WAKING TIGER

Peter Levine (1997). Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma.


Levine, holder of two doctorates and at the time of the book (1997) has 30 years of clinical experience working with trauma patients, presents a perspective on healing trauma called "somatic experiencing." 

Levine admits, that there are no scientific research papers testing the efficacy of the somatic experiencing method, and in my google scholar search for papers with "somatic experiencing" in the title written by Peter Levine in September of 2023 showed the most recent 2018 article reported clinical cases related to somatic experiencing but still no experimental testing of the method.

summarizing my understanding of the book, when confronted with a stressful situation, and unable to fight or flee, the human body will immobilize (freeze), and when the danger has passed, the body naturally releases the energy generated by the trauma (e.g., intense shaking)...the issue for most humans is that we interrupt this natural healing sequence, and consequently the frozen trauma is stored in the body and reactivated by various kinds of stimuli with MANY kinds of symptoms that are often unrelated to the original traumau but serve as distractions from the trauma...this vicious cycle is trauma, and it continues until the body finds a way to release the stored energy...

one healthy way to release the stored energy from a trauma is the somatic experiencing of bodily sensations as a "felt sense" in a safe space with a support system (ideally a trained therapist)...the release may be experienced as bodily trembling, shaking, crying and so forth...a sense of completion can occur in which the traumatized person finds resolution...another way to release the trauma is through guided imagery that takes a person on a hero/heroine journey in which they emerge victorious/triumphant over the trauma.


one safe practice to begin releasing stored trauma bit by bit without having to recall and replay the actual trauma is to focus on each body part from head to toe (Levine recommends a pulse shower for this purpose, but i've found gentle tapping also works--see Ann Marie Chiasson's book Energy Healing), feel the places that are constricted/tight/frozen, and allow attention to rest there with the intention of releasing the energy, adding whatever imagery you feel assists this process like letting the tension melt like ice into water, and then evaporate into the air...this is a long-term process that takes much patience and persistance (an alternative process that accomplishes the same thing but adds a spiritual dimension is the "Divine Theraphy" Thomas Keating calls "centering prayer"--see his book, Open Mind, Open Heart).





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