Trauma and Memory – Brain and Body in the Search for the Living Past
a two-part online seminar in the field of trauma treatment led by Peter A. Levine, PhD, founder of Somatic Experiencing®
29 May and 5 June 2020
Trauma and Memory – Brain and Body in the Search for the Living Past
two-part online seminar in the field of trauma treatment led by Peter A. Levine, PhD, founder of Somatic Experiencing®
29 May and 5 June 2020
Understanding the nature of two different kinds of memory and the importance of this knowledge for working with trauma are currently at the center of Levine’s interest. After being introduced to Somatic Experiencing®, we will examine the importance of explicit and implicit memory systems and their role in remembering and resolving trauma. Sometimes traumatic experiences leave memory fragmented and contradictory. This is a problem because we all need a way to understand, how to explain the disturbing emotions and physical sensations that persist.
Understanding the nature of two different kinds of memory and the importance of this knowledge for working with trauma are currently at the center of Levine’s interest. After being introduced to Somatic Experiencing®, we will examine the importance of explicit and implicit memory systems and their role in remembering and resolving trauma. Sometimes traumatic experiences leave memory fragmented and contradictory. This is a problem because we all need a way to understand, how to explain the disturbing emotions and physical sensations that persist.
Benefits for your practice
During this seminar, we will explore how the non-verbal bottom-up processing aids in the discovery of our innate self-protective responses to threat, in weaving a coherent memory, and in supporting a deeper connection with our authentic selves. By working “bottom up” (non-verbally) Somatic Experiencing® can access the implicit procedural memory of the body to help those who have memories that are not accessible due to the nature of the trauma (accident, pre-verbal, not ready to share, repressed, etc.). Dr. Levine will demonstrate how to access emotional and episodic memory functions in order to release that which holds us down so that we can propel our lives forward.
Benefits for your practice
During this seminar, we will explore how the non-verbal bottom-up processing aids in the discovery of our innate self-protective responses to threat, in weaving a coherent memory, and in supporting a deeper connection with our authentic selves. By working “bottom up” (non-verbally) Somatic Experiencing® can access the implicit procedural memory of the body to help those who have memories that are not accessible due to the nature of the trauma (accident, pre-verbal, not ready to share, repressed, etc.). Dr. Levine will demonstrate how to access emotional and episodic memory functions in order to release that which holds us down so that we can propel our lives forward.
Somatic Experiencing® approach to Trauma
The trauma response is a set of defensive bodily reactions that people initially mobilize in order to protect themselves from a threat, and then later, against feelings of helplessness and pain. However, as time goes on, this reaction keeps them frozen and stuck in the past, unable to be fully present, in the here and now, and often unable to go forward in life. Traditionally, therapies have attempted to change perceptions of the world by means of reason and insight, with conditioning and behavior modification, or with drugs and medications. Although sometimes helpful, perceptions remain fundamentally unchanged until the internal experience of the body changes.
The SE approach gently facilitates the release of thwarted survival energy bound in the body, thus addressing the root cause of lingering trauma symptoms, restoring self-regulation, and returning a sense of aliveness, relaxation, and wholeness to traumatized individuals. Even after the death of a loved one, a car accident, childhood trauma, or an assault with memory loss, survivors can learn to have new bodily experiences enabling them to create more fulfilling lives.
Peter Levine on the change of perspective SE brings into therapy
In the seminar you will
- Learn how to differentiate between top-down and bottom-up processing.
- Discover that trauma-based perceptions remain fundamentally unchanged until the internal experience of the body changes.
- Understand that trauma response is a set of defensive bodily reactions.
- Learn how shame, defeat and humiliation, associated with the original traumatic event, replays itself over and over again in the body.
- Experience how the information and SE tools presented in the workshop can be applied to everyday lives.
- Explore practical SE tools for working with emotions.
- Utilize various SE grounding, centering breath and body-posture techniques to aid with soothing and self-regulation.
- Explore Dr. Levine’s theoretical framework to understand the substratum of memory.
- Learn the various forms of memory; from the most conscious and verbal to those somatic/procedural memories that are non-verbal and non-conscious.
In the seminar you will
- Learn how to differentiate between top-down and bottom-up processing.
- Discover that trauma-based perceptions remain fundamentally unchanged until the internal experience of the body changes.
- Understand that trauma response is a set of defensive bodily reactions.
- Learn how shame, defeat and humiliation, associated with the original traumatic event, replays itself over and over again in the body.
- Experience how the information and SE tools presented in the workshop can be applied to everyday lives.
- Explore practical SE tools for working with emotions.
- Utilize various SE grounding, centering breath and body-posture techniques to aid with soothing and self-regulation.
- Explore Dr. Levine’s theoretical framework to understand the substratum of memory.
- Learn the various forms of memory; from the most conscious and verbal to those somatic/procedural memories that are non-verbal and non-conscious.
Peter Levine on the change of perspective SE brings into therapy
Peter A. Levine, PhD
Peter A. Levine, PhD is the founder and developer of Somatic Experiencing® (SE™), a body-oriented approach to the treatment of trauma and other stress disorders. Peter continues to be an authority in the field of trauma treatment and is still developing his approach. He’s the author of one of the best selling books on trauma resolution, Waking the Tiger, and many other books in the field of working with trauma. Somatic Experiencing® offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight, or freeze responses and provides effective tools appropriate to aid professionals, as well as the general public, in soothing the effects of trauma.
Date and Place
the seminar consists of two parts
29 May and 5 June 2020 (Friday)
seminars will take place online on the Zoom platform
Time
both eveinings 19:00 – 21:00 Central European Summer Time
i.e. 10:00 – 12:00 Pacific Time
Language
English
Price
EUR 181 + EUR 38 VAT.
USD 195 + USD 57 VAT.
JPY 21 200 + JPY 4 452 VAT.
(In case you pay in a currency other than Euro, send the above mentioned amount instead of the one displayed after filling out the registration form)
Registration deadline
Registration, including payment of the course fee, is possible until Thursday 28 May, after which registrations will be closed.