This is a very informative and important book that explains the very core of what trauma is, how it affects us, and what we can do to overcome our suffering.

I am a Marriage Family Therapist Trainee who has suffered from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for over 15 years. Western medicine includes some form of medication and desensitization from the traumatic event. Although this treatment has been helpful, I believed that my PTSD symptoms were a life-sentence, which included anxiety, fear, phobia's, bodily sensations, depression and a sense of confusion because my life never seemed to be the same again after the traumatic event.
This book has given me new hope in the 'healing' of PTSD. Because this book shows you how to "discharge" the trauma from the nervous system, one can experience freedom again from the torment of living with traumatic symptoms.
This book entails much more than I will be writing in this review, but I can tell you that this book offers hope, practical exercises, and an in-depth, yet simple, knowledge of trauma and a recovery process so that an individual may begin to experience a joyful life again.

Great book, best not to read it in one sitting as I found it "woke my tigers" all at once, which the book says can happen.I did seek help as book suggests.Well worth it all.

The fact that the body remembers the psychological injuries inflicted on the mind is not new. What I found very disappointing and almost incredible is the fact that the author draws up a list of possible abuses and puts at the same level the trauma of a painful surgery and the emotional or/and sexual abuse of a child mistreated by her parents for years. The book is simplistic and first of all sends the wrong message to people who carries deep emotional wounds. It is close to the superficial self-help books that claim that they can solve your problems once and for all. This must be untrue given the huge number of books of this kind, all of them promising what they do not deliver. And the reader who needs serious help keeps buying the latest "secret" book that holds all the answers to your problems.

The fact that the body remembers the psychological injuries inflicted on the mind is not new. What I found very disappointing and almost incredible is the fact that the author draws up a list of possible abuses and puts at the same level the trauma of a painful surgery and the emotional or/and sexual abuse of a child mistreated by her parents for years. The book is simplistic and first of all sends the wrong message to people who carries deep emotional wounds. It is close to the superficial self-help books that claim that they can solve your problems once and for all. This must be untrue given the huge number of books of this kind, all of them promising what they do not deliver. And the reader who needs serious help keeps buying the latest "secret" book that holds all the answers to your problems.

On the positive side, I think the author had a few good things to tell those of us who struggle w/ trauma, which I noted at the side of each page, i.e., facts about the numbers of people living w/ trauma & the struggle we have w/ folks who haven't been traumatized but urge you to get on w/ your life, etc. On the negative side, if you start at the wrong place you will arrive there every time. I choose not to believe I have a reptilian brain, that I am a human animal or that I am a product of chance or evolution. That was insulting, but predictable. I believe that trauma has meaning, even if I never discover what it is. If it doesn't serve some purpose then life is meaningless, truly. If we are all basically animals, why be moral? He believes that most of our problems in the world are due to unresolved trauma. That's the blind leading the blind. How do I, as an organism, trust what he's saying is true? This book raises more issues for me than it solves, not only because of its starting point, but also because of how blatantly absurd it is in that it does not conform to real reality even if there are similarities in the animal world. I wasn't helped by this gibberish.

I work as a Certified Rolfer and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Peter Levine's genius is evident in this clear and concise piece of therapeutic literature. I am pleased to refer clients, friends, and colleagues to this book so that they might benefit from reading it. I have personally found the book to be of tremendous assistance in understanding the scientific basis of trauma as well as the psychospiritual significance of traumatic events.

This is an excellent book on recognizing and offering healing help to those who are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. More people should become familiar with the method which could be invaluable not only for people with depression, anxiety, lonliness, and so much more, but also as an incredible tool to help our returning vets, who are undoubtedly suffering from this disorder. It is a book that should be touted by all book sellers.

