Dear friends, this post is my attempt to clarify the topic of semen retention, clear misconceptions and debunk the myths around it.

Semen retention is not directly relevant to TRE but for the past several months I've been flooded with questions and requests for explanations on the topic, especially from people from r/Semenretention and r/NoFap.

Introduction

What is semen retention? Semen retention, as the name implies, is the practice of abstaining from ejaculation for different reasons, but mostly to gain spiritual fuel, meaning accelerating one's spiritual practice and increasing one's meditative capacity. That was the original purpose as documented in many ancient texts, in Taoism, Buddhism, yogic traditions and even the Bible in a more cryptic way.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika States the following about semen retention:

The knower of Yoga should preserve his semen and thereby conquer death. Emission of semen is death; preservation of semen is life.

This or a similar statement is repeated in many other hatha or Nath texts onwards from the 10th century AD on.

In the Baghavad Gita we find in chapter 6, verse 13-14:

Let him firmly hold the body, head and neck erect, and gazing on the tip of his nose, without looking around, let him sit, serene and fearless, established in the vow of celibacy, self-controlled and balanced, thinking of Me as the Supreme goal.

In the Taoist text The Secret of the Golden Flower we find:

The elephant position: the wife lies down in such a position that her face, breasts, stomach and thighs all touch the bed or carpet, and the husband, extending himself upon her, and bending himself like an elephant, with the small of the back much drawn in, works underneath her, and effects insertion [very gently into the vulva, withdrawing before the spasm to avoid ejaculating the semen].

While the eastern descriptions are mostly clear and direct, the bible is a bit more cryptic and needs some explanation. Let's have a look at the story of Samson and Delilah. Here's a summary generated by ChatGPT:

The story of Samson and Delilah is a biblical tale from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It revolves around Samson, a man of immense physical strength granted to him by God, and Delilah, a woman who is bribed by the Philistine rulers to discover the source of Samson's strength and weaken him.

Samson falls in love with Delilah, and she repeatedly tries to uncover the secret of his strength. After several failed attempts, Samson eventually reveals that his strength comes from his uncut hair, which is a symbol of his dedication to God. Delilah betrays him by having his hair cut while he sleeps. As a result, he loses his strength and is captured by the Philistines.

The Philistines blind Samson and imprison him, but his hair begins to grow back. In a final act of strength, Samson brings down the temple of the Philistine god Dagon, killing himself and many Philistines in the process.

The above is a codified story about semen retention. Samson's true strength does not come from his hair of course but from his abstinence and when he indulges in the pleasure of ejaculation with Delilah he loses his strength. As he starts retaining again (growing back his hair) he gets his strength back.

There are thousands of verses referring either directly or indirectly to semen retention in different religious and spiritual traditions all over the world. The one's presented here are just a few examples. The idea of semen retention or celibacy or the hostility towards masturbation because of ancient texts and ideas have shaped a lot of our culture over time. So why is ejaculation (especially during masturbation) so often depicted as sinful? Most men know how draining an ejaculation can be. The cliché of men falling asleep right after sex comes to mind. Especially people on the spiritual path, meaning those who are into meditation, yoga, prayer or similar forms of seeking a kind of spiritual satisfaction and fulfilment, experience a loss from the "divine" connection when ejaculating. It's a feeling of having lost all progress and being back on square one. Retaining gives many seekers a calm mind and high vitality, so there is clearly a physiological mechanism at work here that can have perceived spiritual consequences for many people. Now we add in a sense of shame and embarrassment around the whole topic and we get puritanism, which leads to even more confusion and neuroticism.

The practice of semen retention for spiritual seekers has stuck around up to this day and its benefits are well known in yogic communities, old and new, at least for those who experience the benefits. However, during the last decade, SR has gained a lot of attention among people of all walks looking for self-improvement or other benefits.

The Benefits of Semen Retention

In subs like r/Semenretention and r/NoFap you will find countless people (mostly beginners) reporting on the unbelievable benefits they experience during their abstinence, such as increased energy/vitality, personal magnetism, increased attraction from other people, especially women, and generally, increased happiness and joy.

The benefits seem magical, almost too good to be true. How can it be that such a simple practice can take someone from depression and anxiety to a confident, charismatic man who is always the life of the party wherever he goes? Little do they know this is only a tiny fraction of the full benefits of SR (more on that later).

Flatline

Most people experience the benefits after one week of SR, after which they often sharply decline. For some the benefits stay for a period of time after that initial week, but eventually that high also fizzles out. Others find it to be a bit of a rollercoaster with benefits waxing and waning but eventually disappearing for good. Now the disillusioned retainer tries to get that initial high back, like a junkie chasing the dragon only to be disappointed. This is called flatline, a state of low libido and mild depression, where all benefits are gone.

According to the r/Semenretention and r/NoFap doctrine, flatline is the result of addiction to masturbation and porn and the "damage" that has been done by those vices must be reversed through abstinence and "transmuting" the energy through creative outlets and hard work, such as working out.

The Truth about Semen Retention

Unfortunately, the dynamics of semen retention are not as easy as depicted in those dedicated subs. Being creative, working out etc., do little to get back the benefits that were once experienced by the now confused practitioners, although there are still valid reasons to engage in those worldly activities. The truth is that SR brings up trauma to the surface from the unconscious where it manifests as muscular and mental tension. This kind of tension acts as energetic blockages in the nervous system. You can imagine SR like opening a spring inside your pelvic floor. A spring of sexual energy that starts welling up, since there is no longer a physical outlet for that energy. But due to all the blockages in the body there will soon be no place for the energy to go and the pressure (tension) starts to rise. Soon you will be like a walking pressure cooker ready to burst at any time. If there is still no release the body starts to shut down energetically to protect itself and tries to release the energy through wet dreams.

There is no point in retaining if you're only making your life miserable. Self-torture has never benefited anyone. Rather we should be looking for the root cause of the issue. Whenever I've tried to explain these things in the subs mentioned above, I was met with hostility and people defending a system that clearly doesn't work. The blind following the blind. However, there were some individuals who heard the wake up call and realized their endeavor was a fool's errand.

How Everyone can get the Benefits of Semen Retention

So in order to get the full benefits of SR we need to get the energy flowing and clear out the clogged, rusty old piping in our body (nervous system) from our trauma. This will lead the energy higher up, out of the pelvic floor where the true benefits of SR start to come forth.

To do this we will have to release the majority our trauma and by releasing I mean getting it truly out of the system. There is only one legitimate way to do this, which is through the body's inherent tremor mechanism. TRE allows us to easily access this tremor mechanism and let the body take over and do all the work, while we lie down and surrender.

This trauma release process will take some time, usually several years of dedicated practice. During that time SR should not be practiced as it can bring up too much tension for the nervous system to handle. It can even hinder the process. In any case you should listen to your body, as it tells you what to do if you truly choose to listen and take a step around your conditioning and dogma you've learned.

