Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body [Paperback]

Peter A. Levine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2008

Researchers have shown that survivors of accidents, disaster, and childhood trauma often endure lifelong symptoms ranging from anxiety and depression to unexplained physical pain, fatigue, illness, and harmful "acting out" behaviors refl ecting these painful events. Today, millions in both the bodywork and the psychotherapeutic fields are turning to Peter A. Levine's breakthrough Somatic Experiencing methods to eff ectively overcome these challenges. Now available in paperback for the first time, Healing Trauma offers readers the personal how-to guide for using the theory Dr. Levine fi rst introduced in his highly acclaimed work Waking the Tiger (North Atlantic Books, 1997), including:How to develop body awareness to "re-negotiate" and heal trauma--rather than relive them. Emergency "first-aid" measures for emotional distress. A 60-minute CD of guided Somatic Experiencing techniques "Trauma is a fact of life," teaches Peter Levine, "but it doesn't have to be a life sentence." Now, with one fully integrated self-healing tool, he shares his essential methods to address unexplained symptoms of trauma at their source--the body--to return us to the natural state we are meant to live in.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

A revolutionary body-based therapy for healing from physical trauma and abuse, inspired by the way animals release traumatic stress in the wild. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Peter A. Levine received his Ph.D. in medical and biological physics from the University of California at Berkeley, and also holds a doctorate in psychology from International University. During his 35-year study of stress and trauma, he has contributed to scientific and medical publications and served as consultant for NASA's space shuttle project. He has taught at the Hopi Guidance Center, and at hospitals, trauma centers, and pain clinics throughout the world. His bestselling book Waking the Tiger has been published in 13 languages.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated; Pap/Com edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159179658X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591796589
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.3 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > Self-Help > Stress Management
  • #61 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Mental & Spiritual Healing
  • #81 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Alternative Medicine > Healing

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

224 of 233 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Healing Trauma September 2, 2005

By Rebecca of Amazon HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

If you bring forth that which is within you,
Then that which is within you
Will be your salvation.
If you do not bring forth that
Which is within you,
Then that which is within you
Will destroy you.
~The Gnostic Gospels

What a way to begin a book! While this "riddle" has been unlocked by scholars and they claim it means we should transform through love, unlocking the physiological roots of emotions can be somewhat trying.

How do you heal what you have forgotten? When the trauma has been forgotten, the results can still remain and can slowly destroy you, causing overwhelming emotions that interfere with your daily life.

Survivors of accidents, disasters and traumatic situations of all types can experience anxiety, depression, unexplained physical pains and seemingly unrelated illness. At times suffering can be a doorway to awakening and then it can also be a very dark place that brings debilitating symptoms.

"When people have been traumatized, they are stuck in paralysis-the immobility reaction or abrupt explosions of rage." ~ Peter A. Levine

Through guided somatic Experiencing Techniques, Peter A. Levine brings the reader from a place of disconnection and disharmony to a place of accepting an experience occurred and healing the trauma. This is a Twelve-Phase Program with an Integrated CD.

This CD could be used by anyone who has:

Survived a natural disaster or life-threatening event
Experienced the loss of a loved one
Undergone a recent medical procedure
Witnessed Violence
Endured emotional abuse
Experienced a car accident

If you start reading the book before playing the CD is works better and the feeling of the CD is like a psychologist leading a patient through guided imagery. While the process is supposed to take 7-14 days, you can listen to the CD all at once to find out what will work best for you. The book has lists of descriptions to help you analyze your emotions and there is information on how our bodies react to extremely stressful situations.

Peter A. Levine explains how you can discharge and transform the negative energy and he gives techniques for bringing the nervous system back into balance. Even after just watching violence I think you can become somewhat numb from the shock, so this CD can even help anyone who has been shocked by the realities of our violent planet.

~The Rebecca Review

79 of 79 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing insights March 12, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Audio Cassette

These tapes are for everyone. He addresses heavy duty physical trauma as well as everyday stress. It incorporates past and present experience. This audio cassette draws on meditations that I have become used to from psychology, but the wonderful difference is the author's explanation of trauma in biological terms. Animals have natural responses to stress and attack. (I particularly was interested in his explanation of immobilization as a biological defense.) Animals also have natural ways of coming out of trauma. I now have a biological context for what I once only knew as abstract psychological truths. I understand my own personal immobilization as a healthy biological defense rather than as some sort of psychic deficiency. Understanding this helps me come out of immobilization at a physical level. I am grateful to these cassettes for this insight.

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Begin to heal July 2, 2003

By H. Row

Format:Audio Cassette

Two years ago, I suffered respiratory failure. I was placed in a coma and paralysis for five weeks in hopes to prevent brain death / death. I lived, but have suffered an atrophied muscles, osteoporosis ( I'm a 50 year old male) and neural damage and since the trauma, I have suffered tremendous pain throughout my body. So far, no doctor, no medical testing have been able to relieve the pain or even find a cause.
I truly was contemplating suicide. My only alternative was to see if I could control the pain with my mind.
On the advise of a counselor, I borrowed this eight tape set. No matter what you have had happened to cause the trauma, I sincerely recommend this tape series! Peter Levine has a series of exercises and case studies that in some manner will be able to help victims of trauma to relieve the pain emotionally or physically.
I can't promise you 100% relief. But the series helped me.
The tape series describes some of Levine's cases, the trauma and the aftermath for each patient. What I found was (despite what the trauma was) that the patients thoughts and healing processes were appropriate to what I felt in my own situation.
I wouldn't suggest that the tape series is the stand alone cure for the traumatic incidents in everyone's lives. But, would HIGHLY recommend it as a helpful tool in conjunction with other treatment, be it medical or mental health.
I listen to these tapes when I need some extra emotional support to get through especially painful times.
John Row