Working with Pain: A Somatic Approach

 $447 USD $99

"Working with Pain: A Somatic Approach," offers a transformative perspective on chronic pain, moving beyond symptomatic treatment to address its complex psychophysiological origins. The modules consistently emphasize that persistent pain often stems from unresolved trauma, repressed emotions, and autonomic nervous system dysregulation, rather than solely physical injury. Through a powerful integration of MindBody medicine, Somatic Experiencing, Polyvagal Theory, and mindfulness, participants will learn to identify pain as an intelligent signal, deactivate high-charge nervous system responses, and restore the body's innate capacity for self-regulation. UltiMatély, this program equips clients and practitioners with a diverse array of body-based techniques to befriend internal sensations, release bound energy, and guide individuals from a state of suffering to one of enduring relief and empowered healing.

About this course

Chronic pain is more than a physical symptom—it's a language the body speaks when it feels unseen, unheard, and unprotected. For many clients, pain doesn't just live in muscles or joints; it lives in the nervous system, shaped by trauma, tension, and years of learned disconnection. This transformative course, led by Dr. Scott Lyons, founder of the Embody Lab, offers practitioners a profound shift: learning to work with pain not as an enemy to be conquered, but as a doorway to healing.

Beyond Management to Witnessing:

As practitioners, we're often taught to treat pain through structure or strategy—but lasting relief requires something deeper. This course creates a space where pain is not simply managed, but witnessed, explored, and listened to through the body itself. Because when pain is met with presence, it can begin to move. And when the body feels safe enough to let go, true relief becomes possible.

The Trauma-Pain Connection:

As Dr. Peter Levine reveals, 80+ percent of people with trauma experience some degree of chronic pain. This pain is often caused when a person is exposed to overwhelming stress, ongoing stress, threat or injury, and they develop what's called a procedural memory—a body memory. Trauma occurs when these implicit procedures, these implicit memories, are not neutralized. They don't go to completion, and the failure to restore homeostasis is at the basis of chronic pain.

Consider his powerful demonstration: bracing shoulders to protect from hitting. When it happens once or twice, shoulders usually go back and we get the "all clear." But when it happens chronically, we don't clear it. We continue with shoulders braced—for hours, for all day, for the next day. Before long, you're experiencing pain in the shoulders. The bracing pattern didn't get neutralized. After time, this spreads to different parts of the body—the underlying mechanism of fibromyalgia. Once you start bracing and having pain in one area, it starts spreading to other areas.

What You'll Learn:

Through five comprehensive modules from world-renowned faculty including Dr. Peter Levine, Dr. Stephen Porges, Dr. Pat Ogden, Manuela Mischke-Reeds, Nicole Sachs, Sergio Ocampo, and Dr. Chris Walling, you'll discover how to:

Module 1: Understanding Pain with Sergio Ocampo

Complex Psychophysiological Experience:

• Define pain as complex experience beyond simple physical sensation
• Understand connection to trauma and emotional stress
• See how unaddressed trauma creates persistent pain
• Recognize nervous system dysregulation's role

The ANS Connection:

• Describe how overactive autonomic nervous system amplifies pain through:
  • Central sensitization (pain pathways become hypersensitive)
  • Increased muscle tension (chronic bracing)
  • Chronic inflammation (body in constant alert)
  • Impaired tissue recovery (healing can't occur)
• Understand pain as psychophysiological phenomenon

Somatic Techniques:

• Apply Islands of Breath exercise to lower ANS activity
• Use self-supportive contact to reduce muscle tension
• Address emotional experience of pain compassionately
• Deactivate high-charge ANS response
• Restore body's innate self-regulation capacity

Shifting Perception:

• Move from "I am pain" (identity fused with pain)
• Through "I have pain" (pain as experience, not identity)
• To "I am repairing" (active engagement in healing)
• Foster agency and empowerment
• Engage body's natural healing capacity

Beyond Symptom Management:

• Understand how common medical approaches manage only symptoms
• Learn how somatic techniques address pain's core
• Release trauma-induced inflammation and tension
• Deliver enduring relief through embodied practices
• Guide from identifying with pain to actively healing

Module 2: Mind-Body Medicine for Relief of Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs

MindBody Medicine Framework:

• View chronic pain through MindBody lens
• Build on Dr. John Sarno's theories
• Understand evolved methods as concrete, actionable tools
• Recognize highly effective approach to pain conditions

