Balance Your Nervous System With TRE®
Feeling overwhelmed, restless, reactive, stressed, stuck? Or maybe numb, apathetic, without energy? Perhaps you struggle with chronic pain or trauma? I know how it feels. And one of the potent ways to balance the nervous system I use is TRE®.
I have been practising TRE® since 2016. A friend introduced me to it, and I have been exploring my tremors with growing curiosity and gratitude ever since. TRE® stands for Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises, a technique developed by David Berceli PhD as a result of his experience of working in zones struck by war and other catastrophes. The set of exercises helps us access in a safe and controllable way to the natural innate mechanism of releasing an energetic charge and balancing the nervous system through shaking, tremoring and vibrating of our bodies.
When we feel stress, we tense. That is a natural, physiological response. And it is ok - we need our bodies to respond to threat, danger or stress in a quick non-reflective way. To be mobilised to act. The problem starts when we react with tension to situations that form part of our daily experience. Or when the mobilised energy gets stuck in our body because there was no way we could release it safely when it was necessary, when the danger was gone.
Being Present With The Body
Very often, we are not mentally aware of our tension and trauma trapped in our bodies until we start feeling pain, anxiety and overwhelm. Our body cries for attention, kindness and self-care. TRE® is a powerful self-care tool. And I am excited to be a certified TRE® Provider and practitioner. It still amazes me how simple yet complex it is to truly connect to our embodied presence.
Tremor mechanism belongs to the body’s innate wisdom and is one of those functions that just happen - the mechanism activates to restore homeostasis and heal our organism when it’s needed. Unless we prevent it from happening with our mind, and this is what we are conditioned to do - to control ourselves, to judge what we feel, to succumb to social norms, to sacrifice our individual needs at the altar of socially acceptable behaviour (which often doesn’t align with our own wellbeing).
TRE® has been designed as a self-help tool, and this is how I like to teach it. It is you who heal, or, more specifically, your body heals itself. No “healer” needed. And at the same time, there is undeniable potential and soothing power in finding a safe connection with another person, in being witnessed in our vulnerability. We co-regulate with others in trusting relationships. Especially when we’re at the beginning of our journey of developing self-awareness, it is invaluable to let a trusted person hold space for us.
Who Is TRE® For
For me, to access the tremors through TRE® means finding an embodied sense of balance. It means weaving an intimate connection with my body that, if I allow it and surrender to its wisdom, guides me to where I need to be here and now - sometimes it means peace and tranquillity and sometimes - energising activation. I have friends who, with the help of TRE®, have released their chronic pain, become empowered after distressful events (like divorce or abuse), found a way to discharge daily tensions. People practising TRE® report to have experienced transforming long-term traumas, decreasing anxiety or alleviating chronic pain.
If you want to find out more about TRE®, here’s the official site of dr. David Berceli. And if you want to experience how it is to surrender to your body’s wisdom through tremors - contact me, and I will happily guide you through it. Allow yourself to be the source of your sense of safety in the world.
