Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma Paperback – Illustrated, July 7, 1997

This book truly changed my life. I’ve worked with therapists using emdr for ptsd, got some relief, but Dr Levine gives subtle instructions at the end of this book that I was able to follow myself and took out the emotional/energetic charge from an event that’s haunted me for decades. Because of this book, I can do this myself (though I have found a therapist trained in his methodology and will be going to her when/if I need.) The big shift came when I discovered the moment my energy and power was frozen and then, using the steps in this book, allowed myself the opportunity to unfreeze it and let it complete its organic cycle. I’ve used it for several traumatic moments that were frozen inside me. I’m finally free.

After reading this book, I sought out a somatic experiencing therapist who is touch-certified and it has changed my life. I had previously tried talk therapy, group therapy, CBT, and very briefly - EMDR. I was not a good candidate for EMDR, due to my problems with dissociation. Somatic Experiencing has helped me more than any other type of therapy I have done in recovering from a long history of childhood verbal, emotional, and physical abuse. Even after having read this book, I still don't understand how Somatic Experiencing has worked so incredibly effectively, but I highly recommend this therapy to anyone who has a history of childhood trauma, regardless of what that childhood trauma stems from (neglect, dysfunction, emotional, verbal, physical, or sexual abuse.)Somatic Experiencing has somehow taught my body to self-regulate emotions, without causing more dissociation after sessions. It has the added benefit of not being talk-centered, so I don't have to constantly delve into details of my past that I often would rather not repeat again and again. It has by-passed my problematic thought-processes that often hinder my recovery, by working directly on my body. Somehow, without cognitive effort, I end up feeling much better without even trying to think my way better. In fact, my thoughts and perspectives have somehow changed of their own accord, as my body begins to feel better on its own. It's like my body just started healing on its own, and then my brain catches up with it accordingly. I see the world differently now, I see myself differently now, and without even trying to implant new thoughts or perspectives into myself.When I was doing CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) I felt like I was constantly exerting immense effort on myself, trying to make my brain interpret my environment differently. I was repeatedly attempting to force new thoughts into my head, and this made me feel resentful at the constant argumentation I would have going on inside my brain, and angry because I felt that I was lying to myself with these new thoughts I was forcing into my head. Somatic Experiencing with a touch-certified therapist has removed this battle from my mind; and healthier thoughts and perspectives have slipped into my brain unnoticed by me at first. Despite having read this book, I still don't fully understand how it is possible that somatic experiencing is so effective.This book explains somatic experiencing very well. Not only does Peter Levine go into the details of how trauma effects the brain and body, but he describes some somatic experiencing sessions with clients in enough detail that the reader can learn what he or she can expect in a somatic experiencing session. I highly recommend his other book "Trauma and Memory" for a detailed explanation of traumatic memory. This book "Waking the Tiger" explains how trauma effects the brain-body and how somatic experiencing functions; his book "Trauma and Memory" explains how traumatic memory works, and how it is different from non-traumatic memory, and the difference between explicit and implicit memory. For those of us who feel confused about our patchy, gap-ridden explicit memories, coupled with our highly valent emotional patterns of reaction, his "Trauma and Memory" book sheds much light on this confusion.CBT is woefully under-equipped to handle childhood attachment trauma; it only made me fight inside my head more, and feel resentful at the constant effort of forcing myself to think differently. EMDR did not work for me, as it attempted to cram more trauma into my brain while leaving my body behind in the process, which mainly led to further dissociation. Talk therapy has been helpful for my own understanding of what happened to me, but it, too, left my body out of the picture, and did not help me with the daily emotional dysregulation which caused me so much constant grief. Somatic Experiencing, on the other hand, has put the healing emphasis onto my body, and caused it to heal itself, resulting in my body feeling better and my brain responding to my improved feelings in my body. My brain just keeps catching up to my healing body without much exerted effort on my part.I highly recommend this book, and somatic experiencing with a touch-certified therapist, to anyone who has experienced childhood attachment trauma.

Waking the Tiger is such a inspirational book about how to heal trauma within ourselves. Peter Levin started for many years ago teaching us, that if we want to heal a trauma, we need to feel it and experience it over again with our feelings. So, it Is not enough to let it go or just entertain it in our thoughts. A must for all of us with trauma in us. and of course, a must read for any therapist in this field.

Peter Levine in "Waking the Tiger," postulates that trauma exists not in the event or in the story of the event, but is stored within the nervous system. Many common physical ailments are actually residues of thwarted trauma reactions incurred during such events as surgical procedures, falls, pre or perinatal stress and/or childhood accidents and traumas. The body has a natural, innate, and miraculous capacity to heal once these reactions are understood and guided.Levine reinforces the holistic nature of the human being. Our bodies and brains connect instinct, emotion and rationality to our experience. Trauma may create damaging and often enduring symptoms. Human beings have a harder time than do animals in releasing trauma and may carry it throughout our lives. We often become frozen in trauma, unlike animals that can cope with the unpredictability of nature. This may provide a major interference with our health, peace of mind and the ability to live joyfully and creatively. When human trauma remains unhealed, the energy of the trauma and accompanying emotions remain locked within the brain and held within the body's musculature, tissues and organs, awaiting discharge.The author writes about an oft-forgotten aspect of trauma, freezing or immobilization during a traumatic experience. Modern medicine/psychiatry emphasize the "flight or fight" response while often neglecting the freeze response. The concept of the freeze response in the face of overwhelming threat provides a missing link to symptoms such as dissociation that our old ideas of "fight or flight" fail to explain. Immobilization in the face of threat is an automatic biological response that is not voluntarily chosen by the victim. This provides redeeming message to trauma survivors.Levine points out that our memories are not literal recordings of events, but rather, a complex of images that are influenced by arousal, emotional context, and prior experience. Memories may even transform over time as new experiences add layers of meaning to the images. While remembering the past can be an important aspect of therapy, appreciating the subjective quality of memories is crucial to integrating them appropriately into the healing process.Those with deep psychological scars may have dissociated the memory from their minds and are living in a numbed, tensed body awaiting its release so the body can return to wholeness and optimum mental and physical health. The author asserts that psychological wounds are reversible and that healing comes when the physical and mental letting go occurs, similar to the way the tiger experiences the coming and going of threat, tensing in response to danger, and as the threat passes, the tiger's muscles shake, twitch and let go right then and there the fear related energy which now is forever out of mind and body. Trauma is stored energy that must be released.

As a professional counselor I was looking for a book that could help me dealing with clients that has trauma in their lives. This book was a fresh read that help give me insight. I would encourage other counselors to read this book.