Core Principle:

• Understand stored trauma and repressed emotions as catalysts for chronic physical symptoms
• See how brain creates pain signals as protective posture
• Recognize pain as diversion from perceived emotional dangers
• Connect emotional reservoir overflow to physical manifestations

The Symptom Imperative:

• Understand how pain may move locations
• See brain perceiving emotional triggers as dangerous
• Recognize protective function of pain creation
• Track symptom shifts as emotional processing unfolds

Three Essential Facets:

1. Cultivating belief in brain science:
   • Understand neurobiology of pain creation
   • Recognize brain's protective mechanisms
   • Build confidence in MindBody approach
   • Trust process of emotional release
2. Journal Speak:
   • Apply targeted expressive writing practice
   • Safely release repressed emotions
   • Use specific methodology for emotional discharge
   • Address "fire" creating pain signals
3. Self-compassion:
   • Integrate as essential for nervous system regulation
   • Practice kindness toward self and symptoms
   • Support natural cessation of pain signals
   • Create internal safety for emotional processing

The Healing Process:

• Address emotional "fire" creating pain
• Support nervous system regulation
• Allow natural cessation of pain signals
• Recognize when emotional work resolves physical symptoms

Module 3: The Neurobiology of Chronic Pain with Dr. Christopher Walling

Somatic Clinical Approach:

• Understand pain as rooted in ANS dysregulation
• See connection to embodied stress and trauma
• Recognize pain as both sensory and emotional experience
• Cultivate deeper awareness of pain's complexity

Understanding Pain Processing:

• Explain how pain is processed in body and mind
• Understand nociception (pain signaling)
• Learn about body's endogenous analgesic system (natural pain relief)
• Apply Gate Control Theory of Pain
• See ANS role in chronic pain, especially with traumatic stress

Somatic Mindfulness Intervention:

• Guide clients through self-regulation techniques
• Apply pendulation for pain management
• Consciously shift attention between boundaries of discomfort and areas of ease
• Allow nervous system to recalibrate
• Disrupt overwhelming pain signals
• Reduce pain intensity through awareness

Empowerment Through Engagement:

• Engage with body to promote healing
• Support nervous system regulation through embodiment
• Build capacity to manage persistent pain
• Use in clinical or personal contexts

Body-Mind Awareness:

• Enhance ability to attune to body's sensations
• Recognize interplay between physical discomfort and embodied emotional/traumatic experiences
• Learn how resourcing modulates pain experience
• Promote safety cues for nervous system regulation
• Support improved well-being through awareness

Module 4: Effective Strategies for Dismantling Pain with Manuela Mischke-Reeds

Pain as Intelligent Signal:

• Understand physical, emotional, psychospiritual distress motivates healing
• See pain as inherent signal of imbalance in body-mind system
• Recognize pain demands attention
• Honor pain as communication from system

Deeper Understanding:

• Identify how pain masks deeper emotional imbalances
• See pain as adaptive response to unprocessed trauma
• Understand connection to chronic stressors
• Recognize ancestral burdens held in body
• View pain as intelligent protective mechanism

Important Distinctions:

• Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD): Intense emotional distress and worry over physical symptoms lacking medical diagnosis
• Psychosomatic pain: Arises directly from mental health issues and everyday stressors impacting body
• Recognize more prevalent psychosomatic pain
• Understand both reflect nervous system response to trauma and stress

Practitioner Mindset:

• Foster compassionate and trusting stance
• Maintain non-judgmental presence
• Create safety for pain exploration
• Honor client's experience without minimizing

Core Somatic Techniques:

• Gradual, scaffolded interventions: Work within tolerable range, build capacity slowly
• Experiential breathing coupled with imagination: Use breath and imagery for regulation
• Supported movement: Gentle physical exploration with support
• Developing interoception: Build awareness of internal sensations
• Help clients befriend internal sensations
• Rediscover body's inherent intelligence
• Work without exceeding tolerable range

Module 5: Working With Chronic Pain - The Somatic Connection with Dr. Peter Levine

Comprehensive Framework:

• Understand persistent symptoms as body's adaptive response
• See connection to unresolved trauma
• Recognize role of suppressed emotions
• Understand impact of chronic stress

ANS Dysregulation:

• Explain involvement of vagus nerve
• Understand brainstem and cerebellum's role
• Recognize cycles of hyper-arousal (fight/flight)
• Identify hypo-arousal (shutdown)
• See how dysregulation perpetuates pain states