What about yoga and meditation? Have you ever wondered why some people experience so many benefits with meditation and blissful states while it doesn't work at all for others? The difference between those groups of people is the amount of trauma they carry. If you have sufficiently little trauma in your system, these practices will work to release the remaining trauma and experience the benefits. Unsurprisingly, you might experience involuntary movements during those practices just as with TRE.

The True Benefits of SR

The benefits of SR go far beyond the ones already mentioned above. SR coupled with true spiritual practice such as meditation and pranayama will lead to unending, full body ecstatic bliss. A never ending orgasm 24/7, peace and happiness beyond comprehension. Things like magnetism and charisma will still be there and even stronger than before, although you probably won't care about them anymore.

There will be no conflict of interests when it comes to relationships, because you can now effortlessly orgasm without ejaculating and experience no loss of energy. On the contrary, you will gain even more energy through sex.

If you're in flatline and feel hopeless right now, don't worry. I've been in this exact same position. Then I discovered TRE and kept at it for many years until most of my trauma was gone. It's a lot of work for sure and much dedication is needed, but nothing in life will ever be more rewarding than the work of getting rid of your trauma. Your reward will be a life free of anxiety and depression. Presence, joy and peace will come naturally and effortlessly. But most importantly it's the ticket to true spiritual practice that will lead us to eternal freedom.

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Welcome to r/longtermTRE! This is a Subreddit for all practitioners of Dr. David Berceli's Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) or those interested in it. It's especially intended for discussing the benefits and happenings in and out of practice and life in general towards the goal of releasing all or nearly all trauma from the body and mind. Also, the connection to other somatic modalities or meditation is very welcome. Please take the time the carefully read through the this whole post before posting in the sub.

What is TRE?

TRE stands for Trauma Release Exercises. It is a simple set of exercises intended to fatigue the leg muscles to induce shaking. Once the shaking starts it takes on a life of its own and with time will move through the body and release tension by literally shaking it out of the muscles. After a few weeks of regular exercise the muscles no longer need to be fatigued to start the shaking. Lying down and setting an intention to shake will start the tremors. For a general overview please visit: https://traumaprevention.com/

How does TRE work?

There are a few fundamental, axiomatic truths that need to be understood in order for us to realize what TRE really is and where it will lead us eventually. Although still controversial, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows that these axioms are true.

The first axiom is that every human nervous system is capable of feeling pleasurable (orgasmic) and fully relaxed 24/7 in the absence of actual threats.

This is the natural state of the nervous system. In the case of threats the sympathetic branch kicks in and prepares our body for fight, flight or freeze, thereby increasing our chance of survival. When the threat is over, the nervous system calms down again and goes into parasympathetic activity, fully restoring relaxation.

The second axiom is that the nervous system is like a container that "stores trauma", when it fails to release the trauma right after its occurrence. Also, the more trauma is stored in the nervous system the more dysfunctional it becomes and the more it deviates from the healthy, ideal nervous system as described in the first axiom.

Mammals evolved to have the tremor mechanism that we use in TRE to shake off the impacts of a stressful situation, say a gazelle shaking vigorously after having successfully escaped a tiger. The shaking "resets" the nervous system and restores the parasympathetic state. The gazelle then goes back to its gazelle business as if nothing ever happened. This is the reason why animals rarely get PTSD in nature.

When David Berceli used to live in war-torn regions of the Middle East and Africa, he observed that during bombings, while they were sitting in bomb shelters, that children would start to tremor and shake. But as soon as the bombing was over and their bodies were done shaking, they would go back to playing with each other as if nothing happened just like the gazelle in the above example. He also observed that only children would do this, not the adults. He claims that as we grow into adolescence we become socially conditioned to suppress the shaking, mostly out of embarrassment. I think this is true, but there are more (unknown) reasons to it.

However, when this tremor mechanism is suppressed for any reason, the nervous system is unable to release the trauma and it gets "stuck". Dr. Peter Levine, who also discovered the great benefits of involuntary tremors, thinks of it as the nervous system mobilizing sympathetic energy for an imminent threat, that gets stored in the nervous system if the victim is unable to express this energy in any way, say fight or flight. This is very often the case with victims of child abuse. The child is exposed to a great threat in the form of a physically much stronger adult and so the nervous system reacts with the freeze response and the mind dissociates to escape the painful situation. This form of trauma is extremely damaging to the overall well-being of the victim, because it seems the tremor mechanism does not (properly) engage in these situations and there is a lot of sympathetic energy that gets stuck and together with all the painful feelings and emotions gets buried into the unconscious mind eventually. This is part of why I don't think the absence of involuntary tremors in the face of threats is only due to social conditioning. The freeze response has been proven by Dr. Stephen Porges to be also very damaging to animals, even lethal in some cases.

This is an extreme form of trauma, but one that is unfortunately, not uncommon. Now, since most adults don't experience involuntary tremors when experiencing a traumatic situation, it means the trauma will be stored in the nervous system. The traumatic event can be anything, even unpleasant events that we wouldn't necessarily consider traumatic. Most common events that clearly leave a mark on us are accidents, beings ridiculed in public situations, injuries, neglect, heart break, verbal abuse, facing punishment for not attaining goals, etc. A single one of those events might not be traumatizing on its own, but the effects compound with every event over our lifespan.

What about people who had mostly perfect lives and never really had any trauma, and yet still suffer from anxiety and/or depression? Contrary to popular belief, we are not blank slates when we are born. We already carry some of our trauma of our ancestors. Imagine all the suffering our ancestors have endured since the dawn of humanity. Manslaughter, slavery, rape, torture, environmental disasters, disease, etc. These events have left imprints in the DNA of our ancestors and were partially passed down all the way to you. This is where all sorts of character flaws, mental health and personality issues come from. They are all imprints into the mostly unconscious mind. Our characters and flaws are just as diverse as our inherited trauma pattern. Add the trauma we have experienced in our lives and we get the mess that is "life".

The third axiom is that the nervous system is able to release its stored trauma through the same process that prevents it from becoming stored in the first place.

The healing properties of the body's inherent tremor mechanism has been known to many cultures and traditions all over the world. Native Americans, Africans, Europeans and various eastern traditions. They have been mostly used in ceremonial or spiritual practices.

In the west, Wilhelm Reich was the first person to ever truly explore the somatic aspect of the relationship between relaxation and well-being. As far as I know he wasn't aware of the tremor mechanism, but he was well aware that other involuntary mechanisms such as crying were very beneficial and healing and helped bringing back the nervous system to relaxation and pleasure.

