When it comes to the treatment of trauma, our work often centers on our clients’ feelings and sensations . . .
. . . and sometimes, those sensations can present as physical pain.
In the video below, Peter Levine, PhD shares a powerful story of how he helped a man trace the source of his unremitting back pain – all the way back to where it began.
Take a look – it’s just 4 minutes.
For more on how to work with traumatic memory, be sure to check out the Treating Trauma Master Series.
You’ll get insights from: Peter Levine, PhD; Bessel van der Kolk, MD; and Pat Ogden, PhD.
Now we’d like to hear from you. How will you use this idea in your work? Please leave a comment below.
Michèle Pépin says
Since I started to listen to the series, I observe that many of the patients do have traumas in their history. As an osteopath, every day, I am exposed to possible body memories. My issue is to bring the patients to explore this and not stay in a state of mind that recognizes only a bio-mechanical explanation.
I guess, the key here is to keep the patient in the actual experience of the treatment.
Thank you for your work.
nicole fosse says
As a yoga teacher, many students come to me with pain. We are trained to say “ have you been to a doctor?, I’m not a doctor so I can’t diagnose etc etc” I will ask them more about the intensity level, specific location. I can be more curious about their pain and try to guide them into noticing the nuances, color, sound of their pain, direction of their pain. Many of my students have been to doctors for their pain who have told them to ‘get exercise ‘ or ‘try yoga’. Automatically referring them back to a doctor puts them in a cycle, stuck with pain and no help no solutions which leaves them oftentimes despondent.
Kim says
Love this. Im a trauma yoga practitioner and I do this with clients and wire in their soul connection while processing out the trauma.
Wendy says
I am beginning to help clients see that trauma lives in their bodies, which is a new idea to them. It begins to open thoughts to possible meaning to their somatic symptoms
Marie Cournoyer, RN, MS-CS-P says
I want to echo a couple of the comments made–that we are all individuals and that different modalities, therapies work for different people and that it is worth exploring what works for you. The other very important point, in my opinion, that it is NOT wise to confront the abuser unless you have worked on this with a very competent, experienced therapist and feel SAFE. I am still very dubious about confronting someone who had done such a thing, even if they admit it, because they could turn the tables and have you feeling sorry for them. This is about YOUR healing. You are also grieving the horrendous loss of your sister and need support in doing that. I think Compassionate Friends is still around. They support people in their grieving process. Wishing you all the best in your journey.
Debbie Barron says
Hi, thank you, that was very helpful. I will try to use this information to help my work with a client who cannot verbalize her feeling. Perhaps talking about her physical symtoms will enable her to access her felt senses and emotions.
Franky Lewis says
With my disabled son, with high anxiety, help him feel his body and where pain might be hidden, using yoga techniques.
marina andrea says
I’ve been visiting doctors for years, chiropractors, orthopedists, acupuncturists, etc. and I am always in pain. My back is always riddled with pain, and in addition pain throughout my body that shifts from my eyeballs, wrist, etc. After watching various clips you have posted, I am thinking that I may have trauma from an early age, for I was sexually abused as a child, and I do have various memories, but I think some may be blocked. I know the person who did this. I’m wondering if I should call the person and talk to them in more depth, since I did once and of course they admitted it, but that was it. In addition to this I had a very traumatic experience that occurred at the end of Oct., my sister passed, she was killed by someone close to her who had mental illness…still trying to cope with all this while trying to also care for the person who did this, who is in a mental institution. I am trying my best to not take meds, and heal in other ways.
Anya says
First of all, let me say I am sorry for your pain. I have suffered with intractable pain for most of my adult life as well, with similar origins and ongoing trauma. I am healing, slowly but surely. Sadly, there are no magic wands!
There are two things that sprang to my mind on reading your comment.
One, have you ever been tested, via IGenex or another specialized laboratory, for the presence of Lyme Disease? I have found that many people with symptoms as you describe and trauma histories were people like me who had gone for years without a proper diagnosis and with much pain of a very bizarre nature. I have had the spot it centered in shift from place to place in a way that would be inexplicable to western medicine but made perfect sense to my acupuncturist. (She is who first correctly diagnosed me, which was backed up by labs.)
Lyme also has a lot of overlap in neurological symptoms, which is why many people get misdiagnosed as having a host of other maladies such as Parkinson’s, MS, Alzheimer’s, etc. Depression also often tends to go with Lyme, for a number of reasons, including neurological damage by the bacteria, which feed on collagen, thereby munching down your nerve sheaths. My Lyme doctor said any time someone presents with an array of symptoms that seem to make no sense, he usually finds Lyme as the issue. If any of this sounds familiar, I would be happy to discuss it further with you. I am NOT a professional, so this is absolutely not professional advice. It is one person reaching out to another. Lyme is one of the most misunderstood and controversial diseases being batted around today, and there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Two, with all you are already suffering, may I respectfully suggest that confronting your abuser might be at least premature and could add to the heavy load you are already carrying? Please seek professional advice before you jump into this action. You don’t need one more thing to heal from, and confronting one’s abuser(s) often does not bring the release we seek but gives us one more thing to process.
