Heal Trauma Through a Gentle, Body-Based Approach
If you’ve done years of therapy, understand yourself deeply, and still find your nervous system running the show — you’re exactly who I work with. In my 18+ years as a psychotherapist in Austin, I’ve worked with many clients who understand their story intellectually—but still feel stuck in their bodies.
That’s where Peter A. Levine’s Somatic Experiencing® (SE) approach can be a total gamechanger.
What I See in My Practice
Many of the clients I work with in South and Central Austin are high-functioning, insightful, and deeply self-aware. They’ve read all the books, listened to podcasts, maybe even had psychedelic experiences.
And yet, they still experience:
- Anxiety that doesn’t fully go away
- Aches and pains that can’t easily be explained
- Emotional overwhelm in relationships
- A sense of shutdown, numbness, or disconnection
- Patterns that repeat, even when they “know better”
Clients often tell me, “I understand why I feel this way—but I can’t seem to change it.” Somatic Experiencing works at the level where those patterns actually live: the nervous system.
What is Somatic Experiencing® Therapy?
Somatic Experiencing®, also known as “SE” and sometimes referred to as “Somatic Therapy,” is a body-based trauma therapy developed by Peter A Levine, PhD. Rather than focusing primarily on talking through the story, we work with how your body holds the experience. In my practice, I use SE to help clients gently:
- Access and renegotiate survival energy (fight, flight, freeze)
- Restore a sense of safety in the body
- Build capacity to stay present with difficult emotions and sensations
- Feel more regulated, connected, and grounded
Why I Use This Approach
I discovered Somatic Experiencing in 2016 and it immediately changed how I understood trauma, healing, and chronic stress. Part of the three year training program requirement was for me to do my own work in Somatic Experiencing sessions in order to truly embody the work. Since 2016, I’ve:
- Become a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP)
- Assisted in the training of multiple cohorts here in Austin
- Integrated SE with attachment-focused and relational therapy
What I’ve seen—again and again—is that lasting change happens when the body is included in the process. Our bodies are intelligent — the patterns we find ourselves stuck in were once adaptive. And with the right support, the body knows how to heal.
How Somatic Experiencing Can Help
In my work with clients across Austin, SE is especially helpful for:
- Childhood trauma and attachment wounds
- Chronic anxiety or nervous system dysregulation
- Sexual trauma and its effects on intimacy and the body
- Relationship struggles and emotional reactivity
- Grief and loss
- Medical trauma or chronic stress
- Shock trauma (car accidents, falls, sudden loss)
Many clients come in feeling like their system is either “too much” or “not enough.” Our work is about helping your system find its natural rhythm again.
Basic Elements of a Somatic Therapy Session:
- Resourcing – SE is gentle because we start by grounding you in resources. This could be a memory, a person, using the 5 senses to stay in the present moment, a pet, a hobby. As we increase your capacity to stay with a resource, we are also increasing your capacity to stay with difficult emotions or content
- Vortex/Counter-Vortex – Vortex can be imagined as a whirlpool of traumatic memories, sensations, emotions that feel overwhelming and can suck you down if you get close. The counter-vortex are moments that you feel connected to resources and grounded
- Titration – In SE, titration means going a little at a time into difficult memories, sensations, emotions so as not to overwhelm your system
- Pendulation – Moving back and forth between resources and difficult material
- Tracking sensation – We track the sensations in your body to help regulate difficult emotions and build out more positive experiences.
- Boundary setting – Helping your body and mind be fully attuned to your embodied “yes!” and “no!” by paying attention to sensation tracking
What a Somatic Experiencing Session Feels Like
Somatic Experiencing is often much slower and more collaborative than traditional talk therapy — and for many clients, learning to stay with that quiet stillness is often where the deepest shifts can occur. In a session, I might:
- Help you notice subtle sensations in your body
- Gently slow things down when something important is happening
- Support you in tracking moments of safety, grounding, or ease
- Move between difficult material and supportive resources
- Bring your attention to and linger on moments of aliveness and resource
My Somatic Experiencing clients often say they feel more present, more connected, and less overwhelmed—even without having to relive everything they’ve been through.