Regarding involuntary tremors, there were other people before David Berceli, such as Peter Levine, Alexander Lowen, and many others who noticed its healing properties and ability to release trauma. However, it was Berceli who designed the preliminary exercises to induce the tremors and use them directly to release trauma and restore balance in the nervous system. It is basically the essence of somatic therapy distilled into one single technique. The one technique that makes every other modality work.

Most people who start out with TRE experience a lot of benefits right from the first session which last for several months. It then settles down a bit and depending on one's trauma pattern, nasty stuff might come up from the unconscious depth below, which makes some people think they have been "retraumatized" by TRE, but in truth it was just the trauma coming into the conscious mind from the depth below. For others the progression looks more like going back to baseline well-being that is mostly okay, but no more than that. This leads those practitioners to give up as they believe they need some other modality to progress and get out of their current plateau.

What most people don't know is that the progress in TRE is like a bathtub curve: there's a lot of progress in the beginning and then there's seemingly an endless grind with little progression, but towards the end the tremors get quieter and increasingly pleasurable until they almost completely stop. To an outside person they may even seem imperceivable. At this stage there will be no more anxiety, depression, tension, etc. No more idiopathic symptoms and a state of spontaneous pleasure, joy and peace.

Although, there is a great grind in the middle for most people, it doesn't mean there is nothing happening. Quite the contrary, you are doing the hard work during that stage. Keep in mind though, the bathtub progress curve is just a generalization that approximates the reports of the average TRE practitioner. Progress can take any form.

This journey takes usually many years and many hundreds of hours of work, but it is possible and it is the ultimate reward. It is also the greatest service you can do to others. Becoming a more balanced, charismatic, and more compassionate human being.

TRE is no magic pill, but it truly is the holy grail of trauma release and every human being can complete the journey to freedom.

The Purpose of this Sub

TRE is an excellent method to release trauma which is stored as muscular tension in the body. The benefits can often be seen after the very first session. With the help of TRE, countless people were able to reclaim their body, release their traumas and get back to a life that is joyful and pleasurable, even though they still carry some small residual trauma and tension with them. However, few people realize that it is possible to completely get rid of all trauma and therefore anxiety, depression, OCD and many other mental illnesses. In later stages of TRE it may not be obvious that progress is happening. At some point, the body will only tremor very very lightly and it feels as if a pleasurable current runs from the pelvis through the core of the body. This is the end stage of TRE and when we get there, we are completely free of trauma, anxiety and depression!

The idea of this sub is therefore, to discuss our way to that goal, how we progress, challenges that come up and tips and tricks that we may discover. It doesn't matter if you just started or if you're already a TRE veteran. This sub is for everyone, so feel free to post at any stage. Regardless whether you want to ask questions or tell us your experience, etc.

Resources for Getting Started

-----------------Please read the Practice Guide first!!!---------------

For people with heavy trauma it is recommended to seek out a certified TRE provider. If you feel healthy enough to do the exercises on your own you can find the video instructions on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeUioDuJjFI

If you suffer from PTSD or have a history of severe trauma please check out the following video before starting with TRE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh6OWHOENo8

• Free TRE Online Course (no longer free)

• Practice Tracker

• TRE Discord

• Trauma Work and Spirituality Part 1

• Trauma Work and Spirituality Part 2

• Trauma Work and Spirituality Part 3

I recommend watching the below videos. They will give you a solid overview over TRE.

• Activating the tremors with only two exercises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn167HCE6nk

• The Value of TRE for Chronic Fatigue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGYA8RCHxiI

• TRE For Emotional Release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf7wItvU5lY

• Interesting Interview with David Berceli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phWWL6XlcDU

• Podcast with David Berceli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0t8Frws4dU&t=3094s

• Intense Trauma Release Experience During TRE - Another Interesting Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14VF0SwKqW0

Reports of completed trauma release journeys:

• Paradoxbuilder's story

Podcasts:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPYUbqEmhMw

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2kEhjNmSMA

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g31yiH_EC8Q

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0t8Frws4dU

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f8VCpzy_fo

Other Resources:

Four year account: https://trejournal.com/download/ (after opening the link, right click on download link -> save link as)

For those interested in semen retention

This has changed my life entirely. This is making me realize that I do have CPTSD, have been in fight/flight/freeze/fawn, and have indeed been dysregulated all of my life. I'm trying to tell people in my life and though they are happy for me, I don't think they understand the magnitude of this.

All of my life, I've been an exhausted, anxious, neurotic, people-pleasing mess who would beat herself up for not being able to keep up with everyone else. I always KNEW there was something wrong with me and after being unable to find the answers, I believed it was my fault. As I grew up I reluctantly accepted that it was who I am and that no amount of exercise, meditation, medications, affirmations, or therapy could fix this. I've had multiple mental diagnoses throughout the years, from Bipolar to BPD to ADHD. Some sort of made sense but I knew it wasn't quite right. I've been in therapy for 10 years now, tried psychedelics, tried numerous medications - tried what felt like everything.

I have always had this sense of urgency mixed with deeply rooted shame. Running around, trying to prevent this unknown deadly threat that was roaming just around the corner. Switching jobs, partners, hobbies, addictions, never being satisfied, always having breakdowns, and beating myself up for being so chaotic. It's just enough to make someone go crazy. I am shocked I have made it to 26 years old, to be very honest. Then someone recommended this subreddit to me. You can say what you want about Reddit, but sometimes it really does come through.

My mind is quiet.

For the first time in forever, I don't have this painful tension in my shoulders. I took a walk today and felt like I was part of the world and I realize that I had actually come out from my dissociative haze, which seems to have been my go-to for while now. It sort of freaked me out, honestly. I felt I had just "spawned in". Also turns out, when you let your body know that you aren't in danger and there is no imminent threat, your whole perception of life changes. My usual pessimistic, distant, angry, and paranoid outlook took the day off. I felt peaceful, light, curious, and playfulness in my heart. I feel solid right now, which coming from someone who can't make a decision to save her life and relentlessly doubt herself is a new pleasant sensation.

I smiled today. I genuinely fucking smiled today because my body felt like it. This honestly makes me want to cry. I felt like a kid today and goddamn, it feels good. All the upcoming worries about my future are still there but they aren't tormenting me in an infernal loop right now. As strange as it sounds, it feels like falling in love? My food tastes better, I can feel sensations in my body that I didn't know were there, I can observe my thoughts calmly; I can actually slow down.

I'm not saying I'm cured, I've only been doing this for over a month now. I'm not saying this has or will fix me. But I know it's possible to be this way now and THAT changes EVERYTHING for me. I also know everyone reacts differently to this, but it seems to work for me. I am genuinely feeling hopeful again, even if TRE helps me improve my anxiety by 5%, I'll gladly take it.

