Embodied Trauma Healing with Somatic Experiencing®
“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, need to be a life sentence.”
— Dr. Peter Levine
Trauma is part of the human experience, and so is the possibility of resolution and post-trauma growth.
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) recognises the innate wholeness and wisdom of the body that exists in all of us, and approaches trauma from the perspective of our capacity to recover and restore resilience to the organism.
SE is a body-oriented therapeutic modality for the resolution of symptoms resulting from shock trauma, PTSD, emotional / attachment trauma, and chronic stress that accumulate in the body and nervous system. Trauma, from an SE lens, isn’t in the event itself, but rather in the effect the experience has on the whole person or collective - when an acute or prolonged experience is too overwhelming to be contained and processed, it leaves a residue in the physiology, and the resulting dysregulation in the nervous system can have a profound impact on daily life.
The focus of these sessions is to help you explore and resolve the underlying causes of whatever is troubling you. The body always remembers and tells the story of our lived experience, even if we have no conscious recollection. It’s entirely possible to resolve both conscious and unconscious experiences (implicit memories that are pre-cognitive and/or pre-verbal) held in the bodymind, and to work with your nervous system to restore flexibility and resilience for lasting resolution. We do this by allowing the body’s wisdom to guide the way, as we stay connected to the unfolding inner experience with curiosity, courage and compassion.
— Dr. Peter Levine
Trauma is part of the human experience, and so is the possibility of resolution and post-trauma growth.
Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) recognises the innate wholeness and wisdom of the body that exists in all of us, and approaches trauma from the perspective of our capacity to recover and restore resilience to the organism.
SE is a body-oriented therapeutic modality for the resolution of symptoms resulting from shock trauma, PTSD, emotional / attachment trauma, and chronic stress that accumulate in the body and nervous system. Trauma, from an SE lens, isn’t in the event itself, but rather in the effect the experience has on the whole person or collective - when an acute or prolonged experience is too overwhelming to be contained and processed, it leaves a residue in the physiology, and the resulting dysregulation in the nervous system can have a profound impact on daily life.
The focus of these sessions is to help you explore and resolve the underlying causes of whatever is troubling you. The body always remembers and tells the story of our lived experience, even if we have no conscious recollection. It’s entirely possible to resolve both conscious and unconscious experiences (implicit memories that are pre-cognitive and/or pre-verbal) held in the bodymind, and to work with your nervous system to restore flexibility and resilience for lasting resolution. We do this by allowing the body’s wisdom to guide the way, as we stay connected to the unfolding inner experience with curiosity, courage and compassion.
The impact of trauma on the nervous system
When faced with an overwhelming situation, your nervous system will ready you to run away (flight), or to defend yourself (fight). When neither of these are an option, dissociation (freeze) will happen as the body’s survival mechanism of protecting against the overwhelming physical and/or emotional. pain of the experience.
During overwhelm, you may not consciously register the pain or even have clear recollection of the event(s), however the body remembers resulting in a nervous system that is either “stuck” in one of the defence responses, or a nervous system that swings between high activation and dissociation.
Until your nervous system finds more safety through completion or resolution, past experiences will continue to have an impact on your present-day lived experience.
Working to restore stability, flexibility and resilience in your nervous system is an essential part of the trauma resolution journey.
“After trauma, the world is experienced with a different nervous system that has an altered perception of risk and safety.”
— Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD, author of The Body Keeps the Score
During overwhelm, you may not consciously register the pain or even have clear recollection of the event(s), however the body remembers resulting in a nervous system that is either “stuck” in one of the defence responses, or a nervous system that swings between high activation and dissociation.
Until your nervous system finds more safety through completion or resolution, past experiences will continue to have an impact on your present-day lived experience.
Working to restore stability, flexibility and resilience in your nervous system is an essential part of the trauma resolution journey.
“After trauma, the world is experienced with a different nervous system that has an altered perception of risk and safety.”
— Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD, author of The Body Keeps the Score
How might trauma be showing up in your life?
Trauma can show up in your physical, emotional and mental health, including:
- Patterns of tension and constriction in the muscles, joints, fascia, and viscera
- Chronic pain, clinical conditions, syndromes and disease
- Digestive issues
- Sleep issues
- Anxiety, panic disorders, defensiveness, emotional reactivity, rigidity
- Feeling shut down or isolated, depression, avoidance, procrastination or an inability to make decisions or commitments
- Feeling unsafe in your body and the world
- Poor self-care, difficulty with boundaries, people pleasing
- Addiction, self-harming, disordered eating
- Phobias
- Shame, guilt, or self-blame
- Experiencing difficulty asking for help
- Core beliefs of being too much, not enough, or feeling worthless, stupid, helpless, a failure, unlovable…. to name a few.
