Waking the tiger
Waking the Tiger offers a new and hopeful vision of trauma. It views the human animal as a unique being, endowed with an instinctual capacity to heal as well as an intellectual spirit to harness this innate capacity. It asks and answers an intriguing question - why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely traumatized? By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed. Waking the Tiger normalizes the symptoms of trauma and the steps needed to heal them.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
3mentions
3people
2021–2023years
67% recommend33% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I cannot point to any research papers, but here are a few books if you are curious:
- Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma and Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body by Dr. Peter Levine
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D
Some other keywords to research: complex trauma or CPTSD, somatic experiencing or somatic psychotherapy.
Here is one that points to the psychological effects of myofascial issues: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233680399_Myofascia...
- What a pleasant surprise to find this article at the top of HN! Minutes ago I finished a workshop on a somatic therapy technique. It's a relief to see these ideas gaining mainstream attention after so many years of making little progress on my own anxiety, depression, and procrastination.
For other relevant scientific perspectives, I recommend looking into the theory around "memory reconsolidation."
- Kaj Sotala does a good job of summarizing an important book in the field here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/i9xyZBS3qzA8nFXNQ/book-summa...
- How Emotions are Made also provides a perspective from neuropsychology on what's going on: https://www.amazon.com/How-Emotions-Made-Lisa-Barrett/dp/132....
- The Polyvagal Theory stuff mentioned in the article is also great, and some classic accessible books on the overall topic include The Body Keeps the Score and Waking the Tiger.
I'm personally a fan of a technique called Emotional Resolution (EmRes), which is notably simple and effective, and that you can learn to apply to yourself after a 90 minute course, but there are many other approaches: Organic Intelligence, somatic experiencing, cranio-sacral therapy, bioenergetics and core energetics, and many more. Effective self-therapy methods include Core Transformation, Focusing, and "self-therapy".
Keywords to search for are: "somatic therapy," "body work," "energy work" or "energy medicine."
