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In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness
How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness
**Unraveling Trauma in the Body, Brain and Mind—a Revolution in Treatment**
In this culmination of his life’s work, Peter A. Levine draws on his broad experience as a clinician, a student of comparative brain research, a stress scientist and a keen observer of the naturalistic animal world to explain the nature and transformation of trauma in the body, brain and psyche. In an Unspoken Voice is based on the idea that trauma is neither a disease nor a disorder, but rather an injury caused by fright, helplessness and loss that can be healed by engaging our innate capacity to self-regulate high states of arousal and intense emotions. Enriched with a coherent theoretical framework and compelling case examples, the book elegantly blends the latest findings in biology, neuroscience and body-oriented psychotherapy to show that when we bring together animal instinct and reason, we can become more whole human beings.
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First published September 28, 2010
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About the author
Peter A. Levine
50 books1,070 followersPeter A.Levine, Ph.D. is the originator and developer of Somatic Experiencing® and the Director of The Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute. He holds doctorate degrees in Medical Biophysics and in Psychology. During his thirty five-year study of stress and trauma, Dr. Levine has contributed to a variety of scientific and popular publications.
Dr. Levine was a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle, and has taught at treatment centers, hospitals and pain clinics throughout the world, as well as at the Hopi Guidance Center in Arizona. Peter served on the World, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, presidents’ initiative on responding to large scale disasters and ethno-political warfare. His best selling book, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, is published in 20 languages.
Peter A. Levine received his Ph.D. in medical biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, and also holds a doctorate in psychology from International University. He has worked in the field of stress and trauma for over 40 years and is the developer of “Somatic Experiencing.”
He teaches trainings in this work throughout the world. He has taught at various indigenous cultures including the Hopi Guidance center in Second Mesa Arizona. Peter has been stress consultant for NASA in the development of the first Space Shuttle. He was a member of the Institute of World Affairs Task Force with “Psychologists for Social Responsibility” and served on the APA initiative for response to large scale disaster and Ethno-political warfare. He is on the ‘distinguished faculty’ of Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.
Peter is the author of the best selling book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, (published in twenty languages) as well as four audio learning series for Sounds True including the book CD, Healing Trauma, a Pioneering Program in Restoring the Wisdom of Our Bodies; and Sexual Healing, Transforming the Sacred Wound. He is the co-author of Trauma through a Child’s Eyes, Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing, and Trauma-Proofing Your Kids, A Parents Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience. Most recently, he has published In An Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness.
Description courtesy of Trauma Healing.
http://www.somaticexperiencingnyc.com...
Dr. Levine was a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle, and has taught at treatment centers, hospitals and pain clinics throughout the world, as well as at the Hopi Guidance Center in Arizona. Peter served on the World, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, presidents’ initiative on responding to large scale disasters and ethno-political warfare. His best selling book, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, is published in 20 languages.
Peter A. Levine received his Ph.D. in medical biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, and also holds a doctorate in psychology from International University. He has worked in the field of stress and trauma for over 40 years and is the developer of “Somatic Experiencing.”
He teaches trainings in this work throughout the world. He has taught at various indigenous cultures including the Hopi Guidance center in Second Mesa Arizona. Peter has been stress consultant for NASA in the development of the first Space Shuttle. He was a member of the Institute of World Affairs Task Force with “Psychologists for Social Responsibility” and served on the APA initiative for response to large scale disaster and Ethno-political warfare. He is on the ‘distinguished faculty’ of Santa Barbara Graduate Institute.
Peter is the author of the best selling book Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, (published in twenty languages) as well as four audio learning series for Sounds True including the book CD, Healing Trauma, a Pioneering Program in Restoring the Wisdom of Our Bodies; and Sexual Healing, Transforming the Sacred Wound. He is the co-author of Trauma through a Child’s Eyes, Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing, and Trauma-Proofing Your Kids, A Parents Guide for Instilling Confidence, Joy and Resilience. Most recently, he has published In An Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness.
Description courtesy of Trauma Healing.
http://www.somaticexperiencingnyc.com...
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April 21, 2024
I bought this thinking it would be something of a self-help book in body based therapy. There is some of that, but mostly it explains the research and theory (with case study examples) of Peter Levine's lifetime of work. He is a brilliant psychotherapist, no doubt. The book itself is heavy on the science, and quite dense. It's not a quick easy read. I felt it was directed more towards psychologists and others in this field.
By halfway through the book I was inspired to find a psychologist who practices using Dr. Levine's techniques. Absolutely life changing in the way this work has allowed me to release long held traumas. It is both simpler, yet far more dramatic and life-changing than I ever imagined. It is odd to experience physical sensations which are rooted in experiences several years back. Sensations I had long forgotten, but the body memory got stuck in it and still held on to the trauma. If I hadn't read the book, I might be really confused about what I was experiencing.
*edited to add* After a few months of therapy, things are going well, but it has opened cans of worms and totally made me reassess myself and my relationships. It's work!
**A couple years later, since therapy I've left my lifelong religion (cult!). My therapy was key to realizing the harm it was doing me.
I've continued learning about body-based therapies and am convinced it's the best approach to dealing with trauma. The speech center of the brain shuts down during trauma, making talk therapy ineffective in reaching into that trauma. If you can calm the body down, you can calm the mind. Diaphragmatic slow breathing, QiGong, taking a walk after emotional moments, and physically reconnecting through hugs and touch with my partner have all been helpful in this journey.
2024 Update:
I've continued my journey of healing, and for the most part have found a deep peace and love for self I never had before. I'm no longer triggered into shut down and depressive states. As stressors come up, I'm able to handle them either in the moment, or within a day or so... they no longer drive me into months of despair or zombie like state of total numbness. As an FYI to indicate my "starting point", I was raised in a family where emotions were mocked and shut down immediately if expressed. My father will even laugh at babies, making fun of their cries and expressions. I never consciously perceived this about him til recently. My mother is equally incapable of emotional expression. This included expressing any kind of love or affection for their kids. This general incapacity to allow or even accurately recognize normal human emotions led to all kinds of abuse of various kinds. So, lack of love and affection, then actual abuse because they don't have healthy love and affection towards their kids. I'll not elucidate the trauma details, as I don't wish to trigger whoever may be reading this. Layered onto childhood family trauma was the systemic abuse of a fundamental religious organization which purposely cultivated in its members a deep distrust of self and full dependency on the organization. I was severely emotionally shut down, easily triggered by the smallest everyday things, and basically incapable of being a part of healthy relationships or friendships. I was so effected that I was reduced to severe chronic fatigue and an inability to even work or have any semblance of a "normal" life. Personally, I'm convinced the chronic fatigue was a symptom of a chronically out of balance burnt out nervous system, to the point that even small physical stressors such as walking out to the mailbox became overtaxing and too much for my system to handle. I was unable to work and barely able to care for myself for many years.
Trauma work and releasing has literally given me a life back, and saved my sanity. I thank such people as Peter Levine and others for their work, since talk therapy (I did try at it again!) was completely and utterly useless to me, and actually was serving to re-traumatize me.
Also, Apologies for offending any of your puritan sensibilities out there, but I give credit to the Fungi family for helping me finally deepen into the darkest layers of trauma to access it and process it. In spite of my years of effort and healing, there were parts of myself which I was still too emotionally shut down and inhibited to access without this help. As I was able to allow the trauma experience to come up (with the help of fungi) and be felt/experienced in the body, there was a lot of sobbing, full body tremors with teeth chattering, and finally waves of relief which I felt in a very real physical sense when the traumas were finally released from my body. It was messy and intense and for me personally I had to do it alone as I was still too inhibited to open up to that level in the presence of another person. There was nobody I trusted to that degree. It had taken me lots of healing to be where I trusted MYSELF to that degree. I'm not suggesting you try this alone, but for me, that's what it finally took.
That said, I continue deepening into my body, which has led me to releasing and being free of trauma pain, and also into profound experiences and an ongoing felt sense of peace. As shut down as I was, being able to FEEL is amazing. I recommend Eckart Tolle's The Power of Now on audio book as he gives beautifully simple guidance on this aspect. My body finally feels like a safe space where I can indeed go deeper into myself.
I continue to do slow diaphragmatic breathing (Patrick Mckeown and Buteyko Breathing are excellent resources on how to do this method) which calms the nervous system and brings me into balance and physical calmness. Since I've learned to be more in harmony with my body, when I bring my body into calmness, my mind also calms. Likewise, I now recognize when my mind is "scaring myself" by replaying past stuff, or even making sh*t up about all the things that can go wrong. When my mind does this, my body immediately starts to react and going into panic anxiety mode... my gut clenches, heart starts to race, breathing changes, etc. If I'm not paying attention, this heightened physical anxiety spurs the mind onto even darker and more tragic thoughts and it becomes this dreadful feedback loop of the mind and body spiraling into an all out anxiety and trauma state. This is where Tolle's Power of Now teachings come into play and I'm able to calm my mind and bring it back to the now, where there is nothing actually bad happening. Then I do breathing techniques to get my body likewise to calm back down. The more I practice this, the more aware I've become of this anxiety trauma cycle and how to halt it and bring myself back to peace and calm.
