POWDER SOMATICS
Somatic Experiencing
SE is a healing approach that focuses on the body's physical sensations and responses to shock trauma. By working with the body’s innate capacity to heal, SE helps people release and resolve the lingering effects of a stuck nervous system, building greater resilience. For those seeking a comprehensive, body-centered path to healing, SE offers a transformative and empowering approach.
Parts
Work
Parts work is a somatic theory that helps individuals understand and heal their inner selves. It is based on the idea that we all have different parts within us, each with its own unique characteristics, emotions, and roles. By exploring and communicating with these parts, individuals can gain deeper insight into their thoughts, behaviors, and patterns, and ultimately achieve greater self-awareness and healing.
Healing and Vitality:
How Overcoming Complex Trauma Restores Life
Energy in Adults
Vivienne Varga's research explores the restoration of vitality in adults who have overcome complex trauma, focusing on how somatic and imaginal healing techniques contribute to this process. Central to her dissertation, titled "Healing and Vitality: How Overcoming Complex Trauma Restores Life Energy in Adults," is the hypothesis that trauma recovery is not merely about symptom reduction but involves the reawakening of a deep sense of aliveness. By combining Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Somatic Experiencing (SE), Varga delves into how the mind-body connection is vital in helping trauma survivors release stored energy and reconnect with their bodies.
Her research integrates insights from leading trauma theorists like Richard Schwartz, Peter Levine, and Bessel van der Kolk. The methodology includes a multi-phase approach that uses guided imagery, creative expression, and somatic awareness exercises to evoke and process participants' trauma experiences. This work addresses a significant gap in the current literature, which often focuses on trauma symptom alleviation but overlooks the importance of restoring vitality—an essential aspect of living fully and authentically post-healing. Through her work, Varga aims to contribute to more effective trauma recovery protocols prioritizing psychological and physiological healing, helping survivors regain their life force and thrive.
SOMATIC EXPERIENCING
The SE approach to coaching and trauma healing helps you connect to what is present in your body, including your sensations, movements, and posture. I then work with these physical experiences to regain nervous system regulation. You will develop a deeper awareness of how to release the tension and energy trapped in your body. SE aims to help you renegotiate your nervous system states in a safe and regulated environment to move through the healing process and restore balance and well-being in your daily lives.
Titration and pendulation are vital principles in SE that facilitate the gentle release of stuck energy from the nervous system. Titration involves processing material that arises in small, manageable doses, preventing overwhelm and allowing the nervous system to recalibrate gradually. Pendulation complements this by guiding you between states of distress and safety, helping you to oscillate between sensations of activation and calm. This rhythmic approach enables the body to release stored energy without being re-traumatized, restoring nervous system regulation and promoting a greater sense of resilience and vitality in daily life.
PARTS
WORK
Parts work is a transformative approach that helps individuals heal by connecting with the different "parts of themselves"and bringing awareness to how these parts manifest in the body. This method allows for a deeper understanding of emotional patterns and physical sensations, helping to release stored trauma and restore a sense of inner harmony. By integrating somatic practices, parts work enables individuals to experience mental and physical healing, enabling a more embodied sense of self-awareness and vitality.
The healing process goes beyond talking and engages with the physical sensations associated with your parts, helping to unlock and release trauma stored in the body. By bringing awareness to these sensations, you can connect with parts that may feel burdened, fragmented, or stuck. This method helps you deepen your relationship with your internal system and begin healing on both an emotional and physical level, creating a pathway toward greater self-compassion, integration, and vitality.
Richard Schwartz, PhD.
"Another kind of happiness exists that you can feel steadily whether you are in a relationship or not. It comes from the sense of connectedness that happens when all your parts love one another and trust and feel accepted by your Self."
Peter Levine, PhD.
"Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
Bessel van der Kolk,MD.
"Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going inside ourselves."
