Waking the Tiger
by Peter A. Levine with Ann Frederick
Levine's foundational work on trauma as a frozen survival response in the body, observed in how animals shake off threat, and his somatic experiencing approach to completing the response. It is theoretical and somewhat dated, and it is the root of the body-based trauma therapies now widespread.
Read it if…
you want to understand trauma as physiology and the origin of somatic approaches.
Skip it if…
you want a workbook; see his later Healing Trauma.
Three things you will actually use
- Trauma is in the nervous system, not only in memory.
- The body needs to complete the response it froze.
- Titrate; go slowly.
Do this first
Notice where in your body you hold tension after stress, and let it discharge through gentle movement.
Our verdict
Foundational and theoretical.
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