I feel like a person; a whole person. I also feel deep compassion and love toward myself because I didn't realize how much I have been suffering. I finally get why people have been so puzzled whenever I would talk about my intense problems and my inability to solve them. I know I'm a logical, reasonable person but my whole nervous system has been so out of whack that it was too loud to ever truly listen or hear what I had to say- or even understand how I got myself there in the first place.

I have been thinking a lot today actually. Just taking an honest look at my life and it's so clear now why certain elements in my life don't fulfill me. I know very well I don't like my job, but I couldn't pinpoint why up until today. I also realized that I have been agonizing over what certain people in my friend group thought of me but I just realized, even though I like them, I actually don't have a lot in common with them. It doesn’t matter. I can actually observe my life right now without judgment, panic, or shame and well, that's a very new and strange sensation.

I'm slowly realizing that I think I might have been a bunch of trauma symptoms stacked on top of each other in a trench coat, posing as an adult woman. Sure, there are probably some aspects of it that are truly "me", but honestly, I am realizing I really don't know who I am right now...but I'm excited to find out. I know this is cheesy to say, but I feel I've been given a second chance.

So thank you, all of you. This means the world to me.

Edit: grammar /

I came across this.

And holy shit. I'm mind blown.

I'm constantly thinking that people out there are keeping scores and having some kind of report card on me and I always need to be in their good books.

I oscillate between extreme people pleasing or completely check out like an asshole.

No in between.

Even when people adore me, back in my mind it's always "let's see how long this lasts" 💔 never truly enjoying the love shown towards me.

My TRE journey has slowly been making me peel away layers.

I'm now able to somewhat resolve conflicts instead of either just people pleasing or running away completely.

I (34F) started TRE around 6 weeks ago and it has already fundamentally changed my life. I have c-ptsd and before TRE have been on a healing journey for past few years. I do yoga almost daily, I’ve done therapy, biodynamic massage, journaling and I’ve had some pretty huge realisations.

But now that I’ve started TRE, I’ve realised that I was still stuck in survival mode, dissociating a lot, moving from fight/flight to freeze. I’d never enjoy meeting friends or anything really.

Since starting TRE I am not really dissociating anymore, I’m so much more present and grounded. I cannot begin to explain how big of a change this is. To actually sit with people and be grounded and present and not have social anxiety.

I’ve always wanted to do a big trip away but before TRE I was just too nervous of a long flight and going somewhere very different but now I’ve just booked a 4 week trip to south east Asia. I truly believe this is all down to TRE.

Edit to add more detail - I did a TRE workshop at a local studio, where a practitioner took us through all the exercises. I then just did it at home myself. I do it for 15 minutes almost daily. I will say again that I started my healing journey a few years ago so I’m very aware of my trauma and issues and so I feel confident doing it on my own. I also practice yoga daily, yin and vinyasa.

Made this account to stay anonymous.

I grew up in the Middle East in a strict religious family. We didn’t have much money, and most of my early life was about getting by. There were things going on at home and in my environment that I didn’t really understand at the time. I was sexually abused twice. I didn’t deal with it back then and just moved on as best I could.

I did well in school and was very religious growing up. Around my mid-teens, I started questioning things and reading philosophy. Over time, I stopped believing in religion altogether. That shift left me pretty lost.

By 17, I was working full-time while studying and supporting myself financially, and also helping my family. I stayed in survival mode for years. During that time, I dealt with ongoing depression, anxiety, ADHD symptoms, body image issues, and frequent suicidal thoughts. I attempted suicide twice but didn’t go through with it.

I relied on different distractions to cope, but none of it addressed the underlying issues.

Later on, I got into meditation and different philosophical and spiritual ideas. They helped me understand things intellectually, but they didn’t change how I felt day to day.

At the end of 2023, I came across TRE and decided to try it. For the first couple of weeks, nothing happened. Then one session, my body started shaking on its own. After that, my sleep improved significantly, and I noticed a shift.

I read more about TRE, found this subreddit, and eventually got some guidance. For a few months, I felt stable and clear. After that, a lot of old stuff resurfaced—memories, emotions, and suicidal thoughts. It wasn’t pleasant, but I kept going.

Over time, the symptoms I’d dealt with for years reduced or disappeared. My mood stabilized, anxiety dropped, and the compulsive behaviors I struggled with faded without much effort. My relationship with my parents also changed as I saw them more realistically.

Right now, my life is fairly calm. I have a good job, a stable relationship, and more mental space than I used to. What helped most was combining TRE with Yoga Nidra, which made the process smoother for me.

I still have existential thoughts, but they don’t dominate my life anymore. Things feel manageable, and I’m more present than I used to be.

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TRE is an extremely potent modality that uses the nervous system's inherent ability to tremor and shake to release both the chronic muscular tension and the trauma causing it. Because it so powerful, it is extremely important to familiarize yourself with the practice before diving into it. Also, I highly recommend reading Dr. David Berceli's books on TRE, as they provide a lot of valuable information for your journey. Please read this guide through before taking up your practice.

If you suffer from heavy trauma such as PTSD, seek out a certified TRE practitioner first before starting the practice on your own. The first sessions can be unpredictable and it is advisable to have an experienced TRE practitioner supervising the exercises.

How to get started? If you haven't already, please read the Beginner's Section first and watch the videos. This will give you a great overview of the practice itself and detailed instructions on how to perform the exercise.

Do I have to do all the exercises before tremoring?

Only in the beginning. The warm up exercises such as the wall sit are designed to tire your muscles to get them to shake. In the beginning, when lying down and trying to tremor, it may feel like your muscles only tremor because they have been tired by the preliminary exercises. But after no more than a couple of weeks, you won't have to do the exercises anymore, just lying down and lifting the knees with the intention to tremor is enough to let the body to take over with the involuntary tremors.

People with strong bodies who already do a lot of exercise and weight lifting might find it more difficult to get the tremors started. If that's the case, try the full set of TRE exercises after a good leg workout and increase the duration of the wall sit to the maximum duration you are able to hold.

Is there a way to guide the tremors to certain body parts?

Some people find that certain modifications in their body posture change the tremors and sometimes lead them to other body parts. However, this is not necessary as the nervous system guides the tremors in every way (frequency, amplitude and location) as needed. There might be some days where you may wish your body tremoring in a different way to get release in certain tight spots. In that case patience is advised. Always practice with a mindset of surrender. Assume your tremor pose and let your body do the work. It knows what to do and how to heal itself best and it will eventually get to all body parts that need release. It is extremely important for the effectiveness of TRE to completely relax as much as possible during the session. Many people unconsciously tense their body in some way, especially in the beginning, which inhibits effective tremoring and trauma release. Therefore, remind yourself constantly throughout the session to relax and let the tremors do their thing.

For how long and how often should I tremor?

