

Much of the focus of SE is on the “freeze” response. An example of an actual freeze is the body’s response to drowning… your body shuts down to conserve energy in order to survive.

When we are faced with a threat, we can either fight-flight-freeze or appease. The freeze usually happens when our bodies assess threat and realize that the chance of escaping harm is questionable. Your body builds tension in your muscles and your heart rate increases as do shallow breaths. Your body is flooded with stress hormones. This is great when you have a chance to confront the said threat or run; but when you don’t and you freeze, that moment in time becomes stored in your fascia.

Fascia keeps all of our memories. It also contains our muscles and organs and communicates with our entire system. I like to think of it as the mycelial network of the body. Mycelia helps trees and plants communicate for survival and growth. Our fascia does the same for our entire system.

So, when you are no longer faced with a threat, and have no way to mobilize in order to protect yourself, the level of activation remains the same in your system, just like someone trapped in a helpless situation. In response to the freeze, you may no longer be in a fight-or-flight response, but you froze. The energy wasn’t used, and your system often does not return to baseline. 

Another way to say it is… your body doesn’t reset in order to prepare for the next response but continues to repeat little bits of the trauma response, which leads to symptoms. Symptoms include, but are not limited to:

• chronic pain

• digestive concerns

• hormone issues

• muscle pain and tension

• sleep issues

• heart rate dysregulation

• autoimmune-like symptoms

• and more..

What Does Somatic Experiencing Look and Feel Like?

Somatic Experiencing is a “Bottom-Up” approach to adverse stressful experiences. The primary focus is to uncover bodily sensations linked to the feelings rather than examining memories and emotions associated with a traumatic event or an event that caused major stress.

Almost every Somatic Therapist begins with education to help you learn and understand your nervous system more. From there, your therapist guides you to become more curious and familiar with your body sensations, which are almost always connected to your story. Your therapy sessions are designed to help you stay aware of your body; or embodied, as you build tools to stay with your body as you explore what it feels like to move to your edges and then back to your center. You will soon begin to grow your capacity to manage stress and integrate trauma. As a result, your physical health will be impacted less and less by trauma, both past and present. 

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And now, a few thoughts from one of my patients who has done SE with me for over two years as she reflects back on her therapy during her perimenopausal transition…

Working with a naturopathic doctor who is trained in Somatic Experiencing can take the integration of physical and spiritual healing to such a high level that it seems as though they are one in the same! When I took the very first step of discontinuing the Pill, I had no idea that I was beginning a journey that would lead to such a comprehensive healing of the real ME... and my most intimate relationships.

It has also been so validating for me… for Dr.Cope to recognize the impact that stress and trauma can have on overall health, and to name it. This represents a dimension of care that is completely void in most allopathic treatment experiences. And, Dr. Cope is helping me to learn to be actively aware of the potential for acute stress to impact my health so that I can take steps to proactively mitigate the triggers. This has proved to be such an important skill during my perimenopausal transition!

In short, Somatic Experiencing is a powerful tool that can complement and undergird the healing of the physical and emotional symptoms experienced during the perimenopausal transition. The benefits of SE can help us to navigate the tumultuous waters of this life-phase, as well as mitigate stressors that can exacerbate these symptoms. For me, some of these stressors have included the everyday stress of parenting young adult children, dissolving toxic friendships, and facing hard truths about my mother and sister. This has fostered deep spiritual healing for me. 

SE can be the cord that binds the two dimensions of physical and spiritual healing together. This can increase the power of any healing journey.

But for those of us in menopausal transition; SE, when used in combination with other forms of natural healing, forms a foundation that sustains us through both the physical and spiritual challenges of this life season. The integration of life experiences mitigates stress on our bodies during a time in which we are already very susceptible to the impact of unpredictable hormonal shifts. This has  provided vital support for me. Dr.Cope’s advanced skill; coupled with her powerful intuition, has made the unpredictable hormone shifts so much more bearable.

Now I can walk more steadily and with much less trepidity as I navigate the unknowns of perimenopause. Now that I have learned to recognize certain sensations in my body, I can be aware and call in resources to support me during challenging interactions. This helps to minimize the impact when unpredictable hormonal fluctuations occur simultaneously with difficult relationship dynamics. I have seen it work for me over and over! And, it has been critically important for me when life has thrown extra stressors at me…like getting bitten by a dog while running, or watching a stranger die from a heart attack in a parking lot! Dr. Cope has been so accessible for last-minute zoom SE sessions that have calmed my emotions and greatly reduced the impact of the stress on my body.

My reflection on SE as part of my overall management of perimenopause has led me to compare it to my previous experience of working with counselors as a form of therapy. For me, SE has proven to be more effective. It has been more than worth the difficult symptoms associated with discontinuing the Pill; and then finding myself in perimenopause, to discover SE as a therapy and to reap its many benefits. And to experience this form of healing coupled with physical healing is more than just empowering. To me, it is a miracle.