Have you ever had a physical or emotional injury that seems to stick with you long after the site of the injury has healed, or after you have talked through it with a therapist, or after you feel you have moved on from the hurt? This is not as unusual as you may think.
In the late 1970s, osteopathic physician and surgeon John E. Upledger and biophysicist Dr. Zvi Karni conducted research that led to the discovery that the body tissue often holds on to the emotional imprint of physical trauma. These imprints, in particular the intense feelings that may have occurred at the time of injury, such as anger, fear, resentment, leave residues in the body as stored or locked-in energy. This energy is foreign to the various body tissues in which it resides.
Your body often adapts to this stored or locked-in energy. However, over time your body needs more and more energy and effort to continue performing daily functions. As the months and years go by and your body becomes more stressed, your body can lose its ability to adapt. This is when symptoms and dysfunction begin to appear and become difficult to ignore or suppress.
The good news is that SomatoEmotional Release offers a natural and gentle way to release those emotional impacts and accelerate recovery.
SomatoEmotional Release (SER) is a hands-on therapeutic process that allows you to more deeply access and release energy that has been stored in your body tissue in connection with your unique life experiences, perceptions, hurts, injuries, or traumas. Examples of some of the ways this stored or locked-in energy can feel in your body may include emotions such as anger or fear, pain, a tightening of the chest, limited range of motion in a shoulder joint, butterflies in the stomach, feeling sick in the stomach, and so forth. The process of SER usually evolves organically from ongoing work with CranioSacral Therapy.
I hold presence for you that is grounded, safe, compassionate, caring, open, non-judgmental and confidential so that you can relax, connect deeply with your body and its wisdom and allow the fullest expression of your authentic self. As we work together within your comfort, pace and awareness, I apply my skills to help you locate such stored energy, track which areas are significant, and help your body to release the energy.
If an emotional release is necessary for your body to fully discharge a hurt, injury or trauma, it will arise naturally from your healing process as memories, images, or emotions may come to your mind. Sometimes I can help this process by applying a therapeutic imagery and dialogue technique that can gently guide you through your encounter with your long held emotions, without analysis. This can help your body to release that stored energy, rebalance and return to optimal daily function.
*Please note that the SER process is not psychotherapy or psychiatry. It is, however, a wonderful complement and support for your process and progress through such therapies.
Source: SomatoEmotional Release II, Study Guide, The Upledger Institute, Inc., John E. Upledger, D.O., O.M.M, Lee Nugan, M.A., Susan D. Pinto, M.A., C F.P., additional contributions by Chas Perry, Ph.D., and Susan Steiner, O. T. R./L.UI Publishing, 1992, Rev. 2010.