🎙 Recognizing & Touching Trauma (with Dr. Peter Levine)

By popular demand! Originally aired as Episode 108, Til’s conversation with Dr. Peter Levine quickly became one of our most listened-to episodes ever — and it’s easy to hear why. The developer of Somatic Experiencing®, bestselling author of Waking the Tiger, and student of Ida Rolf shares how trauma lives in the body, how hands-on practitioners can recognize it, and how we can be most helpful when it shows up on our tables. Whether you missed it the first time or you’re ready for a second listen, this one rewards a revisit.

✨ Topics: • How bodyworkers can recognize trauma as it’s held in the body — bracing, breath holding, and the “snapshot” of past responses • The vagus nerve and gut-brain feedback loops: why 80% of its fibers carry signals from body to brain, and how to send the “all clear” • What wild animals and NASA astronauts taught Dr. Levine about resilience and bouncing back • Why pushing too hard backfires: “talking to the shoulders” with patient, supportive touch instead of forcing change • Dr. Levine’s evolving view that Ida Rolf was “largely correct” about fascia — and how nervous system and tissue work fit together • The four women who shaped his work: Charlotte Selver, Magda Proskauer, Ida Rolf, and Mira Rothenberg • Trauma as “what happens in the absence of an empathetic other” — and how practitioners create relative safety • Scope of practice: where bodyworkers’ trauma work ends and psychotherapy begins • Healing rituals, shamanic traditions, and why community matters in trauma recovery • Practitioner self-care, burnout, and Dr. Levine’s end-of-day river ritual

✨ Resources: • Somatic Experiencing® International — trainings and practitioner directory: https://www.somaticexperiencing.com • Peter A. Levine, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma • Peter A. Levine, An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey • Mira Rothenberg, Children with Emerald Eyes

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✨ Watch the video / connect with us: • Whitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe | https://www.youtube.com/@whitlowe • Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau | https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts

📧 Email us: info@thethinkingpractitioner.com

The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice. Rolfing® is a registered trademark of the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute.

🎙 Lateral Hip Pain: Stop Blaming the Bursa (with Whitney Lowe & Til Luchau)

Til and Whitney unpack why the old “trochanteric bursitis” diagnosis is almost always wrong—and what that means for your hands-on treatment.

✨ Topics discussed include: • The shift from bursitis to tendinopathy: only about 8% of lateral hip cases involve true bursitis; the majority are gluteus medius/minimus tendinopathies compressed under the IT band • Why women are affected at a 4:1 ratio—declining estrogen, wider pelvis geometry, and IT band bowstringing • Why direct deep pressure on the greater trochanter can backfire—neural sprouting, pain prediction, and the GPR83 pathway • Smarter treatment: targeting gluteus maximus and TFL to reduce IT band compression, rather than trying to “loosen” the band itself • Simple assessment tools: the 30-second single leg stance, the shoelace test, and the bilateral night pain pattern • Stretching caution: why aggressive IT band stretching increases the very compression you’re trying to relieve

🌱 Sponsor Offers: • Jane App — Practice management built for health and wellness practitioners. Thinking Practitioner listeners get a free first month; enter code THINKING1MO at checkout: https://a-t.tv/jane • Deep Roots Massage & Bodywork — Carefully crafted, small hands-on CE workshops in Keene, NH. Save 10% with code THINKING: https://deeprootsmb.com • ABMP — Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals. Thinking Practitioner listeners save at https://www.abmp.com/thinking • Books of Discovery — Explore their collection at https://www.booksofdiscovery.com and save 15% with code THINKING • Advanced-Trainings — Try one month free of Til Luchau’s A-T Subscription with code THINKING: https://a-t.tv/subscriptions/ • Academy of Clinical Massage — Grab Whitney’s free Assessment Cheat Sheet: https://academyofclinicalmassage.com/cheatsheet

✨ Watch the video / connect with us: • Whitney Lowe – https://academyofclinicalmassage.com | https://facebook.com/WhitneyLowe | https://twitter.com/whitneylowe | https://www.youtube.com/@whitlowe • Til Luchau – https://advanced-trainings.com | https://facebook.com/advancedtrainings | https://instagram.com/til.luchau | https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTrainings/podcasts

📧 Email us: info@thethinkingpractitioner.com

The Thinking Practitioner Podcast is intended for professional practitioners of manual and movement therapies — bodywork, massage therapy, structural integration, physical therapy, osteopathy, and similar professions. It is not medical or treatment advice.