Somatic Experiencing & Bodywork

Jochen Stechmann

Welcome to my Website. My name is Jochen Stechmann and I am an Alternative Health Practitioner (Heilpraktiker). I offer traumatherapy with Somatic Experiencing and Bodywork in my workspace in Berlin Gesundbrunnen (Wedding).

My working method is based on strong empathy. I deeply trust into the ability of the body and the nervous system to intuitively balance itself when given the right kind of respectful support. A lot of my clients* identify as LGBTQ+.

Somatic Experiencing in Berlin

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. The aim is to restore the nervous system’s natural ability to regulate itself. Therefore, the energy held in the ‘frozen’ state is released in small, carefully monitored steps. In SE sessions I mainly work without physical touch.

With Somatic Coaching I help people to feel more connected with their own strength and to experience their own being more fully. My touch is directing and supporting this process.

Additionally, I offer different kind of Massages: Intuitive Thai Meridian Massage, Footmassage, Lomi Lomi, Esalen Inspired Massage.

Update – Corona Pandemic

In the course of the pandemic and the social restrictions, our lives have been stirred up. There is a general lack of orientation and of direct contact, leading to an increased sense of anxiety and insecurity. A severe challenge for our nervous systems to cope with…

Currently, in addition to live meetings, I do offer sessions online. Body based concepts (such as Somatic Experiencing) can fundamentally improve our ability for self-regulation in this difficult times.

More about me

I grew up in a village in Northern Germany. When I was 24, I decided to quit my studies in mathematics, move to the Netherlands and become a contemporary dancer. I never had any regrets about this decision.

Subsequently I worked for 15 years in the Netherlands in the field of dance and theatre. In 2011, I co-founded the dance company Traum-A and started choreographing my own pieces at Dansmakers Amsterdam. This website gives you an insight into my artistic works. I simultaneously worked as a Hatha yoga teacher and Pilates mat work Instructor.

Through dance-related physical wear-and-tear, I came by chance into contact with the Somatic Bodywork. I instantly fell in love with it. Besides a quick physical improvement some personal changes that I had wished for could suddenly happen without much effort.

Following a sense of ‘calling’, I moved to Berlin and started training as practitioner of the Pantarei Approach and the Grinberg Method. It gives me great joy to see how my clients feel more at home in their body and in their lives.

Since 2021 I am a certified practitioner in Somatic Experiencing (SEP), a body-centered approach to healing Trauma developed by Peter Levine. Working as SEP I fills me wit gratitude and humbleness. Witnessing my clients ability to overcome challenges and connect to their core life energy has been an ever surprising road until now. Since 2022 I am a student of NARM therapy for developmental trauma.

I identify as queer and my preferred pronoun is ‘they’. In my work I attach great importance to humour, precision, respect and trust, using elements from my background – Dance, Pilates, Yoga and mathematical thinking.

Education

Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (2021)
NARM (student since 2022)
Pantarei Approach Practitioner (2016)
Practitioner of the Grinberg Method L2
Practitioner of Intuitive Thai Meridian Massage (2018)
Hatha Yoga Teacher
Pilates Instructor
Contemporary Dance (BA Fontys Dansacademie Tilburg)
Master for Theatre (MA DasArts Amsterdam)
Studied Mathematics at Hamburg University (Vordiplom 1998)

Trainings

From Survival Mode to the Existential – SE Training – P. Levine 2020
Coherence and inner Peace – SE Training- P. Levine 2021
The Eye of the Needle- SE Training – P. Levine 2022/23