Be kind to yourself. These sorts of things are called trauma for a reason. They make a huge impact and take time, compassion, and a step by step journey to heal. I do believe healing IS possible, both from the physical manifestations of trauma as well as the emotional, and the fastest way to accomplish this is through taking the most self-compassionate route you can.
Many blessings for your healing and comfort on your journey.
EK says
Feeling sorry for someone’s pain is not helpful. It would make me feel pathetic. The unconscious mind “speaks” to us… starting out gently and if we don’t listen it gets louder. Any issue in the tissue is an opportunity to heal. There is a difference between sympathy and empathy.
Mary says
Many blessings to you Anya, and you too, EK.
Diane says
Marina Andrea, I was sexually abused when I was 3 and again at 7 or 8. It’s been a lifetime of not understanding until I found first a group for women abused as children and then working with a trained trauma therapist – EMDR worked for me. Deepest condolences on your sister’s death. That’s trauma upon trauma. Please find a trauma trained therapist before deciding re your abuser. I never confronted my abuser – for me it was healthier (and safer and safety is HUGE!) to go no contact. My other abuser was my mother and she’s dead. I also would urge you to at least talk to a psych re meds – they really can be of use. I would not have been able to confront what happened to me (which my very experienced therapist called an atrocity) without being on a low dose of anti-depressant: it gave me the internal platform to stand on to be able to look at everything that happened to me. We trauma survivors are often hypersensitive to meds so again, find a trauma-informed psychiatrist in addition to a therapist. And I hope you have a grief group as well. Blessings to you.
Mary says
Much love to you Diane
Carmel Dever says
Google Brandon Bays ‘ the journey’.
I am 58 years. I have experienced losing everything through 2 fires.One in childhood and one as an adult. Birthed 4 children. Experienced sexual, emotional and physical abuse. From my experience everything helps. Tapping, yoga, exercise, nutrition, meditation, all the therapies mentioned…the list goes on… but the symptoms always returned. the one standout, stand alone resourse available for permanent change that worked for me is deep inner guidance to the very core of my soul. From here I experienced the healing that is permanent. The way to freedom from pain and suffering for me was not through punishment ( and believe me I had rage and numbness in my body ). Nor was holding anyone to account. It was through letting go and wisdom. Not the wisdom you will read from any book. The wisdom that is within. Tools for everyone is the journey method. Also if you have depression and anxiety Google ‘Kevin Billet @theJourney’.
With love
Carmel
Mary says
Carmen, I am glad to about your permanent healing. Thank you for sharing and much love. Others might also relate to Pema Chodron … letting go as well & she has a wonderful sense of humor.
Lin D., Other, NL says
I have done the journey practitioner Programme and done a retreat with Brandon in India. I came back dissociated for weeks and retraumatized. The journey is too harsh for me with going back to and reliving old trauma’s in the journey’s. Perhaps it works as personal development, but not for my long life complex trauma unfortunately.
Mary says
All my love to you Marina
Stephanie Isbell says
In my area, a psychiatrist and nurse have opened a clinic for the treatment of anxiety and depression with ketamine infusions. This is not advertised as treatment to go with talk therapy but to use instead of or alongside other psychiatric meds.
They claim use of ketamine, by itself, is far more effective than psychiatric drugs for depression (“89%”). They make no mention of talk therapy at all. This is just a clinic that doses patients with ketamine.
Does anyone know about the dangers? Has it been shown to have lasting effects? How does it compare to yoga, EMDR, & neurofeedback? Where are the studies?
James M says
Ketamine is at best, an experimental treatment. I hope patients know what they’re getting into!
J R says
I have had ketamine treatment for ptsd and depression from sexual and physical abuse. I can tell this treatment makes you feel powerless and for someone with my diagnosis it is not a good idea. Talk therapy is a better and safer way for treatments.
DS says
Very dubious about any 89% statistic in the mental health arena. There’s no easy cure-all. As a survivor, talk therapy, mindfulness, and EMDR are far safer with a trained therapist.
Mary says
Stephanie, All you have to do is a search on your computer …. what is ketamine & read for your self the side effects and what it involves; its nature. I personally would not use it; to me it does NOT seem to be a natural therapy as yoga, meditation/mindfulness, & tapping.
Marianne says
Great stuff!
Ken Larsen says
Thank you both for such a powerful narrative linking chronic pain to its antecedent trauma.
I have worked with a chronic pain population for 24 years and witness this connection.
This video example is an inspiration to me to continue to explore past trauma as a possible root.