Dr. Levin covers the energy stuckness involved in trauma and how to jump-start your natural healing process. Trauma is frozen energy as a result of being "too civilized" and denying or trying to not have your emotions in the moment. The book provides some useful understandings about how to release the stuck energy by sensing and moving your body and also getting in touch with positive mental energy. It also covers the genesis of trauma in more depth than many previous books on the subject. --Dr. Fred Gallo, author of Energy Tapping for Trauma: Rapid Relief from Post-Traumatic Stress Using Energy Psychology and Energy Tapping

great service, book arrived in excellent condition

Waking the Tiger is Peter Levine's book on healing traumas. Although I am not a psychologist or therapist, its powerful and natural method is intensely appealing. Everybody in his or her life is bound to obtain traumas. This need not be due to serious accidents or maltreatment, even supposedly harmless events suffice to shock our system. And not only people, animals too, are subject to trauma.

And it is this world Levine put his attention to. He observed the ways in which an animal 'shakes off' the intense energies after a traumatising event subsides. A human however, with its sophisticated and reasoning brain, has a tendency to thwart this instinctive reaction. As a result the intense energies have no way to discharge and the body has to find other ways to stay in balance. Symptoms arise that can seriously and structurally impede a person's healthy and joyful experience of life.

Levine's method to heal does not involve long term therapy in which the traumatising event is relived again and again. It involves sensing your body and tracking the trauma energies. Once these are discovered you are encouraged to make the instinctive and natural body movements needed to discharge these energies. His method is as simple as it is effective because it knows how to harness the instinctive and natural capacities to heal. Capacities we all possess.

I happen to have this book on my bookshelf. Good basic PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) work for the beginning and advanced practitioner. Also, a fairly easy to read introduction to PTSD treatment for the layman.

The only downside is that it offers more conclusions than exercises for the layman, and this can lead the uninitiated to assume they know all about it now, on "authority".

Otherwise, Good Show Levine!


James Nemec LMT, CST-D
Author, TOUCH THE OCEAN, THE POWER OF OUR COLLECTIVE EMOTIONS

I own it. It's really awesome and simple at the same time. Just read it carefully, you'll find lots of useful information...

I did not know what to expect; I was looking for answers about deeply embedded trauma and instead I discovered a whole new field: biological Physics.Medical and psychological jargon is well explained and not overwhelming and conveys the complexity of the issues. The book also gives practical tips for the traumatised as well as those trying to help without falling into a simplistic and boring self-help book. I have gained respect for the human reptilian nature and understand better our lost connections to the animal world. After this brief review I would give this book 4 and a half stars and will be looking forward to read more books in holistic sciences as well as authored by Dr. Levine.

This book is interesting in that it examines the ways in which humans differ from animals in their response to trauma, and it tells some stories about the author's successes in helping adults and children heal from traumas. I was surprised to learn that medical procedures performed on small children can often be traumatizing, particularly if they are restrained against their will, but it makes sense. (Stop circumcising infants!)

But Levine's therapeutic methods are somewhat vague. He implies that he sort of hypnotizes people into re-enacting a story sort of like their original trauma, but not exactly, in a kind of dream state. In the re-enactment, the person successfully triumphs over their assailant by fighting back or running away. I'm not sure how a traumatized person could use this method on themselves. Levine's website offers a few links to therapists that have been trained in his methodology, but again, it's hard to know if they would be as effective in using it as he seems to be.

I have found the book Trauma Releasing Exercises to be much more helpful and to the point. Also, Judith Herman's Trauma and Recovery is essential reading.

This book is very helpful to start or continue healing from any type of trauma. It encourages the reader to participate on every human and innate level to transform the psyche and heal. Be gentle and patient with oneself when applying the exercises; time and participation do heal. I've had the book since September and I'm still reading and practicing the new information. My trauma happened seven years ago.

A must read for the entire population. There is not one of us on this entire planet who has not experienced some kind of trauma. I highly recommend this book for anyone working in any type of healing modality.

A practical guide to understanding how trauma reactions occur on a physiological as well as psychological level and how human beings tend to get 'stuck' in them. This book not only offers extremely simple yet profound insights into the dynamic of trauma, but also provides practical methods for dealing with trauma through the physical release of trapped energy.

I would highly recommed this book to anyone, whether you feel that you have suffered trauma or not. Even if you haven't, chances are you know someone who has. This book also offers a deeper understanding of this issue to the loved ones of trauma survivors. I thought that the remnants of trauma would control my life forever...thanks to this book, I now know that I can break free. GREAT BOOK!!!!

