Tension and Trauma Release Exercise Training
Jul 18, 2023
People often, ask me "Liz, why do you do so much training? Don't you know enough now?'. I think it's a case of, the more you learn, the more you learn there is to learn! No one, knows it all. If we keep practicing with what they call 'The Beginners Mind in Zen Meditation, our brains continue to be like the brains of young children who are curious about most things and learn so much. If, we think we know it all, we stop growing and learning. I will forever be a student. Learning doesn't have to involve going on a course either, we have opportunities every day to learn.
I was lucky enough to attend some more training on Saturday 15 July here in Melbourne. I found out about the training a couple of months ago on one of the Pilates Facebook group pages. It's something that's interested me a lot as tension and trauma release exercises (TRE) has been part of my own self-care regime now since my daughter was about 5 months old. I first learnt about during my level 1 certification training with the Lifeforce Yoga Healing Institute in 2016.
It's based on the work of David Berceli's (PHD) program that uses the natural mild shaking response of the nervous system to reduce stress, anxiety and trauma. His work postulates that there are specific muscles in the body that carry a great deal of excess tension as they are activated during stressful events. By releasing these areas, we can help reduce anxiety, stress and trauma. Certain Yoga practices can do this too. Have you ever noticed yourself shaking during a yoga class? If you have, this is normal, you are not alone.
It is another explanation of the important connection between our body and minds.
It's not something I would encourage you to try at home by yourself (especially if you have PTSD), but it is definitely from my own experience a worthwhile modality of self care. It is another method of self regulating our automatic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is a bit of an unfortunate name as it's not always automatic, which is something that is emphasised in the course I'm launching in October 2023.
For those of you in Australia, you may remember the images of those poor cattle shaking overseas at the abattoirs when they saw their friends ahead of them being slaughtered, this was their way of coping. Their bodies were trembling to try and down regulate their automatic nervous system.
Many people think this shaking is not healthy, it's the freeze response which is not healthy. I think of my dear old poodle Phoebe who experienced this freeze response when a loose Kelpie attacked her on our walk one night in the dark and she went limp. Luckily adrenaline took over for me due to the sympathetic nervous system kicking in a healthy way and I was able to get the Kelpie off her in the nick of time to save her life. This is well explained in Poly vagal theory. That is the freeze response and is the explanation of dying from fright.
I hope more scientific studies are performed on this method.