Outcomes of integration
- Living more in present moment experience
- Feeling safer in your body and the world around you
- Feeling more emotional resilience and equanimity
- Experience more confidence and trust in yourself
- Feeling more embodied, integrated and whole within yourself
- Experience the freedom to be your authentic self
- Experience more energy, vitality and joy
- Feeling more connected to others
Who does Michelle support with these sessions
Michelle supports people who…
Sessions focus on stabilisation, renegotiation, resolution and integration. This is supported by psycho-education, the application of clinical tools and techniques combined with somatic practices to release and resolve fixated physiological states, and interaction that invites you to move into a different relationship with yourself and live more in present-moment awareness.
- feel stuck in unhelpful patterns and beliefs;
- are experiencing pain, disease, emotional distress;
- have a nervous system “stuck” in fight, flight or freeze patterns;
- are tired of talking about their trauma but seeing no real change;
- realise that trauma can only be fully resolved when the body is part of the conversation.
Sessions focus on stabilisation, renegotiation, resolution and integration. This is supported by psycho-education, the application of clinical tools and techniques combined with somatic practices to release and resolve fixated physiological states, and interaction that invites you to move into a different relationship with yourself and live more in present-moment awareness.
Michelle's approach
Michelle offers a safe nurturing space and a compassionate presence where all parts of you are welcome. In her experience, we already have all the answers within us so her role is to guide you in becoming more attuned to your body’s messages and to explore them with curiosity and compassion.
It’s important to know that her approach is one of walking beside you as another human being who has taken a consistent deep dive into healing from an embodied bottom-up approach both in my personal practice and living on retreat with one of her past teachers for extended periods of time.
Embodied Trauma Healing has been born out of 24 years of experience offering somatic practices and bodywork, as well as more recent training in Somatic Experiencing. Coming from a background in bodywork, Michelle specialises in providing consensual touch work when beneficial to support your capacity to hold the experience, and to move the “stuck” activation through and out of your body.
Given that most trauma happens in a relational context, the supportive presence of another human being can have a profound impact on your sense of safety and connection, and your ability to process and assimilate. Feeling fully seen and heard by another is, by nature, profoundly healing.
It’s important to know that her approach is one of walking beside you as another human being who has taken a consistent deep dive into healing from an embodied bottom-up approach both in my personal practice and living on retreat with one of her past teachers for extended periods of time.
Embodied Trauma Healing has been born out of 24 years of experience offering somatic practices and bodywork, as well as more recent training in Somatic Experiencing. Coming from a background in bodywork, Michelle specialises in providing consensual touch work when beneficial to support your capacity to hold the experience, and to move the “stuck” activation through and out of your body.
Given that most trauma happens in a relational context, the supportive presence of another human being can have a profound impact on your sense of safety and connection, and your ability to process and assimilate. Feeling fully seen and heard by another is, by nature, profoundly healing.
Pricing and making an appointmentSessions are offered with a flexible pricing structure rather than one fixed price to support accessibility. Please choose the pricing that feels appropriate to you and your circumstances. You will not be asked to justify your choice.
60-minute 1:1 session sliding scale between €70-€120 Euros or £70-£120 GBP 90-minute 1:1 session sliding scale between €100-€170 Euros or £100-£170 GBP Reduced-cost spaces are available for those in severe financial difficulty. You’re welcome to contact Michelle to discuss your circumstances. Please note that these spaces are limited and not always available immediately. When choosing someone to support you, it’s vitally important that you feel safe in their presence, and that they have done (and continue to do) their own work in order to be able to hold space for you effectively. If what Michelle offers resonates with you, and you would like to meet her before scheduling a full session, please schedule a free 20-minute discovery call here. PLEASE NOTE: To ensure the continuity of process and effectiveness of the therapeutic container, Michelle only accepts new clients who are ready to commit to weekly or fortnightly sessions. Book a session with Michelle here: https://calendly.com/michelle_murray |
TestimonialThere really are no words to express how transformative and life changing my work with Michelle has been. I’ve grown more in 4 months than in over 20 years in other types of counselling. |
Therapist Michelle Murray
|
Michelle has worked in the field of somatics since 2002, initially as a massage therapist and yoga teacher in London, followed by various other locations before settling in Portugal. Over the years, Michelle has followed her interests (and her heart) learning from many amazing teachers and facilitators. However, the basis for everything she offers is her personal experience and continued exploration.
Her work is person-centred and responsive to what arises in the moment, and in recent years has evolved to include a deep dive into the field of trauma healing and nervous system regulation. Michelle continues to deepen her understanding with ongoing study including training in Somatic Experiencing®. Focussing on stabilisation, integration, resilience, wholeness and freedom, she invites you to reconnect with who you most deeply are, to find your own voice, and to stand in the power of knowing that you are enough. For more info: michellemurray.eu |
FAQs
What does embodiment mean?