Peter Edwards says
I have just watched your broadcast on hyper-hypo arousal. I pressed the wrong button and list the contact to ask this question. I have a client who was abused by her parents physically, sexually and psychologically. They ‘presented’ (my word) her to a paedophile ring from the age of about 3 until age 11. Abuse continued into her teens. I am astonished that she survived as a highly intelligent compassionate woman though still deeply distressed by her trauma. She is now 60 years old and after some six years of therapy, 2 with one counsellor and 4 with me, she still experiences ‘snowstorms’ of flashbacks of particular events, plus one flashback of a tobacco smell that is not linked to a specific event. These flashbacks are exhausting, and undermine her hope of recovery (which is progressing). Is there any intervention I can make that may assist in reducing the flashbacks? We have worked through memories of each of the clusters of events that spark the flashbacks, and I have suggested that my client might begin to see them as both an indicator that she needs to pay attention to an imbalance in her life, and as something that she might learn to accept and tolerate. These suggestions (as you no doubt will appreciate) have limited success. I have a sense that helping to deal with the flashbacks is key to deeper recovery. What is the mechanism here? Am I missing something?
Rebeca O says
I am very grateful you wrote this. I believe it is also what happens outside that triggering is a key. Mindfulness combined with art theraphy in nature, see if she can walk in nature, also as Pat preseted in another video, your client cab feel more trust to connect with animals and to receive what she needs in the present. I also use Internal Family Systems in my work and my life and it is amazing, the results are something you just notice very soon in better awarness, and you can build from this awarness. Helping her to feel the first trigger is so important, and to see what she can do to manage this… My best best results came when a client started to relearn relanshionahip with nature and building trust in herself in nature, she used this trust with people.
Barbara says
If she is getting flashbacks from triggers known or very likely not so known….she of course is very aware of imbalances in her life and (I would actually find this unhelpful to have this pointed out with a plea for acceptance). She knows. She needs to feel safe above all. Finding the first trigger, in my experience, is not relevant to recovery. The triggers are sensed in our bodies through sights, sounds, smells…not necessarily explicit memories. Being able to be in our bodies is paramount. The nature/animals connection is a wonderful tool for this and I believe that IFS can have a wonderful impact as suggested by Rebeca.
I had a therapist have me write out the narrative of my obvious traumatic event and read it to him. All this did was trigger my ANS. It wasn’t until I read The Body Keeps the Score that I began to realize the importance of finding a way to feel safe in my body through somatic experiencing (Levine, through Ian McNaughton-thanks) and especially through Trauma Sensitive Yoga. Until survivors feel some safety in their bodies and can learn to work with their bodies eventually as a resource for self and co regulation….talk can be frustrating and not particularly successful. The only language that worked for me was that which was offered though TSY of invitation and inquiry. The invitation to consider being in my body allowed me to learn to come back ‘in’ safely, at my own pace, on my own terms, and start to be able to find ways to regulate my ANS in the context of my own body. Remember that a lack of choice in incidents of trauma, makes being able to choose what we feel in, and do with our bodies a foundation for healing. In my experience (as a survivor), this is where to ‘begin’.
Peter Edwards says
Thank you, Barbara’s.
Barbara says
No problem. Keep up your wonderful work 🙂
Anya says
Very good points, especially in connection with the persistence of trauma over a long span, such as in chronic childhood abuse or POW situations. I am only now realizing how truly abdicated I have been for my whole life, and learning self-compassion has opened the door to the hope of feeling safe. Regarding TSY — is this something someone with physical limitations can do? I have been using qi gong for stress relief to help soothe the system and help it feel safer, but I have begun investigating yoga as something to add in for further release and healing. I’m a bit at sea with all the various forms, though! Thank you.
Barbara says
Hello Anya,
Yes, even the options for healing can feel overwhelming! I had to put mine on a list (16 pts) then do what I could find available to me. TSY is all about working with possibilities while allowing and inviting you to take care of limitations. For example…the invitation might be to be in inversion (forward fold or down dog), only spoken of as a possible form as you choose. This practice is all about choice. I recently injured myself and while taking the training was in an air cast. Chair yoga was an option for me. Options, options, options…pure invitation to explore, choose, and inquire. That’s it. And I found the language translating into my daily life…..if I choose to, as I am ready. So loving. The benefit of possible movement and breath where you are invited to be the driver. Qi gong was too lonely and stressful for me. I was unable to feel safe enough or settled enough to have Qi moving in my body. It is on my list….for later 🙂 For me, TSY was/is the ultimate opening to embodied self compassion that continues to transfer to my every day life. Search: Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga. Having said all that….we are all individuals but for sure worth a look. All the best. Barbara
Anya says
Thank you, Barbara! I will check it out. I have heard such good things on yoga but felt afraid of causing more pain. (That part of session five rang home!) I am fortunate in that my husband has gotten hooked on doing the qi gong for stress relief did with me which helps it be less lonely.
