The TRE® Experience
The tremors, or ‘shaking’, are organic involuntary movements which release tension and trauma held in the body. Such movements may include shaking and tremoring, jerking, vibrating, stretching, pulsating, rotating. These are all the body expressing and moving to soften held tension patterns. In this way we can see doing TRE as a neural exercise to reboot the nervous system – as the body softens so the neural pathways in the body and brain shift from survival to safety and connection.
TRE® is Natural
As human beings we often forget that we are also mammals. When we perceive we are in danger or something as threatening us, just like mammals we go into fight, flight or freeze (often termed flop, collapse, dissociation in humans). We have the same survival instincts. Also like other mammals we have the same organic way to release tension and switch off these responses, so we can soften, regain balance, relax and connect.
This organic ability which is built into our nervous system allows us to ‘discharge’ patterns of tension, switch off adrenaline and cortisol, and bring us back to a calm and relaxed place.
You may have seen on a wildlife programme, once an animal of prey has escaped from becoming a predators dinner and is out of danger, it will tremble and shake releasing the trauma energy. It will then rest before happily get on with grazing as if life couldn’t be more tranquil.
We humans are genetically encoded to do the same, but through our social evolution and the development of our brain’s prefrontal cortex we have misinterpreted shaking as a sign of trauma rather than a remedy and process of recovery and restoration.
Involuntary movement, tremors and emotions have been discouraged in our society and pathologised, to the detriment of individuals and the collectives we are part of. TRE connects us once again to this primitive and extraordinary reflex for health that we have within each of us. Isn’t that amazing!