About the Book
The classic, life-changing guide to trauma recovery-tap into your body's innate ability to heal, from the creator of Somatic Experiencing (SE)
For anyone seeking body-based tools to heal from trauma-like complex PTSD, developmental trauma, nervous system dysregulation, and more
For nearly three decades, Waking the Tiger has reshaped how we think about-and heal from-trauma. Dr. Peter A. Levine, the visionary behind Somatic Experiencing (SE), introduced a revolutionary concept- trauma is not a flaw, but a natural process that, when properly supported, can help us self-regulate and lead to profound healing.
Dr. Levine invites us back into the natural intelligence of our body, showing how we can use the model of animals in the wild to understand-and rediscover-our own innate ability to heal from trauma. Animals frequently experience events that threaten their lives, safety, and kin-yet they don't suffer from trauma in the same ways that we do. Instead, they instinctively respond to life-or-death situations by releasing survival energy. When we don't process our own fight-flight-or-freeze hormones, we can stay "stuck," locked into a trauma response that can wreak havoc on our bodies, lives, decision-making, and relationships. But it doesn't have to be that way. Dr. Levine shows-
. How to regulate our nervous systems and transform personal trauma
. Practical, embodied exercises to help trauma move through our bodies before it takes root
. How early life experiences can rewire our fight-or-flight responses later in life
. The ways that trauma lives in the body, even when we think our minds and memories are "supposed to" move on
. Indigenous approaches for processing traumatic events
. Trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive parenting techniques
. How to administer "emotional first-aid" after an accident
When we don't have the tools or the psychological safety to complete our natural, hardwired responses to traumatic events, we can unintentionally perpetuate patterns like avoidance, hypervigilance, mood issues, substance abuse, helplessness, or dysregulation. By learning to rewire our body's own healing capabilities, we can honor ourselves as "living, feeling, knowing" beings-and restore our holistic balance and body-mind wellness.
Table of Contents:
Contents
Introduction
Prologue
Giving the Body Its Due
Finding a Method • Body and Mind • The Body As Healer • How To Use This
Book
Section I: The Body As Healer
1. Shadows from a Forgotten Past
Nature’s Plan • Why Look to the Wild? • Trauma is Physiological • It’s About Energy
2. The Mystery of Trauma
What is Trauma? • Chowchilla, California • Waking the Tiger: A First Glimmering
3. Wounds That Can Heal
Trauma Is Not a Disease But a Dis-Ease
4. A Strange New Land
Trauma is Not a Life Sentence • The Strange New Land • Trauma! • What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us • A Traumatized Person’s Reality • Get On with Your Life • Who Is Traumatized? • Causes of Trauma
5. Healing and Community
Shamanic Approaches to Healing • Somatic Experiencing® • Acknowledging the Need to Heal • Let Us Begin—Calling the Spirit Back to the Body
6. In Trauma’s Reflection
Medusa • The Felt Sense • Let the Body Speak Its Mind • Using The Felt Sense to Listen to the Organism • How the Organism Communicates • Sensation and the Felt Sense • Rhythm: All God’s Children Got It
7. The Animal Experience
The Animals Do It Too • When the Reptilian Brain Speaks, Listen! • One with Nature • Attunement • The Orienting Response • Flee, Fight...or Freeze • The Return to Normal Activity • Animals as Teachers
8. How Biology Becomes Pathology: Freezing
The Stage is Set • Blame It on the Neo-cortex • Fear and Immobility • “As They Go In, So They Come Out” • Like Death Itself • It’s a Cumulative Effect • How Biology Becomes Pathology
9. How Pathology Becomes Biology: Thawing
Nancy Re-examined: A First Step • It’s All Energy • Marius: A Next Step • Renegotiation • Somatic Experiencing—Gradated Renegotiation • Elements of Renegotiation
Section II: Symptoms of Trauma
10. The Core of the Traumatic Reaction
Arousal—What Goes Up Must Come Down • Trauma is Trauma, No Matter What Caused It/ Exercises • The Core of the Traumatic Reaction • Hyperarousal • Constriction • Dissociation/ Exercises • Helplessness • And Then There Was Trauma
11. Symptoms of Trauma
Symptoms of Trauma • And Around and Around We Go • Out of the Loop
12. A Traumatized Person’s Reality
The Threat That Can’t Be Found • Mrs. Thayer • Can’t Synthesize New Information/Can’t Learn • Chronic Helplessness • Traumatic Coupling • Traumatic Anxiety • Psychosomatic Symptoms • Denial • Gladys • What Trauma Survivors Expect • The Last Turn
Section III: Transformation and Renegotiation
13. Blueprint for Repetition
Re-enactment • July 5th, 6:30 in the Morning • The Vital Role of Awareness • Jack • Patterns of Shock • Without Awareness We Have No Choice • Re-enactment Versus Renegotiation • In the Theater of the body • Post Script: How Far in Time and Space?