Marina Kushner
Author
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

Reading Waking the Tiger was an extremely frustrating experience, for several reasons. Mr. Levine contradicts himself repeatedly in his writing. On the one hand he repeatedly claims that revisiting painful memories does no good to trauma victims. On the other hand, in the case stories he uses to illustrate his method, the trauma sufferers DO recall their memories, very vividly, as part of their healing. Also, time and again throughout Waking the Tiger, Levine hints at the healing techniques to be revealed to the reader later in the book. But when I reached the end of the book, those appearantly magnificently efficient techniques were still unrevealed - and the only substantial advice to the reader seemed to be to visit a practioner of Mr. Levine's techniques, thereby reducing the book to little more than an advertising poster.
I have major problems with Levine's general approach in this book. He presents dubious stories and anecdotes as if they were scientific evidence (all supporting his theory, of course), and his language is often inaccurate. To me, this book is just another product from the huge industry that thrives on other people's suffering, promising release but delivering nothing.

A practical guide to understanding how trauma reactions occur on a physiological as well as psychological level and how human beings tend to get 'stuck' in them. This book not only offers extremely simple yet profound insights into the dynamic of trauma, but also provides practical methods for dealing with trauma through the physical release of trapped energy. I would highly recommed this book to anyone, whether you feel that you have suffered trauma or not. Even if you haven't, chances are you know someone who has. This book also offers a deeper understanding of this issue to the loved ones of trauma survivors. I thought that the remnants of trauma would control my life forever...thanks to this book, I now know that I can break free. GREAT BOOK!!!!
I want to thank my ob/gyn for telling me about this book she read called "The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote it Deceive Us and What We Can Do About It" Who could imagine that the FDA allows manufacturers up to 30% debris (twigs and stones) in instant coffee. The book is a must have!

A practical guide to understanding how trauma reactions occur on a physiological as well as psychological level and how human beings tend to get 'stuck' in them. This book not only offers extremely simple yet profound insights into the dynamic of trauma, but also provides practical methods for dealing with trauma through the physical release of trapped energy. I would highly recommed this book to anyone, whether you feel that you have suffered trauma or not. Even if you haven't, chances are you know someone who has. This book also offers a deeper understanding of this issue to the loved ones of trauma survivors. I thought that the remnants of trauma would control my life forever...thanks to this book, I now know that I can break free. GREAT BOOK!!!!
I want to thank my ob/gyn for telling me about this book she read called "The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote it Deceive Us and What We Can Do About It" Who could imagine that the FDA allows manufacturers up to 30% debris (twigs and stones) in instant coffee. The book is a must have!

A practical guide to understanding how trauma reactions occur on a physiological as well as psychological level and how human beings tend to get 'stuck' in them. This book not only offers extremely simple yet profound insights into the dynamic of trauma, but also provides practical methods for dealing with trauma through the physical release of trapped energy. I would highly recommed this book to anyone, whether you feel that you have suffered trauma or not. Even if you haven't, chances are you know someone who has. This book also offers a deeper understanding of this issue to the loved ones of trauma survivors. I thought that the remnants of trauma would control my life forever...thanks to this book, I now know that I can break free. GREAT BOOK!!!!
I want to thank my ob/gyn for telling me about this book she read called "The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote it Deceive Us and What We Can Do About It" Who could imagine that the FDA allows manufacturers up to 30% debris (twigs and stones) in instant coffee. The book is a must have!

a worthwhile read for those who have or have not experienced trauma in their lives.

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants a mature view of what trauma is and how we heal from it. Peter Levine makes a compelling case that trauma is unique to the human species because our rational brains get in the way of the organism's instinctive physiological responses to life-threatening situations. In a case study near the end of the book, Levine clearly demonstrates his belief that re-exposure to traumatic circumstances as a way to heal must be gradual and at the organism's own pace. Cathartic experiences may be dramatic and lead us to believe we are helping, but in his view this approach risks deepening the traumatic symptoms. This is an excellent book, written in clear, non-clinical language that any non-professional can understand.

