Somatic Experiencing:

Healing from the Bottom Up

Trauma, stress, and life’s challenges don’t just live in our thoughts—they are stored in the body. Our nervous systemshapes how we feel, how we think, and how we move through the world.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-first (bottom-up) approach to healing. Instead of starting with the mind, we work with the body's sensations, reflexes, and stored responses to restore balance to the nervous system. As your body finds safety, regulation, and integration, the mind follows.

If you feel overwhelmed, disconnected, or stuck in cycles of stress or exhaustion, SE offers a way to gently reconnect with your body, process unintegrated experiences, and restore a sense of ease, strength, and resilience.

What is Somatic Experiencing?

Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, Somatic Experiencing is a nervous system-based approach to healing from trauma, chronic stress, and dysregulation. Unlike traditional talk therapy, which starts with thoughts and emotions, SE works from the body up, helping you:

  • Release stored survival responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn).

  • Rebuild a felt sense of safety in the body.

  • Develop embodied boundaries that support emotional and relational well-being.

  • Restore nervous system regulation so you can move through life with more ease and presence.

This process does not require re-telling or reliving trauma. Instead, SE gently helps your body complete the stress responses that may have been interrupted in the past—allowing your nervous system to return to a more regulated state.

Types of Trauma SE Can Support

Trauma isn’t always about a single event. It can be chronic, stored in the body, or woven into early experiences that shaped your nervous system’s development. SE is effective for processing a wide range of trauma, including:

  • Developmental Trauma: Early childhood experiences (neglect, abuse, or lack of attuned caregiving) that shape self-regulation, attachment, and emotional boundaries.

  • Shock Trauma: Single-event trauma, such as accidents, medical interventions, birth trauma, or violence, which can leave the nervous system stuck in a state of hypervigilance or shutdown.

  • Birth Trauma: Trauma during birth (for either the birthing person or the baby) that can create lasting imprints in the body and nervous system.

  • Complex Trauma: Chronic exposure to stress, relational trauma, or ongoing adversity, leading to difficulty with boundaries, emotional overwhelm, or numbing.

  • Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS): Unresolved trauma that manifests as hypervigilance, chronic tension, difficulty trusting, or feeling stuck in survival mode.

How Somatic Experiencing Works

Healing is not about revisiting the past—it’s about building capacity in the present. SE works by strengthening your nervous system’s ability to regulate, so it can process stress, trauma, or dysregulation without overwhelm.

The Flow of a Session:

We begin by building resources and safety.
Rather than diving directly into difficult experiences, we first expand your nervous system’s capacity for stability and ease by:

  • Tuning into body sensations that feel neutral or pleasant (warmth, breath, movement).

  • Using the environment for grounding (feeling your feet on the floor, sensing support from a chair, orienting to a safe space).

  • Exploring different senses (noticing sounds, visuals, or textures that bring ease).

  • Tracking what brings a sense of expansion (nature, deep exhales, safe touch, movement).

We pendulate between experiences to gently process what arises.
Your body naturally knows what it is ready to process—we don’t force it. As we track sensations, memories, emotions, or stored survival responses may surface. Instead of staying in them, we use pendulation—gently shifting awareness between:

  • Activation and settling (difficult sensations vs. safety and ease).

  • Internal and external focus (body sensations vs. the surrounding environment).

  • Different senses (noticing movement vs. sound vs. touch).

  • Time perspectives (before an event vs. after an event).

This natural back-and-forth movement helps the nervous system integrate experiences in a way that feels manageable and safe.

We use titration—working in small, gentle doses.
Instead of overwhelming the system by processing too much at once, we use titration—allowing small amounts of activation to be processed at a time.

  • This prevents re-traumatization and helps your nervous system integrate stress responses without overload.

  • Over time, your system naturally builds capacity, making it easier to process difficult experiences while staying grounded.