TRE works by bringing up trauma from beneath the surface to dissipate its energy. When TRE is done correctly and for not too long, there is a constant stream of trauma bubbling up while being released effectively. Therefore, we don't usually notice any negative side effects of the trauma that is being brought up since it's released at the same time. When we practice for too long and too often, the trauma that is being surfaced, accumulates in the nervous system because it cannot be released fast enough. At the same time the nervous system gets overburdened and its ability to release trauma decreases significantly, which only worsens the nervous system's health.

There is an optimum practice duration which depends on the state of our nervous system as well as the amount of trauma we carry. For beginners without a history of strong trauma, it is recommended to start with 15 minutes every other day for a few weeks. Once you feel you get the hang of it and the practice feels good and safe, you can increase it slowly in frequency and duration. Over the span of several months you should be able to safely reach a duration of 30 minutes daily. You can go even beyond 30 minutes if you so whish, just make sure to look out for signs of negative side effects.

In some cases it may be possible that we may feel worse when we reduce our session time. This is often the case when we feel unsatisfied after a session and feel like there's much more tension we would like to release. In that case it might be that tremoring for longer increases our well-being and alleviates negative side effects. Still, the above recommendation to only increase session time in small increments applies.

Doing several sessions over the day is also a possibility and it tends to be less straining than doing the same time all in one session. For example, doing 15 minutes twice a day, e.g. in the morning and before bed is often more beneficial and integrates easier than doing just one long session of 30 minutes.

It can also be very beneficial to take a longer break of a week or two several times a year. This resting period can serve as a good way to integrate the trauma release and let the nervous system acclimatize to the new energy available. Also, experimenting with the interval between sessions can make an enormous difference in how we release trauma and how we feel in daily life.

My body feels shaky sometimes during the day. Should I suppress these tremors?

It's quite common for TRE practitioners to feel the body wanting to shake outside of practice. Although it can be a bit frightening or annoying, there's nothing to be worried about. If you don't mind, let the body do its thing or suppress it if you are in a social setting and worry about alienating others. These tremors usually subside after the first few weeks.

How do I know if I'm making progress?

See this post.

What do I do if I overdid TRE?

Overdoing TRE can cause anxiety, irritability and many and other negative side effects especially if excessively done for long periods of time. Other common symptoms of overdoing are headaches, strong tension in various body parts or all over the body, digestive problems, prolonged lethargy, emotional instability, mood swings or constant bad mood, etc. If you feel like you overdid it, stop the practice immediately until your state improves. This can take several weeks. Then reintroduce TRE for a short amount of time every other day and see how it goes. To test the waters stay below a minute and see where it takes you. Keep in mind that side effects can have significant delays, so don't judge right after your session is done. Always listen to your body. Only increase practice duration in small increments. Also, be careful when doing other modalities in parallel. Especially breathwork and Bio Energetics can put a great burden on the nervous system that is trying to heal. On the other hand there are other modalities to manage trauma during difficult times, even though they don't actually release trauma.

Is there and end to TRE?

Before TRE there was no modality with the promise to heal completely from trauma. The methods were given to people to manage their symptoms and they were told to do them for the rest of their lives. TRE, however, actually releases trauma, no matter the state of the nervous system, which means at some point there will be no more trauma left. As we progress on our TRE journey, our body starts to feel more and more pleasurable and the tremors decrease over time. At some point the tremors will be very subtle and it will feel like a pleasurable, warm current flows through our body. At this point equilibrium is restored in the nervous system and there will be no more irrational anxiety or chronic tension in the body. Not only that, but a very pleasant background of mild joy and pleasure will become our constant companion. The mind is more alert, clear and there is much less noise and chatter. Our trauma is finally gone.

How long will it take to release all trauma?

The time until the end goal of TRE is reached strongly depends on the practitioner's state of the nervous system and their traumatic load. It can range from a few months to many years. Dr. Eric Robins gives a good estimate of about 1%-2% release per month on average, which gives us a time frame of about 4 - 8 years.

The biggest thing that is happening is that I am rapidly outgrowing certain friendships, and am becoming more unapologetic with my decisions and standards. I still deal with guilt and shame but that’s a whole different conversation.

I’ve been practicing TRE consistently for the past 12.5 months, and something has shifted recently that I didn’t expect. It feels like the emotional walls I’ve built around myself, over years of survival mode, are starting to crack. It’s subtle but profound. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve been having internal arguments, sometimes during TRE sessions, but often outside of them too. It’s like old, buried emotions are surfacing, and my mind is finally giving them space. I find myself arguing with voices from my past, family, authority figures, even myself. It sounds chaotic, but in a way, it feels like progress, like I’m finally confronting the things I’ve kept locked away. Sometimes I get aware of this happening mid-argument. When by myself I just all of a sudden blurt something out very passionately. Luckily this only happens when I am alone, otherwise people might think I'm going crazy.

A recent example really caught me off guard. I was having dinner with friends, and they made a light joke about some aspects of my 'lifestyle' that is actually a deeply ingrained trauma/survival response. In the past I handled this by using self-deprecating humor or just invalidate myself alongside them just hoping it would blow over and the attention would go to someone else. It was like something took me over, I asserted myself, honestly and again quite passionately, about where I’m at, what I’m working through, and why I’m not living life the way others expect. It felt like something inside me took over, not in a bad way, but like the real me finally had space to speak. It was powerful, unexpected, and honestly, a little overwhelming. But afterward, I felt a strange kind of peace, like I’d crossed an invisible barrier I didn’t know I could.

TRE hasn’t been a linear path for me. For months, I felt like nothing significant was happening. But looking back, I realise those quiet sessions were softening the edges, loosening the walls I built so tightly around myself.

For anyone who’s deep in the TRE journey and feels stuck or like nothing is moving, this shift didn’t happen overnight, and I didn’t see it coming. But when it did, it was undeniable.

Hello everyone, it’s been 3 years for me already, time just flies. I wanted to share my progression with all of you. It was surprisingly difficult to think back to how life used to be and write it down. After you let go of things, you don’t pay them much mind anymore.

Baseline (Before TRE)

Looking back, I never considered myself traumatized or depressed, but my baseline was anything but enjoyable.

I used to be in poor health and had, and still have, the tendency to try to figure things out on my own using my own logic and tunnelvision. I managed to get to a better place physically, but despite no longer being sick and in constant pain, the fears I had accumulated stayed with me. No matter how much I tried to tackle my “mental” issues with my mind, I couldn’t penetrate them. Like a videotape set on repeat, certain situations would trigger my fears.

I was emotionally numb. I had very little nuance in how I felt. Expressing emotions was another fear of mine, something that even showed up in my dreams. I could only distinguish between feeling “good” or “bad.”

All I wanted was to avoid bad feelings, and I built my life around that as much as possible, avoiding social responsibilities, conflict, work, school, etc. I worried about the future and the past, constantly overthinking whatever came to mind. I was driven by fear. Fear and anxiety were the background I lived in.