Trauma can occur for a wide variety of reasons. In my family across two generations there have been suicides, schitzophrenia, abandonment and childhood abuse. We are a, so called, 'normal' middle class family. No family is immune from traumatic episodes.
I found Peter Levine's ideas insightful and helpful. His outline of the causes of medical trauma are particularly interesting.
The chapters dealing with trauma in children help me consider avenues of assistance to help my grandchildren following the suicide of their mother. I would like to read Levine's subsequent book about childhood trauma.

After reading Peter Levine's book I found a practioner of "Somatic Experiencing" from his web site in my city. From the first day I saw her I have been releasing trauma in the gentlest way I have ever experienced. This method has helped me release trauma that no other method has ever done and releases from the deepest layers I thought I would just have to live with forever. I have very complex PTSD from years of severe and sadistic child abuse from several perpretrators. Talk therapy, journaling, art therapy were helpful but just couldn't clear the fear, grief, hopelessness, that I carried. Emotional Freedom technique was also helpful and some other body therapies but this is my favorite.

There is a LOT more to the healing techniques of Somatic Experiencing than in this book. I look forward to learning more techniques to clear the trauma from my body/mind. Somatic Experiencing is giving me the life I struggled so hard for in many years of previous therapy to attain. And it is so much easier, with less tears, hard work and pain! I have never experienced the levels of inner peace and calm that I have now. All my relationships are improving as well.

For someone like myself, this will take more than 6 sessions as one person mentioned. I have a highly skilled therapist who is trained by Dr. Peter Levine in Somatic Experiencing. I know it will take many months to complete my healing but I have accomplished more in 15 sessions with her than being in therapy off and on for 16 years, reading books, and doing all kinds of things to get my life back.

My life is just easier in every way. Thank you, Dr. Peter Levine, for helping me heal so I have a life worth living and making a difference in my son's life as well.

Peter Levine is one of the leading writers and therapists in the trauma field. He outlines a number of techniques that will assist laypeople and professionals in understanding how trauma is stored in the body, and how we can gently assist that trauma in moving through so that healing can be experienced.

Zensight is a self-help energy technique that helps people to move through trauma even more quickly - and gently - than with somatosensory work.

To learn more or receive a FREE introductory ebook, please see [...]

Peter Levine is one of the leading writers and therapists in the trauma field. He outlines a number of techniques that will assist laypeople and professionals in understanding how trauma is stored in the body, and how we can gently assist that trauma in moving through so that healing can be experienced.

Section One of this book makes the observation that humans and other animals don't only have a flight or fight response during crises; we also have a freeze response (playing possum). The author suggests that trauma symptoms persist if we humans, unlike other animals, don't let the freeze response play out in a flight response, namely running away. The energy remains trapped in our bodies (and, therefore, our emotions). At the end of Section One, my husband (a science teacher) and I had high hopes for Waking The Tiger, despite the fact that Levine uses his own "registered" expressions and insists that we are all traumatized, even if we don't know it.

Section Two is so redundant, rhetorical, and seemingly unrelated to Section One, I couldn't understand why it was even in the book. Section Three was worse. In both these sections, Levine gives us a couple of examples of people who worked through their frozen traumas, both in his presence, and both by going back through the traumatic experience and then shaking and trembling their way back to health. Odd, because all through the book, the author tells us, in no uncertain terms, to avoid reliving or visiting the past trauma. He then goes on to tell us that the way to heal is to work our way between two vortexes; the vortex of the trauma itself, and the vortex of a pleasant experience. He does not make any solution clear, but insinuates that we go back into the trauma (which he'd previously told us to avoid at all costs), and attach something pleasant to it. I've studied enough psychology to know this approach is dangerous, questionable, and highly unlikey to effect a cure. At the end of the book is a section on first aid for people in traumatic situations, so we readers can help people in situations such as auto accidents.

If you're suffering from PTSD and looking for a way to heal, you will not find it in this book. Try one of the breathing books or tapes by Gay Hendricks; he addresses trauma therapy head-on, with compassion and wisdom. Levine makes an interesting observation, but as a physicist has no clue how to resolve the issue of frozen trauma. He should have stopped after Section One.