One more tool I've been using which is incredibly simple, but has had a profound effect on calming my nervous system is a Breath Pillow. Its a U shaped pillow filled with 10 pounds of sand and this thing is an absolute MIRACLE to me. I don't do yoga, but it's a yoga prop which is placed over the diaphragm while I do my above mentioned Buteyko breathing. I wish everyone who has ever experienced trauma and has any degree of nervous system disregulation could do this. The breath pillow, coupled with the Buteyko breathing has been BY FAR the most powerful tool for bringing me out of an anxiety trauma state and back into a regulated calm state. I purchased mine at the Himalayan Institute ("Breath Pillow" on their website if you want to see what I'm talking about). But it would be super easy to make, or to use a weighted blanket rolled up into the correct shape. Hopefully this suggestion helps someone else!
I now comfortably hold a full time job, and have successfully made many changes to my life and relationships. I don't "allow" others to abuse me, as I did before (I wasn't able to perceive it as abuse, as I was out of touch with myself mentally and physically to recognize their behavior, and my own co-dependent behavior).
I'm recovering my health and energy, and discovering my sense of self.
I now recognize if someone is crossing my boundaries or is a threat to my well being, or even normal everyday triggers from coworkers or random people I meet. I have the self confidence and wherewithal to handle such things calmly and without making them into bigger deal.
Basically, I'm able to function like a normal happy healthy human being, lol.
Which is truly amazing. I know you traumatized people get where I'm coming from that I can celebrate the small things like being able to go grocery shopping without it ending up as a psychological crisis!
By halfway through the book I was inspired to find a psychologist who practices using Dr. Levine's techniques. Absolutely life changing in the way this work has allowed me to release long held traumas. It is both simpler, yet far more dramatic and life-changing than I ever imagined. It is odd to experience physical sensations which are rooted in experiences several years back. Sensations I had long forgotten, but the body memory got stuck in it and still held on to the trauma. If I hadn't read the book, I might be really confused about what I was experiencing.
*edited to add* After a few months of therapy, things are going well, but it has opened cans of worms and totally made me reassess myself and my relationships. It's work!
**A couple years later, since therapy I've left my lifelong religion (cult!). My therapy was key to realizing the harm it was doing me.
I've continued learning about body-based therapies and am convinced it's the best approach to dealing with trauma. The speech center of the brain shuts down during trauma, making talk therapy ineffective in reaching into that trauma. If you can calm the body down, you can calm the mind. Diaphragmatic slow breathing, QiGong, taking a walk after emotional moments, and physically reconnecting through hugs and touch with my partner have all been helpful in this journey.
2024 Update:
I've continued my journey of healing, and for the most part have found a deep peace and love for self I never had before. I'm no longer triggered into shut down and depressive states. As stressors come up, I'm able to handle them either in the moment, or within a day or so... they no longer drive me into months of despair or zombie like state of total numbness. As an FYI to indicate my "starting point", I was raised in a family where emotions were mocked and shut down immediately if expressed. My father will even laugh at babies, making fun of their cries and expressions. I never consciously perceived this about him til recently. My mother is equally incapable of emotional expression. This included expressing any kind of love or affection for their kids. This general incapacity to allow or even accurately recognize normal human emotions led to all kinds of abuse of various kinds. So, lack of love and affection, then actual abuse because they don't have healthy love and affection towards their kids. I'll not elucidate the trauma details, as I don't wish to trigger whoever may be reading this. Layered onto childhood family trauma was the systemic abuse of a fundamental religious organization which purposely cultivated in its members a deep distrust of self and full dependency on the organization. I was severely emotionally shut down, easily triggered by the smallest everyday things, and basically incapable of being a part of healthy relationships or friendships. I was so effected that I was reduced to severe chronic fatigue and an inability to even work or have any semblance of a "normal" life. Personally, I'm convinced the chronic fatigue was a symptom of a chronically out of balance burnt out nervous system, to the point that even small physical stressors such as walking out to the mailbox became overtaxing and too much for my system to handle. I was unable to work and barely able to care for myself for many years.
Trauma work and releasing has literally given me a life back, and saved my sanity. I thank such people as Peter Levine and others for their work, since talk therapy (I did try at it again!) was completely and utterly useless to me, and actually was serving to re-traumatize me.
Also, Apologies for offending any of your puritan sensibilities out there, but I give credit to the Fungi family for helping me finally deepen into the darkest layers of trauma to access it and process it. In spite of my years of effort and healing, there were parts of myself which I was still too emotionally shut down and inhibited to access without this help. As I was able to allow the trauma experience to come up (with the help of fungi) and be felt/experienced in the body, there was a lot of sobbing, full body tremors with teeth chattering, and finally waves of relief which I felt in a very real physical sense when the traumas were finally released from my body. It was messy and intense and for me personally I had to do it alone as I was still too inhibited to open up to that level in the presence of another person. There was nobody I trusted to that degree. It had taken me lots of healing to be where I trusted MYSELF to that degree. I'm not suggesting you try this alone, but for me, that's what it finally took.
That said, I continue deepening into my body, which has led me to releasing and being free of trauma pain, and also into profound experiences and an ongoing felt sense of peace. As shut down as I was, being able to FEEL is amazing. I recommend Eckart Tolle's The Power of Now on audio book as he gives beautifully simple guidance on this aspect. My body finally feels like a safe space where I can indeed go deeper into myself.
I continue to do slow diaphragmatic breathing (Patrick Mckeown and Buteyko Breathing are excellent resources on how to do this method) which calms the nervous system and brings me into balance and physical calmness. Since I've learned to be more in harmony with my body, when I bring my body into calmness, my mind also calms. Likewise, I now recognize when my mind is "scaring myself" by replaying past stuff, or even making sh*t up about all the things that can go wrong. When my mind does this, my body immediately starts to react and going into panic anxiety mode... my gut clenches, heart starts to race, breathing changes, etc. If I'm not paying attention, this heightened physical anxiety spurs the mind onto even darker and more tragic thoughts and it becomes this dreadful feedback loop of the mind and body spiraling into an all out anxiety and trauma state. This is where Tolle's Power of Now teachings come into play and I'm able to calm my mind and bring it back to the now, where there is nothing actually bad happening. Then I do breathing techniques to get my body likewise to calm back down. The more I practice this, the more aware I've become of this anxiety trauma cycle and how to halt it and bring myself back to peace and calm.
One more tool I've been using which is incredibly simple, but has had a profound effect on calming my nervous system is a Breath Pillow. Its a U shaped pillow filled with 10 pounds of sand and this thing is an absolute MIRACLE to me. I don't do yoga, but it's a yoga prop which is placed over the diaphragm while I do my above mentioned Buteyko breathing. I wish everyone who has ever experienced trauma and has any degree of nervous system disregulation could do this. The breath pillow, coupled with the Buteyko breathing has been BY FAR the most powerful tool for bringing me out of an anxiety trauma state and back into a regulated calm state. I purchased mine at the Himalayan Institute ("Breath Pillow" on their website if you want to see what I'm talking about). But it would be super easy to make, or to use a weighted blanket rolled up into the correct shape. Hopefully this suggestion helps someone else!
I now comfortably hold a full time job, and have successfully made many changes to my life and relationships. I don't "allow" others to abuse me, as I did before (I wasn't able to perceive it as abuse, as I was out of touch with myself mentally and physically to recognize their behavior, and my own co-dependent behavior).
I'm recovering my health and energy, and discovering my sense of self.
I now recognize if someone is crossing my boundaries or is a threat to my well being, or even normal everyday triggers from coworkers or random people I meet. I have the self confidence and wherewithal to handle such things calmly and without making them into bigger deal.
Basically, I'm able to function like a normal happy healthy human being, lol.
Which is truly amazing. I know you traumatized people get where I'm coming from that I can celebrate the small things like being able to go grocery shopping without it ending up as a psychological crisis!
May 19, 2020
أعتقد بأن د. پيتر ليڤين أحدث ثورة حقيقية في ميدان العلاج النفسي. إن فهمنا لأنفسنا (من خلال أجسادنا) يصل معه إلى عمق غير مسبوق، وهو يقلب الطاولة على فهمنا القديم لآليات التعافي.
كقارئة غير متخصصة ومتطفلة، تحب فرويد ويونغ وإيريك فروم وتتنزّه في أحراش النفس البشرية بفضولٍ طفولي، أصبحت لأول مرة مؤمنة بإمكانية التعافي من الصدمة ومن متلازمة ما بعد الصدمة. العلاج التقليدي المبني على استحضار الذكرى المؤلمة لعيشها ثانية (بهدف التحرر منها) وكما أثبت ليڤين هو قليل الفعالية وقد يكون ضارًا، لأنه يعيد إحياء الصدمة ويحبس صاحبها في أعماقها؛ لأن المعرفة لا تعني العلاج.