I think sometimes the safety factor with qi gong varies greatly according to the teacher. Some I found online were very definitely not safety inducing and caused feelings of agitation to arise. The presenters are compassionate souls in the one I use, with the man mentioning that he used energy work to recover after being told he would be in a wheelchair forever after a car accident.
How wonderful to have multiple resources to work through our trauma and pain!
Barbara says
My pleasure! And if you don’t mind…which QiGong presenter is the one you like? We are indeed very capable of working our way through our trauma and pain. Barbara
Anya says
I like Francesco Garry Garripoli and Daisy Lee Garripoli, a husband and wife team. I have two of their DVDs but the one we like best for tamping down the whole system is Qi Gong For Stress Relief. It is put out by Gaiam.
I’m rather used to feeling energy move through my body as my primary care for the past twenty years has been acupuncture. Five Element style, especially, is awesome for working on the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. In eastern thought, separation of the three is impossible.
Acupuncture views stuckness as a log jam in the stream that is us, and it works to remove twigs, debris, and sometimes logs bit by bit to allow the stream to flow freely as it was designed to do. It often stirs up emotion in me then helps it clear as it works on physical symptoms as well.
May we all flow freely!
Barbara says
Thanks so much for your offerings on Qi Gong and acupuncture. I have much to learn about acupuncture but have found it very balancing (when done holistically). I am reminded again to partake 🙂 Take good care and yes, may we flow freely!
Peter Edwards says
Thank you for your reply – I find it most helpful! We are moving in this direction, though my client holds so much trauma in her body that trying to pay attention to it is deeply challenging, and we have to go very slowly.
Grace Silvia says
I find the work of Babette Rothschild to be incredibly accessible on body centered trauma work. Her books The Body Remembers and The Body Remembers, Vol 2, are deeply respectful, and immediately appliable. Her writing is clear, concise, and practical. She stands on the shoulders of Judith Herman and Bessel Van Der Kolk, but brings their work down to make it so easy to understand and apply.
Good luck with this beautiful work.
Nisha says
In response to your question Peter Edwards, Somatic Experiencing the neuro-physiological approach of Peter Levine is precisely about meeting clients within their “window of tolerance” and facilitating internal and external resourcing for a sense of safety in the body before beginning any repair work around past traumatic events. In this process, thwarted defensive responses can be completed so that the body can register that the previous threat no longer exists and can let go of its bracing and holding. Flashbacks often have specific triggers and clients can learn to become aware of prodromal symptoms on a somatic level so that they develop a tolerance around the edges of the traumatic memories, both implicit and explicit, and lessen their intensity. In time and through slow and deliberate steps, the association between the trigger (e.g. smell of tobacco) and the autonomic response can be “uncoupled.” SE is a bottom-up approach i.e. the body informs the neocortex, but also top-down so that shifts are contextualized and integrated in present time with the client’s adult witness on line. With sexual trauma, re-establishing a felt sense of boundaries and working with self-blame, guilt and embodied shame are also vital steps in healing.
SE Practitioners and cognitive therapists sometimes work with the same clients from different perspectives but with a common goal in mind. I trust this is useful – all the best with your client.
Anya says
I mentioned in a comment on another thread how helpful I have found EMDR and scalp acupuncture for PTSD to be in helping move the trapped trauma through so it can heal. Perhaps that might help your patient? The scalp acupuncture treatment is being taught by Drs Jason and Linda Hao in New Mexico, though my practitioner was able to work from their book. They have worked with patients at Walter Reed as well, often with amazing results. I know I found it to be very powerful!
Vanessa Gregory says
I would want to use hypnosis with this lady. I would want to suggest that traumatic experiences and hers was a chronic not an acute episode are stored in the hidden unconscious. Out of consciousness to even the unconscious mind. However they have a tendency to surface as flashbacks or dreams which traumatizes the individual.I would then distort or delete this whole episode by going to just before it commenced and fast forwarding it as you would a video or CD to the time it ceased.I would rewind and fast forward again. The first time I would have her watching herself in a dissociated state. She could sit on a chair opposite herself and watch herself distorting the video. Then she could watch the screen in an associated state as it rewound and fast forwarded again. I would want to anchor a resource state before I did this so I could fire that anchor at any sign of distress. If possible I would delete the video however that might take any resources she’d developed out of play. If she felt totally powerless in that period of her life I would risk deleting the video to free her. I would then lock the door on the hidden unconscious and throw away the key as a symbolic gesture.
Lenora Wing Lun says
Thank you
Debbie Davis says
Thank you, Peter. I will invite clients to look inside to see if the memory is implicit and invite the client to work on releasing the body from staying stuck in that pain.
Velimira Robova says
Hi ,I use a different method for releasing of Traped trauma.
It is created by Dr.Bradley Nelson and it is called Emotion code.
