r/longtermTRE

So I found TRE earlier this year. I do 2-3 session for 15-20 min a week most weeks (I did miss a dozen since starting maybe combined) for the last 10+ months. I get plenty of lower body tremors. It never goes above my hips. They go until I stop them generally. Various intensities and small to large movements patters too. Mechanically I see it’s “working” but emotional cognitive or internally I feel and function exactly the same as I always have. I don’t sense any changes otherwise.

Others speak of these emotional release or less body tension or “healing” this or that and I just don’t sense anything like that.

Some things I’m working or hoping it helps is my overthinking hypervigilant mind due to possibly a lack of internal safety from childhood parental divorces? Like I’m very “mature” for my age type A controlling perfectionist and so on which I’ve read can be survival mode or functional freeze. I don’t “feel” emotions in my body. I think them. I intellectualize everything including emotions. My mental chatter is always with me optimizing analyzing performing protecting planning and intellectualizing and so on. Why does this matter to me? Well I am 43f and have never developed sexually. Never had an orgasm and only ever “felt” arousal once in my body at age 30 when rocking my 1 year old to sleep. So in my journey and research it appears my survival mode sympathetic dominant nervous system state might be blocking capacity and access to parasympathetic which is the only way to get arousal. I’m always serious. Never playful and only time I can access imagination is in deep hypnosis.

Anyway nothing has changed for me so far. I still have my bodyguard on duty at all times and I’m still in go go go mode with the full plate of life and if I drop a ball the ship sinks survival thinking— which is true though cause I’ve tried to remove things off my plate and the kids suffered for it. The ship started sinking. So I had to pick the baton back up. I’m worried I will burn out though as I’ve been this way for 35+ years now. I’m loosing joy or pleasure in life in other places. I don’t want to go anywhere or do anything. My favorite part of my day is bedtime. When the house is quiet and the lights are off but I have insomnia where my mind keeps me up thinking with mental chatter. Even during intimacy with my husband random intrusive thought will show up. It never stops. I can control it sure but another intrusive thought it right behind the one I just kicked out.

Anyway just wondering how to know if this is the right path for me or not. Somatically and nervous system regulation type stuff if what I’ve been told to work on and I read about TRE being one that bypasses the mind. That’s what I need cause my brain is busy and overthinks everything and turns all therapy into homework automatically and how to optimize it. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I am willing to bet that a lot of you are on a journey of self-discovery. You've probably spent too much time watching YouTube videos about how to change your identity, the habits that you must incorporate into your life, and having to hustle relentlessly to achieve your goals. But why did you keep watching more of those videos? If they truly worked to get you to do what you've always wanted to do, wouldn't one or two videos be enough?

They tell you to take your pain and trauma and channel it into the drive to achieve your goals. Yet they don't realize that the trauma is what is preventing you from taking that leap. Think of the concept like a cake. You have multiple layers; at the bottom is the first layer, which is your true self that is trauma-free, and in the middle is a very thick layer of stone, which is your trauma. These influencers are telling you that you must create a new identity using that trauma and create a third layer on top of the trauma layer. No matter how much frosting, toppings, and whipped cream you put on that third layer, you will not be able to ignore the middle layer once you try to enjoy that cake and take a bite.

You will always return to that middle layer; that trauma will always be there if you do not take action and remove that layer from your life. You cannot forcibly bite your way through that layer of stone and discover your true self that is hiding underneath. That is why you must lay down, surrender, shake, and let it go. Do not fall into the trap that those YouTubers are trying to sell you. You might feel like this process takes too long and that nothing is happening, but I promise that something is happening. You just have to have patience, trust the process, and believe 100% that you will be where you want to be.

Hey fellow TREs, I’m just curious if this happens to you as well.
My arms got more and more involved in my sessions (usually waving like they just don’t care) and now my hands are starting to massage my stomach. Kinda like I’m becoming my own osteopath. Is that a common development?