14. Transformation
Two Faces of Trauma • Heaven, Hell and Healing: A Middle Ground • Let it Flow—Renegotiation • Margaret • What Really Happened? • Renegotiation and Re-enactment • What is Memory? • Brain and Memory • But It Seems So Real! • But I’m Proud to Be a Survivor • The Courage to Feel • Desire and Healing • With a Little Help from Our Friends
15. The Eleventh Hour: Transforming Societal Trauma
The Animal Approach to Aggression • Human Aggression • Why Do Humans Kill, Maim and Torture One Another? • Circle of Trauma, Circle of Grace, Transforming Cultural Trauma • Epilogue or Epitaph? • Nature Is No Fool
Section IV: First Aid for Trauma
16. Administering (Emotional) First Aid After an Accident
Following an Automobile Accident • Scenario of Healing
17. First Aid for Children
Delayed Traumatic Reactions • First Aid for Accidents and Falls • Resolving a Traumatic Reaction • How Can I Tell If My Child Has Been Traumatized? • Sammy—A Case History • Traumatic Play, Re-enactment, and Renegotiation • Key Principles for Renegotiating Trauma with Children
Epilogue: Three Brains, One Mind
Index
About the Author :
Peter Levine, Ph.D. is the originator and developer of Somatic Experiencing and the Director of the Foundation for Human Enrichment. He holds doctorate degrees in both Medical Biophysics and Psychology. During his thirty year study of stress and trauma, Dr. Levine has contributed to a variety of scientific, medical, and popular publications. His book, Waking the Tiger- Healing Trauma is in its fifth printing and receiving wide international attention. Peter was a consultant for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle, and has taught at hospitals and pain clinics in both Europe and the U.S., as well as at the Hopi Guidance Center in Arizona. He lives near Lyons, Colorado, on the banks of the St. Vrain River.
Review :
"Every life contains difficulties we are not prepared for. Read, learn, and be prepared for life and healing."
—Bernard S. Siegal, M.D., Author of Love, Medicine & Miracles and Peace, Love, and Healing
"Fascinating! Amazing! A revolutionary exploration of the effects and causes of trauma."
—Mira Rothenberg, Director Emeritus of Blueberry Treatment Centers for Disturbed Children, Author of Children With Emerald Eyes
"It is a most important book. Quite possibly a work of genius."
—Ron Kurtz, Author of Body Reveals and Body-Centered Psychotherapy
"Levine effectively argues that the body is healer and that psychological scars of trauma are reversible—but only if we listen to the voices of our body."
—Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D., Professor of Human Development and Psychology, University of Maryland
"A vital contribution to the exciting emerging science of mind/body interaction in the treatment of disease."
—Robert C. Scaer, M.D., Neurology, Medical Director, Rehabilitation Services, Boulder Community Hospital
"Peter Levine’s work is visionary common sense, pure and simple."
—Laura Huxley, lifetime partner and collaborator of Aldous Huxley
“[Waking the Tiger] is an excellent resource for those who have been traumatized or know someone who suffers from trauma, like a soldier returning from war. Finally, there is help that doesn’t ask us to relive what happened and re-experience the pain. Instead, it follows the body’s wisdom in its search for renewal and healing.”
—Soaring Again