Bottom-Up Somatic Techniques:

• "Voo" sound exercise: For vagal regulation and nervous system calming
• Working with bracing patterns: Gently release chronic holding
• Titration: Small, manageable doses of experience
• Pendulation: Moving between activation and regulation
• Guide clients in gradually restoring internal balance
• Release bound energy held in body

Deep Physiological Approach:

• Emphasize self-regulation as foundation
• Build capacity for internal balance
• Support completion of incomplete responses
• Address pain at root level

Collaborative Care:

• Understand critical importance of collaboration with medical professionals
• Work with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)
• Address pain influenced by internalized negative messages
• Recognize impact of societal denial of suffering
• Understand racial disparities in pain treatment and belief

Compassionate Therapeutic Stance:

• Maintain non-judgmental presence
• Hold compassion for pain experience
• Create safety for exploration
• Honor complexity of pain conditions
• Recognize lack of traditional organic basis in many cases

Core Competencies Developed Across All Modules:

Understanding Pain Differently:

• See pain as language body speaks when feeling unseen, unheard, unprotected
• Recognize 80+ percent of people with trauma experience chronic pain
• Understand procedural/body memory that doesn't complete
• See bracing patterns that don't neutralize
• Track how pain spreads through body (fibromyalgia mechanism)

The Trauma-Pain Link:

• Recognize pain as adaptive response to unresolved trauma
• Understand implicit memories that aren't neutralized
• See failure to restore homeostasis as basis for chronic pain
• Connect early developmental trauma to pain conditions
• Work with trauma-induced inflammation and tension

Nervous System Literacy:

• Track ANS dysregulation in pain conditions
• Recognize hyper-arousal (fight/flight) and hypo-arousal (shutdown)
• Understand central sensitization
• See chronic inflammation and impaired tissue recovery
• Work with vagus nerve, brainstem, cerebellum

Somatic Interventions:

• Apply Islands of Breath exercise
• Use self-supportive contact techniques
• Practice "Voo" sound for vagal regulation
• Work with bracing patterns gently
• Apply titration and pendulation principles
• Use somatic mindfulness for pain management

MindBody Approaches:

• Understand brain science behind pain creation
• Recognize symptom imperative (pain moving locations)
• Apply Journal Speak for emotional release
• Cultivate self-compassion for nervous system regulation
• Address emotional "fire" creating physical symptoms

Shifting Identity:

• Move from "I am pain" to "I have pain"
• Progress to "I am repairing"
• Foster agency and empowerment
• Engage body's natural healing capacity
• Build active participation in healing process

Clinical Skills:

• Pendulate between discomfort boundaries and areas of ease
• Use gradual, scaffolded interventions
• Apply experiential breathing with imagination
• Guide supported movement
• Develop interoception in clients
• Help befriend internal sensations

Pain as Intelligence:

• Honor pain as signal demanding attention
• Recognize masks for deeper emotional imbalances
• See adaptive function in unprocessed trauma
• Understand ancestral burdens held in body
• Work with pain's protective communication

Therapeutic Presence:

• Maintain compassionate, non-judgmental stance
• Create safety for pain exploration
• Witness rather than fix
• Listen to body's language
• Hold space for pain to move and transform

Collaborative Framework:

• Work with medical professionals
• Address medically unexplained symptoms
• Navigate internalized negative messages
• Recognize societal factors (denial of suffering, racial disparities)
• Integrate somatic and medical approaches

Expert Faculty:

Learn from pioneers in somatic approaches to pain: Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing® founder), Dr. Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory creator), Dr. Pat Ogden (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy founder), Manuela Mischke-Reeds, Nicole Sachs (MindBody medicine specialist and Dr. John Sarno protégé), Sergio Ocampo, and Dr. Chris Walling—each bringing decades of experience working with chronic pain through body-based methods.

Dr. Peter Levine's Powerful Demonstration:

The shoulder bracing example illuminates the mechanism: When there's threat (hitting, injury), we brace to protect. If it happens once or twice, we release and get the "all clear." But when it's chronic—day after day, ongoing threat—we never fully release. We brace, let go a little, brace again, let go just the smallest amount. It becomes chronic holding.