يعالج ليڤين مرضاه من متلازمة ما بعد الصدمة من خلال الجسد، وليس هذا المقام لاستعراض أدواته، لكنّ الروائية في داخلي ستصف الأمر على أنه عضوي، عفوي، منعش، وحيّ.
هذا الكتاب موجّه أصلًا للمعالجين النفسيين (وأنا كما تعرفون لست واحدة منهم)، لذا كنت قد قررت ألا أواصل القراءة عندما يصبح الأمر أكاديميًا جدًا. المدهش أنني أنهيتُ الكتاب.. أنهيته فعلًا! رغم أنه لم يكتب من أجلي (ليس بالضبط)، إلا أنه كتاب ثوريّ بكل معنى الكلمة. قراءته تشبه الخروج من الوهم، وتشبه ابتسامة في منتصف القلب.
متوفر في أمازون.
January 24, 2024
It's hard to be brief when it comes to my experience with this book. I picked it up thinking it didn't really apply to me, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Roughly two and a half years ago I took a medication that gave me extreme depression and anxiety. It was a medication I had taken for 5 years, but when they changed the lab that made the generic pills I took, all hell broke loose. One doesn't generally think of that as trauma but it is. In a nutshell, Levine says that immobilization with extreme fear or other negative emotion creates trauma or PTSD. I couldn't out run my own mind as I spent night after night, for 7 months, curled up in a ball wondering how my life had come to an end. Thanks to a science degree I managed to figure out that the pills had changed and had immediate improvement upon quitting them. Alas I was stuck with a great deal of depression and anxiety and fibromyalgia that had developed during those months. (and yes, for those who follow me as an author this is why I quit writing and never did very much to promote the trilogy I did write that meant so much to me. I'm astonished I ever managed to even release the trilogy considering what I was going through at the time.)
For two years following those pills I lived with the constant sense of being disconnected from everything as if nothing mattered. I couldn't feel joy or motivation or hope. I felt like I had prepared to die at some deep level but didn't. I can't even express how unlike me this was. I was always the person who is obnoxiously upbeat and optimistic and full of joy and wonder.
So I finally read this book that was recommended to me and realized he was saying all the things that I had been feeling. I realized that curling up into a ball unable to outrun my mind IS being immobilized with extreme fear and depression and anxiety. I was suffering from PTSD. Then, as recommended, when I felt the usual sense of needing to shut down (where I usually would go to sleep), I made myself sit with the sensations and calmly watch the fight or flight wash through me. I cried and my body shook and trembled and 20 minutes later I was suddenly still and hit with an extreme calm. Colors were brighter. My mind was clear. That was about 10 days ago, and I've had my life back ever since. I wish I could explain the profound change in me compared to the last two and a half years. Everyone notices it and at least half a dozen people have gone after this book upon seeing the astonishing results. I still feel the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue but a body doesn't snap back after two and a half years of shut down in such a short time, and I'm confident that most of those symptoms came from the way my body was unknowingly locked down. I have also done the work from this book in alleviating a number of the specific symptoms of pain in my body. I won't claim this is the easiest book to read for those not coming from a science or psychiatric background but the understanding of the body at this level seems so critical to me for people in this day and age where we tend to try to solve everything by coming at it mentally with talk therapy or positive thinking. This had everything to do with my body. I'd been coming at it top down from the mind all this time when the work needed to be done from the bottom up.
I feel hope again. I feel joy again. I feel motivation. I FEEL. Thank you Dr Levine from the bottom of my heart. From me, from my husband, and from that 12 year old boy who got his mother back. Words will never be enough.
2024 update: I haven't found relief from the fibromyalgia part but the ptsd aspect has stayed gone from that moment. I'm still eternally grateful.
For two years following those pills I lived with the constant sense of being disconnected from everything as if nothing mattered. I couldn't feel joy or motivation or hope. I felt like I had prepared to die at some deep level but didn't. I can't even express how unlike me this was. I was always the person who is obnoxiously upbeat and optimistic and full of joy and wonder.
So I finally read this book that was recommended to me and realized he was saying all the things that I had been feeling. I realized that curling up into a ball unable to outrun my mind IS being immobilized with extreme fear and depression and anxiety. I was suffering from PTSD. Then, as recommended, when I felt the usual sense of needing to shut down (where I usually would go to sleep), I made myself sit with the sensations and calmly watch the fight or flight wash through me. I cried and my body shook and trembled and 20 minutes later I was suddenly still and hit with an extreme calm. Colors were brighter. My mind was clear. That was about 10 days ago, and I've had my life back ever since. I wish I could explain the profound change in me compared to the last two and a half years. Everyone notices it and at least half a dozen people have gone after this book upon seeing the astonishing results. I still feel the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue but a body doesn't snap back after two and a half years of shut down in such a short time, and I'm confident that most of those symptoms came from the way my body was unknowingly locked down. I have also done the work from this book in alleviating a number of the specific symptoms of pain in my body. I won't claim this is the easiest book to read for those not coming from a science or psychiatric background but the understanding of the body at this level seems so critical to me for people in this day and age where we tend to try to solve everything by coming at it mentally with talk therapy or positive thinking. This had everything to do with my body. I'd been coming at it top down from the mind all this time when the work needed to be done from the bottom up.
I feel hope again. I feel joy again. I feel motivation. I FEEL. Thank you Dr Levine from the bottom of my heart. From me, from my husband, and from that 12 year old boy who got his mother back. Words will never be enough.
2024 update: I haven't found relief from the fibromyalgia part but the ptsd aspect has stayed gone from that moment. I'm still eternally grateful.
March 10, 2017
Peter Levine is a wise, kindly, and gentle sage, scholar, and clinician who understands trauma like few other writers. He offers, through the therapeutic method he has created -- Somatic Experiencing -- a most persuasive passage from the ruination of extreme shock to the restoration of vibrancy and presence. His work is gentle, graduated, moderate, quiet, based in our body's wisdom ... Safe.
He begins the first chapter with his own experience of being hit by a car while crossing a street. Later in the book, he offers the same story again, now annotated/augmented with his later perceptions about how he was *not* traumatized emotionally by the event. He was able to bring his shockened consciousness back to full awareness and presence ... and he could also both receive and help direct his care from a witness to the accident (she was a doctor!), the EMTs, and (if memory serves) a nurse at the hospital he was taken to. Through this annotated story, he shows us, intricately, what steps he and others took right away to reduce the possibility of later emotional trauma. Assurance of safety; gentle contact through touch and gaze; slow pacing (outside of any necessary emergency interventions) of actions and speech; sharing of information and expertise between patient and helpers (Peter had been a trauma sage for 30+ years at the time).
Peter Levine is the real deal for humanely told stories, guiding the reader into gentle and thorough explorations of trauma, neuroscience, our mammalian heritage and resilience, and mindful guidance for safe passage beyond injury. Peter makes utterly clear what trauma is -- and from how many sources it can strike; he normalizes the experience by writing so lucidly about it (it's been said that what we call 'PTSD' is an entirely normal/natural reaction to a wildly abnormal, overwhelming event), and makes clear, repeatedly, that there are sane and soothing ways to return from the entrapment of terror. For some, this is a lifetime's work ... and it's well, well worth the effort.
It is made clearly evident in this book what trauma is, and what trauma is not. We tend to toss around the words 'trauma' and 'PTSD' like catalogic frisbees -- in my own travels I've heard bad hair days, lousy (but harm-free) dates, and favourite book-series endings described as 'traumatic.' (Later note, March 2017: an entertainment journalist who was at the recent Oscars award ceremony wrote -- in jest, one hopes -- of how "everyone we spoke with" experienced "a shocked, dazed, almost PTSD-ish memory-fragmentation" in the wake of learning that the winner for Best Picture award wasn't the Best Picture.)
Trauma is a life-threatening event (Levine's definition of traumatic injury: Mortal threat + immobilization/entrapment + helplessness/being unable to act) that destroys agency and ability; trauma overtakes us and renders us inert, unable to move on our own behalf. Trauma can last for an instant, or go on for years, and its aftermath can be just as devastating -- survivors are left at a breach in the very foundation of their lives. Trauma is an existential injury -- a blow to one's sense of ground, placement, being. One is hurled over the edge of existence -- then yanked back. The abyss remains, cleft into the psyche, regardless of how thoroughly any physical injury may heal.
Peter Levine shows a way through the aftermath, and expands this way gradually (there's a lot of information to absorb) from the first, vital steps into the shock of survival through the long, patient work of recalibrating one's central nervous system from constant alarm and reactivity ('DEFCON 5!') to softened, moderate regulation. No matter what trauma one has suffered -- military combat, natural disaster, war and displacement, domestic and personal assault, grave illness, shattering injury, premature birth, invasive though life-saving medical intervention, sudden/violent death of a loved one, etc. -- this book will rivet your attention with its engaging prose, its hard science made articulate (and fascinating!), its stories of gradual, pervasive healing step by step.
