10. My Somatic Experiencing Experience

Becoming Fully Human

This episode highlights my recent session with a somatic experiencing (SE) practitioner. I went there to explore some of my unfavourable responses to my recent breakup, especially feelings of helplessness that overwhelm my body when I think of him moving on.
I have done a fair amount of self-exploration to the point of knowing that I am harbouring some trauma, both direct, from the collective, and inter-generational. One of the ways it expresses itself is my "anxious attachment" style in romantic relationships (read Amir Levine's book "Attached"), and the ways in which I have gotten much of my self-worth through men in the past. Despite knowing these (and many other I explore in the podcast), my body still has very real negative responses/ coping mechanisms that self-sabotage me or overwhelm me emotionally in my life. And well, I am ready to let that shit go.

I am still having a hard time expressing what really happened during that 1 hour SE session, but I hope this informs you a bit, or at the very lease offers some entertainment.

It feels like SE has reset my nervous system, and I feel like I am actually operating from a parasympathetic dominant nervous system now. This is after spending most of my life with unknowing underlying low levels of self-preservation mode (fight or flight, sympathetic, etc).

I hope you enjoy the podcast !

Connect with me at [email protected] or on IG @CamilleJulia

Resources to learn more:

The Body Keeps the Score Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma By: Bessel Van Der Kolk

Healing Trauma Restoring the Wisdom of the Body By: Peter A. Levine

Waking the Tiger Healing Trauma By: Peter A. Levine, Ann Frederick

SE Australia

Peter Levine explains what SE is