Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma

Waking the Tiger offers a perspective on trauma that suggests the body itself holds the key to healing from overwhelming events.

Peter Levine, a pioneer in somatic psychology, argues that trauma isn’t just a psychological issue but a biological one which is rooted in our nervous system’s response to threat. Using observations from the animal kingdom, he observes how animals instinctively complete a natural cycle of response to danger, releasing the energy of the threat and returning to balance. Humans, in contrast, often get stuck in that survival response, holding tension and fear in the body long after danger has passed. Levine’s work focuses on helping people gently reconnect with their bodily sensations in a way that allows this frozen energy to move and restore a feeling of safety.

The book blends scientific insight with compassionate guidance, offering you a framework for understanding trauma isn’t something to be processed in the mind alone, but as an experience that can be transformed when body and awareness work together.