Anyone reached the deep breathing stage? I woke up this morning doing TRE (not that unusual for me). I've been doing this for about four years, so about 95% of what TRE consists of for me is stretching and fascial unwinding; tremors are few and far between now. Anyway, suddenly my body only wants to take extremely deep belly breaths, where the breath feels like it's working its way deeeeeeeep into uncharted areas of my lungs. Those areas feel like I'm sipping air through a straw--or rather, that air through a teeny-tiny straw is inflating those areas bit by bit (which is probably pretty much what's happening). Sometimes it's inducing tremors in the diaphragm/upper stomach. This has been going on now for about an hour.

It's pretty dramatic to have your breath habit change so suddenly in this fashion. Anyone else experienced this? Or anyone that has experience with this part of the body opening up? My practice so far largely centered around the pelvis, vagina, legs, lower back, jaw and throat, and some shoulders (shoulders still aren't smooth with fascial unwinding, but rather tremors).

I’ve been doing TRE since April of last year, so about a year and a half now. Initially, I started with 10-minute sessions, then 20-minute sessions, until I eventually began to tremor automatically. Since then, I haven’t needed to intentionally induce the tremors because my body does it spontaneously.

What began as hours of crying and intense, powerful emotional releases, often involving immense grief, has now become… laughter? I seldom have crying episodes anymore. Now it’s mostly laughter and yawning.

The tremors themselves have always occurred in cycles. Sometimes they’ll happen every day for weeks or even months at a time, only to disappear for several weeks before suddenly returning with considerable intensity. One session in particular was just 5 hours of nonstop tremoring and crying, then followed by deep relaxation and a nap.

Something else I’ve noticed is that I often experience this inexplicable wave of fatigue shortly before the tremors begin. It’s almost as though my nervous system is going into airplane mode before the tremoring starts.

So I guess what I’m asking is:

Why do my tremors disappear for weeks at a time, only to suddenly come back online and occur intensely every day?

And why has the emotional component shifted almost entirely from intense grief/ crying to laughter and yawning, with only intermittent crying?

I’d especially love to hear from people who’ve been practicing TRE for several years and whether they’ve experienced anything similar.

P.S. The tremors are beyond my control at this point and are at times so intense, that I sometimes feel as if I am losing my mind. Luckily they rarely occur in the presence of others.

For those who have experienced therapy-related abuse or harm, have you been able to continue your healing journey through TRE without relying on verbal or cognitive processing?

I'm particularly interested in whether healing can unfold primarily through somatic processes, without needing to consciously analyze, verbalize, or make sense of traumatic experiences.

If you've taken this approach, I'd love to hear about your experience. Did you find that verbal or cognitive processing became necessary at any point, or was TRE sufficient for you?

Can this help pelvic floor and abdominal/ lower back tightness and tight hips? I’ve tried numerous physical therapies, manual massages all kinds of things but the muscles won’t budge and also are too deep to reach

Hi everyone. Ever since I was a child, I've had a tendency to scream or yell at the top of my lungs whenever I feel trapped, cornered, or pressured.

I actually remember how this behavior developed. I'm naturally a very calm person. I love having gentle conversations, connecting with people, and communicating peacefully. I was the same way as a child, too. However, I grew up in a controlling and oppressive family environment, and over time, I learned to react this way when I felt pressured or overwhelmed.

As I got older and became better at expressing myself verbally, I gradually learned to communicate my feelings with words instead of reacting this way. For a long time, I thought I had mostly overcome this pattern. But recently, something happened that triggered me, and I found myself screaming again.

What upsets me the most is the disconnect between the person I am in everyday life and the way I react in those moments. Normally, I'm calm and enjoy peaceful communication. But when I feel cornered, it's as if all my ability to communicate disappears, and I revert to a reaction I developed as a child.

I've been reading about EMDR and how it can help people process distressing past experiences and their effects on present-day reactions. I suspect this response may be a learned survival mechanism from my childhood.