Most of all, Peter Levine is actively *hopeful* -- Never in the book does he suggest that a survivor of trauma is a 'hopeless case' (my words). He is certainly mindful that people can be broken beyond repair ... and his manner of understanding and treating the aftermath (trauma's effects) is safe, profoundly respectful, and exquisitely paced. The gift of his wisdom has profoundly softened my existential stance in life ... allowed me to soften my own traumatic defenses, and make some trusting sense of the world again. You know the phrase, "His work is cutting-edge"? Peter's work is softening-edge.
He begins the first chapter with his own experience of being hit by a car while crossing a street. Later in the book, he offers the same story again, now annotated/augmented with his later perceptions about how he was *not* traumatized emotionally by the event. He was able to bring his shockened consciousness back to full awareness and presence ... and he could also both receive and help direct his care from a witness to the accident (she was a doctor!), the EMTs, and (if memory serves) a nurse at the hospital he was taken to. Through this annotated story, he shows us, intricately, what steps he and others took right away to reduce the possibility of later emotional trauma. Assurance of safety; gentle contact through touch and gaze; slow pacing (outside of any necessary emergency interventions) of actions and speech; sharing of information and expertise between patient and helpers (Peter had been a trauma sage for 30+ years at the time).
Peter Levine is the real deal for humanely told stories, guiding the reader into gentle and thorough explorations of trauma, neuroscience, our mammalian heritage and resilience, and mindful guidance for safe passage beyond injury. Peter makes utterly clear what trauma is -- and from how many sources it can strike; he normalizes the experience by writing so lucidly about it (it's been said that what we call 'PTSD' is an entirely normal/natural reaction to a wildly abnormal, overwhelming event), and makes clear, repeatedly, that there are sane and soothing ways to return from the entrapment of terror. For some, this is a lifetime's work ... and it's well, well worth the effort.
It is made clearly evident in this book what trauma is, and what trauma is not. We tend to toss around the words 'trauma' and 'PTSD' like catalogic frisbees -- in my own travels I've heard bad hair days, lousy (but harm-free) dates, and favourite book-series endings described as 'traumatic.' (Later note, March 2017: an entertainment journalist who was at the recent Oscars award ceremony wrote -- in jest, one hopes -- of how "everyone we spoke with" experienced "a shocked, dazed, almost PTSD-ish memory-fragmentation" in the wake of learning that the winner for Best Picture award wasn't the Best Picture.)
Trauma is a life-threatening event (Levine's definition of traumatic injury: Mortal threat + immobilization/entrapment + helplessness/being unable to act) that destroys agency and ability; trauma overtakes us and renders us inert, unable to move on our own behalf. Trauma can last for an instant, or go on for years, and its aftermath can be just as devastating -- survivors are left at a breach in the very foundation of their lives. Trauma is an existential injury -- a blow to one's sense of ground, placement, being. One is hurled over the edge of existence -- then yanked back. The abyss remains, cleft into the psyche, regardless of how thoroughly any physical injury may heal.
Peter Levine shows a way through the aftermath, and expands this way gradually (there's a lot of information to absorb) from the first, vital steps into the shock of survival through the long, patient work of recalibrating one's central nervous system from constant alarm and reactivity ('DEFCON 5!') to softened, moderate regulation. No matter what trauma one has suffered -- military combat, natural disaster, war and displacement, domestic and personal assault, grave illness, shattering injury, premature birth, invasive though life-saving medical intervention, sudden/violent death of a loved one, etc. -- this book will rivet your attention with its engaging prose, its hard science made articulate (and fascinating!), its stories of gradual, pervasive healing step by step.
Most of all, Peter Levine is actively *hopeful* -- Never in the book does he suggest that a survivor of trauma is a 'hopeless case' (my words). He is certainly mindful that people can be broken beyond repair ... and his manner of understanding and treating the aftermath (trauma's effects) is safe, profoundly respectful, and exquisitely paced. The gift of his wisdom has profoundly softened my existential stance in life ... allowed me to soften my own traumatic defenses, and make some trusting sense of the world again. You know the phrase, "His work is cutting-edge"? Peter's work is softening-edge.
May 20, 2012
Definitely the most comprehensive of Peter Levine's books (Waking the Tiger being the most basic introduction to our instinctual nature and it's role in trauma). Indeed, he starts the Epilogue with: "too much or too little?" - clearly he has more to say on the matter.
That said, I found the first third of the book ('Roots') too much in volume or bland, but I think only because I'd already read Waking the Tiger. I always find clinical case examples helpful, and Levine's story-teller skill is great in illustrating how therapy based on his understanding of trauma plays out. He returns to his own traumatic experience of an accident also throughout the book, which helps weave the finer points together.
I was most engaged by the last section in the book more directly addressing the importance of embodiment is in more general terms for our livelihood. The exercises in there are also fruitful and simple for anyone to increase their awareness of inner sensations (feelings). Levine throws in a chapter on Trauma and Spirituality which I found confirming and was thankful for. I definitely wanted more on this and luckily he writes in the Epilogue he has a whole book on Trauma and Spirituality he is working on.
A highlight in those last sections for me is his comment that he came to this understanding of trauma and approach to therapy through keen observation of individual's experiences - he "didn't have a formulated set of pathological criteria to unduly distract" him i.e. the DSM . Funny that! That someone could come to an understanding of health and suffering, and an approach to deeply guide people to liberation from the latter without needing to categorize, label, drug, define... I won't go on (I'm not the biggest DSM fan, clearly). He states: "I realized that my clients' reactions manifested what was right and normal-rather than what was wrong and pathological. In other words, they exhibited innate self-regulating and self-healing processes. (p. 348). If only all mental health professionals had this understanding of our hurts.
In an Unspoken Voice was definitely a dense read for me. I felt there was something light, soothing and alluring about the Levine's writing though - much like the man himself I say, if anyone's met him or watched his videos. My summation is that it's a forerunner in the increasing number of trauma therapy books out there. Somatics is the way to go...
That said, I found the first third of the book ('Roots') too much in volume or bland, but I think only because I'd already read Waking the Tiger. I always find clinical case examples helpful, and Levine's story-teller skill is great in illustrating how therapy based on his understanding of trauma plays out. He returns to his own traumatic experience of an accident also throughout the book, which helps weave the finer points together.
I was most engaged by the last section in the book more directly addressing the importance of embodiment is in more general terms for our livelihood. The exercises in there are also fruitful and simple for anyone to increase their awareness of inner sensations (feelings). Levine throws in a chapter on Trauma and Spirituality which I found confirming and was thankful for. I definitely wanted more on this and luckily he writes in the Epilogue he has a whole book on Trauma and Spirituality he is working on.
A highlight in those last sections for me is his comment that he came to this understanding of trauma and approach to therapy through keen observation of individual's experiences - he "didn't have a formulated set of pathological criteria to unduly distract" him i.e. the DSM . Funny that! That someone could come to an understanding of health and suffering, and an approach to deeply guide people to liberation from the latter without needing to categorize, label, drug, define... I won't go on (I'm not the biggest DSM fan, clearly). He states: "I realized that my clients' reactions manifested what was right and normal-rather than what was wrong and pathological. In other words, they exhibited innate self-regulating and self-healing processes. (p. 348). If only all mental health professionals had this understanding of our hurts.
In an Unspoken Voice was definitely a dense read for me. I felt there was something light, soothing and alluring about the Levine's writing though - much like the man himself I say, if anyone's met him or watched his videos. My summation is that it's a forerunner in the increasing number of trauma therapy books out there. Somatics is the way to go...
September 10, 2017
This is my second DNF book in a row in the Psychology subject realm. This is a new behavior for me as someone who generally slogs through everything I pick up. I think I'm just getting too tired of spending my time with books that cause stress without much reward. I made it about 70% through this before I decided to throw in the towel.
I really enjoyed Waking the Tiger, though I read that many years ago and am now wondering how I would feel about it today having read this book. This book is not without its merits. There are some good and interesting anecdotes about trauma and recovery in here. I posted several quotes from the chapters that interested me- specifically ones that talk about the long term effects of traumatic stress on the health and body. It also has some good suggestions for therapists and probably anyone looking to delve into helping clients or themselves get back into their skin so to speak. There are some good things in here, which is why I rated it in the middle.
What has made me crawl through this book slowly and eventually put it down are two tropes that are common in mainstream psychological and scientific literature:
1. The idea that the author's technique of [Insert methodology here] is practically magical. Levine comes very close to suggesting that he cures patients with long-term, severe traumatic stress in one somatic experiencing session. He may hint that everyone's different or that people may need more than one session. But, there's a bit of an air of "When these people finally came to me for help when nothing else worked, and I told them to shake and feel their body, they were magically better and so grateful to me." He also uses his own car accident as an indepth analytic case study to prove his theories which most people know is bad form. I think Levine is very knowledgeable, does care about his patients and does mean well, but this kind of stuff always sets off red flags for me. And, it can send a message that if somatic therapy doesn't work for you, it's because you are bad and wrong rather than the therapy being imperfect or not one-size-fits-all.