Embodiment means being present in the body. The more attuned we are to our inner landscape, our feelings and sensations, the easier it is to hear the body speaking. Over time we begin to live more from the wholeness of somatic intelligence rather than cognitive intelligence - the mind becomes more grounded in the sensations of the body and more in touch with simple satisfactions. Our body becomes a faithful and steady resource in an ongoing process that flowers into feeling totally at home in your bodymind, living with more vitality, joy and an unshakeable trust in life itself. We are home and can surrender to the flow of life as it unfolds.
What does somatic mean?
Your soma is your whole being. Somatic is often defined as relating to the body, as distinguished from the mind. However, the apparent separation of body and mind is merely cognitive - when your body is comfortable and happy, then your mind will be clear and integrated.
What is trauma?Trauma may begin as acute stress from a perceived life-threat (an overwhelming experience that happens too fast, too soon) or as the end product of cumulative stress (overwhelming experiences resulting from too little for too long, or too late). Traumatic residue results from any experience that is so overwhelming that we are unable to cope and process fully, leaving a residual imprint in the organism.
Trauma may result from a wide variety of stressors such as accidents, invasive medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, emotional abuse, loss or neglect, birth trauma, war, natural disasters, trans-generational trauma including epigenetics, or the stressors of ongoing fear, conflict or oppressive systems.
What differentiates trauma from adaptive stress is that trauma results in disconnection - from the body, emotions, our authentic Self, and in relationship to others. Disconnection is our way of coping with the unbearable and is a necessary survival response to the presence of real or perceived danger in the moment. However when the disconnection continues, it can result in us feeling reactive, defensive, unsafe, isolated and shut down, affecting our present moment experience of daily life.
Ultimately, unresolved trauma can be thought of as being like an unhealed wound from the past, which continues to show up in the present every time it gets triggered.
What are the origins of Somatic Experiencing and how does it work?
SE was developed by Peter Levine, Ph.D., and is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics with more than 45 years of successful application.
Dr. Levine was inspired to study stress on the animal nervous system when he realised that animals are constantly under threat of death yet show no symptoms of trauma stuck in their systems. What he discovered was that trauma has to do with the third survival response to a perceived life threat, which is freeze. When fight and flight are not options, we freeze, shut down and collapse, like “playing dead.” However, this reaction is designed to be time-sensitive, in other words, it needs to run its course, and the massive energy that was prepared for fight or flight gets discharged, through shaking and trembling. If the immobility phase isn’t complete, that charge stays trapped, and, from the body’s perspective, it is still under threat. SE sessions works to release this stored energy and turn off this threat alarm that causes dysregulation and dissociation. SE helps people understand this body response to trauma and work through a “body first” approach to healing.
The SE approach offers a framework to assess and identify traumatic shock and where a person is “stuck” in the patterns of fight, flight, or freeze responses, and uses clinical tools and techniques to release and resolve these fixated physiological states so the person can enjoy more flexibility and resilience in the nervous system, and live more in present-moment awareness.
The Somatic Experiencing approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms. In a therapeutic process, the client is gently guided to develop a felt sense of safety in the body along with tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions (and in the case of shock trauma working to complete thwarted defensive responses) to bring resolution to their nervous system.
What types of trauma does Somatic Experiencing work with?
Emotional: severe neglect and abandonment, attachment wounding, severe loss, ongoing abuse;
Physical Injuries and Medical: surgeries, anaesthesia, burns, poisoning, hospitalisations, assault injuries such as being shot or stabbed;
High-Impact: surgery, ether extraction of tonsils, electric shock, hallucinations, drowning, suffocation, foetal distress (hypoxia, hyper-cardia), traumatic birth, intrauterine stress, invasive gynaecological procedures;
Inevitable and Inescapable Attack: animal attacks, kidnapping, war, bombing, physical abuse, sexual abuse, incest;
Physical defence failures: falls, high-impact accidents, head injuries;
Natural disasters: tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, social change in the community or homeland;
Horror: witnessing an accident, witnessing abuse, abduction, death or torture, killing or injuring someone;
Systematic Torture and Abuse: war torture, war abduction, concentration camps and systematic abuse including cults;
SE is also effective for working with clinical syndromes, such as fibromyalgia, digestive disorders, panic disorder, chronic fatigue.
How is Embodied Trauma Healing different from psychotherapy or counselling?
The main difference is that the body is included as an essential part of the conversation because the body is where memories are stored, where wholeness resides, and where integration happens.
We can’t think our way out of trauma. The baseline state of our nervous system is the foundation of our experience of safety in our body and the world around us.
