SE™ Master Class: Eye of the Needle I & II
w/ Ergos Institute SE™ Faculty Joshua Sylvae, PhD
When clients are “stuck,” it’s not always resistance.
Sometimes they are:
→ anchored in shock
→ suspended in altered states
→ carrying unresolved near-death activation
Eye of the Needle SE™ Master Class offers tools for precisely this work.
LEARN TO WORK SOMATICALLY WITH NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
Two-Part Series
In-person ONLY
Humphreys Half Moon Inn
San Diego, California
Part I 2026 Monday, August 17th - Friday, August 21st
Part II 2026 Wednesday, November 4th - Sunday, November 8th
Series sold as a package
Small Class Size approx. 30 students
Special $200 off until August 1st
+ SEI and Ergos Assistants, Coordinators, and Organizers receive a special promotion for attending
+ 50% Off Audit Option for past EOTN students
+ Financial need partial scholarships are available
CEs: Awaiting Final Approval for 55 credits
Included: 1 SEI Case Consultation Credit for Faculty Supervision
Prerequisite: SEI Advanced I +
Hotel: Special rate expiring soon
All trauma involves an encounter with threat and, hence, a touch with death. However, some individuals actually experience states of death from which they are revived. In fact, some of the deepest and seemingly most intractable trauma symptoms occur with clients who become “stuck” in these profoundly altered states of consciousness that emerged out of a near-death experience (NDE).
Every year, in the USA alone, over 50 million people undergo surgery and other invasive medical procedures, often with powerful dissociative and amnesic agents. Many individuals experience partial (or full) awakening during these procedures. These terrifying ordeals can create ruptures deep in consciousness; these often go far beyond our conscious/verbal capacity, making these traumas difficult to access and heal.
According to the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, 774 varied NDEs occur every day. Often debilitating, these same near-death experiences hold the extraordinary potential for deep, positive, and enduring personal and spiritual transformation if they receive proper guidance and support.
Dr Levine’s EOTN two-part series for advanced level SE students and SE graduates addresses how to apply SE principles to a variety of near-death experiences, including but not limited to: drowning, vehicular accidents, physical attacks, illness, and surgery. SE techniques applicable to a wide variety of traumatic experiences are not always sufficient to treat trauma related to NDEs, and Eye of the Needle work is vital to complex cases demanding the most dedicated and skilled practitioners of SE.
Ergos SE Faculty
After many years of in-depth mentoring by Dr Levine, Ergos SE™ Faculty member Dr Joshua Sylvae will join us as your teacher. We are very glad to have him with us continuing the Legacy of this important work.
Letter from the Dr Sylvae
The first time I was with Peter Levine, PhD, for the Eye of the Needle Masterclass was in 2014. As someone who experienced a near-drowning in my youth, I found it remarkable to see the way EOTN work helped me renegotiate nearly dying as a child. I found the work benefited many clients upon my return to my practice, and have enthusiastically assisted Peter and co-taught the program with him multiple times since.
In this class, we clearly see how traumas involving general anesthesia, a near-death experience, or other existential aspects have particular elements and a unique signature, making them less amenable to treatment using our normal SE tools. In this class we learn to support the transition between expanded states of consciousness and embodied awareness, facilitating the return of presence in the here and now (or, to say it another way, inviting the soul to return to the body). This requires clients to move through the eye of the needle, as it were, a challenging passage that requires practitioners to be steady and grounded in their tracking of altered states.
Master Class Series Includes
-
Phaedra experienced anxiety attacks after surviving a life-threatening rollover accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury.
During a Somatic Experiencing® Eye of the Needle demonstration, Dr. Peter A. Levine worked with the moments before, during, and after the rollover—t-4-3-2-1…t0…t-1-2-3-4—expanding the first images Phaedra could recall before and after the accident.
Her throat had been cut close to vital arteries and her windpipe, and she was later intubated in the hospital. Working with these experiences required precise, gradual attention to the near-death and medical trauma. As the session unfolded, Phaedra's nervous system slowly returned to the room and the here-and-now. She reported experiencing relief following the session.
These 8 short clips are drawn from a full 1-hour SE™ EOTN session with Dr. Levine.
Didactic Lecture with Q&A
In-depth demonstration sessions with extensive debrief
Supervised breakout group practice, including touch based table-work in part II
Eye of the Needle Certificate available to those who attend the entire two-part series, opening to closing each day
1 SEI Case Consultation Credit for Faculty Supervision
55 CEs are awaiting final approval, more information below
Master Level Assistants will be supporting practice and offering private sessions (private sessions not included in cost)
This class does not include live teachings from Dr Levine
Schedule
10:00 am – 1:00 pm
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Lunch Break
2:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Part I 2026 Monday, August 17th - Friday, August 21st
Part II 2026 Wednesday, November 4th - Sunday, November 8th
Pricing includes both modules.
