Somatic Experiencing Sessions, $150, One Hour

What Somatic Experiencing is

Somatic Experiencing is a body-based approach developed by Dr. Peter Levine over several decades.

Its founding observation is a simple one. Animals in the wild face life-threatening events constantly and rarely carry lasting symptoms afterwards. They shake, they run, they complete the response their body started, and then they return to baseline. Humans, with our capacity to override and rationalize, frequently don’t complete these cycles, leaving residual stress to build up in the nervous system.

From that view, what we call stress or trauma isn’t located in the event itself. It’s in what the nervous system did with it, and what it hasn’t yet been able to finish. SE works at the level of the body rather than the story: tracking what is happening in your system now, and giving it the conditions to complete what it started.

Why I do this work

I first heard about Somatic Experiencing in 2020, from one of my healing arts teachers who was completing the certificate program. Around the same time, someone else recommended I try a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, so I decided to try one session.

I’d done talk therapy. I’d done a lot of courses and trainings, and they always helped in some way. But something was still missing for me. I understood my patterns, could have conversations about them, but didn’t know how to make the shift I needed. Even though I didn’t have the words to explain it, that first session felt right for me.

I immersed myself in regular one-to-one sessions on Zoom. Session after session, I started releasing stress I’d been holding for years, and noticing that things which used to get on my nerves weren’t impacting me so much anymore.

Over the past five years I’ve experienced over a hundred SE sessions, both as an investment in myself and as part of the training. My health has improved a great deal, alongside other support. My relationships are better and I’m more myself inside them. I have more clarity, and better discernment. I’m far more able to meet the highs and lows of life. And I have better boundaries, and more confidence communicating them, which has let me say yes to things that really matter to me.

I wanted to give this gift that helped me so much back to others, so I completed the three-year Somatic Experiencing training. My favorite part of this work is watching what happens for people when they find a space where they can exhale fully.

What actually happens in a session

On the surface it looks like a conversation between two people. I’m in two conversations at once: one with your words, and one with your nervous system. The second one guides where we go.

Arriving

We begin with simple practices for grounding, orienting and clarifying what you’d like to get out of the session. It can be helpful to bring something specific you’d like to work toward. It doesn’t need to be dramatic and it doesn’t need to be old.

We slow it down

You stay seated, clothed, and in charge. We work in small doses, pausing often, so the changes in your nervous system have enough space to land. Less is often more.

Nothing is done to you, and you can stop or change direction at any point.

We let it settle

We finish with time to notice what’s different, and check in on what you came in for. Every session can be different, but some shifts people have reported include less tension, more breath, more energy, and feeling more like themselves.

You don’t have to talk about what happened. SE works with what’s present now, not with the details of a story. Some people share context because it helps them; others work productively without describing an event at all. That’s one reason people find it accessible when talking about something has felt impossible, or simply hasn’t helped.

What people say after an SE session

Shared with permission.

It's such a deep and gentle process. And it influenced my day and week in a positive way.

BAExpressive Arts Therapist

It felt really grounding and nourishing, and I was really glad to be taking the time to just focus some energy on myself. Your presence in the session was very calm and affirming of my experience.

JaimeBusiness Owner

I love your tone. It felt relaxed, low-pressure and easy to navigate. I just like working with you.

LizLeadership Consultant

I was very relaxed, and felt nourished and supported. I felt like you tracked me really well — it was gentle, and what I needed. I felt really big shifts from it.

HeidiIntegrative Coach & Bodyworker

The experience I had was really deeply moving, in the sense that I made a basic but very impactful recognition: that I was still holding some grief, and that it takes relaxation for me to be able to process this.

NallyYoga Studio Manager

How SE relates to other approaches

Talk therapy

Works largely through narrative and meaning: understanding what happened and how it shaped you. SE works at the level of the body rather than the story, and doesn't require you to retell one in detail.

Many people do both. SE is not a substitute for psychotherapy.

EMDR

Also body-adjacent and also works with unresolved material, using bilateral stimulation to help the brain reprocess memory. SE stays closer to sensation and nervous-system regulation, and is generally slower and more titrated.

Different routes to related territory.

Somatic coaching

Works forward, building the embodied capacity to lead and live the way you intend. SE works with what's unresolved and holding activation. They inform each other, and I draw on SE within coaching.

See 1:1 Somatic Coaching.

Breathwork & meditation

Excellent for regulation and self-awareness, and largely self-directed. SE is relational: a second nervous system tracking alongside yours, which is precisely what makes some material accessible.

Complementary rather than overlapping.