We return to safety and regulation.
Every session ends with integration—intentionally bringing the body back to a state of stability and ease. This ensures that your system knows how to return to balance and that you leave the session feeling grounded, not overwhelmed.

Rather than staying stuck in stress or reliving trauma, SE helps your body release old patterns, build new pathways of resilience, and develop greater nervous system flexibility.

Embodied Boundaries & Nervous System Healing

Many people who experience trauma—especially developmental, relational, or attachment trauma—struggle with boundaries. This can show up as:

  • Feeling unsafe in relationships or struggling to trust.

  • Having rigid, disconnected boundaries or not feeling your own limits.

  • Feeling overwhelmed, drained, or overly responsible for others.

  • Having difficulty saying no or feeling guilty when asserting yourself.

These patterns are not just psychological—they are nervous system responses. The nervous system learns boundaries first through co-regulation in early relationships. If those experiences were inconsistent or unsafe, your body may default to people-pleasing, hyper-independence, or chronic hypervigilance in relationships.

SE helps restore embodied boundaries by working with your body’s natural protective instincts. This includes:

  • Rebuilding the nervous system’s capacity for connection and protection.

  • Recognizing body cues of safety vs. discomfort in relationships.

  • Shifting from automatic, attachment-driven responses to intentional boundary setting.

When your body knows it is safe, you can trust yourself more deeply, stand more firmly in your truth, and experience relationships with greater ease and confidence.

Who Can Benefit from Somatic Experiencing?

SE is for anyone struggling with the effects of stress, trauma, or emotional dysregulation, especially if you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or unable to fully relax.

SE is especially supportive for:

Postpartum & Motherhood

The postpartum period is a profound nervous system shift. SE provides a gentle way to process birth trauma, rebuild boundaries, and regulate stress in motherhood.

Chronic Stress & Anxiety

If you feel like you’re constantly on edge, stuck in overdrive, or exhausted, SE helps shift your body out of chronic stress responses and into a state of regulation and balance.

Grief & Loss

Grief is not just emotional—it’s physical. SE provides a compassionate, body-centered way to process loss without overwhelm.

Trauma & PTSD

If you feel trapped in past survival responses (hypervigilance, shutdown, emotional numbing), SE helps restore nervous system balance without forcing re-exposure to trauma.

Chronic Pain & Tension

Unprocessed stress and trauma can manifest as chronic pain, migraines, gut issues, and muscle tension. SE helps unravel the underlying nervous system patterns contributing to these symptoms.

The Nervous System’s Role in Healing

As a bodyworker and birthworker, I approach SE with a deep understanding of how trauma, boundaries, and nervous system health affect the whole body.

Many chronic conditions—autoimmune disease, chronic fatigue, hormonal imbalances, and pain syndromes—are linked to nervous system dysregulation. Stress, trauma, and early life experiences shape how our bodies function, influencing everything from immune responses to gut health, pain sensitivity, and hormonal rhythms.

By restoring nervous system regulation, strengthening embodied boundaries, and using the body as a resource, SE helps create a foundation for deeper healing—so that you can reconnect with your body, reclaim your energy, and experience greater ease in your daily life.

Ready to Begin the Next Step of Your Healing Journey?

Healing happens at your own pace, in your own way—and having options matters.

In-Person Sessions – Experience Somatic Experiencing in a safe, calming space at my Downtown Lee’s Summit office, where we can work deeply with the nervous system in a supportive environment.

Virtual Sessions – Receive the same body-centered support via secure telehealth, allowing you to explore healing from the comfort of your home.

Take the first step toward nervous system healing from the bottom up—your body already holds the wisdom to heal.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • My standard rate is $150 per hour, but I offer a sliding scale down to $75 per hour to ensure accessibility. If you need financial flexibility, you are welcome to choose the rate that best fits your situation.

    Sliding Scale Guidelines:

    • $150 (Full Rate) – For those who can comfortably afford full-price services and want to support accessibility for others.

    • $125 (Middle Rate) – For those who feel a slight stretch but can invest in their healing.

