Working with Pain: A Somatic Approach

Name: Working with Pain: A Somatic Approach
Brand: The Embody Lab
Price: 129.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Somatic Therapy in Action: A Practitioner's Guide to Chronic Pain

"Working with Pain: A Somatic Approach" offers a transformative perspective on chronic pain, moving beyond symptomatic treatment to address its complex psychophysiological origins. The modules consistently emphasize that persistent pain often stems from unresolved trauma, repressed emotions, and autonomic nervous system dysregulation, rather than solely physical injury. Through a powerful integration of MindBody medicine, Somatic Experiencing, Polyvagal Theory, and mindfulness, participants will learn to identify pain as an intelligent signal, deactivate high-charge nervous system responses, and restore the body's innate capacity for self-regulation. Ultimately, this program equips clients and practitioners with a diverse array of body-based techniques to befriend internal sensations, release bound energy, and guide individuals from a state of suffering to one of enduring relief and empowered healing.

Comprehensive Curriculum

Module 1: Understanding Pain (Sergio Ocampo) — Pain as complex psychophysiological experience, ANS connection (central sensitization, muscle tension, inflammation, impaired recovery), Islands of Breath exercise, shifting perception from "I am pain" → "I have pain" → "I am repairing".

Module 2: Mind-Body Medicine for Relief of Chronic Pain (Nicole Sachs) — MindBody Medicine framework building on Dr. John Sarno, stored trauma and repressed emotions as catalysts, symptom imperative, three essential facets (brain science belief, Journal Speak, self-compassion).

Module 3: The Neurobiology of Chronic Pain (Dr. Christopher Walling) — Pain as rooted in ANS dysregulation, nociception, endogenous analgesic system, Gate Control Theory, somatic mindfulness intervention with pendulation for pain management.

Module 4: Effective Strategies for Dismantling Pain (Manuela Mischke-Reeds) — Pain as intelligent signal, distinction between Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) and psychosomatic pain, core somatic techniques (scaffolded interventions, experiential breathing with imagination, supported movement, developing interoception).

Module 5: Working With Chronic Pain — The Somatic Connection (Dr. Peter Levine) — ANS dysregulation (vagus nerve, brainstem, cerebellum), bottom-up techniques ("Voo" sound, bracing patterns, titration, pendulation), collaborative care with medical professionals, working with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS).

Learning Outcomes & Professional Benefits

Core competencies organized across 10 areas: Understanding Pain Differently, The Trauma-Pain Link, Nervous System Literacy, Somatic Interventions, MindBody Approaches, Shifting Identity ("I am pain" → "I have pain" → "I am repairing"), Clinical Skills (pendulation, titration, scaffolded interventions), Pain as Intelligence, Therapeutic Presence, Collaborative Framework (medical collaboration, MUS, societal factors).

Who This Is For

Therapists working with chronic pain clients; body workers integrating trauma-informed approaches; somatic practitioners deepening pain work; clinicians frustrated by pain's resistance to treatment; practitioners wanting alternatives to medication management; anyone working with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, MUS; therapists addressing trauma who see related pain; practitioners interested in MindBody medicine; clinicians wanting to work at pain's root, not just symptoms.

Faculty

Peter Levine (Dr.)

Peter A Levine, Ph.D., is the developer of Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic and neurobiological approach to healing trauma. He holds doctorates in both Biophysics and Psychology. He is the Founder and President of the Ergos Institute for Somatic Education and the Founder and Advisor for Somatic Experiencing International. Dr. Levine is the author of several best-selling books on trauma, including Waking the Tiger, Healing Trauma (published in over 29 languages). He has received Lifetime Achievement awards from Psychoth erapy Networker and from the US Association for Body-Oriented Psychotherapy. He continues to teach trauma healing workshops internationally. Learn more at somaticexperiencing.com.

Pat Ogden (Dr.)

Pat Ogden, PhD is a pioneer in somatic psychology, the creator of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy method, and founder of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. Dr. Ogden is a clinician, consultant, international lecturer and the first author of two groundbreaking books in somatic psychology: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Trauma and Attachment (2015). Her third book, The Pocket Guide to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context, advocates for an anti-racist perspective in psychotherapy practice. Her current interests include couple therapy, child and family therapy, social justice, diversity, inclusion, consciousness, and the philosophical/spiritual principles that underlie her work.

Stephen Porges (Dr.)

Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He is the originator of the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that emphasizes the importance of physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems related to traumatic experiences.

Manuela Mischke-Reeds

Manuela Mischke-Reeds. MFT is an international teacher of somatic psychology, somatic psychotherapist, a founder of Hakomi Institute of California and Embodywise (non-profit) that cultivates learning from the wisdom teachings of the body. She is the developer of the Innate Somatic Intelligence Trauma Therapy Approach (ISITTA), an in-depth trauma training program for therapists and practitioners.

Manuela has 25+ years of clinical experience with trauma clients, coaching executives, first responders. She lectures and trains professionals on the topics of Hakomi Therapy, mindfulness-somatic psychology, trauma healing, embodied mindfulness for trauma and stress, Movement Therapy, Somatic Psychedelic assisted Psychotherapy.

Manuela is the author of several books, including 125 Somatic Psychotherapy Tools for Trauma and Stress (PESI 2018), 8 Keys to Practicing Mindfulness: Practical Strategies for Emotional Health, Well Being (W.W.Norton 2015), Trauma-sensitive movement (2025), Embodied Psychedelic Therapy (2025).

Nicole Sachs

Nicole J. Sachs, LCSW, is a speaker, writer, psychotherapist, retreat leader, and podcaster who has dedicated her work and her practice to the treatment of chronic pain and anxiety. She is the author of The Meaning of Truth and creator of the online courses “Freedom from Chronic Pain,” “Freedom From an Anxious Life,” and “The Sarno x Sachs Solution” practitioner training. Her brands, BreakAwake and The Cure for Chronic Pain, include a website, podcast, YouTube channel, membership community, and newsletter. Her latest book is "Mind Your Body: A Revolutionary Programme to Release Chronic Pain and Anxiety". Sachs is on faculty at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in New York.

Sergio Ocampo

Sergio Ocampo is a licensed psychotherapist, educator, and co-developer of Dynamic Somatic Touch (DST), an integrative trauma-resolution approach addressing emotional overwhelm, trauma, chronic pain, and illness. His work blends somatic and cognitive therapies including Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, family systems, generational trauma, and depth and spiritual psychology. An adjunct faculty member at Antioch University and contributor to The Embody Lab, Sergio holds leadership roles within Somatic Experiencing communities and teaches internationally, emphasizing that trauma is temporary and resolvable.

Christopher Walling (Dr.)

Dr. Chris Walling, PsyD, MBA, FABP, is a licensed clinical psychologist, board-certified psychoanalyst, and active leader in the bio-behavioral sciences. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Research Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Research Chair & Past-President of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. A Fellow of the American Board of Psychoanalysis, he serves as Clinical Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute and was honored as a 2024 Gina Ogden Curatorial Scholar. His clinical interests span somatic psychotherapy, relational psychoanalysis, human sexuality, and trauma psychology.