I use surrogate muscle testing and Yes and No questions towards the subconscious mind, to establish the time and place of the traumatic experience.
Intense emotions,not prossesed property,can get “Traped ” ,which can create in long term disturbance on energy level.
I can establish exactly when is the event ,that started the problem, even if the person seamed to have forgotten it.
Once we bring the traumatic event to the conscious mind, we can balance the energy, using a magnet .
Testing the subconscious mind is useful, because some people had a traumatic experience in their life in the womb and they are not aware of it.
Elaine Dolan says
Just want to say thanks to Dr. Levine for demonstrating how to turn pain into consciousness and then a resource for his *patient* and us.
William Chamberlain says
In Lacanian Psychoanalysis, trauma is defined simply as “Anything seen or heard and not understood.” In other words a hole in reality that has no signification. When this occurs there is a natural compulsion to repair our reality by filling in the hole with a phantasy of what has occurred; the problem being that we tend to weave our worst fears into the phantasy because we are anthropologically conditioned to do so in order to survive. For example, if you and I were dropped into the jungle in the Amazon at two in the morning with no moon and we heard a noise twenty feet away, what would it be? The truth is we cover the hole in reality with our worst fears in order to survive, and this is the core of the traumatizing factor…..the repetition of the phantasy taken to an absolute…….For more on this subject read: “Being Seen and Being Heard” by William Chamberlain Suite 207-1118 Homer Street, Vancouver BC, Canada. V0N2W2 or Tel: 604-2097111
Barbara says
Thank you for this offering William. I am curious to know how a Lacanian analyst would apply the theory to helping a person shift from the repetition of the phantasy in order to become grounded in ‘real’ time and recover from the distortion of time often felt by trauma survivors.
Martha says
Thank you so much for sharing this powerful story and useful information. What I will take into my work is the question (paraphrasing): What does your body want to do? Where does it want to go? Trying to figure out the “why” isn’t as important as allowing someone to sense from within what their deeper somatic intelligence wants to express.
As a Somatic Educator (teaching the clinical work of Thomas Hanna, Ph.D) I guide clients to restore somatic sensation and control. It’s not uncommon that they will have sensations that scare them – especially if they’ve come in to learn to get rid of back pain without realizing that their thoughts, emotions or life has anything to do with their discomfort. I ask them to stay present and to continue breathing. I refer them to trauma specialists if they are open to it. Guiding people back to a safe, integrated experience of themselves so they can move with ease is a real key to recovering from trauma.
I am learning so much from your articles, and have signed up for the Trauma Master Series.
Thank you!
Leah says
A very illuminating story! I will use this body sensing in my work with college students who have experienced trauma – particularly those who have the facility with introspection and body awareness that the individual in the story has. This is also a useful reminder for me to trust the knowledge that is stored in my own body – both from my past and in the present moment with clients. It is important to note, though, that this example is of a specific Trauma incident whereas much trauma is complex and not attributable to one incident – and body work can be done with those cases as well. Thank you.
Barbara Caspy says
Thanks! I’m going to be more proactive in working with what the client feels in their bodies.
Ryan Turner says
Energy is stored in the mind and body at the time of trauma, and effective therapy helps the energy release itself in the way that it needed to, but wasn’t able to, at the time of trauma. Dr. Levine facilitated this release of energy when he asked the participant, “If you allow that tension to move your body, in what way might it move your body?” This allowed the participant to reenter the memory of the war trauma, stay with it, and complete the process of the traumatic event that was stored in his body. I will use this story and guidance by helping my clients allow their bodies to communicate the worst part of their trauma and guide what direction they need to move and what parts they need to focus on in order to relieve their body’s tension. I use EMDR regularly, but IFS would also be a useful approach for dealing with trauma. Thank you!
Rebeca O says
I also use IFS Internal Family Systems, it has been an amazing discovery in my practice.
Andrew Henry, MA, LPC says
Thank you for sharing! I treat stored somatic experiences on a regular basis. I really appreciate Dr. Levine’s recall of this patience’s experience. I often tell my client’s to trust their body’s wisdom. I employ Brainspotting, and EMDR on a daily basis with these clients.
Nickie Godfrey says
As a gestalt therapist, I do that kind of work all the time, and ,often w similar results. Connecting mind and body is ver powerful experience.
Tassillie Dent says
Thanks for the reminder of how the body can carry the a story. This event sounded as if the volunteer could have experienced initially what I learned from past EMDRM training as an abreaction. So much reaserch have been done in a short lifetime to explain these episodes so clearly. The skillful insight of the volunteer and the the gentle exploration of the doctor made this situation memorable for all.
Lyn Reed says
I have a question – what if the trauma is complex PTSD and has not been from one specific event but rather chronic and ongoing environmental/family issues – even generational trauma such as grief?
