Jake White Healing LLC

12/15/2025

In somatic experiencing we don’t initially go toward the overwhelm or response of fight, flight, and freeze. We will often times look for a pattern of regulation.

As we follow regulation we will then notice how this shifts the nervous system. Noticing how an opening in the hands may lead to a settling of a shoulder or lightening in the chest.

Through this approach we are following how the body moves out of traumatic stress and into the parasympathetic nervous system. We can then notice how the overwhelm and tension changes once we have a baseline of safety.

In somatic experiencing we look toward regulation and safety even when overwhelm seems to be all that is present for the client.

I hope this can give you a little spotlight into a somatic experiencing session. I also hope you can see the importance of focusing of safety rather than focusing all of your attention on stress and overwhelm.

12/09/2025

Here is a quick somatic experiencing technique. It helps us to learn to embody both positive and negative experiences. Learning to move through both with curiosity and acceptance.

One of the main goals of healing from trauma is connecting negative sensation to positive feelings and emotions. Watching as the nervous system moves into contraction and then eventually moves towards safety and expansion.

Try this exercise out and let us know what changes you observe in yourself. Let me know what you discover in the comments.

11/25/2025

11/20/2025

Here is an excise to connect sensations and emotions to our needs. The practice centers around bringing awareness to the body and then inviting in curiosity about our needs.

Over time we will get better at listening to our sensations as an indication of a need. For example a feeling of threat may need a stronger boundary or a vulnerable feeling may need our presence.

Try this out and let me know how it goes in the comments.

11/17/2025

Shame needs repair. The natural cycle of shame is to rupture and to feel activation, separation, and painful emotions. Repair brings us back into connection as we feel loved, included, and supported.

Meaning we can do something wrong and still be valued and loved afterwards. For so many of us we have shame that was never repaired and loved.

When I feel shame I try to remember repair. I will place my hands on my chest, rub my neck, touch my face, and pat my chest. I do this to move closer to my sensations and to bring myself in toward myself. I try not to recreate the patterns that cause rupture in my nervous system. I don’t belittle myself, search for perfection, or try to fix myself. This causes more anxiety and fear.

Repair sends a signal that I can embrace myself and support myself as I feel rupture and as I find repair. Through this practice I am taking the nervous system through a natural cycle of rupture and repair which helps me to soothe and regulate my nervous system.

Next time you feel shame think about your repair.

11/12/2025

Here is a simple technique to connect with the ventral vagal branch of the vagus nerve. This part of the nervous is above your diaphragm and corresponds to the heart, throat, and face.

The slow touch, holding, and tapping will help to stimulate this nerve and soothe your stress response. These ways of connecting with self can support self compassion, acceptance, and self care. For everything difficult in life we should be met with care and compassion.

I hope this exercise brings you self compassion and self love.

11/11/2025

In somatic experiencing sessions, we do a lot of naming experience. We name the experience to make it more explicit. For example, I may ask a client why they feel more open and settled. They may identify that they feel more open because I stay with them in their emotions without judgment. I might ask them to say this statement again. They may say, “I feel safe because you connected with me when I was feeling an emotion.” I might then ask the client to bring attention to how they feel this support in their body. They might name that they feel warmth and settling.

Naming our experience is a helpful practice. When you feel safe, name your experience. Then ask yourself where you feel this sense of safety or ease. Bring attention to your body and sensations.

When you name your experience and then bring attention to your feelings, you are giving yourself permission to feel. You are actually creating more love and acceptance for yourself.

Healing occurs when we bring experiences into the present, where they can be felt, supported, and loved.

11/06/2025

Emotions need connection to release into. Sometimes we experience emotional energy that feels cathartic, too much, overwhelming, and unpredictable. Our emotions feel this way because they have been experienced in isolation.

They did not receive attention, love, warmth, and support. When emotions do not receive connection then they become suppressed and with held.

These difficult feelings are waiting for the right support to be expressed freely. We can cultivate a container for our emotions. Bringing awareness to the felt sense of the emotion in order to provide value and worth to our feelings. They are worth noticing and feeling in the present.

We can also resource support and love. Visualizing a friend holding our hand or the warm embrace of the ideal support system that moves toward us when we are in need. We can also resource our own body. Feeling the warmth of our hands, softness of our face, or our feet rooted to the floor. The body is a soft place to contain our emotions.

If you feel overwhelmed by your emotions you are simply waiting for a container of support and love. Through finding safe environments and through cultivating a deeper relationship with your emotions you can find relief and ease. The emotions that once felt too much can actually lead you to a baseline of ease and safety in your nervous system.

Your emotions need a safe container to release into.

11/05/2025

In Somatic Experiencing success may look a little bit different then other approaches of healing.

We look at success from the lens of the nervous system. Success may be the dropping of the shoulders, the heart rate slowing, softening of emotions, or feeling a settling in our heart.

These regulated patterns are a sign that we are moving out of fight, flight, and freeze. That we are no longer relating to trauma and are moving in the direction of healing.

These changes in our felt sense influence our thoughts, behaviors, and relationship with life. We feel more ease, wholeness, and balance. We find out that this is our natural state of being.

In somatic experiencing success is focused on the body as the driving force behind positive change.