| Returning Home is an invitation to return home to yourself: This six-day immersion into the wisdom of your own nervous system is Rooted in the Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) approach, designed to gently guide your nervous system back toward regulation, safety, creativity, and ease.
For veterans navigating the lingering effects of chronic stress and/or trauma, including anxiety, depression, overwhelm, chronic anger, feeling heightened or hypervigilant, persistent emotional and/or physical pain, and the sense of being stuck or disconnected from oneself, the path forward can feel unclear and out of reach. You may have tried talk therapy, gained insights and perspective, yet still find your nervous system responding as if the past is still present, as if your life will never change.
During the intensive, you will learn to reduce stress and regulate your nervous system using specific Somatic Experiencing (SE) tools, mindfulness practices and more. After the intensive you will take home practices and tools for self-care and continued healing.
During the intensive you will:
- Learn nervous system education together: understanding why we feel stuck reduces shame and normalizes our experiences.
- Practice gentle, body-based tools: simple exercises like titration, pendulation, grounding, orienting, and resourcing are taught in a step-by-step way allowing each person to go at their own pace.
- Experience co-regulation: being in a safe, supportive group of fellow veterans helps the nervous system settle simply by being with others who are also on a healing path.
During the intensive you will expand your capacity to transform discomfort, release past experiences that are stored in the body, and discover what it truly feels like to be safe and at ease in the present moment.
The Intensive Includes:
- Lodging, 3 farm-to-table style/organic meals a day, plus unlimited tea, non-alcoholic beverages, and snacks
- Daily individual SE Sessions
- Daily schedule of complementary medicine: acupuncture, cranial sacral therapy, yoga and/or other movement practices, SE Touch work, SE-based Psychodrama, Social Presencing Theater, and more
- Daily kayaking, hiking, journaling, and campfire fun
- Online 8-week post-intensive SE Support Coaching
About Somatic Experiencing (SE): Unlike traditional talk therapy that primarily engages the thinking mind, Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-centered, neuro-biological approach developed by Dr. Peter Levine that directly addresses the root of trauma and stress, where it lives in your nervous system.
SE allows our body to restore our natural ability to regulate emotions, reduce chronic anxiety, decrease physical and emotional pain, and emerge from the fog of trauma into a state of resilience, flow and, wholeness.
2027 Program Dates TBA: 2027 dates will be announced once funding is secured. Program Director & Faciilitator: Alexandra Whitney, PhD, SEP Alexandra has worked for decades at the intersection of trauma healing, contemplative practice, and psychological insight, bringing together her clinical experience with a lifelong immersion in meditation practice. She is a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, a Biodynamic Cranial Sacral Therapist, holds a PhD in East-West Psychology, and is the founder of Eightfold Path and Sacred Restoration.
For several years she studied and worked closely with Dr. Peter A. Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing®, developing the Returning Home Project. She has served as Director and Principal Investigator for the project since its start in 2019, contributing to PTSD research for veterans. This meaningful collaboration grounded her in a clinical understanding of how the nervous system holds and releases the imprints of trauma.
To learn more about Alexandra, please visit: Linkedin Psychology Today Returning Home
Contact: To learn more and to speak with Alexandra directly, please fill out the form below. Alexandra will reach out by call or text within 7 days of receiving your request. |
