Releasing Trauma through Shaking

I have recently discovered an amazing resource, that I am sure one day I will be trained in as well:) It is called TRE; short for Trauma Releasing Exercises. This is a technique that is designed to induce fatigue in the body through controlled exercises to elicit a natural tremor response from deep inside the nervous system. Once this tremor response kicks in, a person will experience various levels of shaking intensity. This shaking happens from alone, the conscious mind has nothing to do with it, (people can even carry on conversations while letting this process unfold).

This shaking response literally starts to unravel deeply buried stress and trauma stored in our tissues.  When we look to nature to start to understand our human bodies a bit better, we see that this shaking response happens in the wild. For example, in the wild, say a lion chases a gazelle, and the gazelle freezes (so much so the lion thinks it is dead). The lion runs off for a second to get his lion buddies to help with the feast, meanwhile the gazelle hops up suddenly and starts running away. The gazelle then shakes instinctively to release all of that pent up sympathetic nervous system energy (trauma-energy).

In humans we also have this fight, flight, or freeze response.  We are wired naturally to react in stressful situations- whether we are in a life or death situation like a car accident, or we get yelled at from our boss- our body responds in a similar manner. The sympathetic nervous system kicks in, and our hearts beat faster- muscles tense up- pupils constrict, and breathing gets tense. Because we have removed our species from the natural, primitive world (at least those of us in the West), the types of "danger" and "stress" we perceive has drastically changed. It used to be that every once in a while we would be on "high-alert" for that big animal predator, fight or run, then let the danger pass, shake it off, return to normalcy. Now-a-days, that predator never necessarily leaves. We can experience stress while driving, having an argument, hearing the kids screaming, hearing sirens, having a bad day, etc... and more often then not our sympathetic nervous system never gets a chance to shut off.  Our inherent stress-response system designed to activate for short periods of time, is now on constant over-drive. It is no wonder with most of us living extremely fast-paced, stressful, high intensity, highly stimulating life-styles that our bodies are screaming out. Long-term effects of constant stress have been linked to diabetes, obesity, depression, head-aches, infertility, lowered immune system, loss of sex-drive, and anxiety (among many other symptoms).

The good news is that the body already (just like the gazelle) has a built in stress-relief device, these are the neurogenic tremors that occur deep within the body in response to an extremely stressful situation. Most of us ( because "it is not socially acceptable") have turned off our body's natural stress-relieving mechanism and instead suffer from the consequences. Through learning Trauma Releasing Exercises, one has simple and effective tools to help the body naturally unwind stress and tension built up from the day (or from serious traumatic incidents).

The other day after watching a series of TRE videos, observing other people shaking, I ended up lying down with my legs up 90 degrees at the foot of the bed. I could start to feel a gentle tremor coming from my cervical spine, I allowed this tremor to grow on its own accord, and next thing you know my body was naturally unwinding and shaking totally on its own! I was amazed, this was the first time this had actually happened to me. Funny enough, earlier that day I had stated to my freeance' how I wanted to experience this particular form of release because I knew about it and wanted to know what it felt like. ( Ask and you shall receive :) That evening I allowed my body to fully unwind, move, twitch, shake, and twist into odd shapes. It felt so good and natural. I am definitely very curious about the long term effects of practicing TRE regularly, as I know it has helped many, many, many people recover from PTSD, trauma, and stress of all sorts.

The incredible importance of this technique will probably be discovered in years to come, when as a society we learn to take care of these bodies of ours. But in the mean time, just know that if you feel a natural shaking response coming on in response to a stressful or traumatic situation- LET IT HAPPEN... let it be. The body inherently knows how to take care of itself.

(I can just see this easy method being employed by all the veterans, rape victims, and other groups of highly traumatized individuals).

 When our bodies function optimally, we are able to fully live the life we were born to live. We feel healthy, strong, and rooted in our divine purpose. When we each live up to our fullest potential, the world becomes a better place- body by body, mind by mind, and healthy action by action.