Odette says
This is great. As a Massage Therapist it sheds light on the possible source of pain, especially persistent pain, pain that may be unresponsive to many standard massage therapy approaches with clients that I work with. Although I am cognizant of the fact that trauma can be trapped in the body, hearing this example from Peter Levine has been a lightbulb moment. Thank you.
Ian Macnaughton says
Wonderful example of what in some ways seems so simply exquisite and yet truly life affirming. I started training with Peter in 1971, later an intern and still watching this renewing and reconfirming, learning to slow down and titrate the incomplete responses with attuned support.
Jacqueline says
My problem area is a difficult area of the body to name and discuss. I have a great deal of anger towards that part of my body and often burn the area with hot water which causes other problems like irritation on the skin etc. I am female and since this is a private part of my body it is extra difficult to discuss.
Deborah Carnett says
As a therapist trained in using EMDR I regularly work with clients who can’t access traumatic memories but definitely have negative body sensations. I do a “float back” and ask them to remember the first time they had these same sensations (pain, body symptoms, etc). I have found there is always an initiating event (sexual abuse, bullying as a child or other traumatic experience). I enjoyed Peter Levine talk; always more to learn in this field.
Lee Nugan says
This was so interesting. Where is Peter Levine’s practice located?
Margaret McGuigan says
What a great post from peter. I will stay with the pain that my clients discuss and help them ffiucs more in physical breakdown of symptoms. Have been thinking king of sensorimotor training. Will definitely enrol
Kattalina Kazunas says
This is wonderful. I am commenting in regards to myself. Watching this video brought to mind the fact that after a severe car crash where I could have died , and the reaction of my older sisters response to me afterwards. Since that accident I still have muscle spasticity and a balance issue which was Diagnosed as MS. I don’t believe that and so I sought a different doc who found that my I have an ATLAS SUBLUXATION that stays in place. I have lost everything bc of this. I now have no income so I cannot purchase any program 5o help but I do own the trauma release process by David Berceli and wondering if this is similar to Dr. LEVINE WORK?..
I am going to try David Beecelis. method . I appreciated reading this discussion and too have been frozen in fear for 4 years now.
Hochima Treppa, LMFT says
This is the best of my knowledge at this time. I took up to level 3 of Peter Levine’s system which is called Somatic Experience and I have the book by David Berceli, “The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process”. Although, I am more familiar with Dr. Levine’s method, it looks like Berceli more often has stress positions that can unleash tight muscles, and possibly the trauma memories held in the tightness. In this way, it appears to me, more like Alexander Lowen’s Bioenergetics. By contrast, in Somatic Experiencing, the clinician watches more closely what movement the body itself is trying to do, or holding back from doing, and then encourages that movement. This means the movement may not be a stress pose. The focus is on process, including helping the client to titrate any intense reactions by pendulating between the intensity and safety/comfort to help the release be more digestible and less overwhelming. I hope this helps answer your question.
David oz says
I have back pain. I just wish it were that simple. i have spent hours feeling into the pain. Maybe the example, because of his knowledge about trauma, was just more ready. Having said that i am definitely ready or maybe not!!!
Robert says
I think with this kind of example it is the ideal case scenario, in most cases people need to learn a lot more skills and learn to feel safe enough to have a similar experience first.
Leslie Ellis says
I use a technique called focusing which is very similar and invites my clients to simply be with the felt sense in their body in an open, curious way. Many times it has led from a physical sensation to a trauma memory that then is able to release. But there are also times when the sensation is there, and the open following of the impulses, emotions, images or whatever wants to arise don’t lead anywhere in that moment.
I am trying to discern the difference when it works or doesn’t and think maybe it has to do with the client feeling safe enough or ready enough. I expect that Peter Levine’s presence provides a safe enough holding environment because he is practiced and gifted at this work. I think this way of working is so much more than a technique and that the quality of presence we bring as a therapists, and the calm and solid way we meet our client’s painful sensations is a major aspect of its ability to bring about the kind of dramatic release Levine describes.
Barbara says
Leslie,
As a trauma survivor, and in my experience of many practitioners, I agree with you wholeheartedly that the quality of the therapists presence is key. When I don’t sense safety, I am in full defensive mode body and mind.
The moments and days after trauma are so key to integration of the event….events. Being dismissed, challenged, told to change ones thoughts is what I got. We all need the presence of a caring and supportive other through our difficulties (and these are on a continuum). I just needed to know I was okay, I was brave, it was okay to feel scared. I sense that I would have more easily released and integrated. It is much more challenging when the opposite occurs…then a layering of subtle but reaffirming trauma gets further entrenched on the body and mind. And it does not matter how much I know this intellectually…my body tells me the difference between safe and not safe. So thank your for you comment about the quality of presence. It is the main piece in my experience 🙂
Grace Silvia says
Focusing is fantastic!
