TRE - Trauma Release Exercises?

dollyvee · April 19, 2026, 07:28:35 AM

I came across a comment that someone helped her weak pelvic floor with Trauma Release Exercises and was curious if anyone has tried these?

As I understand, you go through a series of exercises ie preforming wall sits for 3-5 mins, which is supposed to induce shaking, and help release any pent up physical reactions.

Interestingly, I used to have a lot of somatic reactions what I would do EMDR and had involuntary head movements/shaking etc. I have even had these reactions with binaural music and frequency music, which then led to some interesting dreams in cases.

I also have weak external hip rotation, leading to some knee pain, and have been working on the jaw/pelvic floor (both connected) to try and help this. For the most part, I thought this was down to a tailbone injury as a child, which interestingly, also runs in the family (NPD gm had one too).

I would like to try these and am going to read up on it some more, but curious what everyone else's experiences have been.

Example videos but am looking at more:

TRE Follow-Along Session with Dr. Berceli / Press Play and Release
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoB9wpuO688

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Iw1Z8lolc

TRE: Before you start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJi3ScelwXc

edit: have tried the exercises in the Bercelli video to induce 30 secs of tremoring to see what happens. Found that I had cramping immediately to go into the position (hip rotation issues tho interestingly on the opposite side of where I normally have hip pain). Also, had neck/head movements along with hip rocking side to side kind of like an animal thrashing. This has happened before with the solfeggio frequencies and what led to the dreams. Will leave it for a few days and see what comes up.

Thank you!
dolly

Bach · April 19, 2026, 04:03:24 PM

A few years ago, I did several TRE sessions with a therapist, and found it very helpful. On my own, I tend to overdo it and burn out, which is an issue for me with nearly everything. Working with a therapist was better for me and I would have continued if not for some unfortunate financial circumstances. I hope to be able to go back to the therapist at some point. Meanwhile, I do it cautiously on my own from time to time. I'd like to be more moderate and consistent with my solo practice, but again, that's an issue for me with nearly everything. Still working on it...

dollyvee · April 20, 2026, 08:11:56 AM

Thanks for sharing Bach. I'm really interested in how TRE helped you if want to share more? Did you find it brought calmness or a feeling of overall well being? Or, on your own, did you find that it brought up feelings of anxiety later on as I've read in a couple posts? Did your practitioner stop you early, or help you move through it? But yeah, I get that and have been there. Sometimes I want something to be done and power through it, but I think I'm getting better with that now as I'm learning to trust myself more, and listen to what is good/not good for me, or to just start cautiously and see how it goes --I say diving into mobility exercises and now having issues in the other hip haha.

I have been interested in a somatic modality for a bit and thought it was a pretty powerful statement that someone said this worked better than somatic experiencing.

Hope67 · May 07, 2026, 06:35:22 PM

Hi Dolly,
Yes, I did try doing the Tremoring exercise, in 2024, I had to look back at my journal, but found it easily by mentioning 'tremoring' in the search facility.

I'll copy and paste a couple of things I wrote about it:

Recovery Journals / Re: Hope's Journal 2024
August 04, 2024, 05:38:33 PM by Hope67
4th August 2024
I just tried a couple of Christy Gibson's videos - watched the one about Havening, and also the one about Tremoring. I found them both useful, but I didn't actually tremor at all - Christy didn't talk about people who don't tremor, so I don't know how typical that response is. I will however try it again another day, to see what happens.

In one of the Havening exercises, she happened to suggest that people could imagine breathing out smoke or possibly moths - she suggested to use the imagination to think of what might be most appropriate for different people - but I thought it was quite interesting that she equated breathing out moths with getting rid of things and breathing in butterflies to represent positive things. It reminded me of my nightmares with the giant moths. Made me think of the guy that Dollyvee found who has a website dedicated to people who have had dreams of moths. I just wanted to mention it in my journal, to remind me of these things.

Sounds a bit bizarre now I've written about it, but anyway.

I didn't tremor at all - in the tremoring exercise. I wonder why that is. Christy didn't mention whether people typically can do it at the beginning - I think she was suggesting that they could. But I certainly didn't. Nothing happened apart from my lying there. But maybe parts of me wouldn't allow me to tremor. Maybe they don't feel safe to let out the tension and trauma. I don't know. I'll certainly try it again another time.

I feel like I've done a work-out though! It was a bit like doing some yoga. She was working on the PSOAS muscle I think.

Hope

#4
Recovery Journals / Re: Hope's Journal 2024
August 05, 2024, 10:13:33 AM by Hope67
5th August 2024
I found that I got a delayed reaction to the tremoring exercise - because when it came time for me to go to bed and relax for sleeping, I then experienced some release of bodily feelings - starting with tingling in my hands, and it went like a wave through my body. I didn't jerk or move like Christy Gibson had done in her video, but I definitely felt the feelings.

I have felt these same feeling before, when doing stuff related to Janina Fisher's work - so I think it's the same kind of bodily release kind of thing. Anyway, I think it was good that it happened, and I feel more positive to try the exercise again later in the week.

I am however aware that maybe I've found the videos useful due to already being somewhat practised in meditation and mindfulness, plus the fact I do regular EFT (trying to do three sessions per day). I coupled EFT in my morning practice with a round of Havening too, and I definitely felt some more positivity in my feelings - so I think the delta waves were operating!