In some ways, I had given up on fundamentally changing, it just seemed impossible. I was trying a lot of things, but nothing really moved the needle. I felt stuck.

I remember sitting on a friend’s couch once. He told me I looked very tense and that I should “just relax bro”. I told him that I thought I was relaxed. In reality, I had no reference for what relaxed even feels like.

I also had frequent brain fog and poor sleep. My one big crutch was video games. I can’t really judge myself for it, any escape from reality was welcome at the time.

Discovering TRE

Thinking back, it was pure coincidence that I came across TRE. I was getting sick of all the tension strangling me and ruining my sleep. I found some TRE videos on YouTube and was intrigued. It looked funny/weird, and although I was skeptical, I wanted to see for myself. Your experience is your truth after all. If it works for animals in the wild, it should work for me too, right?

I did my first few sessions alone at home. Nothing major happened, but I could tell I was more relaxed afterwards. Then I stumbled across this subreddit. Without it, I probably wouldn’t have committed to the longterm approach. Knowing that it can take a long time and what kind of state of being could be on the other side really captured me. The connection to energy work and spiritual practices also made me curious.
Big thanks to u/Nadayogi

Year 1

In the first year, I had a very strict practice of 20–30 minutes every day. I had strong ups and downs quite frequently. My emotions started unlocking. I could feel joy, sadness and, to my surprise, quite a lot of anger. Anger was very new to me. I had probably suppressed it my whole life.

The tremors were mostly in my hips and would wiggle up the spine, loosening the rest of the body. I also had spontaneous tremors outside of practice and allowed them as best as I could. Sometimes they happened at night or in dreams. It was hard to tell if I was dreaming or actually tremoring in my sleep.

I was very fear driven and wanted everything out as fast as possible. I tried different things to speed it up, but most of them fell away over time.

I had the mindset of “I can’t live my life until I’ve released all my trauma” and I constantly felt behind. No matter how much I did, it never felt like enough.

After a few months I had to travel by plane. I had always been terribly afraid of flying and expected the same reaction again. But while I was a bit nervous before, I was completely relaxed during the entire flight, which was 11 hours. That’s when I realized that maybe I could dissolve my other irrational fears too.

Year 2

In the second year, I felt much less urgency and had better emotional awareness. My sessions dropped to 10–20 minutes every other day. Less bruteforcing, more awareness.

I also started to understand what it meant to surrender to the process. Water can’t flow if you keep your hand on the lid.

I was still avoidant of social situations, and even though I wanted that to change this first, it persisted.

At the end of that year, I had an appendix surgery and a difficult recovery. It was in the middle of winter. I remember being unsure about tremoring after the operation because of the wounds, but the impulse to shake was definitely there as soon as I woke up. I tried to tremor as gently as possible with inflicting minimal pain.

The pain in the scar tissue stayed for quite a while, and my session time dropped to around 5 minutes every other day, sometimes with longer breaks. My body felt extremely tense again.

A few months later, a friend randomly invited me to jump into a nearby river as a challenge. It was still cold/snowy. I wasn’t in a great place mentally and physically, but still open to stupid/fun ideas, so I joined. I knew cold showers were beneficial, but this was something new for me.

When we got there, I couldn’t get into the water. It felt like facing your fear of death. But I did the next best thing and poured river water over myself with a bottle. I was standing in that freezing river, in a forest, with a few rays of sunlight hitting me, and I started laughing. I had never felt that alive or joyful before.

Year 3

Cold exposure became my all-around support tool. A short dip would leave me feeling content, energized and physically more relaxed for the rest of the day. It became a near-daily part of my routine.

I experimented a bit and found that cold exposure around sunrise, noon or sunset worked best. Doing cold before TRE didn’t work well for me, because the shivering reflex interfered with the release. But TRE followed by cold, then movement or stretching, worked best.

Since I still had some pain from the surgery and could only tremor very little, I focused more on reconnecting with nature. I spent time outside in the forest, often grounded, and got plenty of sun. Avoiding Technology.

From there, things started to flow smoothly. Life became less about working on myself and more about actually living.

I felt more confident, and my mind gradually became quieter. Sometimes I would feel random joy while walking, or a light sense of bliss. One by one, long held fears started to dissolve.

Social anxiety disappeared, and my fear of conflict faded as well.

I even went on my first date (I’m 28m) and had a great time. In the past, I would have been anxious for weeks beforehand. This time, I was only slightly nervous a few minutes before she arrived, which is normal I think.

At this point, my TRE sessions were usually 5–10 minutes, as the tremors would naturally stop after that and I would feel nice and relaxed.

I only had one or two bigger releases throughout the years. One was around the rib cage, and very recently I had a release during sleep, where the muscles around my neck and the atlas bone were tremoring. My neck had been twisting and stretching for up to a year already. It’s interesting to catch the body working things out on its own when you’re not paying attention.

Present

Life is good. My body feels like one whole instead of separate parts. Most of my chronic tension is gone, and what remains does not bother me on a daily basis.

I recover quickly from stress, and situations that used to overwhelm me now feel normal. As far as I can tell, all irrational anxiety is gone.

My mind is much quieter, with less noise and fewer fluctuations. I can feel and express a full range of emotions.

I’m comfortable with myself and no longer driven by the need for approval. I can face conflict and stand by my truth.

That light sense of bliss is now a fairly constant background state. Overall, I feel freer in my choices and less like a repeating script of anxiety trying to avoid life.

To my past self and the reader

Stay consistent with your practice and intention. Walk your own path of letting go of fear and uncover who you are beyond the mountain of trauma that binds your view. Connect with nature as a source of vitality and trust your body to take care of the rest.

Try not to obsess over where your trauma comes from or what it means. You are already in the process of letting it go.

I have lots of experience with trauma healing using EMDR + somatic awareness (just sitting and observing your body sensations and feelings letting them dissolve) and recently started TRE.

I found out TRE is very taxing and quickly got insomnia and tiredness next day, but... the day when TRE "hangover" hit me with no energy to do anything I just basically sat down to do somatic awareness - I just observed in silence energy flowing in my body for an hour or two and tiredness was gone!

I did some research and applied existing trauma knowledge and developed a theory that what TRE basically does is it stirs up the dormant energy in nervous system, the energy that was stuck gets activated and flows which explains insomnia and tiredness. Normally it dissolves over the next couple of days by itself while doing normal activities. But... if you just sit down and observe you can help it dissolve faster.

What that means is that if you incorporate somatic awareness into the regimen you can basically work out a loop: TRE -> energy gets activated -> somatic awareness to dissolve it -> more TRE possible with no side effects as those side effects are created by an overflow of the energy. This is also noticed by people on this sub who mentioned that adding yoga nidra helps with the side effects.

