Sessions in Italian / Sessions in English
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing was developed by Peter Levine in the 1990s as a technique to renegotiate traumatic experiences and restore a felt sense of safety and well-being. It is now used in much of the world to improve the quality of life of children and adults and bring awareness that there is no human being who has not in some way suffered nervous system imbalances due to difficult experiences.
For those who want to delve deeper, I highly recommend reading Peter Levine's books, now available in most libraries.
"Somatic Experiencing has changed the way I perceive the world, others and myself. I realized that by judging others, I was judging myself.
I understood that true 'understanding' is done with the body and not with the mind. The mind does nothing else but seek explanations for the sensations that are delivered to it by the body. I discovered that I had lived my life up until that moment in terror, without realizing it. I had perceived everything through fear, and being afraid of others, I had interpreted their actions as bad and not good.
Somatic Experiencing taught me not only why these phenomena occur but gave me the tools to transform them. It was not a simple or quick journey, but it has been a fun journey and I am enjoying every step in the continuing regaining of my confidence and my body. "
(my personal testimony)
Somatic Experiencing Touch
Somatic Experiencing can be applied as a verbal technique (where the word is used to guide the person in contacting their felt sense) or through hand contact. This can be done sitting (in a chair) or lying down using the couch. It is done fully clothed. It is not a massage. The practitioner will simply place their hands on your body and let the body respond to this physical contact. I myself was incredulous at the power of this simple contact, a disbelief that any mammal would be surprised at. I have witnessed my cat following her natural instinct to lick her kittens as soon as they are born, a contact that stimulates and activates the nervous system and is essential in cats to clear the airways and allow the first breath.
One of my service users has kindly agreed to share her experience with Somatic Experiencing Touch:
"Along with art therapy and verbal Somatic Experiencing we also did a variation of Somatic Experiencing called 'touch', through the contact of the hands. I didn't know what it was, but I liked the idea of something that involved the body and psyche together and I was enthusiastic.
This practice has proved to be very powerful for me because it allowed me to completely "bypass" rationality, which was my aim in seeking therapy, giving space mainly to the body and its sensations and needs. Feeling the contact of the practitioner's hands that remained in attentive stillness on my shoulders, on my arms, on my belly, was able to move the body's energy in a precise way, far from rational understanding and yet, precisely for this reason, much deeper.
I am convinced that in this process something happens that our body then retains and translates to the psyche without the need for everything to pass through our awareness. You do not know exactly what happened, but later you realize that something important has occurred, because as my sessions continued, I realized that I was making decisions in my life and changing my attitudes almost without realizing it. Awareness came when, taking stock with my therapist of how things were going, I realized how big the changes I was experiencing were.
This technique works silently, like untying knots without you even realizing it. I really like it and I hope it can help many other people as it is helping me."