Keep your shoulders braced and notice: after hours, after all day, after multiple days—pain emerges. This is the bracing pattern that didn't get neutralized. This is procedural memory that didn't go to completion. And it spreads. Once you start bracing and having pain in one area, it spreads to other areas. This is the underlying mechanism of fibromyalgia.

The work isn't to fight the bracing—it's to gently support its completion, to allow the neutralization that never happened, to restore the homeostasis that trauma interrupted.

The Somatic Distinction:

Traditional pain management focuses on symptom relief: medication, physical therapy techniques, coping strategies. This course teaches something fundamentally different: addressing pain at its source in the nervous system.

Traditional Approach:

• Manage symptoms
• Reduce pain signals
• Cope with discomfort
• Structural interventions

Somatic Approach:

• Witness pain as communication
• Complete incomplete responses
• Neutralize bracing patterns
• Restore nervous system regulation
• Address trauma at root
• Release bound energy
• Support homeostasis

The difference is profound. When you complete what didn't complete, when you neutralize what stayed braced, when you restore regulation to a dysregulated system—pain can actually resolve, not just be managed.

The MindBody Revolution:

Nicole Sachs builds on Dr. John Sarno's revolutionary insight: the brain creates pain signals as a protective posture to divert focus from perceived emotional dangers. This isn't "pain is all in your head"—it's recognizing that emotional stress overflowing the reservoir manifests as real, physical pain.

The symptom imperative reveals this: when you address pain in one location, it may move to another. The brain isn't trying to hurt you—it's trying to protect you from overwhelming emotions by creating physical symptoms as distraction.

Healing involves:

1. Understanding this brain science (pain creation as protection)
2. Using Journal Speak to safely discharge repressed emotions
3. Practicing self-compassion for nervous system regulation

When the emotional "fire" is addressed, pain signals naturally cease. Not because you've coped better, but because the protective mechanism is no longer needed.

The Identity Shift:

Sergio Ocampo's teaching on shifting from "I am pain" to "I have pain" to "I am repairing" represents a profound transformation:

"I am pain":

• Identity fused with pain
• No separation between self and symptom
• Helplessness and despair
• Pain defines existence

"I have pain":

• Pain as experience, not identity
• Separation allows perspective
• Beginning of agency
• Self exists apart from pain

"I am repairing":

• Active engagement in healing
• Body's natural capacity recognized
• Agency and empowerment
• Healing as ongoing process
• Connection to body's wisdom

This isn't just cognitive reframing—it's a somatic shift that changes how clients relate to and work with their pain.

The Pendulation Principle:

A key technique across multiple modules: pendulation—consciously shifting attention between boundaries of discomfort and identified areas of ease.

This isn't distraction. It's teaching the nervous system that:

• Ease exists alongside pain
• The whole body isn't in pain
• Resources are available
• Regulation is possible
• Pain intensity can modulate

By moving awareness between pain and ease, the nervous system learns to recalibrate, to disrupt overwhelming pain signals, to find pathways back to regulation. This is how somatic mindfulness reduces pain—not by ignoring it, but by expanding the field of awareness to include more than just pain.

The Bracing Pattern Work:

Dr. Peter Levine's work with bracing patterns reveals the mechanism:

1. Threat occurs (hitting, injury, danger)
2. Body braces to protect
3. If threat is chronic, bracing never fully releases
4. Bracing becomes habitual holding
5. Holding creates pain
6. Pain spreads to other areas
7. System can't restore homeostasis

The intervention:

1. Identify bracing patterns
2. Work gently with held tension
3. Support completion of protective response
4. Allow neutralization that never happened
5. Restore homeostasis gradually
6. Use titration (small doses)
7. Apply pendulation (activation to regulation)
8. Release bound energy

This is bottom-up healing—working with the body's actual held patterns, not just the pain sensation.

Psychosomatic vs. Somatic Symptom Disorder:

Manuela Mischke-Reeds' distinction is clinically crucial:

Psychosomatic Pain (more common):

• Arises from mental health issues and everyday stressors
• Body manifesting psychological distress
• Responds well to somatic interventions
• Connection between emotion and body pain clear

Somatic Symptom Disorder (less common):

• Intense emotional distress and worry over symptoms
• Symptoms lack clear medical diagnosis
• Worry itself becomes part of problem
• Requires different therapeutic approach

Both reflect nervous system response to trauma and stress, but understanding the distinction helps tailor interventions appropriately.