I am a bodyworker specializing in chronic pain. Many of my clients are sent to me by doctors because they are unable to work or are on restricted duties due to an accident in the workplace. A small percentage of them are pain free after a treatment only to find the pain returns within a matter of days.

In these cases I have found that by using techniques of somatic experiencing there is almost invariably a dramatic, long term decrease in their pain. It is not the only answer, but for many it does provide an important part of the puzzle of chronic pain.

I did learn some of these techniques from a student of Peter Levines prior to the release of the book and intend to follow Dr. Levines course shorty. I would recommend other bodyworkers consider the training in addition to reading the book.

Waking the Tiger certainly does give its reader some interesting ideas about trauma. But for me, it all seemed alittle to scientific and clinical. This is not a "feel good" self-help book. It approaches trauma from an entirely different perspective.
I found the book interesting, but maybe it just wasn't what I expected. There is alot of deep ideas here, but I don't think the book is that inspirational.

Too often I get pulled into buy a book, especially a self-help one, for all the wrong reasons. Not so with WAKING THE TIGER. This excellent book on trauma healing is by far the best out there. Of the three books I've recently read, "Good Grief," "The Bark of the Dogwood," and this one, WAKING THE TIGER is the most informative and well-written. Do yourself and those around you a favor and get this ASAP.

As a psychologist with 20+ years experience, I am less than enamored with Peter Levine's work, and here's why:
I realize lately that through many "brief therapy" approaches, both therapists and clients are looking for quick answers to rather complex problems. Those of us who have traditionally done longer term therapy already knew that it wasn't so easy. We also knew - or at least should know if we want to offer hope - that humans have an innate drive toward health, in spite of "trauma." When Levine points out the complexity of trauma, even as an em-bodied experience, he takes a "radical" approach - but really nothing new. Now many therapists and clients are "discovering" the baby that was thrown out with the bathwater. I give Levine credit for re-opening our eyes, but, frankly, this in not new material. Real growth producing therapy is a broad endeavor, not a six session "technique"....

This is a well written book that provides a different perspective on how to work with traumatic experiences. As one who has always "lived in my head" to get through not only the trauma is it occurred, but also as I work through the aftermath, this book provided good insight into WHY I needed to include a physical aspect to my healing.

This is a very good, excellent resource for those wanting to make the step forward on the healing path. It certainly covers a broud range of lessons. Ranks right up there with books such as NIGHTMARES ECHO and LOST BOY. Teaches the victim how to become a survivor. Excellent Excellent Book I would recommend for everyone to read.

This book will seem somewhat vague at first, but it will sink in better if you re-read it several times, especially the later sections. Levine and Frederick capture the essence of post-traumatic stress; your whole body is perpetually reliving the traumatic experiences and triggering distorted thinking, feeling, and behavior that otherwise make no sense. Levine's hook is to compare human trauma reactions to animal reactions. This gives him a model to break down the blocked cycle of somatic and mental reactions into pieces: hyperarousal, constricted consciousness - sometimes wrongly called "repression" - dissociation, and helplessness in and/or avoidance of triggering situations. Like all good psychology books, it also makes useful analogies and comparisons so that non-sufferers can get a glimpse of what it's like.

I recommend this book together with Babette Rothschild's The Body Remembers. That book is aimed at a medical/clinical audience, not at patients, but it carries the same message in a different way: the frozen, endlessly repeated body reactions are the lever to freeing the patient. It's like an alarm that was never shut off. The feelings, thoughts, and memories will follow. This approach entirely circumvents the sterile "false memory" controversy and quasi-Freudian approaches that use catharsis and abreaction - these methods make the PTSD reactions worse, while distorting the patient's memories and feelings further.

The key is to DE-sensitize the patient, not to recycle the original trauma. Desensitization not only defuses the trauma, it allows the patient to remember the events more accurately. If the trauma is not defused, the patient cannot remember properly. Accurately remembering is a byproduct of successful treatment, NOT the starting point.

