The question of how trauma can be treated will always be a big one, but methods that look at a more body-focused, holistic approach are gaining in popularity. In this blog we take a deep dive into how TRE actually feels and what it can do to process trauma.
Written by Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian
Allowing the body to process held trauma: how TRE works and feels in practice
At the end of last year, I wrote an introductory blog to a ‘holistic complex trauma programme’ I had been enrolled onto by my GP practice, you can read full details of how that came about and some of the context around it here.
The programme so far has consisted of: four psychoeducation sessions on how trauma and chronic stress can impact the body, as well as some actions we can take to relieve the body of some of that impact; if not reverse it, and six weeks of trauma informed yoga, which you can read about here and here.
What is TRE?
TRE, or Tension and Trauma Release Exercises are a series of exercises that allow the body to trigger a natural shaking or tremor mechanism within the body’s muscles.
Founded and created by Dr David Berceli, a psychologist who helped and studied communities in Africa and the Middle East who had been traumatised by years of war and conflict. Dr Berceli found that instigating the body’s natural tremor response meant people were less likely to need psychotherapeutic or pharmacological interventions after experiencing severe trauma.
To read a more in-depth exploration of what TRE is and how it works, you can read my previous blog on it, here. Looking at the practicality of it briefly, it comprises of seven exercises that are designed to engage the muscles in our bodies that are activated during the fight, flight or freeze response.
The first six exercises eventually lead to the final exercise, which involves being laid on the floor on your back, knees risen, soles of the feet touching and allowing your knees to flop out, you then push your pelvis off the floor by about ten centimetres and hold for one minute. After this seventh and final exercise, you are guided by the instructor how to trigger your tremor, by slowly bringing your knees together.
How does TRE feel in the body and what does it do?
The first week was a case of getting introduced to the feeling of the TRE tremor and being considered, slow and patient with ourselves. Our trainer, Jacquee talked us through some of the theory and teaching behind TRE before the exercises started and she said one thing that really rang true in terms of what I already know about trauma and how it impacts the body.
She said that anyone who experiences trauma has their own unique psychological responses to that trauma, so unique in fact that two people who have experienced the same traumatic event can have entirely different responses to it. However, how trauma impacts the body is almost universal, of course there are going to be minor differences between people, but generally people seem to internalise traumatic experiences in their body in the same way.
Unprocessed trauma in the body can look like a range of physiological ailments, symptoms or responses, some are:
The six first exercises were by no means strenuous and I felt that everyone in the room was able to complete them with ease. By the time we reached the seventh exercise (explained briefly above), and I was holding the lift in the pelvis, I already started to feel some slight twitching and shaking in my inner thighs.
For the first time, Jacquee helped us to bring on the tremor. First, she directed us to bring them in by four centimetres and hold, then another four and hold, then another four and hold, then two, and two again.
It took me till the last hold to start to really feel the tremor and I must admit, the feeling was so strange, involuntary and unexpected that I did fight it a little and in that, realised that there is a certain element of TRE that is ‘letting it happen’.
The tremor is absolutely an involuntary response, but you can certainly do things to hinder it and to prevent it from developing or increasing in intensity.
Once I realised this and attempted some slow breaths, to try and ease into it and allow the tremor to do its work, it developed into quite an intense tremor. So much so in fact, that Jacquee, the trainer remarked upon how it looked like it was already moving up into my body which can take some people weeks.
Without sounding as if I am gloating – which really isn’t what it’s about, there is no ‘good at’ or ‘bad at’ TRE – I wasn’t entirely surprised by this observation by Jacquee or by how intense my tremor was. I am aware of how much my past traumas are held in my body. I frequently experience what are known as ‘somatic flashbacks’ – somatic meaning body. When a somatic flashback happens, I do not visually re-live a trauma or re-imagine it, but I do feel it in my body.
We held the first tremor for five minutes, broke for a couple of minutes and then went into another six minutes of the tremor. Each session ended with a five minute ‘integration’ as Jacquee called it. During this integration, we stayed laid down but came out of the tremor by simply straightening our legs and we allowed our body to process and integrate the experience we just had.