Embodiment means being present in the body. The more attuned we are to our inner landscape, our feelings and sensations, the easier it is to hear the body speaking. Over time we begin to live more from the wholeness of somatic intelligence rather than cognitive intelligence - the mind becomes more grounded in the sensations of the body and more in touch with simple satisfactions. Our body becomes a faithful and steady resource in an ongoing process that flowers into feeling totally at home in your bodymind, living with more vitality, joy and an unshakeable trust in life itself. We are home and can surrender to the flow of life as it unfolds.
What does somatic mean?
Your soma is your whole being. Somatic is often defined as relating to the body, as distinguished from the mind. However, the apparent separation of body and mind is merely cognitive - when your body is comfortable and happy, then your mind will be clear and integrated.
What is trauma?Trauma may begin as acute stress from a perceived life-threat (an overwhelming experience that happens too fast, too soon) or as the end product of cumulative stress (overwhelming experiences resulting from too little for too long, or too late). Traumatic residue results from any experience that is so overwhelming that we are unable to cope and process fully, leaving a residual imprint in the organism.
Trauma may result from a wide variety of stressors such as accidents, invasive medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, emotional abuse, loss or neglect, birth trauma, war, natural disasters, trans-generational trauma including epigenetics, or the stressors of ongoing fear, conflict or oppressive systems.
What differentiates trauma from adaptive stress is that trauma results in disconnection - from the body, emotions, our authentic Self, and in relationship to others. Disconnection is our way of coping with the unbearable and is a necessary survival response to the presence of real or perceived danger in the moment. However when the disconnection continues, it can result in us feeling reactive, defensive, unsafe, isolated and shut down, affecting our present moment experience of daily life.
Ultimately, unresolved trauma can be thought of as being like an unhealed wound from the past, which continues to show up in the present every time it gets triggered.
What are the origins of Somatic Experiencing and how does it work?
SE was developed by Peter Levine, Ph.D., and is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics with more than 45 years of successful application.
Dr. Levine was inspired to study stress on the animal nervous system when he realised that animals are constantly under threat of death yet show no symptoms of trauma stuck in their systems. What he discovered was that trauma has to do with the third survival response to a perceived life threat, which is freeze. When fight and flight are not options, we freeze, shut down and collapse, like “playing dead.” However, this reaction is designed to be time-sensitive, in other words, it needs to run its course, and the massive energy that was prepared for fight or flight gets discharged, through shaking and trembling. If the immobility phase isn’t complete, that charge stays trapped, and, from the body’s perspective, it is still under threat. SE sessions works to release this stored energy and turn off this threat alarm that causes dysregulation and dissociation. SE helps people understand this body response to trauma and work through a “body first” approach to healing.
The SE approach offers a framework to assess and identify traumatic shock and where a person is “stuck” in the patterns of fight, flight, or freeze responses, and uses clinical tools and techniques to release and resolve these fixated physiological states so the person can enjoy more flexibility and resilience in the nervous system, and live more in present-moment awareness.
The Somatic Experiencing approach facilitates the completion of self-protective motor responses and the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of trauma symptoms. In a therapeutic process, the client is gently guided to develop a felt sense of safety in the body along with tolerance for difficult bodily sensations and suppressed emotions (and in the case of shock trauma working to complete thwarted defensive responses) to bring resolution to their nervous system.
What types of trauma does Somatic Experiencing work with?
Emotional: severe neglect and abandonment, attachment wounding, severe loss, ongoing abuse;
Physical Injuries and Medical: surgeries, anaesthesia, burns, poisoning, hospitalisations, assault injuries such as being shot or stabbed;
High-Impact: surgery, ether extraction of tonsils, electric shock, hallucinations, drowning, suffocation, foetal distress (hypoxia, hyper-cardia), traumatic birth, intrauterine stress, invasive gynaecological procedures;
Inevitable and Inescapable Attack: animal attacks, kidnapping, war, bombing, physical abuse, sexual abuse, incest;
Physical defence failures: falls, high-impact accidents, head injuries;
Natural disasters: tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, social change in the community or homeland;
Horror: witnessing an accident, witnessing abuse, abduction, death or torture, killing or injuring someone;
Systematic Torture and Abuse: war torture, war abduction, concentration camps and systematic abuse including cults;
SE is also effective for working with clinical syndromes, such as fibromyalgia, digestive disorders, panic disorder, chronic fatigue.
How is Embodied Trauma Healing different from psychotherapy or counselling?
The main difference is that the body is included as an essential part of the conversation because the body is where memories are stored, where wholeness resides, and where integration happens.
We can’t think our way out of trauma. The baseline state of our nervous system is the foundation of our experience of safety in our body and the world around us.