After suffering a major life threatening illness several years ago, I've struggled with chronic pain that lasts every day, all day. I've literally seen EVERY specialist, every test conceivable to diagnose let alone treat my pain. I've been left with the conclusion that an inner, holistic manner is the only thing left to treat the pain, because drug treatment leaves me basically in a state better left to those in hospice and who have given up.
Dr. Levine has 30 years experience in dealing with patients suffering severe pain and the overiding factor that the pain interferes with even the most simple aspect of living a normal life.
Waking the Tiger presents case studies that are representative of how pain affects us. Levine gives simple exercises to help break through the web of pain so that we can go about enjoying life again.
I can't just recommend going out and buying this workbook and all your problems and pain will be gone by the time you finish reading it. But it does give you faith in the inner strength we all have to control our pain in conjunction with other treatment. And believe it or not, that inner strength MAY be enough to make the difference between needing to be doped up all the time, not being able to enjoy life.
I recommend Dr Levine's material. I'm not pain free and never will be but I am better because of it.
John Row

This book has some marvelous ideas and if taken with a grain offers some real insights into healing. I have a bit of trouble with some of her certainty about her theories. I often have trouble with people who are sure their theories are "right"; that is a bit of a personal issue. I would recomend this book for people who are struggling with their own healing of trauma AND those who want to help in the healing of trauma. Really. this book has some very good ideas. She doesn't bombard us with lots of words to get her meaning across. It is well written and easy to read. Just remember to keep your own reasoning and thinking cap on while you read it.

If you have trauma and/or PTSD you simply must but this book. I know you have probably been searching for a long time and dealing with feelings of isolation and invalidation like myself. This book will give you serious validation and tools to further and complete your healing. The tapes by Levine are great too, they give you even more concrete steps. I can honestly say that in all the years of searching for someone or something to help and validate me this book and the tapes have been the only thing. You will see the truth about trauma and what I believe you probably knew already on some level especially if you have been trying like hell to understand your symptoms and what is wrong with you. Guess what? There is nothing wrong with you. Trauma is a natural human reaction that makes you feel alot of shame, pain and anguish but you can heal.
I could go on about the book but I don't want to ruin it. Buy it. I know I will and can heal, I have made much sucess and you will too!!

P.S. To all of you therapists that charge so much money for attempting to heal people from trauma I'd like to say that statisticly most people with ptsd don't have alot of money or are on assistance so you might want to re-think why you are a therapist or of ways to provide help to all. Is it to make money or to help people If you really want to help people then why don't you organize a group and all come together and make it possible instead of refusing but another potential client and well potential healer for that matter. I mean people if the majority of trauma survivors cannot afford your costs what the hell are you doing! With all due respect of course. $$$

Trauma Survivors: buy the book we need you!

Peter Levine in "Waking the Tiger," postulates that trauma exists not in the event or in the story of the event, but is stored within the nervous system. Many common physical ailments are actually residues of thwarted trauma reactions incurred during such events as surgical procedures, falls, pre or perinatal stress and/or childhood accidents and traumas. The body has a natural, innate, and miraculous capacity to heal once these reactions are understood and guided.

Levine reinforces the holistic nature of the human being. Our bodies and brains connect instinct, emotion and rationality to our experience. Trauma may create damaging and often enduring symptoms. Human beings have a harder time than do animals in releasing trauma and may carry it throughout our lives. We often become frozen in trauma, unlike animals that can cope with the unpredictability of nature. This may provide a major interference with our health, peace of mind and the ability to live joyfully and creatively. When human trauma remains unhealed, the energy of the trauma and accompanying emotions remain locked within the brain and held within the body's musculature, tissues and organs, awaiting discharge.

The author writes about an oft-forgotten aspect of trauma, freezing or immobilization during a traumatic experience. Modern medicine/psychiatry emphasize the "flight or fight" response while often neglecting the freeze response. The concept of the freeze response in the face of overwhelming threat provides a missing link to symptoms such as dissociation that our old ideas of "fight or flight" fail to explain. Immobilization in the face of threat is an automatic biological response that is not voluntarily chosen by the victim. This provides redeeming message to trauma survivors.

Levine points out that our memories are not literal recordings of events, but rather, a complex of images that are influenced by arousal, emotional context, and prior experience. Memories may even transform over time as new experiences add layers of meaning to the images. While remembering the past can be an important aspect of therapy, appreciating the subjective quality of memories is crucial to integrating them appropriately into the healing process.