Jacquee informed us that it is during this time that some emotions or memories could come up, but to remind ourselves that we are in a safe space.
After the first session, I was so taken aback by the physical sensation of the TRE tremor that I didn’t think of much else other than, “Wow, that was weird” and thought about ways in which I might articulate the experience to friends, family and even to readers of this blog.
With body focused therapies and interventions, I do think there’s a lot of anxiety related to how it will feel and whether or not it will be triggering or ‘too much’. I personally didn’t find the actual tremor to be triggering or ‘too much’ throughout the entire six weeks. Any time I did feel like it was approaching it being too intense for me, I simply stretched my legs out and the tremor immediately stopped.
The following weeks were a strange, non-linear experience in terms of my development, how ‘used to it’ I got and how much I felt it benefited me vs. how much I just felt extremely exhausted and lacking in energy after.
What are the aftereffects of TRE?
After my first session, I headed home and decided to take my lunch break immediately after. After being home for no more then 15 or 20 minutes this overwhelming tiredness came over me and I had a nap for around 20 minutes.
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Other than that, I wasn’t certain of what the aftereffects were in the time between week one and two of TRE. During the second and third session I again, experienced quite intense tremors – it’s hard to know what your tremor looks like and I certainly wasn’t taking peeks during, but mine felt like they would go between these tiny, almost minute, fast vibrations and then larger more sporadic and spasmodic twitches.
In the integration period during week two and three I experienced a lot of emotion. As I mentioned in my blog on trauma informed yoga, I have taken part in a type of therapy called Internal Family Systems Therapy or, IFS. In this kind of therapy, you are able to understand yourself through a model of ‘parts’, many of whom are often created during childhood traumas.
In the integration period I felt a strong sense of one of those parts releasing emotion and feeling vulnerable in response to the tremor. The emotion, although strange feeling it in a room full of people, was cathartic and I did experience positive aftereffects from that release.
Week four was, strangely much easier to process, and I noticed that I was fighting it less. During week four we also learnt some ‘extra’ poses you could try out whilst in the tremor. These poses are designed to try and move the tremor around your body. Before this I had already felt it moving into my stomach and chest but after trying out a simple prayer pose the tremor moved across my back, into my shoulders and down my right arm.
Unfortunately, I had to miss out week five, and after a really difficult week, our sixth and final session was an emotional and physically taxing one for me. I strangely felt as though I was back in that third session, not knowing how to go about feeling a whole host of intense emotions that I knew and understood to be originating from another, more vulnerable part of myself.
What was the consensus? Does TRE work?
The group that I was a part of was really interesting in the sense of how people were reacting to the TRE, how much they were able to integrate it as an experience, how well they felt it was working, or not working in some instances.
For me, I felt a lot of benefit from it in the sense that I could feel that I was releasing tension and reactions to traumatic experiences that had been internalised for years. It felt like a release.
And after six weeks I am really looking forward to finding a way to make space for it in my life. It feels like something that, if used properly could really help my nervous system to shed some of the built-up tension that naturally accumulates, as I manoeuvre through the world.
For others in the group, their own unique experiences were inspiring and fascinating to see. One young woman began the process with a lot of doubt, self-consciousness and anxiety but eventually managed to implement adjustments or methods to make the TRE work for her.
A man who was really keen from the start seemed to enjoy a lot of physical benefits from the TRE as he remarked that it felt as though it helped his IBS. Another woman, similar to my own experience, expressed that the TRE, each time was quite intense for her, but that she was beginning to see and feel the benefits of it as a way to ‘shed’, as she put it.
To conclude, I feel as though TRE is a somatic, body-focused intervention that could be highly effective for many people who’ve gone through trauma. TRE could easily be practiced as a part of therapy, prescribed by the NHS as a holistic intervention, or – under the right circ*mstances – practiced at home, individually after only a few guided sessions.
The further I am through this complex trauma programme, and the more I learn about trauma, the clearer it has become that to truly treat disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, and dissociative disorders, we must look at the ‘whole body’ picture.