I will be testing this theory over next weeks and will post an update.

Hi everybody. I made these graphs to explain how I understand the Tre process, please let me know if I got something wrong. The texts are made with help of ChatGpt. Of course the stages are not 100% accurate and vary from person to person. Also some of the terms are different in this sub

Hello,

First of all, I'd like to thank contributors of that sub and especially u/Nadayogi for his great work on the wiki which is really a gold mine for beginners.

This post is just about sharing my impression about TRE which sometimes feels like an absolute cheat code for therapy. I have only gone through several session for like 2 months (with several weeks pause in between, I think I overdid it at the beginning, it took me some times to regulate) but man, this stuff produces so much change in myself that it is barely believable.

I mean, we sometimes spend months, if not years in talk therapy, we try to reach the emotional catharsis we think we need to release all that stuff in our head that makes our life a misery. Even other bottom-up approaches such as Somatic Experiencing or IFS have protocol that a practitioner needs to guide you on in order to reach the physiological release you need to help yourself. It take so much efforts and time.

And then, there is David Barceli, who just gave you like stretching exercises you can do in less than 30 min, practically everyone can do it and it can release so much stuff, and you can do it on your own at home. I mean, to me it really feels like the absolute cheat code of all things. It is so simple and so basic that I just wonder why that kind of stuff has not been discovered before by others populations, other cultures such as the yogis, Egyptians, Mayans, etc...

Does someone feel the same about these techniques?

I was strolling through my city today. Having a coffe, read my book for a while and then went enjoying the park around the corner. And as I was sitting and taking in my surroundings I realised I was not listening to music or distracting myself in any way. I was just existing. I didn't have any thoughts or worries or anythings. I don't think this ever happened before in my life. Even after all the progress I made in my healing. This level of serenity and peace in my mind and my body didn't happen until I discovered TRE.

I'm so grateful for rediscovering my body-mind this way. And for this community. All the sharing of experiences and questions.

I've only been doing this for a few months. Can't imagine what life will be like in a year.

I started trauma work (including TRE) to heal from constant hypervigilance and chronic fight-flight / sympathetic dominance that were caused by a major trauma four years ago, as well as a lifetime of repressed emotions.

When I started this journey — and also now — I’ve been doing trauma work consistently. At the moment mostly TRE and allowing, but before that also EMDR, limbic retraining and Somatic Experiencing.

For most of my journey up til now, I’ve been doing this work to get rid of the main symptoms: hypervigilance, chronic fight-flight, and that constant underlying tension.

But the last week, I’m noticing something shift. I can increasingly let go of the urge to constantly fix my symptoms. And instead, I’m seeing that the real trauma processing is showing up in much more subtle ways, like:

• being able to say no

• not feeling ashamed of my body

• being content the way I am

• a deepening spiritual life

• being less defensive

• being more able to have heart-to-heart conversations with my wife and other people

• more aware of my body and emotions

…and the list goes on.

So the funny thing is: I started (and am still doing) TRE to get rid of the main trauma symptoms. But the biggest gains — the real “treasure” — are actually these quieter, more subtle shifts in how I relate to myself and others.

I really really hope for myself that I can continue to let go of this constant urge to fix my trauma, sympathetic dominance and hypervigilance and instead open myself up to all the beautiful things I’m learning and growing during this journey.

I felt the need to make this a post instead of comment in the monthly thread just due to the huge strides I feel I’ve made in the last six months or so and given the recent influx of people visiting the sub. Will probably make another post at 3 years.

For those not familiar with my posts, I’ve been documenting my recovery with TRE after getting wrecked by taking an SSRI.

I truly feel like I’ve hit the tipping point in my healing process. All these months have added up and I really feel like I am recovering.

Most importantly, I genuinely feel good in my body lately. When I first started, I felt horrible all the time, 24/7, like I wanted to jump out of my skin. That feeling is completely gone. I don’t necessarily feel ecstasy all the time, as seems to be mentioned late in the journey, but I can see myself getting to a point where I feel close to that eventually. This is just incredible because I really cannot begin to express how truly horrible I used to feel.

When you’ve felt so bad for so long, feeling even just normal truly feels so good.

I also am beginning to notice what I believe to be spontaneous fascial unwinding though I’m not sure? It generally feels like a muscle weirdly pulsing somewhere that I have no control over. I had a day where it was deep in my face muscles. I think I saw a comment in here about fascial unwinding in the fascia of the brain and skull, and I swear I had this a few times – felt SO weird. One time it happened I legit thought I was gonna need to go to the hospital because I felt so strange.

I also made the decision to try block therapy, based off Dr. Robins’ experience, as I felt some areas of tension in my abdomen I felt just were not releasing. To be honest, since starting I believe I’ve had some solid gains in energy levels. My energy levels have been improving over time just with TRE (used to barely even be able to go on a walk) but as of late I’ve noticed huge improvements in my activity tolerance with everything I’ve been doing. I haven’t been doing it for that long so I’ll give it a trial of a few months. It sure does feel good and is kind of addicting. Doing any of the block on the face puts me right to sleep.

I have also continued to do anger release exercises. A lot of times it’s like I’m doing TRE just angry but it sure works. I feel like this has been a core aspect of my improvement lately. I just did not realize how much I was repressing constantly, all the time. Cannot recommend incorporating this enough if you’re someone like me who has issues with saying no, setting boundaries, scared of making someone upset, scared of getting in trouble, have control issues, or feel like you are too nice all the time. It’s time to drop those toxic people pleasing habits.

After starting the anger release exercises, I no longer needed antihistamines. I used to have bad spring allergies and get exercise induced histamine reactions. Even going on a walk after not taking an antihistamine for a few days would result in unbearable itching. Last time I had this was in January before starting the anger releases. I now haven’t taken them in almost 3 months? And I’ve not had any reactions. I still occasionally sneeze outside but have little to no congestion. This is crazy because I’ve suffered from hay fever my entire life. I’ve been taking antihistamines almost year round since I was in high school. I was previously having improvement earlier in my TRE journey, I predicted I would no longer need them because I was only needing them in the spring last year or for the exercise reactions. Guess that prediction came true.

Other various issues with improvements:

Brain fog: hugely improved. I can sit and focus and process quickly in ways I struggled with greatly for the last four years. My creativity is not entirely returned but also hugely improved. I would say this is 75% back to normal?

Metabolic issues: huge improvement. Basically resolved? I can eat carb heavy meals now and then now and not feel awful. No more morning “sugar crash” feeling when I wake up.

Activity intolerance: I feel myself motivated to go on walks or exercise more than I have in years. I don’t crash or have brain fog after. 2.5 years ago just going on a short walk would mess me up. Crazy. I still can’t do heavy exercise or weight lifting, but I’m optimistic this will come in time.

