Somatic Aliveness

  Coming to terms with one’s gay identity has never been easy. For many of us—whether we served in the Marine Corps or performed on a chorus line—the process demanded our energy and courage, especially in the years before the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, when being openly LGBTQ+ came with even greater risks. Netflix’s original series Boots attempts to portray the challenges faced by many gay service members before the implementation of the DADT policy. Unfortunately, many of these struggles still persist for LGBTQ+ individuals serving in the military today. In fact, we are living through a regressive period in which hard-won rights are once again being questioned and challenged. Homophobia is a major reason why coming out can be particularly difficult for gay members of the military. It can prevent queer individuals from living authentic lives and, when internalized, can foster a deep sense of inferiority. To cope with or compensate for these feelings, many victims...

    For anyone who might be new to the body-inclusive psychotherapy method, below you will find a summary of a case that shows the effectiveness of this approach. This case also reveals how, as a licensed Marriage and Family therapist, my psychotherapy practice is inspired by my training in Somatic Experiencing® (SE), which was founded by Peter A. Levine, Ph.D. His curiosity about animals in the wild getting exposed to life-threating situations without getting PTSD while humans frequently succumb to this disorder was the start of SE’s development. SE is a body first approach that helps people discover where they are stuck in the fight, flight, or freeze responses, and how they can “resolve these fixated physiological states.” SE is a powerful trauma  healing  medium that includes working with sensations, movements, postures, and gestures as a way of deepening resilience and to reset the nervous system. According to Dr. Levine, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) can...

For almost three decades, I have immersed myself in the life stories of many people of the LGBTQ community who had painful homophobic and transphobic upbringings. Many of the gay men’s personal narratives that I have heard are not very different from my own. Regardless of national origin, we are part of a tribe with similar stories of growing up in a homophobic and heterosexist world where our gayness was repeatedly assaulted. We are everywhere, and unfortunately so is homophobia.  Many gay men have shared with me that as long they could recall they always felt different. They were unable to articulate why they felt that way, and, at the same time, they did not feel safe to talk about it. Some knew this feeling of being different was related to something forbidden. “It felt like keeping an ugly secret that I could not even understand,” described one person. Other gay men have disclosed to me that this feeling revealed itself in the form of gender nonconformity, which c...

For many seekers on a spiritual path, the body can become a sacred vessel, home to mystical experiences, and a container for love. Many spiritual seekers value the contribution of the body in deepening mystical practices. By noticing their bodily “felt sense” during prayer or meditation, they can embody such spiritual practices.   Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, a Sufi teacher, described spiritual life as a “love affair.” Sufis are in love with the Beloved, a Sufi term for God. This love story between the lover and the Beloved unfolds inside one’s heart, and it can touch different energy centers within the body. Rumi describes this Sufi love story as follows, “The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing How blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” The bodily “felt sense” of this love story can be experienced in many ways including a sense of aliveness and energetic vibration...