Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma

The classic, life-changing guide to trauma recovery—learn how to tap into your body’s innate healing potential, from the creator of Somatic Experiencing® (SE)

For therapists, survivors, and readers looking for real approaches to healing complex PTSD, developmental trauma, nervous system dysregulation, and more—now in 20+ languages

For almost 30 years, Waking the Tiger has transformed how we think about—and heal from—trauma. Dr. Peter A. Levine, PhD’s groundbreaking work in Somatic Experiencing® (SE) pioneered 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.