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What is TRE?
TRE or Tension and Trauma Release Exercises is a sequence of exercises designed by Dr David Berceli to engage a natural reflex to release stress, through shaking/tremoring. The tremors and other involuntary movements allow us to release long held tension patterns, stress and trauma from the body. This release allows the nervous system, which can get stuck in primitive survival strategies (commonly known as flight/flight/freeze), to reboot and balance.
TRE is used by thousands across the world for easy everyday stress release, as well as being effective in helping with physical and mental health, chronic stress, tension, PTSD, and trauma.
How does TRE work?
Human beings are mammals, and like our friends in the animal kingdom, when we feel threatened (perceived or real) we enter primitive defence strategies to prepare us to fight or flee from a situation. Or if it's just too much we disappear, commonly known as freezing or dissociation. Once the threat has passed, mammals use an involuntary tremor reflex to disperse the huge amount of energy, charge and muscular tension required to mobilise an escape from the situation. However, as humans, our newer ‘primate’ brain with its logic and thinking has learnt to suppress this natural way to release so, unlike other mammals, we have stress and trauma. Instead, our neurology and physiology gets stuck in fight/flight/freeze.
Learning TRE reconnects us back to our natural tremor mechanism that all mammals have access to. It is encoded in our DNA and this organic reflex that is a part of the autonomic nervous system, helps to free us up from being stuck in survival mode, by: Burning off any excess stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol. It will help to release contraction and tension held in our muscles and fascia. This will help to soften and relax our bodies, allowing our nervous system to move back into Ventral Vagal, which is the nervous system state of rest, digest and restore.
Our tremor mechanism is literally the antidote to held tension patterns we have in our bodies.
Every time we shake the vibrations soften and loosen held contraction.
The animals are still doing it instinctively.
How can TRE help?
Based on the feedback I've received since teaching TRE, some of the first things people notice is that they feel more relaxed, at peace and in their body, feeling present. It's common to experience better sleep, have more energy, feel more resilient and better equipped to deal with daily life. Anxiety and depression can soften or lift, and reactions change, for the better. When we switch off the stress response all the 'non-essential systems' of the body switch back on and I often hear of positive changes in chronic fatigue type symptoms, shifts in energy, emotional stability and digestive issues.
The benefits are cumulative and the more we practice, the more we gain. The body knows how it needs to heal, we just need to trust in it.
Normalising Stress
I’ve found it useful to normalise stress and trauma as a human condition, something that we all experience and to know that our bodies are designed to recover from it. So, it can and does get better. When we are in flight, fight or freeze (survival mode) the non-essential systems of the body shut down. We don’t need our digestion, our immune system to grow and repair or reproduce when we feel threatened. We need energy for our muscles, to increase our heartbeat and blood pressure and we need oxygen. Consider all the health conditions linked to those systems that shut down, the pressure on the body to be in this state and the energy it takes to maintain it. Learn to turn off the stress response, and see what changes when you practice TRE and your body can move back to a place of rest and restore.
TRE simply reconnects us to this deep primal release and allows us to trust in the wisdom of the body to let go.
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