I feel positive about this, I hope I can continue to make these things part of my routines, as it is benefiting me. There's such a lot of difficult disturbing and upsetting stuff going on in the world at the moment, and I need to keep grounding myself so I can cope with those things in addition to my own issues.

There was a scary part about last night though, as at one point I remember feeling as another strong wave was coming into my body - and I thought I might be having a stroke, and apparently I shouted out 'I'm having a stroke' and my partner reassured me 'No, you're not, you're ok'. I remember thinking 'How can you know?' - but I also felt his concern and the fact he checked with me as to whether I was ok - and he was right, I didn't have a stroke, and I was ok. I felt sorry for him, as he told me he'd had difficulty getting to sleep, and had finally managed to sleep at the time that I shouted out, and woke him up! I feel bad for him that he couldn't sleep and that I disturbed him, when he finally was able to sleep.

I've also been splashing cold water on my face more often (which helps with the hot weather) but I also feel like it is re-setting my nervous system - which I read happened with that action, so now I understand more why it might be beneficial, and it's made me consider 'doing it' more frequently - and I have to say it's really helped too.

Hope

********
Thanks so much for mentioning all those resources about the TRE - as I would definitely like to look at these things again, and I had completely forgotten about my very short foray into thinking about that.

dollyvee · May 10, 2026, 09:08:43 AM

Yes, it's an interesting modality.

I haven't tried it again since I wrote that. I will have to dip back into it as I don't think i had any latent, adverse affects.

To me, it sounds like there was some fear around these things coming up and/or the uncertainty of things coming up. I think sometimes it's very comfortable (myself included) to be in a position where I can control that uncertainty, which might mean squishing feelings responses down, or not allowing them to come up at all as in the past when they did come up, it could be overwhelming.

One thing I did try today that was interesting was:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWRzXKRkXmD/

I did feel this in the base of my neck under my ears where I do tend to feel a lot of tension.

Thank you for sharing Hope.

Hope67 · May 10, 2026, 12:08:39 PM

Hi Dolly,
I just tried that instagram exercise which she described as an easy vagal nerve reset. Interestingly it cause my left ear to experience high pitched tinnitus for a while. But I do feel like I need to yawn more now, so I think it might have worked. Interesting, and thanks for sharing it.

Bach · May 11, 2026, 01:13:29 AM

Quote from: dollyvee on April 20, 2026, 08:11:56 AMThanks for sharing Bach. I'm really interested in how TRE helped you if want to share more? Did you find it brought calmness or a feeling of overall well being? Or, on your own, did you find that it brought up feelings of anxiety later on as I've read in a couple posts? Did your practitioner stop you early, or help you move through it? But yeah, I get that and have been there. Sometimes I want something to be done and power through it, but I think I'm getting better with that now as I'm learning to trust myself more, and listen to what is good/not good for me, or to just start cautiously and see how it goes --I say diving into mobility exercises and now having issues in the other hip haha.

I have been interested in a somatic modality for a bit and thought it was a pretty powerful statement that someone said this worked better than somatic experiencing.

Dolly, your questions made me think deeply about my experience with TRE. I realised that, while I have a solid recollection of TRE with a therapist being helpful to me and doing it on my own to be more problematic, I wasn't sure exactly how. I hadn't done any TRE at all for several months until this morning. My husband had some work for a few weeks and I was thinking about doing some sessions with the therapist, but then I had to take my parrot for an unexpected visit to the vet (she's fine!), and bang went my TRE money. So I decided to try it on my own both to see whether I could remember anything helpful about it to bring to this thread, and in hopes that it might help me with my state of mind which has not been good at all of late.

I'll say cautiously that it was a successful experiment. I was able to listen to my body and judge what was enough but not too much. When I was done, my stomach was riled up but not unbearably, and alongside it I had a feeling of calm. Once my stomach settled down I had a hint of thaw of the persistent freeze state I've been in lately. It was brief and small, but I noticed and appreciated it. I did get a backlash a while later in which I was feeling anxious and fussy and stressed, with some very dark thoughts. That's something I remember from when I was doing TRE before, so it was unpleasant but it didn't alarm me. I rode it out, after which I felt calm again and had a productive afternoon. This was all in keeping with my experiences of it from when I was working with the therapist.

The other thing I thought about was why I felt that it was more helpful to me when I did it with the therapist. I think that it was less about the practice itself and more that having a scheduled time and place for it, and someone to be accountable to helped keep me from getting caught up in any "must heal NOW" or "If a little bit is good, MORE must be BETTER!" kinds of thought patterns. Also, my therapist offered some other things to be incorporated into the session. A smudging kind of thing she did with burning herbs, and some sound healing. That stuff was a little weird for me, and more woo than I'm usually into, but it was kind of nice and the sincerity of her belief in it appealed to me, and I like being ministered to, so I usually said Yes to it. She was really sweet, and really cared, so that was nice, too. I would really like to work with her again, but I can't wait around to be able to afford it again and I'm cautiously optimistic that I may have reached a point where I can do something like this on my own responsibly without having to rely on a therapist.