A Gentle Approach – No Matter What You’re Carrying
One of the things I value most about SE is that it doesn’t require you to retell your trauma in detail, push yourself beyond your capacity or “power through” difficult emotions Whether you’re working through a specific traumatic experience or simply a nervous system that’s been running on overdrive for years – we work in a way that respects your pace. In this way you are able to integrate the healing more fully.
Somatic Experiencing vs. “Somatic Therapy”
You may see various practitioners use broad terms like “somatic therapy” when referring to a number of different body-based therapies. In my Austin-based practice, I specifically use Somatic Experiencing®, which is a structured, trauma-informed approach with a rigorous three year certification process designed to resolve the physiological effects of stress and trauma. While I, too, sometimes casually use the phrase “somatic therapy,” be assured that the work we do is entirely based on my rigorous training, personal SE journey and certification in Somatic Experiencing.
Working Together in Austin, TX
I offer Somatic Experiencing therapy for adults in South Austin and Central Austin, both in-person and online. I also see clients virtually throughout Texas, so if you’re not local, distance doesn’t have to be a barrier. If you’re looking for a therapist who:
- Understands trauma through a nervous system lens
- Is a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP)
- Has advanced training in attachment, relationships, and intimacy
- Brings nearly two decades of clinical experience
You’re in the right place.
Ready to Begin Your Healing with Somatic Experiencing?
You don’t have to keep managing this on your own. Reach out to schedule a Somatic Experiencing consultation and see if this work feels like a good fit.
Frequently Asked Questions About Somatic Experiencing
How is Somatic Experiencing different from regular talk therapy?
Traditional talk therapy works from the top down — thoughts, beliefs, and stories are analyzed, sometimes challenged, to shift how you feel. Somatic Experiencing works from the bottom up. Rather than focusing on what happened, we work with how your nervous system is still responding to it, in the present moment, in my office, together. In my experience, this is often the missing piece for clients who have already done a lot of talk therapy and still feel stuck.
Do I have to talk about my trauma in detail?
No —and this is one of the reasons why i feel so passionate about SE. You don’t have to retell your story or relive what happened. In fact, repeatedly going over traumatic memories can sometimes be retraumatizing. With SE, we can work with the impact trauma has had on your nervous system without requiring you to recount every detail.
What does a Somatic Experiencing session actually feel like?
Often quieter and slower than people expect. I might ask you to notice a sensation in your body, or we might pause and stay with something that just shifted. Clients sometimes tell me it feels strange at first — but that slowness is intentional. We’re working at the pace your nervous system can actually integrate.
Is Somatic Experiencing evidence-based?
Yes. There is a growing body of research supporting SE’s effectiveness for trauma and PTSD, and it has been used with clients for over 40 years. SE was developed by Peter Levine, PhD, whose work draws on neuroscience, biology, and stress physiology.
How long does Somatic Experiencing therapy take?
It varies depending on what you’re working with and how long patterns have been in place. Some clients notice shifts relatively quickly. Others, particularly those working with early or complex trauma, find it’s a longer process. In my practice I find that clients who have done prior therapy or even practices like yoga or meditation are often more primed for this work — you’re not starting from scratch, you’re adding a new layer.
What’s the difference between Somatic Experiencing and “Somatic Therapy?”
“Somatic therapy” is a broad term that includes many different body-based approaches. Somatic Experiencing® is a specific type of somatic therapy developed by Peter Levine with its own training and certification process. In my Austin practice I specifically use SE — so when you work with me you’re getting a trained, certified approach rather than a general “where do you feel that in your body?” approach.
Do you offer online Somatic Experiencing sessions?
Yes. I offer both in-person Somatic Experiencing appointments in South and Central Austin and online Somatic Experiencing sessions for adults throughout Texas. SE translates well to an online format and many of my clients are surprised by how effective it can be virtually.