This intimate autobiography helped me to understand Peter Levine’s journey from trauma to transformation. To have the steps set down in black and white was important and somehow endorsed a universal process. I got to see a modern day ‘hero’ in action.

What I particularly liked was being able to empathise with Peter Levine’s experiences – the betrayal, abandonment stiffening and parent splitting or the generational transmission of trauma, musings to Einstein and being led within a dream to a pond for healing. These personal nuggets were relatable and captivated me whilst the record of his life – his childhood abuse and issues with relationship – held both a deep wisdom and a gay abandon. Here was a man prepared to reveal all and to live on the edge or to walk his talk.

Peter Levine is world famous for developing Somatic Experiencing. These days his work is backed up by doctorates and research, but as he tells us this wasn’t always the case. He had to fight for what he believed in even though it went against the established thought of the day. His book included this quote. ‘Professor,’ I muttered to myself, breaking the silence, ‘in that case, the trick would be to somehow ‘unstick’ enough of these fixation points so the wave front would again become coherent, as the circles continued to move outward, expanding in space and time. Yes! But how to do this?’ Here he’s talking about a healing solution which was discovered in conversation with someone who is dead. I found this exciting.

Peter Levine’s time with the Krenek in Brazil also resonated deeply with me. The chief told him, trauma related to a break in the connection between tribe members and healing involved the community entering an altered state of consciousness to help create a cohesion among the entire tribe. Later in the book, he explains the ‘Navajo understood that, without addressing their war traumas, the family, village, and ultimately the tribe would bear the brunt of the unhealed wounds.’ He tells us, ‘As for myself, I was also made whole by facing, again and again, my internal fragmentation and dissociation. Crucially, I did not do this alone, but with the presence and guidance of another.’ This was another ‘ah ha’ moment for me.

I found this book both inspiring and thought provoking. I loved that Peter Levine rose above his individual, ancestral and collective trauma experiences and was prepared to share his process and experience with the world. Thank you.

Months ago, I wrote a review of Al Welwel’s ‘sweeping’ memoir, 1000 years of joys and sorrows, and said, ‘There’s a parlour game people play where you are asked who you would most like to meet, maybe have dinner with. Al Welwel is one of those people for me.’ Peter Levine would definitely be another!