Somatic

Experiencing®

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Oli is a personal session provider for credit for SE students at the beginning and intermediate level. Click here to learn about rates & other policies.

Somatic Experiencing ® (SE) is a method of tracking the nervous system with the intent of allowing resiliency to grow and trauma to release from the body.

Inquiry allows us to question foundational beliefs about who we believe ourselves to be and encounter the direct experience of who we are.

  • Somatic Experiencing® ( SE), developed by Peter Levine Phd., is a method of learning to tap into our nervous systems to become intimate with our patterns of wiring. We do this with the intention of understanding where we are experiencing dysregulation in our systems, and work gently to guid them back toward more regulation. This work is beautiful in that it’s about discovering and focusing on what already feels natural, good, and right in our lives (if we are alive, we are naturally doing many supportive, life-giving things already, otherwise we wouldn’t be here!) in order to create a space of support for our bodies to organically let go of what’s not felt safe enough to release. Nervous systems that carry trauma need other regulated nervous systems to help build a safe container for healing, which is what we do together as client and practitioner. We follow the sensations of pleasure, safety, and curiosity that naturally arise in the body and build capacity for sensations that are more challenging to meet. By meeting these challenging experiences with loving capacity, they discharge and transform. To see a fuller explanation of SE, scroll further down on this page to the “More About SE” section.

  • Nearly all of us operate from a set of instructions or beliefs that we hold to be true. These shape our perception and our experiences in everyday life. Some contribute to wellbeing and some cause us great suffering. Nearly all of them operate below the surface without us knowing.

    Self-inquiry shines light on hidden modes of operation. It can pause the autopilot of identity, thought, and action long enough to directly experience the truth of who we are, surrendering us to inherent freedom and peace. Self-inquiry can happen spontaneously or through guidance. It is the crux of what ancient teachers such as Jesus, Machig Labdrön, the Buddha, and Lao Tsu spoke of. Seemingly elusive and believed to be available to only a chosen few for millennia, modern day proponents of self-inquiry show us that this experience and the powerful realizations it yields are “not only possible: [they are our] birthright” (Gangaji, A Diamond in Your Pocket). Modern day teachers like Ramana Maharshi (d. 1950), Gangaji, and Eckhart Tolle lead lives based in self-inquiry and guide folks into a space where they too can experience its teachings. Artists and influencers such as Alanis Morissette and Prince EA inquire, live, and create from what they continue to discover via self-inquiry. The confluence of self-inquiry and trauma work (like SE) happens within organizations such as Science and Non Duality. Anyone can engage in or experience self-inquiry and it seems to arise effortlessly for many in the SE process. Inquiring into and making contact with our essential self shifts our human experience from a focus on suffering to a capacity to hold it all: fear, joy, trauma, love, tenderness, hatred, change. Life at its fullest. Come see for yourself.

  • Sessions are 60-75 mins long and take place in person or via video call. When we meet for a session, we start with whatever is alive in you—beliefs, symptoms, curiosities. Many people discover SE and inquiry when they are in pain (physical, emotional, existential) and after trying many other modes of seeking relief. Our bodies are wise, and they present discomfort when they are ready for change, ready to release. In SE, slowing down to the speed of the body (which is much slower than the mind!) allows us to find the spaces where old patterning is stored so that it can be gently released, metabolized, and make way for resiliency. We use a variety of tools such as tuning into sensations in the body, moving the body, noticing emotions and memories that surface, speaking and sounding, or simply sitting and noticing what happens next when doing SE work. As far as inquiry goes, we can choose to inquire directly or it can come up spontaneously as we move through the SE method. Explorations with SE and inquiry can be gentle and powerful, creative and immensely enjoyable. For many, they are life changing.

    While every session looks different, the following link is a good example of what working with SE could look like:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjeJC86RBgE&feature=youtu.be&themeRefresh=1

  • Music, especially the voice,  is one of our most powerful forms of expression. Many of us have been taught that our singing, our music, or our sounds in general are not “good enough” or welcome. The potential to get in touch with and release old patterning with sound is an incredibly empowering practice: it can reach in and touch preverbal patterns (patterns established before we had access to language), unlock our creativity, give us access to our voices, and help us tune into the nervous system in unique and profound ways. If you are interested in a combination of SE and music/voice work, please let Olivia know when reaching out for more information or to set up a session.

    "Vocal coaching with Olivia allowed me to discover more than just the physical expression of my voice but also every single layer I had built up over time to suppress it.  Her depth of knowledge, talent and understanding of music is clear from the beginning but it is her wisdom of the human condition that really encourages you to explore your whole sense of being.  These private sessions open the door for you to dive deep into your soul to better understand how and what you want and need to express from within.  Working with Olivia in just a matter of months not only gave me permission to use my voice in song but also in life as I even felt inspired to pursue new endeavors.  It's exciting to see so much growth in such a short period of time and I'm looking forward to continuing this journey with her guidance along the way."

    V. Ayers, Yoga Teacher

  • As humans, we live among and carry the burden of oppressive systems every day. While humans certainly do interact in ways that inflict trauma on each other all the time, no individual is the source of oppression. Trauma incurred by oppressive systems are the true source of most individual suffering. It’s easier to blame an individual or set of individuals for hurting us—it’s more challenging but very important to recognize that those that hurt us carried trauma themselves, and those that hurt them carried trauma as well, and on and on (white supremacy is a relevant example. Resmaa Menakem highlights in his book My Grandmother’s Hands how more powerful white-bodied individuals inflicted harm on less powerful white-bodied individuals for eons before the less-powerful fled Europe, arrived in America, and inflicted the trauma they incurred on brown- and black-bodied people). The somatic release of symptoms incurred by oppressive systems from our bodyminds is essential to the undoing and transformation of these systems in general. It is lifelong work.

