Trauma Release Exercise: What is it good for?
The whole purpose behind the Work IN is to help people find ways to work with and through their own body to heal stress injury, lower anxiety, and in general feel more comfortable in their own skin.
In my online studio I teach courses and memberships that use a type of exercise called trauma release exercise - or TRE.
TRE was developed by a trauma therapist named David Berceli who observed in his years of practice all over the world the way traumatic events, particularly in war torn areas, would affect people. For example, he shares a story about being in a bomb shelter during an attack in the middle east where both children and adults would collapse into their body, curling in, with each explosion. As the attack subsided he watched the children begin to shake, trembling for a time and then get up and run off and play. The adults however would not allow themselves to shake. For whatever reason, shaking in adults after surviving a bombing was not socially acceptable.
Berceli realized that shaking after a traumatic event is something that all other mammal species do naturally. Think about the gazelle that survives being chased by a lion or the rabbit who escapes the fox. I’ve seen my dog do it after we pass an unfamiliar dog. Especially when there’s some conflict there. His back fur stands up in a full mohawk until we are away from the other dog and then he shakes and all his fur lays down.
Anyway back to Berceli. He realized that when animals shake after stress like that they are literally shaking off that trauma energy. In people, when we don’t give the nervous system a way to release that energy it doesn’t just go away it can get stored and stuck in the body as tension and too much of that over a lifetime can lead to physical dysfunctions, illness, anxiety & depression, emotional dysregulation and more. So He developed a series of exercises that let people access their natural tremor response as a way to discharge that energy and retrain or reorganize the nervous system response to it’s natural ebb and flow. And TRE was born.
Now first I want to explain that trauma release exercise is made up of 7 movements that are technically exercises. But they are the least like anything that you would do in a gym to burn calories. In fact if you’ve ever done any kind of workout or the most beginner yoga class then you’ve most likely done some variation of these movements. What sets them apart is the intention and focus that we place on intensity and sense of presence in the body to find the easiest way to trigger the tremor mechanism. The first thing you learn is how to assess your own intensity, keeping your physical, mental and emotional effort first below a 7 in the exercises and then as you move into the tremor itself, below a 5.
There are many different types of tremors in the human body. I think most people think that trembling is bad, or a sign of disease or maybe total muscle failure. And sometimes it can be. But Berceli calls the tremor that is induced in the body through TRE a neurogenic tremor. That means it is coming directly from the brainstem and the autonomic nervous system. You can feel TRE tremors anywhere that you have muscle, joints or fascia.
Now the number one purpose of TRE is to learn how to safely self regulate the stress response. So learning to access the tremor mechanism is only a small part of the practice. The real work and reorganization of the nervous system comes with the stop and rest.
We were not meant to be under stress all the time or completely calm all the time. Our nervous system is designed to activate and energize us and then return to a baseline state of calm in response to any kind of threat or challenge. And it does this many times over the course of a day, week, month, lifetime. We are wired to activate the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight) for safety and survival but it’s not so easy to come down sometimes.
In a TRE session we activate the discharge of energy through the tremor mechanism and then practice turning it off through specific physical stop and rest actions. In this way the client and their nervous system start to relearn and reorganize their response to stressful events. This is where the work actually happens. TRE is powerful because it empowers the participant to take back control or something they once thought was outside of their control without having to relive their story and it works for everyone.
How is that possible? Berceli wanted a way to help serve people who did not have access to or could not afford trauma therapy. He created TRE to be accessible to large groups of people, victims of war, natural disasters, soldiers so that once you learn how to do it for yourself you can use it whenever you need it. You don’t need to wait for an appointment to talk out your story to feel better.
So how do you do it?
First finding a certified provider near you or now online. You can go to traumaprevention.com to find a provider near you. Check out David Berceli’s book the Revolutionary Trauma Release Process. If you’d like to work with me I have several options online but they all start with private sessions. I do this because I’ve found that the most difficult thing for folks in the beginning is learning their own individual needs. I like to start one on one with clients so they can feel safe in their own choices and develop some trust in knowing what they need before moving into a group setting. Other instructors do things differently. That’s just how I do it.
A lot of our time in the beginning is actually spent unlearning things like competition, no pain no gain and relearning how and when to rest, what “too much” actually feels like and what it means to “listen” to your body mentally physically and emotionally.
Every exercise is modifiable to fit where you are in your body, even if your body is very different. Everything can be done seated, there are no special pieces of equipment needed. When you work one on one with a certified provider you’ll learn how to change the exercises to fit you specifically and how to use other props and tools to get the most out of your session. And you’ll learn how to integrate your own personal TRE practice into your routine for longer lasting effects.
What kind of effects?
Everyone is different and I certainly won’t make any claims or guarantees but I can share what some of my clients have shared with me.
Less anxiety
Fewer or no more panic attacks
Less or no more gut pain/ gi issues
Improved appetite/fewer cravings
Better sleep
Less irritability - things that used to really annoy not so much anymore
Greater feelings of wellbeing
Less physical tension & body pain
I personally have experienced all of these things and probably a few more that may or may not be related like a balancing out of my hormones.
When it comes to chronic stress, stress injury, ptsd, anxiety and other stress related diagnosis, you can’t have too many tools in your tool box. But when you are under fire in the middle of a stressful season or stuck in overwhelm it can be difficult if not impossible to find time or energy to put yourself first in order to try a tool like TRE. Most of us just want to take a pill for that. Fast, easy, instant gratification that unfortunately comes with a lot of possible (very negative) side effects.
Medication is external regulation. Trauma release exercise is safe Self regulation. Is it as fast as a pill? That depends. Some people can feel a difference in as little as 1 session. I have clients that felt a relief of anxiety symptoms in 2 weeks and was able to get off all her anti anxiety meds. The recommendation is a practice 2-3 times a week. A regular consistent practice is important because we’re retraining the nervous system response. It has adapted to respond a certain way and you are looking for a different choice. The tremor mechanism changes over time. It moves into other areas of the body in progressive ways and every session is different. This is why Kinetic Grace Resilience is set up to start 5 private sessions and access to weekly group sessions for 30 days with the option to continue a monthly program that includes those weekly group TRE.
We are always going to be exposed to stress and tension. Our nervous system evolved to handle it in ways that we’ve been socialized out of or forgotten. TRE is a way that we can reconnect with our nervous system in a way that is primitive enough for the brain stem to recognize and simple enough for us to consciously control. With regular practice the nervous system can let go of a lifetime of stored stress, tension and trauma and still actively relieve tension from current sources of stress as well.
If you’re curious about how trauma release exercise could help you I would be happy to talk with you about it. You can reach out and schedule a 30 minute consultation by visiting elementalkinetics.com/inquiry and while you’re there check out some of my other free resources for natural ways out of stress, tension and anxiety. Or you can connect with me over on Youtube, on my new channel Kinetic Grace Resilience where you’ll find all kinds of video clips and tips to use movement, nutrition, and sleep to balance the nervous system. Follow & subscribe. And if you’re not already, be sure to follow me on Facebook and IG at elementalkineticsmovewell and elementalkinetics respectively.
Thanks for joining me today, let’s go work in!