I did not completely hate the case studies. I actually rather enjoyed a lot of them. But, the delivery lacked critical analysis in my opinion. And he never should have analyzed himself.
2. Levine traumatized nonhuman animals and supports others traumatizing nonhuman animals- and even suggests retroactive nobel prizes for them. He devotes entire sections of the book to calling out the cognitive sciences for their refusal to see humans as animals, then he directly contradicts much of that by acting and speaking in completely anthropocentric terms. He even uses an example of an elephant resuscitating her baby as a show of how an elephant's mind is "useless" and instinct is the only reason she did this. It is well know that Elephants show a wide range of expression, (human valued) intelligence, and have rituals around death and funeral like processions. He argues that other animals either don't have consciousness or only have consciousness that basically involves responding to stimuli. He will then contradict again claiming animals have something to offer when he can use their qualities to explain part of human behavior. Then it becomes time for him to exert anthropocentric human superiority again in order to excuse exploitation of nonhuman animals, so the animals become "less than" in another contradictory way. I put the book down when I got to the part where he is praising and fauning over the Triune brain model which is reductive and inaccurate (birds, alone, throw a wrench in it,) and gave up.
I do not recall Levine mentioning torturing animals in Waking the Tiger- I thought all animal studies mentioned were wildlife observation. Perhaps I blocked it out. But, I find it appalling when people who claim to seek out a better world for the traumatized are willing to cause trauma, pain, suffering, and death in others to do so. They put curiosity ahead of actually preventing or healing post traumtic stress. I also find it frustratingly convenient when scientists highlight all of the ways that other animals underperform humans at certain tasks, but leave out the great number of ways other animals are better than humans at tasks- including things like cooperation, organization, preserving and caring for their habitats and environments, memory tasks, math tasks, and other such gems.
Basically, the whole thing is a mess and also needed better editing as I am pretty sure I read several parts two or three times. I am so exhausted with these tropes in psychological literature. I love psychology and don't mind pushing through some garbage here and there. But, dominating the entire book with this stuff is just disappointing, insulting, and even triggering for those of us who have been exposed to the torture of nonhuman animals for the curiosities scientists. Levine really let me down with this, he was someone I had up on a pedestal.
I really enjoyed Waking the Tiger, though I read that many years ago and am now wondering how I would feel about it today having read this book. This book is not without its merits. There are some good and interesting anecdotes about trauma and recovery in here. I posted several quotes from the chapters that interested me- specifically ones that talk about the long term effects of traumatic stress on the health and body. It also has some good suggestions for therapists and probably anyone looking to delve into helping clients or themselves get back into their skin so to speak. There are some good things in here, which is why I rated it in the middle.
What has made me crawl through this book slowly and eventually put it down are two tropes that are common in mainstream psychological and scientific literature:
1. The idea that the author's technique of [Insert methodology here] is practically magical. Levine comes very close to suggesting that he cures patients with long-term, severe traumatic stress in one somatic experiencing session. He may hint that everyone's different or that people may need more than one session. But, there's a bit of an air of "When these people finally came to me for help when nothing else worked, and I told them to shake and feel their body, they were magically better and so grateful to me." He also uses his own car accident as an indepth analytic case study to prove his theories which most people know is bad form. I think Levine is very knowledgeable, does care about his patients and does mean well, but this kind of stuff always sets off red flags for me. And, it can send a message that if somatic therapy doesn't work for you, it's because you are bad and wrong rather than the therapy being imperfect or not one-size-fits-all.
I did not completely hate the case studies. I actually rather enjoyed a lot of them. But, the delivery lacked critical analysis in my opinion. And he never should have analyzed himself.
2. Levine traumatized nonhuman animals and supports others traumatizing nonhuman animals- and even suggests retroactive nobel prizes for them. He devotes entire sections of the book to calling out the cognitive sciences for their refusal to see humans as animals, then he directly contradicts much of that by acting and speaking in completely anthropocentric terms. He even uses an example of an elephant resuscitating her baby as a show of how an elephant's mind is "useless" and instinct is the only reason she did this. It is well know that Elephants show a wide range of expression, (human valued) intelligence, and have rituals around death and funeral like processions. He argues that other animals either don't have consciousness or only have consciousness that basically involves responding to stimuli. He will then contradict again claiming animals have something to offer when he can use their qualities to explain part of human behavior. Then it becomes time for him to exert anthropocentric human superiority again in order to excuse exploitation of nonhuman animals, so the animals become "less than" in another contradictory way. I put the book down when I got to the part where he is praising and fauning over the Triune brain model which is reductive and inaccurate (birds, alone, throw a wrench in it,) and gave up.
I do not recall Levine mentioning torturing animals in Waking the Tiger- I thought all animal studies mentioned were wildlife observation. Perhaps I blocked it out. But, I find it appalling when people who claim to seek out a better world for the traumatized are willing to cause trauma, pain, suffering, and death in others to do so. They put curiosity ahead of actually preventing or healing post traumtic stress. I also find it frustratingly convenient when scientists highlight all of the ways that other animals underperform humans at certain tasks, but leave out the great number of ways other animals are better than humans at tasks- including things like cooperation, organization, preserving and caring for their habitats and environments, memory tasks, math tasks, and other such gems.
Basically, the whole thing is a mess and also needed better editing as I am pretty sure I read several parts two or three times. I am so exhausted with these tropes in psychological literature. I love psychology and don't mind pushing through some garbage here and there. But, dominating the entire book with this stuff is just disappointing, insulting, and even triggering for those of us who have been exposed to the torture of nonhuman animals for the curiosities scientists. Levine really let me down with this, he was someone I had up on a pedestal.
June 17, 2013
Peter Levine may just be the greatest thinker in mental health and medicine of our age. This book reveals the process by which Levine made the discoveries about trauma and chronic stress that inspired his approach to healing which he has named "Somatic Experiencing". Levine has PhDs in biology and psychology and has put these to very good use. He was in part inspired by his observations of animals in the wild and how they respond to life threatening adversity. He has incorporated the latest in scientific understaning regauding our autonomic nervous system into his therapeutic approach that uses the attunement of the therapist to the client to build awareness in the client of his own bodily sensations and rhythms. These bodily rythms are severely impacted by trauma and chronic stress and Levine explains how an attuned therapist can fasciliate awareness building and restore the bodies natural rythms and thus restore health and wellness. This is an amazing revelation as we have generally had very poor success in the rest of medicine. The implications of Levine's are nothing short of revolutionary.
April 16, 2018
This books is considered something like a bible in psychotherapy research, and it obviously contains a ton of useful information, but for me personally the author's style was not as clear as I could have wished for, and his insistence to re-tell the story of his accident ended up a bit annoying by the n-th time he mentioned it. I gained a lot of knowledge from his insights, but it's a dense book, which a person with no previous mental health training will have difficulty to work through alone. Still, it's a good starting point, if one is interested in this kind of trauma healing. His main points (becoming aware of the physical body, feeling safe in the physical body, knowing (through experience) that all feelings and sensations are temporary, being aware of yourself and knowing how to pace yourself, feeling uncomfortable sensations without being overwhelmed by them, letting go and allowing your body to do what it needs to do - whatever it wants to do at the time of the traumatic event) are eye-opening for many people who suffer from unreleased trauma, but without the help and assistance of a professional therapist, I'm not sure how applicable they could be for all those who decide to rely on this approach.
January 6, 2022
4.5 rounded up
My therapist recommended this book to me after I mentioned an interest in somatic experiencing but that I was a little underwhelmed by The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Like that one, this book is quite long, and a bit dense at time, but I connected significantly more to this one. I appreciated that, unlike some of my experiences with TBKS, it didn't feel like I was reading trauma porn, and I actually felt like the focus really was on how the body processes and releases trauma. Really fascinating read and I'd definitely recommend for those interested in the subject!
My therapist recommended this book to me after I mentioned an interest in somatic experiencing but that I was a little underwhelmed by The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Like that one, this book is quite long, and a bit dense at time, but I connected significantly more to this one. I appreciated that, unlike some of my experiences with TBKS, it didn't feel like I was reading trauma porn, and I actually felt like the focus really was on how the body processes and releases trauma. Really fascinating read and I'd definitely recommend for those interested in the subject!
September 3, 2022
Even though I only gave this book 3 stars I do have to say that it is really helpful in understanding trauma. Peter Levine shares life-changing exercises on releasing trauma, and I now practice them daily. I am so grateful for his incredible work in helping people heal and transcend PTSD. However, the book itself, while containing profound gems, is just too verbose and repetitive to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.