I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts and experiences:

• Has anyone experienced something similar and managed to overcome it?
• Can EMDR help reduce automatic reactions like screaming or yelling when triggered?
• Is it possible to work through the underlying childhood experiences and change these deeply ingrained responses?
• Is it safe or effective to try EMDR on my own, or is it something that should only be done with a trained therapist?
• Are there any techniques I can practice to help myself stay calm and communicate when I feel pressured or trapped?

My goal isn't simply to suppress my screaming. I want to be able to stay grounded, express myself, and feel safe even when I'm under pressure. I want to understand this childhood pattern and stop feeling like I'm losing control whenever something triggers it.

I'd especially love to hear from anyone who has gone through EMDR or found other approaches helpful for similar reactions.

Thank you for reading. ❤️

Hello all,

For those of you that have tried TRE but found it too activating for a sensitive nervous system, what have you tried that has worked better for you - maybe something more gradual/smooth?

I have reduced my TRE time and frequency multiple times but still feel like it may just be too activating for me still. Are there any body based / somatic experiencing practices that you have tried that worked better for you?

I hope to return back to TRE at some point because I truly believe it helps. But trying to find something in the meantime to regulate my nervous system in a more gentle manner.

thanks,

Hello!

I have started TRE relatively recently - I am still at a stage where trembling is mostly in my upper legs/hips/pelvis area, not yet moving up.

I come with a background of childhood trauma and random, illogical health symptoms ever since I contracted Covid. One of them is a tension in my face, specifically masseters muscles that is not an effect of me clenching my jaw. I do not grind my teeth at night either. This tension is just.. there, and it happens on its own. Sometimes it goes away, sometimes it's very prominent (often in stressful situations), but for a few months it has been more or less constant (I have had an incredibly anxiety-inducing year living in a toxic and abusive environment, from which I am finally free and going back on my two feet).

I was just curious if anyone experienced a similar thing where the jaw clenching seems to be happening almost on its own, and whether TRE helped them?

My somatic therapist explained it as a connection between jaw and neck that clenches in order to block the pathway from brain and heart, and something about not being able to let go of that defence mechanism that is in me. I'm at a point of wanting to try botox for bruxism but I also think that perhaps the best thing I can do is address this from within my own body...

Thank you to everyone who has something to say :)

^

Or do the exercises need to keep being done ad infinitum?

First post here, but a 1.5+ year reader. I've never needed to post because the wiki and other posts covered my questions. Thank you everyone, especially u/Nadayogi and u/Jolly-Weather1787, for running such a wonderful group.

I'm a small-built guy, thin most of my life, and I've always run cold. In the last few days my body has started running hot, constantly, enough to interrupt my sleep. I've struggled with sleep most of my life so this is even less helpful. It feels like internal heat (like I'm a radiator) with no other physical symptoms and no increased anxiety, thought loops, or other overdoing symptoms. It has a similar quality (but 3-5x more intense) to the heat I feel with social anxiety, but without the racing heartbeat or any increase in anxiety. My thyroid was checked about two months ago in a routine blood test and was normal. My diet has been the same 90% of the time for over a year due to IBS.

About 10 months ago, something similar happened during weed withdrawal after 6 years of almost daily use. I brushed it off, and it faded over a few weeks. I had paused TRE to get clean before committing to a long-term sober somatic journey. I restarted my practice about 5 months ago after a 7-8 month break. The previous year I had done too much TRE with psychedelics (this is how my TRE journey started) and although I am thankful I didn't end up with some of the sever side effects I have read about online, I was being careless and pushing my nervous system to the extreme while what it needed was more rest.

My current TRE sessions are 2 mins, 3-4x a week. The heat started at night, after a day session. Integration is mostly short somatic tracking, sometimes yoga nidra, and regular walks. The shaking used to be in my legs. Now it's fine and concentrated in my hips, sometimes only on the left and sometimes on both sides, though I believe it's been coming from the same area the whole time (likely the psoas).

My hips and pelvic region are extremely tight, and I might have undiagnosed pelvic floor issues. I come from an extremely traumatic background, with survival mode and continuous abuse carrying on into my 30s. I'm only now in my late 30s starting this work, and I wonder if this is trapped energy being released from my hips.