The Compassionate Stance:

Across all modules, a consistent theme: working with pain requires a fundamentally compassionate, non-judgmental therapeutic stance.

Pain is:

• Not weakness
• Not malingering
• Not "all in their head"
• Not something to push through
• Not character flaw

Pain is:

• Body's intelligent signal
• Communication demanding attention
• Adaptive response to overwhelm
• Held trauma and incomplete responses
• Nervous system dysregulation needing support

When practitioners hold this understanding, clients feel seen, heard, protected—often for the first time. And in that felt safety, the body can begin to release what it's been holding.

Collaborative Care:

Dr. Peter Levine emphasizes the critical importance of collaboration with medical professionals, especially for medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). This isn't either/or—it's both/and.

Work with physicians to:

• Rule out medical causes requiring treatment
• Provide comprehensive care
• Address both physical and psychological factors
• Navigate clients who've been dismissed by medical system
• Recognize racial disparities in pain treatment
• Counter societal denial of suffering

The somatic approach complements, not replaces, medical care. Together, they offer clients the most comprehensive support.

Transformation Through Somatic Pain Work:

This course supports professionals in helping clients:

• Understand pain as body's language, not enemy
• Recognize trauma-pain connection (80+ with trauma have pain)
• Complete procedural memories that didn't neutralize
• Release chronic bracing patterns
• Shift from "I am pain" to "I am repairing"
• Work with ANS dysregulation at pain's root
• Address emotional reservoir creating symptoms
• Use somatic techniques for lasting relief
• Pendulate between pain and ease
• Build interoception and body awareness
• Befriend internal sensations
• Restore homeostasis to dysregulated system
• Release bound energy held in body
• Experience pain as moveable when met with presence
• Feel safe enough to let go and find relief

Who This Is For:

Essential training for:

• Therapists working with chronic pain clients
• Body workers integrating trauma-informed approaches
• Somatic practitioners deepening pain work
• Clinicians frustrated by pain's resistance to treatment
• Practitioners wanting alternatives to medication management
• Anyone working with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, MUS
• Therapists addressing trauma who see related pain
• Practitioners interested in MindBody medicine
• Clinicians wanting to work at pain's root, not just symptoms
• Anyone seeking to understand pain as communication, not enemy

What Makes This Course Revolutionary:

Most pain training focuses on management strategies. This course teaches transformation:

• Not managing pain but completing what didn't complete
• Not coping with symptoms but addressing nervous system at root
• Not fighting bracing but supporting its release
• Not distraction from pain but pendulation with ease
• Not identifying as pain but recognizing as repairable
• Not pain as enemy but as doorway to healing

The Core Truth:

Chronic pain is the body's language when feeling unseen, unheard, unprotected. It's procedural memory that didn't go to completion. It's bracing patterns that never neutralized. It's nervous system dysregulation from unresolved trauma. It's the brain creating protective signals when emotional reservoir overflows.

But pain is also communication. Intelligence. Signal demanding attention. Adaptive response. And when met with presence—when witnessed, explored, listened to through the body itself—it can begin to move.

The body that holds pain also holds the capacity for completion, for neutralization, for regulation, for homeostasis. The nervous system that's dysregulated can be re-regulated. The bracing that spread can be released. The procedural memory can finally complete.

As Dr. Peter Levine's demonstration reveals: when we work gently with what's held, when we support completion of interrupted responses, when we help the body do what it couldn't do during trauma—pain can transform. Not just be managed, but actually resolve at its source.

This isn't managing symptoms. This is addressing pain's root in the nervous system. This is completing what trauma left incomplete. This is restoring homeostasis to a system that's been dysregulated for years, sometimes decades.

And when the body finally feels safe enough—when it's witnessed, when it's heard, when incomplete responses can complete, when bracing can release, when bound energy can move—true relief becomes possible. Not just reduction of symptoms, but transformation at the deepest level.

That's the promise of somatic pain work. That's what this course offers. Not techniques to manage suffering, but ways of working that address pain at its source, complete what didn't complete, and support the body's innate capacity to restore balance, release held patterns, and finally—after years of bracing, holding, protecting—let go.

Essential training for any practitioner ready to work with pain not as an enemy to be fought, but as a doorway to healing—understanding that when pain is met with presence, witnessed with compassion, and worked with somatically, it can finally move. And when the body feels safe enough to let go, true relief becomes possible.