August 4, 2014
I don't say this lightly, but this book has changed my life, and I'm truly not a person that 'buys-into" things lightly. Dr. Levine describes the behaviors, adaptations and thoughts of a people detailing with unresolved trauma with uncanny precision and intimacy that it was like seeing oneself in the mirror for the first time.
My only criticism is that there's a lack of criticism concerning the somatic experiencing approach. I would like to see some clinical studies addressing the efficacy of this approach, but with the proof being in the eating, it tastes very good.
My only criticism is that there's a lack of criticism concerning the somatic experiencing approach. I would like to see some clinical studies addressing the efficacy of this approach, but with the proof being in the eating, it tastes very good.
September 14, 2018
I have read a lot of books and articles on trauma healing, going back at least fifteen years. Dr. Levine’s In an Unspoken Voice is, by far, the best. While I am writing this review only one day after finishing the book, I feel it’s appropriate to affirm the validity of Dr. Levine’s theory and practice, even though I haven’t yet made any attempt to apply the recommended exercises. I had an epiphany, quite literally, about halfway through, and ended wishing I had read it forty years ago. My life today would be quite different if I had. That isn’t regret speaking. Rather it’s observation and hope for a more peaceful future once I’ve had an opportunity to practice what I’ve learned, as well as a message to others who have endured trauma.
Dr. Levine brings many gifts to the stage! There are plenty of reviews both here and elsewhere that describe the basic tenets of Dr. Levine’s therapy, so I won’t repeat those for sake of brevity. Rather, I want to share why it was the best book for me and why it might be best for others who have experienced unresolved trauma and therapists who work with trauma patients. First, however, I want to thank Dr. Levine for taking the time to expound so eloquently on his life’s work. His writing style – a balance between lay and scientific – gave me a sense of an open door, a fluid exchange, unlike what normally exists between patient-doctor or author-reader. Perhaps I’m projecting.
My epiphany: I grew up in a verbally, emotionally abusive home. There was no physical abuse, but the emotional and psychological abuse plagues all three of us children well into adulthood. I have been in psychotherapy several times, four times for PTSD, the latest time diagnosed with C-PTSD (complex). My most recent therapist told me that I can expect to live with this for the remainder of my life, but learn to manage symptoms. Here is what jumped off the pages of In an Unspoken Voice to me: as long as I can remember, I have had an uncanny pain threshold, to the point that I’ve injured myself because I don’t feel pain. If I say “ouch,” it’s already a 9+ on the pain scale. The body’s last response when trapped is to shut down. Did my body get stuck in a perpetual semi-anesthetized state as a child? That would certainly explain why I can’t or don’t feel pain, and I plan to explore it in detail. The alternative is that I have an overactive endorphin system, but I hardly think that’s the case.
My second observation is that trauma begets trauma, as I have hypothesized for years but have had no prior substantive evidence. This is my thought, not Dr. Levine’s, but I surmised it by superimposing the Somatic Experiencing® schema with my experience. Sexual predators and domestic abusers know how to target their prey merely by looking at them. Advocates have known this, especially as it relates to domestic abuse, though probably not the exact mechanism. Posture tells a lot about people, as Dr. Levine’s book reveals. Some people who have unresolved trauma have hunched shoulders - easy prey - according to Dr. Levine. There’s far too much good in this life to spend another day trapped in a body that fights against you. Free it; it will free you. This is what is proposed by the theory, and I believe it.
I recommend this to anyone who has unresolved trauma and to all therapists, advocates, and others who work with trauma survivors.
Dr. Levine brings many gifts to the stage! There are plenty of reviews both here and elsewhere that describe the basic tenets of Dr. Levine’s therapy, so I won’t repeat those for sake of brevity. Rather, I want to share why it was the best book for me and why it might be best for others who have experienced unresolved trauma and therapists who work with trauma patients. First, however, I want to thank Dr. Levine for taking the time to expound so eloquently on his life’s work. His writing style – a balance between lay and scientific – gave me a sense of an open door, a fluid exchange, unlike what normally exists between patient-doctor or author-reader. Perhaps I’m projecting.
My epiphany: I grew up in a verbally, emotionally abusive home. There was no physical abuse, but the emotional and psychological abuse plagues all three of us children well into adulthood. I have been in psychotherapy several times, four times for PTSD, the latest time diagnosed with C-PTSD (complex). My most recent therapist told me that I can expect to live with this for the remainder of my life, but learn to manage symptoms. Here is what jumped off the pages of In an Unspoken Voice to me: as long as I can remember, I have had an uncanny pain threshold, to the point that I’ve injured myself because I don’t feel pain. If I say “ouch,” it’s already a 9+ on the pain scale. The body’s last response when trapped is to shut down. Did my body get stuck in a perpetual semi-anesthetized state as a child? That would certainly explain why I can’t or don’t feel pain, and I plan to explore it in detail. The alternative is that I have an overactive endorphin system, but I hardly think that’s the case.
My second observation is that trauma begets trauma, as I have hypothesized for years but have had no prior substantive evidence. This is my thought, not Dr. Levine’s, but I surmised it by superimposing the Somatic Experiencing® schema with my experience. Sexual predators and domestic abusers know how to target their prey merely by looking at them. Advocates have known this, especially as it relates to domestic abuse, though probably not the exact mechanism. Posture tells a lot about people, as Dr. Levine’s book reveals. Some people who have unresolved trauma have hunched shoulders - easy prey - according to Dr. Levine. There’s far too much good in this life to spend another day trapped in a body that fights against you. Free it; it will free you. This is what is proposed by the theory, and I believe it.
I recommend this to anyone who has unresolved trauma and to all therapists, advocates, and others who work with trauma survivors.
June 14, 2013
There is so much useful information in this book, it's hard to decide where to start. In a nutshell, Levine covers the physiology of trauma - the nervous systems involved in why and how it happens, the ways in which the body 'holds' intense emotions - and the steps required to actually "release trauma and restore goodness", as the subtitle puts it. Of prime importance is the vagus nerve, part of the parasympathetic system. Different branches of this nerve are responsible both for relaxation and rejuvenation, as well as the 'freeze response' when confronted with a no-win, life-threatening situation. (A program like [[ASIN:B0037ZAKDM Éiriú Eolas]] uses breathing exercises to stimulate the former branch, fostering emotional and physical health and relaxation.) By understanding the body's defense programs, you can understand the steps taken by the body to protect the self, and the ways this can store trauma and cause all kinds of problems in normal life functioning.
Levine talks us through his own experience of trauma - getting hit by a car while crossing the street - and shows how body awareness, and knowledge of how the body initiates certain self-protective movements (which are often halted or blocked during the traumatic experiencing) and how to complete these movements to avoid that 'energy' getting stuck in place, are the key to staving off the development of problems like PTSD. When that energy does get stuck, learning body awareness, learning how to experience painful emotions one degree at a time, and letting the body complete the actions it originally initiated can release the body back to its healthy state of homeostasis.
After the first section, which includes the revolutionary theory and research on trauma, Levine has a section of case studies showing the theory in action, and then gets deeper into the topics of instinct, emotion, sensation, and feeling, parsing out the concepts with reference to many other researchers. He rounds this off with a section on the implications of all of the above with spirituality as well as some exercises to increase one's body awareness - something which most people could benefit from.
What struck me throughout was the correlation with the work of philosopher George Gurdjieff. While Levine doesn't cite Gurdjieff, the overlap with his work (from the 1920s to 1940s) is remarkable. Most of the cutting-edge and modern research discussed in the book was either hinted at or talked about directly by Gurdjieff, which surprised me. I'd recommend reading P.D. Ouspensky's account of Gurdjieff's teachings (which touch on emotion, sensation, posture, self-observation, self-awareness, and a whole lot more), [[ASIN:0156007460 In Search of the Miraculous]].
In An Unspoken Voice (****1/2) is a superb book, bringing new (and rediscovered) information on the body, mind and emotions together in a format that is easy to follow and directly applicable to everyday life. I look forward to a day when Levine's work is widely practiced.
Levine talks us through his own experience of trauma - getting hit by a car while crossing the street - and shows how body awareness, and knowledge of how the body initiates certain self-protective movements (which are often halted or blocked during the traumatic experiencing) and how to complete these movements to avoid that 'energy' getting stuck in place, are the key to staving off the development of problems like PTSD. When that energy does get stuck, learning body awareness, learning how to experience painful emotions one degree at a time, and letting the body complete the actions it originally initiated can release the body back to its healthy state of homeostasis.
After the first section, which includes the revolutionary theory and research on trauma, Levine has a section of case studies showing the theory in action, and then gets deeper into the topics of instinct, emotion, sensation, and feeling, parsing out the concepts with reference to many other researchers. He rounds this off with a section on the implications of all of the above with spirituality as well as some exercises to increase one's body awareness - something which most people could benefit from.
