Tracking: Listening to Sensation in Somatic Experiencing

If orienting helps us arrive in the present moment and resourcing helps us feel supported, the next step in Somatic Experiencing® takes us inward — toward the subtle sensations that live inside the body.

This step is called tracking, and it is one of the most essential skills in somatic healing.
Tracking asks us to slow down and notice what’s happening internally, in real time, with curiosity and without judgment.

Peter Levine often reminds us that the body speaks in sensation.
Tracking is how we learn to listen.

What Is Tracking?

Tracking is the practice of noticing internal sensations — the textures, movements, and signals inside your body.

It’s a gentle, observational awareness of things like:

• Tightness

• Heaviness

• Warmth

• Tingling

• Movement

• Pulsing

• Numbness

• Expansion

• Contraction

• Buzzing

• Pressure

Tracking doesn’t require you to fix or change anything.
It simply asks you to notice what is here.

This internal noticing becomes a map — showing the places where your nervous system holds activation, where it softens, where it moves, and where it wants more support.

Why Tracking Matters in Trauma Healing

Trauma often disrupts the connection between the mind and the body. Survivors may feel:

• Overwhelmed by sensation

• Cut off from sensation

• Unsure how to interpret body signals

• Afraid to feel what’s inside

• Reliant on thoughts instead of embodied cues

Tracking gently rebuilds this connection.

When you practice tracking:

• You increase your interoceptive awareness (your ability to sense internal states)

• You begin to recognize activation early

• You learn to stay present with yourself through shifts

• You notice small changes that signal regulation

• You develop capacity to work safely with deeper material

• You return to the body in a way that feels manageable and empowering

Tracking helps the nervous system learn:
“I can feel this. I can stay with myself.”

What You Track

Tracking can include any internal cue the body offers:

1. Sensation

The core of SE.
Examples: tight, warm, buzzing, heavy, open, dense.

2. Temperature

Cool hands, warm chest, a wave of heat or cold.

3. Pressure or Weight

Lightness, heaviness, compression, buoyancy.

4. Movement or Impulse

A desire to stretch, breathe more deeply, curl inward, shake, or become still.

5. Texture

Fuzzy, sharp, flat, thick, airy.

6. Internal Rhythm

Pulsing, fluttering, vibrating, expanding.

Each of these sensations gives insight into how the nervous system is functioning in the moment.

How to Practice Tracking

Here’s a simple, SE-informed practice:

1. Bring your awareness inward.
Noticing the body from the inside.

2. Choose one area to observe.
Your chest, belly, throat, hands, legs — anywhere that draws your attention.

3. Describe what you sense using neutral language.
Examples:

• “Warm.”

• “Tight.”

• “Moving.”

• “Pressure.”

• “Empty.”

• “Pulsing.”

Keep descriptors sensory, not emotional.

4. Notice what happens next.
Does the sensation shift?
Stay the same?
Change temperature?
Move or expand?
Grow quieter or louder?

5. Pause between observations.
This gives the nervous system space to process and adjust.

Tracking is slow and subtle — and profoundly intelligent.

What You May Notice

Clients often describe:

• A sensation “coming online” that they didn’t notice before

• A softening around areas of tension

• Waves or ripples of movement within the body

• Subtle impulses to breathe, stretch, or shift

• A sense of inhabiting their body more fully

• Tiny changes that signal emerging regulation

• A clearer understanding of their own internal patterns

Tracking reveals the body’s natural rhythm — its micro-shifts, responses, and invitations.

How Tracking Supports the Overall SE Process

Tracking lays the groundwork for everything that comes next in somatic healing:

• It helps you sense activation more clearly

• It shows where your nervous system wants to move

• It creates the capacity needed for pendulation and titration

• It guides you toward impulses that support completion

• It deepens your connection to your body’s innate intelligence

Tracking is the bridge that connects awareness with healing.

Final Reflection

Take a moment and bring your attention to one place inside your body.
Notice whatever sensation is present there — warm, tight, open, dense, fluttering, neutral.

You don’t have to change it.
Just observe.

This simple act of noticing is the beginning of a lifelong relationship with your internal world — one built on presence, curiosity, and trust.

Join the Somatic Circle

If you’re wanting to practice tracking within community and receive live guidance in somatic techniques, I’d love to invite you to Somatic Circle — my weekly group for nervous system healing and embodiment.

Your first session is free.
Sign up here: https://www.bodyandmindcollective.com/somaticcircle
Use code: FIRSTFREE

Together, we learn to feel — safely, slowly, and with support.