Milford Graves, Somatic Healing, and the Music of the Nervous System
Recently, I’ve been learning about Milford Graves and drawing a connection between his work and Somatic Experiencing, a therapy modality created by Dr. Peter Levine.
Milford Graves wasn’t just a jazz drummer—he was a sonic scientist, a healer, and a visionary who saw rhythm as the key to unlocking the body’s potential. His music wasn’t just about timekeeping; it was about life-keeping, syncing heartbeats to improvisation, movement to vibration. He studied the human heartbeat like a jazz composition—finding patterns, breaking them, and discovering how rhythm could regulate the nervous system.
Somatic Experiencing (SE), a body-based trauma healing method, works in a similar way. Both Graves’ work and SE recognize that the body holds patterns of tension, stress, and history. SE guides the nervous system back to regulation through subtle shifts in sensation, movement, and breath—like a musician listening deeply before playing the next note.
Graves believed that the body could heal through rhythm. SE teaches us that trauma is stored in the body, waiting to be released in waves, like music finding its groove. Both remind us that healing isn’t linear—it’s a pulse, a cycle, a return to flow.
Em Scott Therapy 