I am trained in Hakomi and love it, but recently Ann Weiser Cornell’s version of Focusing re-entered into my life. It is so simple and elegant, and I get to just about the same level of depth as with Hakomi, with all its bells and whistles.
Of course, I use the two together. Hakomi is also in part based on Focusing. Gestalt, too. And mindfulness is a core value.
Barbara, I am so sorry and get so mad. Trauma survivors do not need more trauma! Wishes for deep and joyous healing to you.
Sharon Greenlee says
I don’t mean to be disrespectful but I think I would get more out of this is Only Dr. Levine did the talking. I’m thinking he would add a bit more to exactly what took place. When there is a “narrator” Interrupting the presentation, it distracts from it. Thank you…
Grace Silvia says
I imagine it is used to help edit and focus the talks. Just another point of view, but I’m fine with it.
What is difficult for me is the scrolling words underneath the presenter (in the last video) and tiny word-full starbursts off to the side. It’s not possible to listen and read, especially if the words are scrolling, tiny, or more than a cluster of 5.
But perhaps someone more visual than i finds it helpful?
Jude Christensen, BA, LMT, Expert J.F. Barnes Myofascial Release Therapist, Reiki II, acupressure says
In working with a client using John. Barnes Myofascial Release, We may often dialogue, asking a brief, open ended question, such as, “What is under that (discomfort)? We focus on centering the answer to come from the body, not the analytical mind. I may enhance this process by asking if there is tension around the area then if either side is predominant, to help them unwind.
Jennifer says
Thank you for this post. Recently, I wrote a vulnerable blog post about a severe sickness I experienced in the postpartum. For a week afterwards I experienced the symptoms of my sickness. Because of my understanding of trauma and how the ‘body keeps the score’, I interpreted these symptoms as a release and that my body was completing the trauma cycle. My mind was replaying that event over and over again. I silenced my mind and sat with the sick terrified part of myself, tears began to stream down my face. I understood in that moment that a part of me was still frozen in fear and needed compassionate tender care to release and feel safe again.
Susan D. Gorman, M.A., SEP says
Thank you, Dr. Levine for this powerful, insightful story of releasing “locked up” pain. What a spiritual connection you have made with someone who could let go, release the pain in the moment rather than having to spend hours, days, months, years, decades writing, meditating, crying, praying, feeling despair and then another ray of hope and light. I am deeply grateful, Dr. Levine.
Leo says
At this time I have a young client who suffers from extreme neck pain coming up each time he ist exposed to people he would like to connect with. He then gets frozen and retires. It’s impossible for him to build to any relationship exept the therpeutic one we have finally established. He sais he trusts me. So I guided him through a hypnotic age regression to change some things in the early childhood. But I preferred to interrupt the hypnosis when he said the following:
I am very small and I cannot walk yet and I am lying on the floor. I see a black man. He is putting his foot on my head. I cannot feel anything but now he changes and turns into my father. Ma Mom is sitting on the bed next to us and she is weeping.
He told me that they were arguing a lot and when he was five years old they divorced. The Trauma seems evident and also that his neck is hurting. I assume that the black man and the father have to be reunited which means they will be integrated. But I would like to learn some more first because it looks like a rather delicate thing to do. What do you think?
Suzy says
It seems as if most people have some kind of trapped emotional trauma. This technique can help so many.
Thank you Ruth and Peter.
Jenny says
As an EFT practitioner, when working with pain, questions I generally ask the client are: when did it start, was there a specific physical event around that time, and if not, what was going on in your life around that time (looking for any emotionally significant events).
Caryl says
Like you Jenny I use EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Tapping with great results for the last 17 years, though I combine it with all my trainings including Matrix Reimprinting where we refer to Dr Scaer’s work (which he credits originally from working with Peter Levine). I have a lot of time for modalities like Havening, Focusing, TAT and Brainspotting. Coming from South Africa with a high incidence of trauma inducing experiences, I began to organise workshops and study these methods in 1999 (long before the scientific proof of how trauma works had caught up with what we as healers already were succeeding doing with our clients) with international healing luminaries like Brandon Bays (The Journey), Byron Katie and EFT-Matrix Reimprinting trainers. I personally do not find I can relate to Tremoring and prefer the other modalities I use.
I originally trained in and used The Journey (pioneered by Brandon Bays) to release traumatic memories – physical and emotional – it combines hypnotherapy with parts dialogue and forgiveness and certain NLP wording – all in a safety net of spiritual guidance Brandon calls Grace.
But the day came after I was newly trained in EFT when a client came to me with OCD having actually “died” under anaesthetic and I applied EFT for his fear – not of death – but being knocked off his feet yet again (a pattern of traumas in his life) and ending up in a wheelchair. I knew to look for the earliest relevant memory before the age of 6 and finally he remembered when he was just learning to walk his older brother (who had bullied him all his life) had punched him in the stomach, literally KNOCKING HIM OFF HIS FEET – a pattern that continued all his adult life until this process completely changed his life and he went back to an empowered and productive life again.