    • $100 (Reduced Rate) – For those with financial limitations but who can still contribute.

    • $75 (Lowest Rate) – For those experiencing financial hardship who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access this work.

    If finances are a concern but you feel called to this work, please reach out—I’m happy to discuss flexible payment plansor other options.

  • Healing is an individual process, and everyone’s journey is different. Some people notice shifts after just a few sessions, while others find that ongoing support helps deepen their progress. The goal of Somatic Experiencing is to build lasting nervous system resilience, so we work at a pace that feels right for you.

    • If you're looking for short-term support, a few sessions can help you gain regulation tools and awareness of your body’s responses.

    • If you're working with long-standing patterns, chronic stress, or trauma, you may benefit from more ongoing sessions to allow for deeper integration.

    • Sessions can be weekly, biweekly, or spaced further apart depending on your needs. We’ll adjust as we go to ensure you’re feeling supported but never overwhelmed.

    You’re always in control of your healing process, and we can discuss the right approach for you at any time.

  • Not at all. Somatic Experiencing focuses on your body’s responses rather than retelling or reliving traumatic events. Unlike traditional talk therapy, SE does not require you to verbalize past experiences in order to heal.

    Instead, we work with body sensations, breath, posture, and nervous system patterns to gently release stored tension and reestablish safety. This means that:

    • You don’t have to share details of what happened.

    • We move at a pace that feels comfortable for you.

    • Healing can happen without words—your body holds wisdom beyond the story.

    If you ever want to talk, you can—but SE is designed to help you process through your body, even if words don’t feel accessible or beneficial.

  • No, SE is a body-based approach to healing rather than a traditional talk therapy model. While we may discuss emotions or experiences, the focus is on how trauma and stress are stored in the body and how to gently release them.

    • Talk therapy often works by processing experiences through thoughts and emotions.

    • SE works through physical sensations, nervous system regulation, and body awareness to create lasting change.

    SE can also complement other healing approaches, including therapy, bodywork, functional medicine, and nervous system regulation practices. Whether you’ve tried therapy before or not, SE offers a unique way to heal by working with the body’s wisdom.

  • Yes! Many chronic health conditions—including digestive issues, autoimmune disease, hormonal imbalances, chronic pain, and fatigue—are deeply connected to the nervous system and stress response. Somatic Experiencing (SE) helps regulate the nervous system, which in turn supports physical healing and overall resilience.

    • The Gut-Brain Connection: Your gut and nervous system are in constant communication via the vagus nerve, which plays a key role in digestion, immune function, and emotional regulation. When the nervous system is in a prolonged state of stress, fight-or-flight, or freeze, it can disrupt gut function, leading to inflammation, food sensitivities, bloating, or IBS-like symptoms. SE helps restore nervous system balance, which can improve digestion and support gut healing.

    • The HPA Axis & Hormonal Balance: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulates your body’s stress response. When this system is overworked due to chronic stress or trauma, it can lead to cortisol imbalances, adrenal fatigue, thyroid dysfunction, and hormone-related symptoms like irregular cycles, sleep disturbances, and exhaustion. SE helps regulate stress patterns and supports your body’s ability to restore balance naturally.

    • The Impact of Early Trauma on Long-Term Health: Research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)shows that early-life stress can increase the risk of autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and chronic pain later in life. Trauma doesn’t just affect emotions—it can change the way the body responds to stress over time, leading to ongoing inflammation and dysregulation. SE works to rewire these deep patterns, helping the nervous system shift out of chronic survival mode and into a state where the body can heal.

    Because SE works with your body’s natural rhythms, it can be a valuable tool for managing chronic stress-related symptoms, nervous system imbalances, and long-standing health challenges—all in a way that feels gentle, safe, and sustainable.

  • Yes! Somatic Experiencing can be done in person or via secure telehealth. Virtual sessions are just as effective and allow you to work from the comfort of your home.