Somatic Experiencing is body orientated trauma therapy

it works to support & regulate THE NERVOUS SYSTEM through sensing, feeling, movement, sound, imagery, emotion & meaning

TAKING YOU FROM

Fragmentation to Wholeness

fear to safety

Turbulence to Ease

Dysregulation to fLOW

Helplessness to Agency

Stuckness to CREATIVITY

insecurity to AUTHENTICITY

DissociatION to ConnecTION

SHUT DOWN TO expression

anger to empowerment

disconnection to interconnection

Somatic experiencing with Gemma

  • Women &

    I am particularly interested in supporting women; their physiological health, their well-being and their liberation.

    My view is that the somatic process in integral to this, my belief is that resolving trauma, regulating the nervous system and gently bringing awareness and understanding to ancestral patterns of trauma are ways into newer and freer dimensions of being, unfettered by patterns of the past that can really hold us back and obstruct authentic expression. I feel that liberation takes place deep within our nervous system and that this then transforms other aspects of the way we act, behave, feel and relate.

    I work well with women in the yoga, dance, movement and mindfulness worlds who are already on a path and have an established body based practice. I am here to support and mentor those of you who recognise unresolved areas of stuckness or turbulence and who would like to take the next step into deeper nervous system support and deeper embodied healing explorations.

  • tRAUMA

    Long term inner practices (10 years or so) such as yoga and meditation can start to loosen subconscious material triggering the energies of unresolved trauma (fight, flight, freeze) responses. This doesn’t mean the practices aren’t working, it means they have worked and now this is the next step, or the next piece of the puzzle. The work now is nervous system work, your physiology, your body is telling you something, the story of the unspoken voice is trying to be heard and Somatic Experiencing is exactly the therapy that meets, listens and understands this part of you. It listens to the untold story of the autonomic nervous system where the trauma responses are held, beyond and underneath the neo cortex.

    As spiritual practice and discipline is often a solitary pursuit, it is common that Yogis believe that they can sort things out on their own, however in the case of trauma it is often relational and as such needs to be processed, resolved and healed with a skilled therapist in a relational capacity.

  • HEALING

    I feel that the principles of SE are of great value to long term practitioners and can be easily integrated into practice and consequently life. Understanding safety, support, grounding, resource and self regulation from the inside out are physiological skills that are cultivated and re-learnt through SE sessions and provide the foundation for internal stability, balance, connection, richer relationships, authenticity, resilience, empowerment and flow..

    When the energy of trauma that has been bound in the nervous system gets re-solved , a large well of new energy becomes available to the physiology again and provides the ground for transformation of the self. along with a new dimension for further spiritual embodied growth.

MY QUALIFICATIONS

  • I am an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner). Find me here www.seauk.org.uk)

  • Being an SEP means I have completed the full SE training at all levels - SE Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.

  • Additionally I have completed various SE post graduate modules including:-

  • Healing Sexual Trauma with Ariel Giaretto (Online March 2021)

  • Making the Invisible Visible, Trauma Healing Journey from Hauntings to Wholeness, an exploration of Transgenerational Trauma with Dr Peter Levine and Euphrasia Nyaki (Online November 2020)

  • Understanding Developmental Trauma with Dr Peter Levine in Person (Switzerland, July 2015)

FAQs

Where are sessions held?

All sessions are conducted via Zoom or Skype

pricing of sessions

As from beginning of January 2023, all sessions will be charged at 75 GBP per session

PAYMENT

BACS Transfer to

Gemma Mallol, Nat West Plc, Acc No 68665598, Sort Code 521003

or PayPal to gemmamallol@hotmail.com

STRUCTURE OF SESSIONS

I recommend blocks of 6 sessions to enter a full process. Sessions are conducted every other week. I then recommend a break of 6 - 8 weeks in order to support self-regulation. I then suggest we decide whether to carry on for another block of 6. We can carry on in this rhythm for as long as feels necessary. There are some clients who require a different type of support and this can be established and negotiated as needs arise during the process.

Duration

Each session will be 1 hour, unless agreed otherwise.

Cancellation

If a clear 48 hours notice is given, and the session is rescheduled within an appropriate time span, there will be no cancellation fee.
Otherwise, a 50% cancellation fee for less than 48 hours notice and a 100% cancellation fee for less than 24 hours notice will be charged.What should I wear?

Please where loose comfortable clothes as if you were going to a yoga class or similar.

SET UP FOR ZOOM

If we are working on Zoom, please set up your space so you are sitting in a well supported seat with back support and feet on the floor and good lighting. Please make sure your eyes and camera are aligned so you are looking straight at the screen and not tilting your head down. It is helpful to be in a room where you feel comfortable and at ease, if you have a window, set up your computer so you can see out of the window.

CONCESSIONS

I have some spaces for clients on low incomes.

Please get in touch should you need lower cost sessions.

SOMATIC EXPERIENCING ® as dEVELOPED BY dR. pETER lEVINE

Somatic Experiencing®” (SE) is a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine (www.traumahealing.org)

It is based upon the observation that wild prey animals, though threatened routinely, are rarely traumatized. Animals in the wild utilize innate mechanisms to regulate and discharge the high levels of energy arousal associated with defensive survival behaviours. These mechanisms provide animals with a built-in ”immunity” to trauma

that enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly ”charged” life-threatening experiences.

Although humans are born with virtually the same regulatory mechanisms as animals, the function of these instinctive systems is often overridden or inhibited by, among other things, the ”rational” portion of our brains. This restraint prevents the complete discharge of survival energies, and does not allow the nervous system to regain its equilibrium. The un-discharged “survival energy” remains “stuck” in the body and the nervous system.

The various symptoms of trauma result from the body’s attempt to ”manage” and contain this unused energy.

SE employs the awareness of body sensation to help people ”renegotiate” and heal their traumas rather than relive them. With appropriate guidance with the body’s instinctive ”felt sense,” individuals are able to access their own built-in immunity to trauma, allowing the highly aroused survival energies to be safely and gradually discharged.

When these energies are discharged, people frequently experience a dramatic reduction in or disappearance of their traumatic symptoms. Because traumatic events often involve

encounters with death, they evoke extraordinary responses. The transformation process can allow people to deepen their sense of self and others. The healing journey can be an ”awakening” to untapped resources and feelings of empowerment.

With the help of these new allies, people can open portals to rebirth and achieve an increased sense of aliveness and flow. The experience can be a genuine spiritual awakening, one that allows people to re-connect with the world.

The very structure of trauma, including hyper-arousal, dissociation. and freezing, is based on the evolution of the predator/prey survival behaviors. The symptoms of trauma are the result of a highly activated incomplete biological response to threat, frozen in time. By enabling this frozen response to thaw, then complete, trauma can be healed.

Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the dangerous event itself. They arise when residual energy from the event is not discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds. Wild animals have the ability to “shake off” this excess energy. The key for humans in dispelling traumatic symptoms lies in our being able to mirror wild animals in this way. Dr. Peter Levine has developed a safe, gradual way to help trauma survivors develop their own natural ability to resolve the excess energy caused by overwhelming events”. (Excerpt from www.sosinternationale.org

Trauma underlies the vast majority of our personal and societal ailments : physical, emotional, psychological and relational. Unresolved trauma can be at the root cause of intense personal distress, abuse, torture, and war. Dr Peter Levine’s work has led him to believe that many of these people have traumatic histories which at least contribute to their symptoms. Depression and anxiety often have traumatic antecedents as does mental illness. As many as 75% of the people who go to doctors have complaints that are labelled psychosomatic because no physical explanation can be found for them.