Want to feel calmer, more peaceful and more in control of your life?
TRE (Tension and Trauma Release Exercises) uses simple, gentle exercises to help you manage stress, relieve anxiety, reduce pain and release tension.
Have you ever noticed your legs trembling or your hands shaking when you speak in public or have a difficult conversation? Or felt your whole body shake after an accident of some kind?
These tremors are our body’s natural way of helping us shake off the excess stress and tension that accumulates in our systems when we’re exposed to stressful, traumatic or even exciting events. The tremors are healthy and normal and really good for us but unfortunately, as a society,y we’ve conditioned ourselves to ‘block the shake’. We’ve come to see shaking as a sign of weakness and vulnerability (and sometimes even madness!) so instead of releasing our stress and tension, we hold it in and ‘suck it up’. Over time and with repetition, this can lead to all sorts of tension-related disorders and physical, emotional and spiritual illnesses.
Through easy-to-follow exercises, TRE activates the body’s natural stress release mechanism. By stretching and fatiguing various muscles, the exercises induce natural tremors that calm the nervous system and help return the body to a state of balance. The exercises help the body to naturally shake away stress and release and unwind its own muscle tension. I like to think that regular shaking helps us open up our stress pressure valve so we can release the steam that builds up from everyday living.
TRE helps us develop greater resilience so we can navigate even the trickiest and most challenging of circumstances with composure, clarity and grace. It helps us feel more alive, more energised and more able to engage in life fully and restores our sense of calm, peace and balance.
“Once you’ve learned the basics of TRE, you’ll have a self-care tool you can use anywhere, anytime you feel your stress, anxiety, pain and tension levels starting to spiral.
How TRE helps
People all over the world experience all sorts of benefits from TRE. These include:
- Improved sleep, energy levels, focus and concentration
- Increased flexibility, mobility and freedom of movement
- Reduced pain, anxiety, depression, stress and tension
- Reduced hyperarousal and hypervigilance
- More harmonious relationships and better social connections
- Greater resilience and general wellbeing
From my own experience and as my own TRE practice deepens, I appreciate more and more the connection TRE is helping me establish with my own body. I feel like I have access to a kind and gentle, patient teacher who is helping me learn what feels good for me and what doesn’t feel so good, when I need to push harder or take a break and how to understand what I really need.
TRE taps into the unconscious part of our brains, allowing us to process and release stress, tension and trauma without verbally revisiting our stories.
Who is TRE for?
The truth is, all humans experience stress to some extent or another which means all humans could do with a helping hand navigating through stressful experiences. TRE has been shown to improve the lives of people all around the world, regardless of their age, occupation, income, nationality, race or any other demographic variables or physical capabilities.
The exercises are suitable for all body types and sizes and can be easily adapted for any fitness level or mobility challenge. TRE integrates well with other treatments.
As the benefits of TRE become more widely known, TRE is being adopted as a stress management tool for front line first responders like police officers, military staff, firefighters and medical personnel. It is also being used in corporate environments to improve staff resilience and among athletes to improve performance and recovery in sport.
In short, TRE can help anyone who has experienced any kind of stressful situation or experiences, whether these are the stresses and strains of daily living or more challenging life experiences.
How do I learn TRE?
TRE can be learned in individual or group sessions, in a face-to-face setting or virtually, using online tools like Skype or FaceTime.
If you’re new to TRE, I recommend that you do at least your first few sessions with a trained instructor, preferably face to face. Once you’ve mastered the basics, especially how to self-regulate, you can consider experimenting with virtual and physical group and individual sessions so you can figure out what your ideal TRE recipe is. It’s different for everyone – and that’s ok.
I work with groups and individuals in Auckland for all classes and can tailor programmes to suit your needs – please contact me for more information.
More questions about TRE? These answers might help.
