We have all seen a dog dreaming that they are running, right? That is TRE. It is a natural response to trauma that fires up the nerves and releases them. If it doesn’t, we are frozen in a web of responses that say “Don’t show it, don’t act, don’t scare people” or whatever it is. Basically, if we try to over ride this stress release, we end up with unhealthy contortion in our body.
TRE was discovered when an insightful mind watched the kids shivering in a bomb shelter. Why didn’t the adults shiver? They do actually but they stop it. The kids got over the trauma much better and the adults didn’t. There is a very small window of when to get the trauma out. Once you pack it into your cellular structure, it will be very hard to get it back. That is what TRE is designed to do. It gives you some room to get the trauma out of your tissue and through the plumbing of your body once again.
When I practice TRE, it is simply exercises that tire my gut’s response to hold on and it comes out. Sometimes I cry, other times, I shake but it isn’t really connected with anything yet. I just let myself be a dog that is dreaming, and stuff moves out of me. The more I do it, the better things are. There you go!
Watch the video of the concept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPFbXdSGSkc
In conclusion words from the technique’s founder David Berceli:
The human species is a living paradox. We have a biological imperative to let go of tension and an egotistical refusal to do so. Because most stress, anxiety, trauma and tension recovery has relied very heavily on psychology and ego centered interventions, they are sometimes only moderately effective.
Science is now searching for a new paradigm for stress and tension recovery that can address multi-cultural and national levels of tension, anxiety, stress and PTSD. Cross-studies of multiple fields of science such as neuro-biology are discovering that this new paradigm for healing can be found right within the recesses of the human body itself.
Just as the human organism is designed to experience and endure difficult episodes, it is also designed to recover from these experiences. The body contains all the anatomical and physiological mechanisms necessary to restore itself to optimal health after the stress or danger has passed. In fact, recovering from tension is genetically encoded in us to complete one process and begin something new as a part of our unending cycle of evolution. Stress and trauma recovery is moving towards physiological interventions that capitalize on the human biological compulsion to resolve tension while simultaneously circumventing the ego’s fear of the recovery process.
A note from Mimi:
I see so often that people can’t move forward because they haven’t completed the level that they are on. So much of my work is about completion of something so old that it doesn’t even relate to us any more. Yet, it must be found and completed like getting our sweater caught on a twig.
We already have what we need. The diaphragm and our breath already know how to sob when something happens. We just seem to resist it. For me, I wanted to be invisible. I had a belief that if I didn’t do anything emotional, I would be safer. My family didn’t encourage me to have my feelings. TRE is the “little push” that we need to get the functions of emotional and mental release started once again. These functions are a vital part of that completion that we need to be done with that twig we are caught on and have the energy to move forward. It allows us to let go and get closer to the release we so desperately need in so many areas of our lives.
What really got me interested in TRE is how far my friends got in just a few weeks. I had to dive in if I was going to keep up with them! They were all of a sudden more fluid, juicy and alive. All for a bit of shaking? I am going to try this now!
There is a book available on Amazon as well:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419607545/ref=rdr_ext_tmb
Here are the basic exercises. The practice can go much beyond this. These were given at a workshop so treasure them! Find exercises here.