ElizaBeth Alexander, Somatic Experiencing practitioner

Where my SE training comes from

I am completing the Somatic Experiencing Certificate in September 2026, through Somatic Experiencing International.

2024 — SE Practitioner, Beginner Level · Barcelona, with Liane Pinto & Rachporn Sangkasaad
2025 — SE Practitioner, Intermediate Level · Barcelona, with Liane Pinto & Rachporn Sangkasaad
2026 — SE Practitioner, Advanced Level · Barcelona, with Joshua Sylvae — in progress

Alongside SE, I've trained as a somatic coach with the Strozzi Institute, and in somatic bodywork, integrative somatic trauma therapy and somatic attachment therapy. The full training history is here →

Booking a session

Format

One hour, via Zoom
One-off, no package required
Seated, clothed, no touch

Investment

$150 per session

Availability

Offered when there's an opening in the calendar
Booked online, worldwide

Preparing

Somewhere private where you won't be interrupted
Nothing else to prepare

Sessions are offered when there's an opening in the calendar.

Book a session →

Questions people ask

What is Somatic Experiencing?

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based approach to working with stress and overwhelm, developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Rather than working primarily through talking or analysis, it works at the level of the body: tracking what is happening there and helping the nervous system complete responses it did not get to finish at the time.

How is Somatic Experiencing different from talk therapy?

Talk therapy usually works through narrative and meaning: understanding what happened and how it shaped you. Somatic Experiencing works at the level of the body rather than the story. You do not need to retell one in detail for SE to be useful, which is part of why some people find it accessible when talking about an experience feels overwhelming or simply has not helped.

Do I have to talk about what happened?

No. SE works with what is happening in your body now, not with the details of a story. Some people share context because it helps them; others work productively without describing an event at all. You decide what to say.

What is titration?

Titration means working in small amounts. Rather than going into the most difficult material all at once, an SE session touches a manageable edge of it, lets the nervous system respond, and pauses. This is what allows the work to be settling rather than overwhelming.

What is pendulation?

Pendulation is the movement between activation and settling: touching something difficult, then deliberately returning to somewhere that feels neutral or resourced. The nervous system learns it can go toward difficulty and come back, which is itself the capacity being built.

What does a Somatic Experiencing session look like?

You are seated, clothed, and in charge throughout. Sessions are conversational: you bring what is present, and I guide your attention to what is happening in your body as you speak. There is no touch in online sessions, nothing is done to you, and you can stop or change direction at any point.

What results can I expect?

Everyone’s experience is different, and I can’t promise a particular outcome. Some people notice a shift within a single session; for others it takes several, or a different kind of support altogether.

Is Somatic Experiencing evidence-based?

The research is promising but still early. A 2017 randomized controlled trial and a 2021 review of sixteen studies both reported positive effects, while noting that the field needs stronger experimental designs. It is fair to call SE promising and increasingly studied; it would be overstating things to call it settled. Most of that research studies SE delivered clinically. My sessions are not psychotherapy.

Is Somatic Experiencing the same as somatic coaching?

No, though they overlap and inform each other. Somatic Experiencing works with nervous-system activation and what is unresolved. Somatic coaching works forward, building the embodied capacity to live and lead the way you intend. I'm trained in both and draw on SE within my coaching, but a single SE session and a coaching container are different things.

Can Somatic Experiencing replace therapy?

No. My sessions are not psychotherapy, and I am not a licensed mental-health clinician. SE sessions can sit alongside therapy and many people do both, but if you are in crisis or looking for clinical treatment, a licensed therapist or physician is the right place to start.

How many sessions will I need?

I offer single sessions precisely because sometimes one is enough for something specific and current. Deeper or longer-standing patterns generally ask for sustained work, which is what my coaching container is built for.

How much does a Somatic Experiencing session cost?

$150 for a one-hour session via Zoom, with no ongoing commitment required.

A note on the research

Somatic Experiencing was developed by Dr. Peter Levine and has been taught through Somatic Experiencing International since 1994. Its practitioner training runs three years, and more than 50,000 practitioners have now trained through it across more than 45 countries.

The research is younger than the method. A 2017 randomized controlled trial and a 2021 review of sixteen studies both reported positive effects, while noting that the field needs stronger experimental designs. It's fair to call SE promising and growing in evidence; it would be overstating things to call it settled.

Most of that research studies SE delivered clinically. Sessions with me are not psychotherapy and I am not a licensed mental-health clinician. If you're in crisis or seeking clinical treatment, a licensed therapist or physician is the right place to start.

Somatic Experiencing