The main emotions coming up lately are anger and grief. My anger has been frozen since childhood, and now it's stirring like a roaring tiger.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in overall body temperature during TRE? Could this be related to not enough integration time?

Otherwise, I've seen real benefits so far:

• Ongoing depression about 50-60% gone
• Incremental sleep improvements for the first time in my life, especially on TRE days. I can get up to 5 hours of sleep now with less interruptions than before.
• Ability to feel sensations and emotions in my body (I was completely disconnected/dissociated before)
• Ability to feel sad and cry (usually with the help of music or emotional movies), instead of tears getting blocked in my throat 
• Ability to feel a range of other emotions previously frozen (anger, guilt, shame, fear, disgust)
• Fewer nightmares, though more emotional dream recall, especially since stopping weed

Still struggling with the following, but hopeful. I know this is a long marathon for me:

• Insomnia
• Extreme social anxiety & general anxiety
• Severe gut issues (IBS)
• Protective posture/chronic guarding, including forward head posture and a tucked and tilted pelvis

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to your responses.

I’ve been doing 5ish minutes 3-4 days a week for a couple of months.

But the tremors come so easily I’m just sitting at work and the tremors start in my legs.

Is it okay to just let them ride? Is it beneficial at all the same as at home on a mat?

The feeling is subtly different like it’s more contained. But seems like a good opportunity to practice throughout the day….

What do you think?

If I have done TRE in the past but felt it worsened symptoms I’ve been dealing with and stopped how can I restart and make sure this doesn’t happen. The tremoring feels good but makes me feel worse overall after. Also since starting in the past, now anytime I’m really stressed, tired, or have been holding too much in and my nervous system can’t take it, I start randomly tremoring naturally. This also can be hard to stop which leads to overdoing it. OP

Hey there, I feel my body wants to release my hip but can’t really get in there fully. I’ve tried all kinds of different positions:

Lying on my back, on the sides, on my belly, cat/cow,…

And it seems like it always tries to get more into the hip. It does shake the hip a bit but then stops. Hard to describe but it just seems like a lot of effort then. Like it tries to but can’t quite.. haha - if that makes any sense?

Can anyone relate and share some tips?

has anyone else ever fallen asleep within 10 minutes of their session ending? i practiced last night for about 15 min as usual, admittedly it was a more intense session, then laid back to really feel the benefits… and then woke up hours later with my lights still on. i’ve read normally about the inverse, where people have a tough time falling asleep after their session. has anyone else experienced this?

Hi, I have read the wiki. And still I am not fully sure what are the consequences of overdoing it. Could people here give me some first hand accounts on what happened?

Let's say you have the capacity to do 5 minutes a day. What approach would then make the most sense: 5 minutes every day, 10 minutes every other day or 15 minutes every three days?

Same total amount, but does it matter how you spread it out?

With strength training you would rather do a hard workout every three days, because the body needs rest days to rebuild, BUT if you are decluttering your home it would be smoother and more sustainable to do a little bit every day rather than big chunks less often.

So what category does TRE fit into?

Hey! I am 14 months in and have experienced two stressful episodes lately. They cause me to feel anxious, agitated, and hyper alert. However, the tension has taken more time to go away, I had a hard time to sleep, and felt a bit desperate. An anxiety attack, I guess. In the past, I would easily shut it down and move on. In this case, what I notice was that I felt the tension and sensations more vividly throughout my body, it seems they moved more freely, even though it was a negative experience. Also, I was more resilient in the situation, I didn't take any radical measure, I only let it unfold.

Anyway, I noticed I have felt things differently. Now I am ok, more calm and relaxed. I would like to know if you have experienced something similar. Would appreciate your sharing!

Hi,

I think that right now I find myself in the beginning of the thawing phase of this TRE process, and after reading the article about this (in which says gentle movement helps the system to discharge), I'm wondering if the practice of slow movement during all day could really help now.

Thank you!