Join our brilliant experts for the following sessions:

DR. CHRISTOPHER WALLING

Dr. Chris Walling, PsyD, MBA, FABP is a licensed clinical psychologist, board-certified psychoanalyst, and an active leader in the bio-behavioral sciences. Dr. Walling is an Associate Professor in the Department of Research Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and the Research Chair & Past-President of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Psychoanalysis and a member of the New Center for Psychoanalysis where he serves as Faculty in the Adult Psychoanalytic Training program and serves on their Education Committee & Diversities Committee, Dr. Walling also serves on the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Committee on Gender & Sexuality.
Dr. Walling serves as a Clinical Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender and Reproduction, located at Indiana University, Bloomington. In addition, he has been honored as a Gina Ogden Curatorial Scholar for 2024 by Kinsey, where he also serves on their International Advisory Council. His clinical interests survey the fields of somatic psychotherapy, relational psychoanalysis, human sexuality, and trauma psychology. His peer-reviewed works are published in the American Psychological Association‘s Journal of Psychotherapy and the International Body Psychotherapy Journal. Dr. Walling maintains a private practice in Brentwood (Los Angeles), California.

MANUELA MISCHKE-REEDS

Manuela Mischke-Reeds. MFT is an international teacher of somatic psychology, somatic psychotherapist, a founder of Hakomi Institute of California and Embodywise (non-profit) that cultivates learning from the the wisdom teachings of the body. She is the developer of the Innate Somatic Intelligence Trauma Therapy Approach (ISITTA), an in-depth trauma training program for therapists and practitioners.

Manuela has 25+ years of clinical experience with trauma clients, coaching executives, first responders. She lectures and trains professionals on the topics of Hakomi Therapy, mindfulness-somatic psychology, trauma healing, embodied mindfulness for trauma and stress, Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychedelic assisted Psychotherapy.

Manuela is the author of several books, including 125 Somatic Psychotherapy Tools for Trauma and Stress (PESI 2018), 8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health and Well Being (W.W.Norton 2015).

Website: www.Embodywise.com

Instagram: @embodywise 

NICOLE SACHS

Nicole J. Sachs, LCSW, is a speaker, writer, psychotherapist, retreat leader, and podcaster who has dedicated her work and her practice to the treatment of chronic pain and anxiety. She is the author of The Meaning of Truth and creator of the online courses “Freedom from Chronic Pain,” “Freedom From an Anxious Life,” and “The Sarno x Sachs Solution” practitioner training. Her brands, BreakAwake and The Cure for Chronic Pain, include a website, podcast, YouTube channel, membership community, and newsletter. Her latest book is "Mind Your Body: A Revolutionary Programme to Release Chronic Pain and Anxiety". Sachs is on faculty at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in New York.

DR. PAT OGDEN

Pat Ogden, PhD, (she/her), is a pioneer in somatic psychology, the creator of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy method, and founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute (sensorimotor.org). Dr. Ogden is a clinician, consultant, international lecturer and the first author of two groundbreaking books in somatic psychology: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment (2015). Her third book, The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context, advocates for an anti-racist perspective in psychotherapy practice. Her current interests include couple therapy, child and family therapy, social justice, diversity, inclusion, consciousness, and the philosophical/spiritual principles that underlie her work.

Website: www.sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org
Facebook: @SensorimotorPsychotherapyInstitute

DR. PETER LEVINE

Peter A Levine, Ph.D., is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma, which he has developed over the past 50 years. He holds a doctorate in Biophysics from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in Psychology from International University. He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education, dedicated to Community Outreach and Post-Advanced Somatic Experiencing® Training, and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley; Mills College; Antioch University; the California Institute of Integral Studies; and the Santa Barbara Graduate Institute. His work has been taught to over 30,000 therapists in over 42 countries.

Dr. Levine is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma (published in over 29 languages); In an Unspoken Voice, How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness; and Trauma and Memory, Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past.

In recognition of his groundbreaking therapeutic works, Dr. Levine has received Lifetime Achievement awards from Psychotherapy Networker and from the US Association for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy, an honorary award as the Reiss-Davis Chair in Los Angeles for his lifetime contribution to infant and child psychiatry, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh) for “his lifelong commitment to healing children through research, education, and outreach.” He served as a Stress consultant for NASA in the early space shuttle development and has served on the American Psychological Association task force for responding to the trauma of large-scale disasters and ethnopolitical warfare. He is currently a Senior Fellow and consultant at The Meadows Addiction and Trauma Treatment Center in Wickenburg, Arizona, and continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally.

