Shaking and trembling after a traumatic event is the body’s way of releasing stored energy. Instead of suppressing these reactions, they should be encouraged.

The Body’s Natural Tremors Can Heal

Animals Naturally Discharge Trauma In the wild, animals experience life-threatening situations but rarely develop trauma because they instinctively release built-up energy (like shaking after escaping a predator). Humans, however, tend to suppress these responses.

Animals Naturally Discharge Trauma

“In order to heal, we must first learn to listen to the voices of our body.”

Rather than confronting trauma head-on in an overwhelming way, small, manageable doses of emotion and sensation should be processed at a time.

Titration for Safe Processing

When faced with danger, the body may enter a fight, flight, or freeze state. If a person freezes and doen’t fully release the energy afterward, trauma can become stuck.

The Response Can Trap Trauma

Rather than reliving traumatic events through talk therapy alone, healing involves allowing the body to complete the natural responses that were interrupted.

Healing Requires Releasing This Energy

Levine introduces a therapy called Somatic Experiencing, which focuses on gradually reprocessing trauma by reconnecting with bodily sensations in a safe and controlled way.

Somatic Experiencing

Healing happens in cycles, moving between feelings of distress and safety. By slowly revisiting trauma in small doses and returning to calmness, the nervous system can regulate itself.

Pendulating

Unlike some traditional approaches that focus on recalling traumatic memories, Levine suggests that focusing on the body’s reactions and gently guiding them toward release can be more effective.

Healing Doesn’t Require Reliving the Trauma

Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence. Not only can trauma be healed, but with appropriate guidance and support, it can be transformative.

Trauma isn’t just a psychological issue; it also gets trapped in the nervous system and muscles, affecting physical and emotional well-being.

Unraveling trauma in the body, brain and mind—a revolution in treatment. Now in 17 languages. In this culmination of his life’s work, Peter A. Levine draws on his broad experience as a clinician, a student of comparative brain research, a stress scientist and a keen observer of the naturalistic animal world to explain the nature and transformation of trauma in the body, brain and psyche. In an Unspoken Voice is based on the idea that trauma is neither a disease nor a disorder, but rather an injury caused by fright, helplessness and loss that can be healed by engaging our innate capacity to self-regulate high states of arousal and intense emotions. Enriched with a coherent theoretical framework and compelling case examples, the book elegantly blends the latest findings in biology, neuroscience and body-oriented psychotherapy to show that when we bring together animal instinct and reason, we can become more whole human beings.

PETER A. LAVINE

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