Location
Humphreys Half Moon Bay
San Diego, CA
In-person ONLY
Hotel: Special rate expires soon
The workshop will be held at a recently renovated, reasonably priced Inn located directly on the marina. A variety of restaurants are within easy walking distance, and the venue is conveniently situated just minutes from the San Diego Airport by car.
We highly encourage staying onsite for the best integration of the work. We hope the serene coastal environment will lend well to your experience.
Group-rate Lodging at the Venue
Per night for lodging, includes resort fee: $209 August/$186 November (a great deal for the location)
Booking instructions with a special link for lodging will be in your welcome email upon registration
If you choose to book by phone, please mention it is for the program with Ergos Institute
Special rate for August expires soon
Recommended travel dates August 16th - 22nd
Registration for Part I & II
Special $200 off until August 1st
+ SEI and Ergos Assistants, Coordinators, and Organizers receive a special promotion for attending
+ 50% Off Audit Option for those who have taken EOTN in the past
+ Financial need partial scholarships and payment plans are availableFull-Cost $3,300 - Begins August 1st
Registration Closes - August 16th
Program Start Date - August 17th
Series sold as a package for both modules
Mandatory Prerequisite SEI Advanced I +
Information on Payment Plans and Reduced Rate Options are available at checkout.
If you have questions, please contact programs@somaticexperiencing.com.
Learning Objectives for Part I & II - 55 CE credits
Apply the skills to support intrinsic rhythms and facilitate pendulation
Identify the implicit and physiological relationship between the client and the therapist
Identify the beginning of procedural memory and bring attention as the movements and implicit memories start to emerge.
Demonstrate the ability to explore the narrative with the client while tracking physiology and energy wells working with titrated activation/settling cycles.
Explain how widespread of a problem that anesthesia and NDE’s are
List the symptomologies of shattered consciousness.
Use the skills needed to weave dislocated conscious states together, and then moving through the shockcore.
Demonstrate how to take a client intake from an individual with possible Anesthesia trauma and unprocessed NDE states.
Identify your own unresolved surgical trauma and how to work with those experiences.
Explain how to work with post I.C.U. debilitation
Demonstrate how to access dissociated and dislocated altered states of consciousness and liberate problematic fixations.
Explain, develop, and refine perceptual skills and practical tools
Demonstrate the ability to resolve difficult somatic symptoms
Utilize table touch work to address delicate states of consciousness.
Identify the indicators of shifts in the autonomic nervous system.
Demonstrate the ability to precisely track autonomic nervous system shifts amongst their clients.
Identify fixations or triggers related to altered states of consciousness
Prepare clients for reexperiencing altered states of consciousness
Prepare clients for accessing states of shock
Describe Somatic Experiencing techniques for working with dissociation
List the symptoms of trauma related to surgery
Predict strategies for preventing future trauma occurring after surgery
Design Somatic Experiencing sessions for accessing dissociated procedural memories
Design Somatic Experiencing sessions for accessing near-death experiences
Describe approaches for working with altered states of consciousness under anesthesia
Identify partial awakening under anesthesia and surgical trauma symptoms amongst their clients
Assess the impacts of any partial awakening under anesthesia
Analyze the effects of post-intensive care syndrome
Describe how syndromes and other physical symptoms can be related to near-death experiences
Discuss the mythopoetic plane, and how the psyche symbolizes unprocessed events
Demonstrate the ability to interact with the mythopoetic plane.
Assess unconscious influences on conscious experience after near-death experiences
Utilize spiritual experiences in renegotiating near-death experiences
Explain how patterns in the body are involved in the maintenance of trauma symptoms
Describe and alternate your approach to working with different types of anesthesia.
Select and recommend a proper Somatic Experiencing pain management and anesthesia protocol for reducing the chances of trauma related to surgery
Demonstrate the ability to stitch together fragments of consciousness
CEs are Awaiting Final Approval for 55 credits
Information on Continuing Education Credit for Health Professionals
• CE credits for psychologists are provided by the Spiritual Competency Academy (SCA) which is sponsoring this program. The Spiritual Competency Academy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Spiritual Competency Academy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
• The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts CE credits for LCSW, LPCC, LEP, and LMFT license renewal for programs offered by sponsors of CE who are approved by the American Psychological Association.
• LCSW, LPCC, LEP and LMFTs, and other professionals from outside of California need to check with their state licensing board as to whether or not they accept credits from programs offered by approved sponsors of CE by the American Psychological Association.
• SCA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider CEP16887) for licensed nurses in California. RNs must retain their certificate of attendance for 4 years after the course concludes. Nurses outside of California must confirm acceptance with their licensing boards.
• For questions about your certificate or the content, logistics, or other support issues regarding this course, please contact Ergos Institute at programs@somaticexperiencing.com.
For questions about whether APA CE is valid for you, contact your licensing board directly.
For general questions about APA CE, contact SCA at ce@spiritualcompetencyacademy.com.