Of course my own interest arose when years of TALK THERAPY had not healed my childhood “ongoing trauma” of growing up with an alcoholic father – only what I call emotional-energy
Caryl says
…I meant to say emotional-energy tools like the above mentioned finally helped me to break free – the basis of my work as a coach today!
Rebecca says
I think this was very helpful. It was a good reminder that things that are currently maladaptive were once highly adaptive and to accept both and investigate them through the body.
thanks
P. Blasch says
I had a similar experience after reading Peter’s book “In an Unspoken Voice”, working with stiffness in my right side. I was made aware by a therapist that here was “holding” in my right hand and side even when I felt completely relaxed.
Painful tension all down my right arm would increase during sitting meditation, and I was resisting it because I felt afraid of it. One time after reading Peter’s book, I “allowed” the tension to do what it wanted to do. My face slowly contorted to the right and when I allowed my right arm to lift as it apparently wished to, my right index finger pointed back over my right shoulder.
The memory of arriving at primary school and feeling so overwhelmed by it came back to me. I was able to stay connected with myself (after years of therapy and meditation training) and ask myself what my “small child” wanted. My left hand immediately came up to gently clasp my right hand, as I swivelled effortlessly up to standing and walked “away”. I realised I had finally done – age 42 – what I wanted my mother to have done when I was aged 4 1/2: turn round and take me home, away from the school that scared me.
This was a revelation and a major turning point in my therapy and my life.
Charlene Jones says
Yes. Thank you P. Blasch for this very clear description of how significant our deepest emotions are and how deeply they stay in our bodies.
Jude Christensen, BA, LMT, Expert J.F. Barnes Myofascial Release Therapist, Reiki II, acupressure says
Thank you for this story of completion.
Rich Buckley says
Dr Levine is always brilliant, he gives insights which makes me feel he always knows what I’m going to say. As a regression hypnotist, as soon as the bulk of the pain and tensions are traced to the “right” as opposed to the “left”, in my world right vs left represents “this life” vs “past life.”
His focus seems far more direct and aware than my focus. It would have taken me several hours to maybe help this person. Even still Dr Levine’s insights seem gifted beyond the purely scientific and blessed with a working intuition fed by our better angels.
In any event, a useful light reading book worth having in a reference library written by Julia Cannon, “Soul Speak – The Language Of Your Body” It would have gotten one “in the ball park” followed then by 3 to 5 hours of work. Where as Dr Levine walks methodically to the source in 5 minutes. Thank you.
Robin Williams says
I’ve been writing for some time now and just remembered writing a piece called Stillpoint. After suffering chronic pain in my right shoulder for almost four years, I was having a much needed massage. I was in an abusive marriage at the time of the fall but the marriage had been over for some time. When the massage therapist used a technique called Stillpoint, I began to weep as I had a sensation of feeling all the weight of both emotional and physical pain released as she rested the weight of my head on her fingertips. She explained that the technique was used in situations where there were trapped emotions. I’m thinking this is similar to what you’re speaking about here,
Penny says
Thank you
Abbie says
I work with patients in pain. Sometimes when there is a clear indication that this pain was locked in the body without a physical trauma, connecting with the first experience of this pain brings the body to a place where it can be unlocked and released. Other times it’s tied into the language used, such as “a pain in the butt”. Often just bringing attention to that in a gentle somewhat humorous way allows it to unlock. So many ways the physical body holds thought patterns and emotions!
chrys says
I am working with a client who experienced a car accident two years ago and she is still holding it emotionally throughout her body (intestine, heart and neck and shoulders) … we are slowly working our way through.
Gerrit van Brussel says
I shoud do Heart Assisted Therapy. (John Diepold.)
Susan Hawkes says
Had just a whiff of nitrous oxide after the dental technician placed the mask over my face and I burst into tears. Dentist and tech were surprised, maybe scared and claimed I didn’t have mask on long enough to get any effect from the NO. That was not the point. The act of having someone else cover my face and impinge my breathing released the years of emotionally burying my mother’s repeated suffocations of me as discipline.
A year before, a sleep apnea study tech attempted to adjust my apnea mask without waking me. My dream of a field of yellow flowers suddenly included a fast approaching, dangerous woman. I awoke screaming. I woke the other sleep study subject and scared the tech so badly she locked her keys in the control room. She had to stop the study, send the other subject home and then I drove her home so she could get the extra key to her car.
You never know who is walking around with what adverse events locked away but still active and easy to activate.
Suzy says
I’m sorry for your pain. My mom is the best…..but I still remember the time she repeatedly hit my head with a hairbrush because she didn’t like my haircut. Shameful memories by a parent’s discipline are difficult to let go of.
I’ve been holding on to that one for 40 years. I let go now. Thank you.