6 Reasons Why Shaking Heals Trauma
The act of shaking your body can let go of long-standing stress patterns and create a sense of connection and comfort. It serves as a new input to the central nervous system and can lead to ease in the body, and greater well-being when explored safely and with curiosity.
Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®) are a set of simple movements that activate a natural trembling reflex in the body. The complexity of trauma psychology is contrasted by the straightforwardness of its physiology. Trauma can cause certain parts of the brain to become fixed in defense modes such as “fight-or-flight” or “freeze.” TRE® offers a secure, organic process for resetting these overactive reflexes.
Here are six ways that shaking through TRE can assist in healing trauma:
It's a natural, instinctive reflex in mammals.
The study of animal behavior, highlights how shaking is a reflex utilized by mammals to discharge stress. This can be observed in ducks that shake after being chased by a dog to release the stress from the potential threat.
It re-establishes a connection with the body, enabling healing without having to talk or remember it. The body knows.
TRE places great trust in the body's wisdom, viewing trauma primarily as a physiological response rather than a psychological issue. The shaking component of TRE represents a bottom-up approach to healing, reconnecting individuals with their bodies and releasing them from intrusive thoughts, pain, and immobilized emotions.
It helps you embody your body, and shift from dissociation or numbing.
Dissociation is a fundamental aspect of trauma, often creating a perplexing state of numbness, disconnection, and emptiness for those who have experienced it. This can result in feelings of being stuck, unable to think or act, which can be frightening. At times, dissociation may offer a sense of safety and freedom, seeming to free one from the constraints of the body. The main substances associated with dissociation are endorphins, the body’s natural pain relievers, which can be alluring and comforting. The opposite of dissociation is being grounded, a state of being present and connected to one's body and surroundings.
It trains you to handle intense emotions without becoming overwhelmed.
Shaking serves as a potent tool for discharging chronic stress and tension, helping to awaken the body. By learning to activate, focus on, and deactivate tremors, individuals develop the ability to manage intense sensations and emotions.
It teaches you to take it easy, go step by step.
Regulating intense emotions is a crucial aspect of modern trauma therapy, and it is recognized that proceeding slowly is the quickest path to healing. Emotional regulation can be challenging, but it is a skill that can be taught with support and community. If the shaking process becomes overwhelming, one can learn to stop and regulate their emotions.
In a group setting it can help improve connection to others.
David Berceli has a wider aim with TRE to be a tool for peaceful connection in families, relationships, workplaces, cities, countries and globally. When we start with our connection to self that radiates out into the world. Our nervous systems all influence and bounce off each other, leaving an imprint on each other. TRE helps us interact in the world from a balanced grounded place, and that can only be good for humanity and the propagation of trauma :)
By learning to regulate the tremors of TRE, individuals develop the ability to regulate all emotional states and to progress at their own pace. TRE is a powerful self-healing tool, helping you to strengthen and develop resilience as they learn to let go, and to slowly increase their capacity to feel.