What struck me throughout was the correlation with the work of philosopher George Gurdjieff. While Levine doesn't cite Gurdjieff, the overlap with his work (from the 1920s to 1940s) is remarkable. Most of the cutting-edge and modern research discussed in the book was either hinted at or talked about directly by Gurdjieff, which surprised me. I'd recommend reading P.D. Ouspensky's account of Gurdjieff's teachings (which touch on emotion, sensation, posture, self-observation, self-awareness, and a whole lot more), [[ASIN:0156007460 In Search of the Miraculous]].
In An Unspoken Voice (****1/2) is a superb book, bringing new (and rediscovered) information on the body, mind and emotions together in a format that is easy to follow and directly applicable to everyday life. I look forward to a day when Levine's work is widely practiced.
January 30, 2021
Travma konulu bir alan kitabı olduğu için oldukça yavaş ilerlediğim, birçok yerini tekrar tekrar okuduğum, bolca altını çizdiğim bir kitap oldu.
Levine kitabı travmayla ilgilenen her kesimden insan için yazdığını söylese de alandan kişiler ve özellikle psikoterapistler için daha uygun olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Peter Levine Somatik Deneyimleme'nin kurucusu. Başına gelen bir trafik kazasını anlatarak başladığı kitapta, travma ile ilgili yapılan bir çok araştırmadan bahsederek ve kendi danışanlarından örnekler vererek somatik deneyimlemenin temellerini tüm detaylarıyla açıklıyor.
Kitapta;
- Neden aynı olayı yaşayan insanların bazıları travma geliştirirken bazıları geliştirmiyor?
- Travma nasıl oluşuyor?
- Savaş-kaç tepkisi dışındaki donma tepkisi travmanın oluşumunda nasıl bir etkiye sahip?
- Bedenimizi, duygularımızı fark etmek ve kapsamak neden önemli?
- Bedenlileşme en anlama geliyor?
- Travma nasıl iyileştirilir?
gibi onlarca sorunun cevabını veriyor.
Levine kitabı travmayla ilgilenen her kesimden insan için yazdığını söylese de alandan kişiler ve özellikle psikoterapistler için daha uygun olduğunu düşünüyorum.
Peter Levine Somatik Deneyimleme'nin kurucusu. Başına gelen bir trafik kazasını anlatarak başladığı kitapta, travma ile ilgili yapılan bir çok araştırmadan bahsederek ve kendi danışanlarından örnekler vererek somatik deneyimlemenin temellerini tüm detaylarıyla açıklıyor.
Kitapta;
- Neden aynı olayı yaşayan insanların bazıları travma geliştirirken bazıları geliştirmiyor?
- Travma nasıl oluşuyor?
- Savaş-kaç tepkisi dışındaki donma tepkisi travmanın oluşumunda nasıl bir etkiye sahip?
- Bedenimizi, duygularımızı fark etmek ve kapsamak neden önemli?
- Bedenlileşme en anlama geliyor?
- Travma nasıl iyileştirilir?
gibi onlarca sorunun cevabını veriyor.
July 7, 2019
Read cover to cover. Absolutely fascinating exploration of instinct, feeling, emotion and the body. Describes how trauma sufferers get 'stuck' and his work helps them reconnect with their body. Connects with work by Gabor Mate and Bessel van der Kolk.
'Trauma sufferers, in their healing journeys, learn to dissolve their rigid defenses. In this surrender they move from frozen fixity to gently thawing and, finally, free flow. In healing the divided self from its habitual mode of dissociation, they move from fragmentation to wholeness. In becoming embodied they return from their long exile. They come home to their bodies and know embodied life, as though for the first time' - resonance with TS Eliot.
'Trauma sufferers, in their healing journeys, learn to dissolve their rigid defenses. In this surrender they move from frozen fixity to gently thawing and, finally, free flow. In healing the divided self from its habitual mode of dissociation, they move from fragmentation to wholeness. In becoming embodied they return from their long exile. They come home to their bodies and know embodied life, as though for the first time' - resonance with TS Eliot.
May 29, 2012
Great view of trauma as a disregulation of nervous system function. Levine gives a clear model for understanding the biological basis of trauma being held in the body & a great rationale for using his method to discharge & allow the nervous system to come back into balance. This book, and Somatic Experiencing, have changed the way I see trauma. In working with groups, it has tuned me in to ways people dissociate that I would not have considered before & ways to better work with them.
December 31, 2016
essential reading for anyone exposed to trauma
is anyone exempted?
is anyone exempted?
October 22, 2024
A young brash samurai swordsman confronted a venerated Zen master with the following demand: "I want you to tell me the truth about the existence of heaven and hell".
The master replied gently and with delicate curiosity , " How is it that such an ugly and untalented man as you can become a samurai?"
Immediately, the wrathful young samurai pulled out his sword and raised it above his head, ready to strike the old man and cut him in half. Without fear and in complete calm, the Zen master gazed upwards and spoke softly : "This is hell". The samurai paused, sword held above his head. His arms fell like leaves to his side, while his face softened from its angry glare. He quietly reflected. Placing his sword back into its sheath, he bowed to the teacher in reverence. "And this," the master replied again with equal calm, "is heaven".
The master replied gently and with delicate curiosity , " How is it that such an ugly and untalented man as you can become a samurai?"
Immediately, the wrathful young samurai pulled out his sword and raised it above his head, ready to strike the old man and cut him in half. Without fear and in complete calm, the Zen master gazed upwards and spoke softly : "This is hell". The samurai paused, sword held above his head. His arms fell like leaves to his side, while his face softened from its angry glare. He quietly reflected. Placing his sword back into its sheath, he bowed to the teacher in reverence. "And this," the master replied again with equal calm, "is heaven".
October 15, 2014
This book is pretty phenomenal, but I'm not sure if it's necessary after reading Levine's seminal "Waking the Tiger." A LOT of content is redundant, if not copied in its exact form. That said, I really found Waking the Tiger transformative, so it was helpful to hear the messages reinforced! I'm getting the feeling that, with many spiritual books, the point might not be to cover new content, but to remind us of the gems we already know.
March 11, 2022
Una dintre cele mai bune pe acest subiect. E greu de citit si de digerat, dar merita efortul- mai ales pentru cineva care acum descoperă cum funcționează creierul uman.
January 22, 2023
Este libro es particularmente bueno porque vincula las respuestas ante el trauma con investigación en conducta animal. Personalmente, esto me gustó mucho porque yo hice investigación en animales, para algunas personas podría ser demasiado tedioso o académico, pero a mí me gustó. Recomiendo este libro para quien quiera aprender más de la perspectiva del que debe de usarse el cuerpo para sanar el trauma (o alguna experiencia de sufrimiento tipo la pérdida de un ser querido, un divorcio, un accidente, etc)
Al final del libro nos ofrece la idea de cómo la sanación del trauma se puede vincular con un camino de desarrollo espiritual. Se entiende que toda experiencia traumática (o de sufrimiento) si se enfrenta y se sana, siempre viene con su contraparte en aumento de conciencia y sabiduría.
Al final del libro nos ofrece la idea de cómo la sanación del trauma se puede vincular con un camino de desarrollo espiritual. Se entiende que toda experiencia traumática (o de sufrimiento) si se enfrenta y se sana, siempre viene con su contraparte en aumento de conciencia y sabiduría.
November 7, 2024
0 stars for writing
1 star for research
1 star for premise
1 star for impact (I'd like to give him all the stars for impact!)
1 star for liking it
1 star for research
1 star for premise
1 star for impact (I'd like to give him all the stars for impact!)
1 star for liking it
January 27, 2024
A deep dive into how trauma affects our bodies. He uses a broader definition of trauma than other books I've read and disputes the PTSD label. There was a lot about medical trauma which I found particularly interesting. I don't agree with some of his theories but they certainly made me think. The case studies were fascinating.
Written more for clinicians than the average lay-person but still fairly accessible. It started to feel very repetitive and depressing towards the end and I put it down before quite finishing it.
Includes exercises to help you become more attuned with your body that I might visit again sometime.
Written more for clinicians than the average lay-person but still fairly accessible. It started to feel very repetitive and depressing towards the end and I put it down before quite finishing it.
Includes exercises to help you become more attuned with your body that I might visit again sometime.
June 14, 2021
I was quite disappointed after reading this book. Yes, it offers some good insights into the relation between body and trauma, but it's not easy to follow (in regards of structure). I think it was in the afterword were Levine writes how he wanted to add chapter after chapter to this book while writing it and well, it shows. It's not very well structured and lacks a consequent outline. Also, it's somewhat repetetative (after reading how Levine himself did not suffer from PTSD because he knew how to properly react to a potentially traumatizing situation for the forth time, it became flat out boring).
What irks me the most is how surprisingly shallow it was often times. He offers a lot of different case examples, but presents it always like trauma is something really easy to treat (as long as you know his approach to healing it..): his patients always show significant improvement after his very first session with them and Levine often times leaves it at that - leaving the impression behind that trauma is not hard work, which often times takes years of hard work to make somehwat improvements.
