Freedom from Pain: Guided Practices to Overcome Physical Pain

Healing Physical and Emotional Trauma, A Key to Long-Term Pain Relief

For those suffering chronic pain―even after years of surgery, rehabilitation and medication―only one question matters: How do I find lasting relief?With Freedom from Pain, two pioneers in the field address a crucial missing factor essential to long-term recovery―healing the unresolved emotional trauma held within the body.

The path out of pain is unique for each one of us, explain Peter Levine and Maggie Phillips. It’s a labyrinth shaped by physical injury, genetics, learned responses, and―crucially―prior traumatic events and suppressed emotions. When all of these elements are successfully addressed, true recovery becomes possible. This program will help you to initiate that shift.

Informed by their founding work in the Somatic Experiencing® process and unique insights gleaned from decades of clinical success, Drs. Levine and Philips will show you how to:

Calm the body’s over-reactive "fight" response to pain
• Release the fear, frustration, and depression intensified by prior traumas
• Build inner resilience and self-regulation
• Relieve pain caused by the aftermath of injuries, surgical procedures, joint and muscle conditions, migraines, and more
Whether you’re seeking to begin a self-care strategy or amplify your current treatment program, Freedom from Pain will provide you with proven tools to help you experience long-term relief.

Course objectives:

Discuss how to release the fear, frustration, and depression intensified by prior traumas, thereby lessening pain in the body.
• Apply the founding work of the Somatic Experiencing process to relieve pain caused by the aftermath of injuries, surgical procedures, joint and muscle conditions, migraines, and more.
• Practice exercises that build inner resilience and self-regulation supporting recovery from pain syndromes.
• Utilize exercises to calm the body's over-reactive fight response to pain and other proven tools to help you experience long-term relief.

Peter A. Levine, PhD, has spent 45 years studying and treating stress and trauma. He holds a doctorate degree in medical biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley and in psychology from International University. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic approach to healing trauma. He has practiced and taught at treatment centers, hospitals, and pain clinics throughout the world, and has dealt with a wide range of trauma, including accidents, rapes, assaults, abuse, and invasive medical procedures. Peter was a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle program. He served with the Institute for World Affairs Task Force for "Psychologists for Social Responsibility" and the American Psychological Association "Presidential Initiative on Responding to Large-Scale Disasters and Ethno-Centric Warfare." He is also the bestselling author of Waking the Tiger (published in 22 languages), as well as several other books and audio programs that teach people how to use the body as a tool in resolving trauma. Peter is the founder of the Foundation for Human Enrichment, based out of Boulder, Colorado, which now has a membership of 5,000 Somatic Experiencing® training practitioners worldwide. His current interests include prevention of trauma in children, for which he has published two books, his most recent being Trauma-Proofing Your Kids: a Parent’s Guide to Instilling Confidence, Joy, and Resilience.

In Fall 2010, he published his master opus In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness. In October 2010 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy (USABP.org).