TRE®

What is TRE?

TRE is a non-traumatizing, bodywork series of seven low-impact stretching exercises specifically designed to relieve tension, stress, and trauma retained in the body in the form of muscle tension.

TRE is a proven and rapid method to indirectly heal past traumas.

It’s also one of a very few ways to address suppressed or repressed traumatic memories, even pre-verbal memories – because our bodies do remember.  

It’s a fast, simple, and effective way to help relieve muscle tension, stiffness, and pain. 

It’s a great way to relieve stress, cool down after a hard workout, or simply relax.

And TRE can be an effective preventative measure or treatment option to reduce symptoms of professional burn-out or vicarious trauma.

How does TRE work?

We don’t just store reactions, memories and emotions, in our minds. We also store them in our bodies in the form of muscle tension and triggers.

TRE consists of seven low-impact stretches intended to induce  therapeutic muscle vibration or tremor to help you reintegrate those reactions.

Think of TRE as giving yourself a deep and relaxing massage, but from the inside out. TRE initially targets the deeper core muscles – the hip flexors, psoas muscles and the pelvic floor or pelvic area. From there, TRE can and often does spread like ripples to positively affect other areas in the body.

TRE has three goals:

The first is relieving past trauma.

The second is to relieve physical and emotional stress and tension.

The third is to increase body awareness, helping you to know and be comfortable in your own body.

What are TRE’s benefits?

A renewed sense of hopefulness or optimism – sometimes, after just one session.

Profound and often instantaneous sense of muscle relaxation.

Better appetite and improved sleep, often with a sense of calmness.

Improved ability to focus.

TRE has helped people with a host of physical problems: fibromyalgia, chronic pain and chronic fatigue, poor sleep, appetite, and digestion, back and shoulder pain, poor immune response, poor flexibility or chronic muscle tension, chronic headaches and migraines, high blood pressure, GI tract problems including Crohn’s and IBS.

TRE does help with PTSD, trauma, anxiety, depression, and other problems. 

Why TRE?

We don’t just store trauma memories in our minds. We also hold on to them within our bodies, in muscle memory. PTSD/trauma therapy must address both – mind and body – to be truly effective. 

You can do something other than TRE. However, TRE is cheaper and has a unique freedom compared to massage therapy, Tai Chi, Qi-Gong, yoga, somatic experiencing (SE), sensorimotor psychotherapy, etc.

These all work well, but they also require a trained therapist or instructor. You must travel, you have to pay, and you have to work with someone else’s schedule. And they are generally slower than TRE in achieving benefits. 

After 1-2 guided sessions, learning the sequence of stretches and becoming comfortable with your body sensations, you can do TRE for the rest of your life, any time you want, anywhere you want, as often as you want, and in 20 minutes or less per session.

TRE doesn’t require any exercise equipment. All you need is a bare wall, door, or smooth surface to lean against, and enough space to lie down without touching anything with your arms or legs.

You can do TRE on its own, with any other therapy you’re doing, or as a useful part of your own exercise routine.

What does TRE feel like? 

Most people experience a rhythmic vibration as muscles fire and release. Vibrations may move in waves through the body, remain in one area, or move from one area to another.

Therapeutic tremors may feel slow and deep, rapid and soft, or fast or jerky. They will change from session to session and also when you change your body position during a session.

Every person will experience TRE differently, and every session will be somewhat different as you learn to allow your body to do what it wants to do.

With TRE, your body may eventually vibrate wherever you have muscle or tissue tightness, literally from your head to your toes.

 

How does TRE work?

Some form of bodywork is essential in effectively dealing with past traumas. TRE, unlike yoga, massage, qi gong, tai chi, or other forms of body work can be done at home without an instructor, therapist, or associated travel and fees.

TRE helps to unlock or breakup the linkages between past traumatic memories and emotional and physical responses. Your memories don’t necessarily go away but your responses to those memories do.

Your first guided TRE session will take about an hour. Wear comfortable clothing in which you can exercise. We’ll discuss some of the theory and benefits. I’ll demonstrate several ways of doing each stretch. Then, I’ll guide you through each one.

The second and third guided sessions often take a half hour or less. You will increasingly talk me through the sequence as you become more proficient.

Like all treatments, it has some cautions, limitations, and possible side effects. I’ll go over these as part of a brief and free initial assessment.

Want to experience TRE?

If you’d like to safely experience TRE, give me a call at (850) 684-3059 or send me an email to schedule a session.