Would I recommend reading this book? No, there are better trauma-related books to read, only read it if you enjoy reading a book of a man who sounds like he really likes to hear himself talk and who repeats himself over and over again, without a clear strcuture or goal in his telling. Am I a little bit harsh? Yes, maybe, but I was really disappointed how it turned out. I see so much potential wasted here on this one. I can't understand why almost everyone seems to love this book - just my honest opinion.
What irks me the most is how surprisingly shallow it was often times. He offers a lot of different case examples, but presents it always like trauma is something really easy to treat (as long as you know his approach to healing it..): his patients always show significant improvement after his very first session with them and Levine often times leaves it at that - leaving the impression behind that trauma is not hard work, which often times takes years of hard work to make somehwat improvements.
Would I recommend reading this book? No, there are better trauma-related books to read, only read it if you enjoy reading a book of a man who sounds like he really likes to hear himself talk and who repeats himself over and over again, without a clear strcuture or goal in his telling. Am I a little bit harsh? Yes, maybe, but I was really disappointed how it turned out. I see so much potential wasted here on this one. I can't understand why almost everyone seems to love this book - just my honest opinion.
August 13, 2019
Theorizing what might be on a deer’s mind when a predator attacks and eats the deer ... then extrapolating to reason out how a human responds to and ultimately accepts his or her fate ... nonsense. Sure, there is more to this book; but the author still tries to reason out human behavior based on animal behavior. Today, PhD candidates have better tools to assist them as they research and analyze the human brain. Perhaps this entire field of study is being revisited. I will look for modern studies before accepting the analysis in this book.
In reply to Courvus’ review ...
I’m not sure why you put him up on a pedestal. He has not offered professional or academic criticism of his theories and his “observations” and “tests” are not described as utilizing scientific methodology. I’m not saying he failed to apply proper protocols. I’m just pointing out, if he applied proper protocols, he failed to describe them in the book. His so called case studies appear to be purely anecdotal. When one considers the scientific nature of the author’s claims, one must demand proof of adherence to scientific methods. Without proof, the author sounds like a snake oil salesman. Someone could write a book about what is missing from this book.
In reply to Courvus’ review ...
I’m not sure why you put him up on a pedestal. He has not offered professional or academic criticism of his theories and his “observations” and “tests” are not described as utilizing scientific methodology. I’m not saying he failed to apply proper protocols. I’m just pointing out, if he applied proper protocols, he failed to describe them in the book. His so called case studies appear to be purely anecdotal. When one considers the scientific nature of the author’s claims, one must demand proof of adherence to scientific methods. Without proof, the author sounds like a snake oil salesman. Someone could write a book about what is missing from this book.
October 5, 2012
Insightful guide for therapists working with clients having PTSD.
"Trauma sufferers, in their healing journeys, learn to dissolve their rigid defenses. In this surrender they move from frozen fixity to gently thawing and, finally, free flow. In healing the divided self from its habitual mode of dissociation, they move from fragmentation to wholeness..."
"Trauma sufferers, in their healing journeys, learn to dissolve their rigid defenses. In this surrender they move from frozen fixity to gently thawing and, finally, free flow. In healing the divided self from its habitual mode of dissociation, they move from fragmentation to wholeness..."
September 6, 2019
Lots of great info presented in a very readable manner. Some parts are repetitive or specifically aimed at the practitioner. You can skim or skip these without losing value. If you have been through tough times, this may help you to understand what happened at the time and how it continues to affect your life.
October 2, 2025
I've read a fair amount on what could be categorised as part of the "self-help" genre. Nothing I've read thus far has had the impact this book had on me. If you struggle with PTSD, or any other trauma related mental health condition(s), if you feel disconnected or disillusioned both physically and psychologically. Read this book.
November 22, 2020
Poor choice on my behalf, reminded me that anybody can write books, get them marketed and obtain good reviews- even if it's complete crap
January 13, 2023
The therapists job is to help people listen to their unspoken voice without being overwhelmed
Trauma does not reside in the event, but in our response to the event - when we are unable to release blocked energies. And when we have no empathetic witness to our pain processing
Trauma and salvation are in the body
Therapists need to learn how to track their own sensations so they dont absorb their clients sensations. But they cant distance themselves or the client will feel abandoned. They need true empathy.
Freeing blocked energy allows it to go to higher level functioning
Trauma release is optimally incremental as intense energy is neutralized a bit at a time. Otherwise a destructive explosion can happen. (Stay within the window of tolerance)
You have a secure home base within your organism
The reptilian brain only speaks in the language of sensation. (This is the part engaged in trauma and its release)
Because of the phenomenon of somatic resonance, only an embodied therapist can help someone process trauma. A therapist may even feel the processing of the clients energy in their own (the therapists) body
Posture can precede feeling. And a change in body position can invoke a feeling. There are postures associated with trauma and a protective stance
Trauma symptoms often have a delayed response for months or even years. The symptoms of the precious experience may be invoked for the first time when a similar experience is happening. The imprints of the experience exists within our bodies and shapes our behavior, but its not us.
Embodiment is about gaining awareness of the ambient unfettered sensations of energy flowing through our body.
The age of embodiment may have peaked in the west abt 5000 yrs ago. (Wha?)
“The end of our exploring will be to arrive at where we started and to know the place for the first time” - T.S. Elliot
The degree to which we cannot feel our body is inversely proportional to the degree in which we seek sensory stimulation
You know you are alive because you feel the reality of aliveness in your body sensations
There is no way to perceive a fixed (static) self. There is only awareness if transitory feelings and thoughts
Introspection can become pathological. It is a reviewing the reflection of the contents of ones life. Awareness is being present with the ember at the center. Insight has never cured a trauma. But practiced awareness in the present can dissolve the trauma.
Pain is blocked sensation and an area of conflict/dischord.
Body awareness is different than feeling the form and function of the body. Many athletes have little body awareness
Emotional catharsis isnt therapeutic on its own. (Its when they are safely felt and dont feel overwhelm). By awareness and embodiment, you can extinguish the glowing ember’s before they ignite
Containment buys us time and is the difference between a living heaven or a hell. This is diff than suppressing/repressing the feels. Its sitting with it, forming a bigger container.
There is a numinous quality (awe) to trauma release. The brain is activated in a similar way with mystical states. The survival response in trauma can catalyze spiritual experience (“kundalini awakening”)
Buddhist/Taoist traditions of 4 paths to the end of suffering
1. Death
2. Austere meditation
3. Sexual ecstacy
4. Trauma/ nde
Trauma does not reside in the event, but in our response to the event - when we are unable to release blocked energies. And when we have no empathetic witness to our pain processing
Trauma and salvation are in the body
Therapists need to learn how to track their own sensations so they dont absorb their clients sensations. But they cant distance themselves or the client will feel abandoned. They need true empathy.
Freeing blocked energy allows it to go to higher level functioning
Trauma release is optimally incremental as intense energy is neutralized a bit at a time. Otherwise a destructive explosion can happen. (Stay within the window of tolerance)
You have a secure home base within your organism
The reptilian brain only speaks in the language of sensation. (This is the part engaged in trauma and its release)
Because of the phenomenon of somatic resonance, only an embodied therapist can help someone process trauma. A therapist may even feel the processing of the clients energy in their own (the therapists) body
Posture can precede feeling. And a change in body position can invoke a feeling. There are postures associated with trauma and a protective stance
Trauma symptoms often have a delayed response for months or even years. The symptoms of the precious experience may be invoked for the first time when a similar experience is happening. The imprints of the experience exists within our bodies and shapes our behavior, but its not us.
Embodiment is about gaining awareness of the ambient unfettered sensations of energy flowing through our body.
The age of embodiment may have peaked in the west abt 5000 yrs ago. (Wha?)
“The end of our exploring will be to arrive at where we started and to know the place for the first time” - T.S. Elliot
The degree to which we cannot feel our body is inversely proportional to the degree in which we seek sensory stimulation
You know you are alive because you feel the reality of aliveness in your body sensations
There is no way to perceive a fixed (static) self. There is only awareness if transitory feelings and thoughts
Introspection can become pathological. It is a reviewing the reflection of the contents of ones life. Awareness is being present with the ember at the center. Insight has never cured a trauma. But practiced awareness in the present can dissolve the trauma.
Pain is blocked sensation and an area of conflict/dischord.
Body awareness is different than feeling the form and function of the body. Many athletes have little body awareness
Emotional catharsis isnt therapeutic on its own. (Its when they are safely felt and dont feel overwhelm). By awareness and embodiment, you can extinguish the glowing ember’s before they ignite
Containment buys us time and is the difference between a living heaven or a hell. This is diff than suppressing/repressing the feels. Its sitting with it, forming a bigger container.
There is a numinous quality (awe) to trauma release. The brain is activated in a similar way with mystical states. The survival response in trauma can catalyze spiritual experience (“kundalini awakening”)
Buddhist/Taoist traditions of 4 paths to the end of suffering
1. Death
2. Austere meditation
3. Sexual ecstacy
4. Trauma/ nde
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