Those with deep psychological scars may have dissociated the memory from their minds and are living in a numbed, tensed body awaiting its release so the body can return to wholeness and optimum mental and physical health. The author asserts that psychological wounds are reversible and that healing comes when the physical and mental letting go occurs, similar to the way the tiger experiences the coming and going of threat, tensing in response to danger, and as the threat passes, the tiger's muscles shake, twitch and let go right then and there the fear related energy which now is forever out of mind and body. Trauma is stored energy that must be released.

my web site: http://larrytunis.com/

Peter Levine in "Waking the Tiger," postulates that trauma exists not in the event or in the story of the event, but is stored within the nervous system. Many common physical ailments are actually residues of thwarted trauma reactions incurred during such events as surgical procedures, falls, pre or perinatal stress and/or childhood accidents and traumas. The body has a natural, innate, and miraculous capacity to heal once these reactions are understood and guided.

Levine reinforces the holistic nature of the human being. Our bodies and brains connect instinct, emotion and rationality to our experience. Trauma may create damaging and often enduring symptoms. Human beings have a harder time than do animals in releasing trauma and may carry it throughout our lives. We often become frozen in trauma, unlike animals that can cope with the unpredictability of nature. This may provide a major interference with our health, peace of mind and the ability to live joyfully and creatively. When human trauma remains unhealed, the energy of the trauma and accompanying emotions remain locked within the brain and held within the body's musculature, tissues and organs, awaiting discharge.

The author writes about an oft-forgotten aspect of trauma, freezing or immobilization during a traumatic experience. Modern medicine/psychiatry emphasize the "flight or fight" response while often neglecting the freeze response. The concept of the freeze response in the face of overwhelming threat provides a missing link to symptoms such as dissociation that our old ideas of "fight or flight" fail to explain. Immobilization in the face of threat is an automatic biological response that is not voluntarily chosen by the victim. This provides redeeming message to trauma survivors.

Levine points out that our memories are not literal recordings of events, but rather, a complex of images that are influenced by arousal, emotional context, and prior experience. Memories may even transform over time as new experiences add layers of meaning to the images. While remembering the past can be an important aspect of therapy, appreciating the subjective quality of memories is crucial to integrating them appropriately into the healing process.

Those with deep psychological scars may have dissociated the memory from their minds and are living in a numbed, tensed body awaiting its release so the body can return to wholeness and optimum mental and physical health. The author asserts that psychological wounds are reversible and that healing comes when the physical and mental letting go occurs, similar to the way the tiger experiences the coming and going of threat, tensing in response to danger, and as the threat passes, the tiger's muscles shake, twitch and let go right then and there the fear related energy which now is forever out of mind and body. Trauma is stored energy that must be released.

...I found "Waking the Tiger" an engrossing approach to the problem of how trauma creates damaging and often enduring symptoms. Dr. Levine's concept of the "freeze response" in the face of overwhelming threat provides a missing link to symptoms such as dissociation that our old ideas of "fight or flight" fail to explain.

Even more important to trauma survivors and their therapists is the redeeming message that immobilization in the face of threat is an automatic biological response that is not voluntarily chosen by the victim. This was vividly portrayed in an episode of the TV series "Cagney and Lacey" in which Cagney, a tough and well-trained police officer, becomes the victim of a rape and later struggles with the helplessness she experienced while it was occurring. The January 2003 issue of Clinical Psychiatry News reported that an overwhelming majority of victims of sexual assault describe a moderate or high level of paralysis occurring during the assault, consistent with Dr. Levine's observations. The "freeze response" is also addressed in an article on fear in the March 2003 issue of Discover magazine.

Dr. Levine also provides an astute protrayal of the nature of memory by acknowledging that memories are not literal recordings of events but a complex of images that are influenced by arousal, emotional context, and prior experience. Like a painting, memories may even transform over time as new experiences add layers of meaning to the images. While remembering the past can be an important aspect of therapy, appreciating the subjective quality of memories is crucial to integrating them appropriately into the healing process.

This is a great book for anyone who has been through trauma and is fighting their way back. Or for anyone who is loving someone through this.