Websites: www.somaticexperiencing.com, www.traumahealing.org 

SERGIO OCAMPO

Sergio Ocampo is co-developer and instructor of Dynamic Somatic Touch (DST), an innovative and highly effective trauma resolution approach effective in unwinding emotional overwhelm, trauma, and physical syndromes such as chronic illness and pain. Based on the core values of somatic therapies, psychotherapy and body based sciences, DST complements and accelerates healing for all phases of trauma work.

Sergio combines somatic and cognitive interventions, including Somatic Experiencing, DST, Family Systems, Generational Trauma Resolution, Dream Work, Depth and Spiritual Psychology, Spiritual Awareness, and EMDR, to deliver innovative therapeutic approaches.

Sergio serves as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Licensed Psychotherapist, Antioch University Adjunct faculty, and Embody Lab content contributor, while also holding leadership positions in Somatic Experiencing International and Dr. Peter Levine’s Ergos Institute of Somatic Healing. Fluent in four languages, Sergio advocates for seeing anxiety and depression as temporary. Sergio’s motto is: Emotional suffering and trauma are not a life sentence, but a temporary discomfort.

Websites: www.sergioocampo.com, www.dynamicsomatictouch.com 

DR. STEPHEN PORGES

Stephen W. Porges, PhD is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published more than 400 peer‐reviewed scientific papers that have been cited in more than 50,000 peer-review publications. He is the creator of the Polyvagal Theory and a music-based intervention, the Safe and Sound Protocol ™, currently used by approximately 3,000 therapists to reduce hearing sensitivities, improve language processing, and increase spontaneous social engagement. He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation (Norton, 2011), The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe (Norton, 2017), and Polyvagal Safety (Norton, 2021), as well as co-author with Seth Porges of Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us (Norton, 2023), and co-editor with Deb Dana of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies (Norton, 2018). Dr. Porges is a founder of the Polyvagal Institute and co-creator with Anthony Gorry of Polyvagal Music, a new musical genre that uses music to entrain the endogenous neurophysiological rhythms that support homeostatic functions.

Website: www.stephenporges.com

DR. SCOTT LYONS

Dr. Scott Lyons is a licensed holistic psychologist, educator and author of the book Addicted to Drama: Healing Dependency on Crisis and Chaos in Yourself and Others, with Hachette publishing. Scott is also the host of The Gently Used Human Podcast, a delightfully depthful and often hilarious exploration of what it is to be human, to have lived life, and come out gently used.

As a renowned body-based trauma expert, Doctor of Osteopathy (Spain) and Mind-Body Medicine specialist, Scott helps people to break free from cycles of pain, limited beliefs, and trauma. Scott is an innovator in transformative wellness and trauma therapy, teaching over half a million people internationally over the past twenty years how to relieve stress and restore vitality. Scott has worked with many of the country’s top leaders and CEOs as an executive coach and wellness consultant.

Scott is the creator of The Embody Lab—the largest online learning platform for body-based trauma therapies—and developer of Somatic Stress Release™, a holistic process of restoring biological resilience, taught in over 20 countries.

Scott is a Certified Body-Mind Centering™ Teacher and Practitioner, Cranio-Sacral Therapist, Visceral Manipulation Therapist, Neuro-Developmental Therapist, Infant Developmental Movement Educator, Registered Movement Therapist and Educator, Trauma Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Thai Massage Practitioner, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Mindfulness-based Executive Coach, Experiential Anatomy/ Developmental Movement and Yoga Practitioner, and a 500-hour registered yoga teacher. Additionally Scott holds a BFA in Theater/Psychology, MFA in Dance/Choreography, MS in Clinical Psychology, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology and Mind-Body Medicine.

Scott has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Forbes Women, Fast Company, The Telegraph, The Guardian, INC., CNBC Make It, Fortune, Bustle, Reader’s Digest and Goop. He has also appeared on The Mel Robbins Podcast, The Jordan Harbinger Show, The We Can Do Hard Things Podcast, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, The Human Upgrade, The Genius Life, and The Chopra Well.

Websites: www.TheEmbodyLab.com, www.drscottlyons.com 

Instagram: @DrscottLyons

Book: https://www.drscottlyons.com/addicted-to-drama-book

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