    None of us inherently belongs to oppression. We belong to our essential selves. SE and inquiry can reveal our essential self, that which has never been touched by oppressive systems, so that we may dismantle oppression from within and serve the world from an inner space of freedom.

  • Olivia has worked with children of all ages in different capacities, but mostly as a teacher, for almost 20 years. She was also incredibly lucky to be raised by a mother who taught parenting classes and brought that rich knowledge to her upbringing. Olivia believes the keys to raising a child in a life-giving way are to “catch them being great.” She teaches parents how to do this with themselves and uses SE as a means of undoing trauma that might prohibit an adult from being able to see through this lens. She will often work with care givers in their own sessions and then bring in children while supporting the care givers in their practice of engaging their children through this lens. Olivia sees people’s greatness with ease and loves helping care givers and children learn to see themselves this way too. It’s really about supporting a loving lens between parent and child. In addition to SE and inquiry, Olivia relies on the teachings of the Nurtured Heart Approach in her guidance of care givers in this particular work.

  • $130 per session for personal SE work or consulting

    See the Policy page for more information on payment and scheduling.

FAQ

Physical Sensation Chart,
Watercolor
Olivia De Jesús, 2022

More About Somatic Experiencing ®

Odds are that if you are human, you've experienced and accumulated some trauma. It's a natural part of life.  Trauma can feel like a loaded word, but it really just means patterns that the body holds on to that compromise our sense of well-being.

Trauma lives in the body. The language of the body is sensation. Many of us have sought out therapy because we were experiencing bodily symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or overwhelm. If that therapy was talk-based or cognitive-based, it may have been helpful, but sometimes will not be able to get to the root of the issue because we are “staying in our heads” trying to “talk it out.” It’s important to talk through challenges and have a cognitive awareness of what has happened to us, but if we want to release trauma from the body, we need to speak the language of nervous system. The body simply does not speak spoken language! It speaks sensations, feelings, emotions, and behaviors. So in addition to cognitively understanding our histories, we learn this vocabulary of our bodies in order to track and resolve trauma.

Trauma is normal, and it does not have to be "big" in order to affect quality of life. Seemingly small events can be stored in the body as trauma, leaving us to react automatically in certain circumstances instead of having more access to choice and sometimes wondering, possibly shouting in the face of our own reactions, "Why do I do that?" The impulse to ask that question is an indicator that choice may not be accessible in those moments, which could also indicate a traumatic pattern ready to be seen and worked through. 

The other side of trauma work is building resiliency--we heal trauma and, as a result, uncover our innate strength. These movements go hand in hand: clear out the weeds and the garden starts to grow. Or, maybe more accurately, look at the weeds with more compassion, start to see how they have been serving the garden, and watch them transform into beautiful flowers. Through mere perspective shifts brought on by direct experience, our perceived weaknesses can actually assume their full potential and reveal their power. There is such magic in this process.

In SE, we focus on tracking the cues of the body through the nervous system. In terms of our biology, deep learning and healing can only happen in certain settings of our nervous systems, and many of us only spend a little, if any, time there on a regular basis. If your life is fast paced, if it's difficult to "stop and enjoy," if you have a tendency to feel stress, anxiety, or depression, these are all indicators that the nervous system is in "survival" mode, rather than "resiliency" mode. Learning our own systems allows us to follow the breadcrumbs, so to speak, from threatened states to healing and regulated states. In nervous system terms, we learn how to move ourselves from "fight and flight" into "rest and digest" by discovering our resources and releasing trauma held in the body.

A few SE principles that seem to appeal greatly to those who practice SE: 

1) SE work, when done well, is gentle. It does not result in re-traumatizing our systems. We work, little by little, to strengthen the system's ability to cope and function while we dissolve and metabolize digestible portions of trauma. And even in a "traumatized body," bits of trauma do not come to the surface until we feel safe enough for them to do so. No need to force--parts that are ready to be worked through arise at their own pace. 

2) We often find ourselves as SE practitioners questioning the idea of “pathology,” considering the body as having done exactly what it has needed to do with the particular input it has received over time. Though we may have a wide range of symptoms, even health conditions, in this model, there is nothing "wrong" with us, ever. The way our bodies and minds have learned to cope and navigate life's input has saved us time and time again and, when given exactly the right kind of support, the body’s pattern is to move in the direction of healing. We often know we are ready to do trauma work when we are at a point where these behaviors, mechanisms, or even physical ailments (conditions and diseases) no longer help us cope with our current situation or sap our quality of life.

3) We all have unique experiences, skills, and interests. While many therapeutic modalities focus on one specific realm of human ability to aid in healing--whether it be cognitive, physical, or behavioral--SE works with every aspect of human experience--body, emotion, thought, creativity, spirituality, etc. It's important to let every aspect of our humanity in when working with trauma because trauma creates fragmentation in our systems. So, for example, our emotions and behavior don't line up, or our thoughts and our desires are at odds. It can be anywhere from confusing to frustrating to life threatening to live inside a traumatized mind-body system. The goal of SE is for every aspect of ourselves to be stitched back together, to work cohesively as a unit, not against each other. This is why we work with every aspect of human experience that we can, because it leads us back to our sense of wholeness and well-being.

4)  No two people are going to move through life in the same way—we can ask each other for advice and help, but ultimately, it serves greatly to have a direct connection to our own wisdom and power of choice, to be able to trust ourselves absolutely. SE work can guide us back to being able to trust ourselves—our minds, bodies, and their connection to the beyond. This trust is priceless.