I have been working through my 'stuff' for years, and when I came across this book, it just made everything click. The times I've trembled and shook out of anger, and fear, and shame - those have all had tremendously healing impact - and now I understand why!

It also relieved my 'mental' side, which likes to know the WHY of everything. This gave insight into how the body responds to trauma, and WHY.

The author elaborates the often forgotten aspect of trauma, that is, freezing or immobilization. All too often modern medicine/psychiatry emphasize the "flight or fight" response while neglecting the freezing response. In doing so, Levine corrects an important imbalance in our current theories and practices on treating trauma. I found this book well worth reading, but I wish the author had provided more clinical examples of how he works with clients who have been traumatized. Had he given more "how-to" clinical information, I would have rated the book 5 stars.

My favorite definition of genius is taking something complex and communicating it in a simple manner so that many people are able to understand the complex subject.

I believe that Peter has done this with the subject of trauma and healing of trauma.

Very insightful, creative, and inspiring.

Waking The Tiger is written in a simple, easily understood language that really manages to effectively pack the punch in the intellectual department. Most self-help books fall victim to so many cliches and buzzwords, but what we have here is a genuinely thoughtful, inspired discourse on the dimensions of trauma and the hopefulness of getting through to brighter days.

Even more powerful is the gradually influential effect of the chapters as they bring you closer and closer to actually experiencing the joy of gaining knowledge about the subject and getting over it.

Surprisingly useful and enjoyable book!

I'm the webmaster of PTSD Today. I found this book too be very helpful for me in understanding my own PTSD. It has exercises all through the book.

The books's focus is on the trauma suvivor and healing and it does just that. I recommend this book to other survivors.

I give this book five stars for two key points, one of which I almost missed near the end of the book and in a single sentence. The first winning point is his criticizm of how we treat people who are traumatized. We leave them alone, thinking they just need time. Time does not, as we are taught, heal all wounds and many of us have waited decades for that misconception to kick in and become real. First Aid for trauma is crucial. If you think you or someone in your family might encounter trauma at least once in their life, you might want to be prepared to help. This book will teach you much about trauma.

The second winning point states simply that our memories were never intended for reliving and recalling trauma ad infinitum. I had to stop wonder what I was taught about memory. Does this sound familiar: "Don't make me remind you again or I'll give you something you'll never forget!"? Mix that with the pressure in school to remember stuff for testing and grades leading to success or failure before the whole world. How many of us developed memory skills in fear? It's little wonder our brains can incubate a memory that can become strong enough to just take over... bigger than godzilla! That insight deserves 5 stars because I then realized that I have a brain as I have a foot, but I am more than a collection of parts and bigger than any one of them that isn't working properly. This book quietly flipped a switch and the light bulb came on so I could see that my poor brain was killing itself trying to perfectly remember events that the rest of me would like to forget. I give my brain an E for effort, but I am retraining it now; and I can say, "thanks, brain, but no thanks. I'm too busy too think about that right now. And you don't have to remember this to remind me later, either because I have a better idea. Want to hear it?"

As a Psychologist specializing in trauma treatment, I can wholeheartedly recommend Peter Levine's book, Waking the Tiger. Peter offers hope and method for people to find healing. His work is a core piece of what I have found helpful in supporting others to heal from trauma. Very helpful for professionals and survivors.

I just logged on to order yet another copy of "Waking the Tiger", a thoroughly invaluable book which I am constantly recommending to friends, colleagues and clients. This groundbreaking book that has permanently altered the way I approach therapy, trauma, and the body. "Waking the Tiger" completes an essential piece that has been missing in therapeutic and medical practices, namely that trauma is not in the event or the story, but in the nervous system. Dr Levine, through his research and vast clinical experience, has discovered how so many common physical ailments and so-called medically untreatable syndromes are actually residues of thwarted trauma reactions incurred during routine surgical procedures, falls, perinatal stress and other childhood accidents and traumas. He shows us how the body has a natural and innate, and seemingly miraculous, capacity to heal once these reactions are understood and guided. It is a very exciting and empowering book, and offers new hope and common sense explanations to people who have up to this time been unable to understand their symptoms or to find relief.