Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented approach to trauma treatment developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Somatic Experiencing addresses traumatic shock by shifting the nervous system states from the powerful survival responses of flight, fight, fawn, and freeze to the equally powerful restoration states of rest, restore, and relate. It does this by working with the autonomic nervous system—the unconscious part of the brain that determines whether you are safe or unsafe. When the body is safe, rather than stuck in a survival mode state of stress, a person has genuine options and can make real choices. There is an opportunity to respond rather than react. In this state of physical balance the body can recover from injury, infection, and illness, and the mind can relate to experiences with empathy, humor and creativity.

Many of the people who come to my practice are overwhelmed with intense symptoms that severely compromise their lives. This is almost always because their nervous systems are dysregulated from trauma. Until the autonomic nervous system is brought back into a regulated state, the body's innate healing capacities remain hijacked by powerful survival stress responses. This causes a myriad of symptoms including depression, anxiety, fatigue, autoimmune disorders, digestive issues, and chronic pain.

My Teachers

Ana do Valle is the clinical director and supervisor for the Soma Healing Center in Boulder, CO. She has developed her studies in the areas of Anthroposophical Counseling, Sensory Processing and Somatic Experiencing. Ana specializes in working with the social nervous system. Her focus is on addressing the art of integrating sensory information in order to create embodiment, empowerment and coherence in our capacity to “experience” the other and ourselves.

Kathy L. Kain has practiced and taught bodywork and trauma recovery skills for more than 42 years. She teaches in Europe, Australia, Canada, and throughout the United States.

Kathy’s trainings cover various interwoven focus areas, including trauma recovery, somatic touch, self-regulation skills, and resilience. These focus areas ultimately weave together into a unified somatic approach to touch, awareness, and embodiment. Her educational approach encourages students to engage an ongoing practice that deepens their skills and expertise as they gradually embody the work and make it their own.

Peter A Levine, Ph.D., is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma, which he has developed over the past 50 years. He holds a doctorate in Biophysics from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in Psychology from International University. He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education, dedicated to Community Outreach and Post-Advanced Somatic Experiencing® Training, and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley; Mills College; Antioch University; the California Institute of Integral Studies; and the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.

Brian J. Whelan earned his Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan in 1998, where he specialized in working with children, youth and families. After closing both his Boulder and Fort Collins offices, Brian is now accepting new clients at his Loveland Colorado office.

Dr. Whitehouse has a BA from the University of Colorado in Psychology, an MA in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Northern Colorado and his doctorate, an EdD in Psychology, Counseling, and Guidance from the University of Northern Colorado.

He specializes in psychotherapy, biofeedback, and is an expert in heart rate variability and trauma.

Dr. Bob Scaer, (1938-2021) was a board-certified neurologist that had a 4-decade career in neurology and rehabilitation medicine, 20 of those years was spent as the Medical Director of Rehabilitation Services at the Mapleton Center in Boulder.

He was the first physician to use Somatic Experiencing in a clinical setting.