GI issues: also greatly resolving. I no longer feel that chronically inflamed feeling deep in my intestines that used to drive me nuts. Stools are pretty much always solid but still kinda look strange. This will probably take another year or two to completely resolve. Also having way less gas.

Tinnitus: still there but still a fraction of the worst of it. If a 10 was the worst, it’s now a 3 maybe. Also pretty optimistic about this resolving entirely as my nervous system continues to calm. I really feel like it was connected to how irritated my body was and as that improves the tinnitus does too.

Histamine problems: basically gone as discussed above.

Depression/anxiety: I still get mild anxiety but not like, abnormal amounts like I used to. Still no depression. Completely off SSRIs almost one year now.

Pelvic floor pain: I no longer have any pain however I still have issues getting my left glute to fire. Work in progress.

My TRE practice is still intermittent. My goal is to do at least 15 minutes a day but that’s variable on my schedule. Sometimes more sometimes even none.

I will also include the list of other things I attempted in my healing journey that I don’t think was helpful as this always seems to come up and I think helps people see how effective TRE is vs everything else that is so futile:

fecal matter transplants, all kinds of supplements and megadosing of various supplements, dietary changes (keto, carnivore, etc), dry fasting, talk therapy and CBT, multiple health guru protocols (usually also involved some sort of megadosing), ice baths/Wim Hof breathing exercises, hyperbaric oxygen, neurofeedback, EMDR and IFS (mildly helpful prior to TRE), Gupta method (you cannot out-think a messed up nervous system!!!), meditation (now is helpful but was not prior to TRE by itself), bilateral stellate ganglion block shots, mushrooms, LSD, functional neurologist, vagus nerve stimulation, red light therapy, peptide therapy

Other things that HAVE helped in various ways (in conjunction with TRE):

-Anti-inflammatory diet, I’ve landed in a bit more of the “animal based” camp due to personal preferences- again not a cure but avoiding inflammation is a plus in general and seemed to help when I was feeling terrible all the time (kept me from feeling even more terrible)

-Block therapy/fascia release - as above

-Somatic anger exercises- EXTREMELY HELPFUL.

-grounding/earthing - mostly better sleep

-meditation- didn’t start to feel helpful until 1.5 years in but now I really notice a difference

-binaural beats- helps with getting into meditative state, I use the Moongate app. I might eventually try holosync

-IFS- also useful around 1.5 years in to help process and resolve things that came up after TRE during meditation or in general

-magnesium- helps with sleep and calmness

-vitamin c- seemed to help resolve some chronic athletes foot but hard to say if that was just part of my natural progression of recovery

Long story short, TRE is goated. I think some of this, such as conquering depression, or allergies, is nothing short of miraculous. It takes time but the patience pays off. You will heal. You can recover. I used to think I was broken. I remember laying on my couch crying every day because I felt so awful.

I’ve tried a bunch of stuff and I truly feel like TRE is the answer and is the core of my healing.

My life is pretty good. Pretty sure it’s just going to get better!

Been doing TRE daily for 30 mins to 1 hrs. Almost released trauma via crying daily these months and now i am at a point where i am feeling bliss and happiness which i last felt in childhood like i can’t explain this feeling. I can’t seem to feel any negative feelings.

This shit is real and stick to it. Negative feelings are just trauma releasing. You will heal trust…

Thank you yall and all people from TRE discord.

I also would like to say that i paired this with Neville Goddard’s law of assumption.

TRE shook off old trauma,feelings and used law of assumption to put positive beliefs and feelings in my subconscious.

Life is amazing😊💜

Edit- i didn’t have small trauma. I had series of ptsd events and i know it was not easy to heal by any methods i tried. I tried everything you can think of.

Apologies if memes aren't welcome here, it just cracked me tf up.

It is becoming more clear to me everyday that everything in my pre-TRE life was done effectively to avoid feeling emotions that were too hard for me to feel. Emotions at the boundary of my consciousness awareness that poke at it's surface at different times and places.

My entire life has been characterized by the exceptionally intelligent use of my mind to avoid triggering activities; to live in a world of mental concepts instead of embodied feelings; to craft a limited false narrative of who I am to avoid encountering things/places/people that poke this boundary and incite sensation.

In effect, every single person is living a lie in this way. Our actions are all, to varying extents, symbolic instead of completely embodied.

But this is not bad news actually, it's extremely good. Because for most people their lives are generally alright/"good", so the implication here is that any person no matter what can reach states of being that are so sublime, so bright, that today's "good" will eventually seem pale in comparison.

It's just wild to think about how deeply veiled I was from my own self all my life before (25 years), from others, from opportunities, from life itself. There is so much more to be felt here. There is so much more meaning embedded in reality that I still have yet to discover.

I am very grateful for discovering TRE, and for this community. Besides my personal Christian religious awakening, TRE has been unequivocally the most paradigm shifting intervention ever.

For a bit of background I discovered TRE almost exactly a year ago when I was out of town doing a 200 hour yoga teacher training.

It was a training I did just for my own practice as I have been struggling with addiction, dysregulation and anxiety for over a decade now. I've been on the self improvement/ spiritual path for over a decade now as well, mostly just because I wanted to feel normal and safe.

I have tried so many different things to try and feel better: weight training, wim hof method, meditation, yoga, supplements, psychedelics, diet changes, grounding sheets, red light therapy, sauna...the list goes on.

My first time trying TRE, the tremors came almost right away as my legs were so tired from my YTT at the time. I tremored for about 10 minutes and afterwards I lay there in the deepest Savasana I had ever experienced. I felt an energy moving around in my hips/ psoas area and it began to move. From there I felt extreme warmth in my fingers and toes, something that I hadn't even really realized I had been missing for so long. ( I did have moments after a yoga class that this would happen but it was rare).

From that moment on I knew that I had discovered something profound on my path to healing.

Like many of you, I overdid it in the beginning and this turned me off of TRE for a while. I started up again two months ago with a consistent practice and I am blown away by how powerful just two minutes of practice can be.

In the past two months I've experienced:

• Child like joy, going for evening walks with no mental chatter. Colors seem more vivid, smells are stronger, everything seems prettier.

• Temporary complete suspension of my anxiety and anxious sweating.

• A level of presence during my work calls that I forgot was possible.

• A slight improvement in my insomnia.

• Some massive emotional releases (unexpected and uncontrollable crying for hours one night)

I mentioned that I struggle with addiction, well last Thursday I relapsed hard (porn binging). I was so miserable because I felt like I had fried my brain. The depression lasted three days and I skipped a TRE session because I was worried about overdoing it.

I finally decide to do a session today, followed by 20 minutes of Yoga Nidra. When I awoke it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of my shoulders. I've felt intensely present and calm all night. I did a bunch of cleaning and chores that I had been putting off and I enjoyed every moment of it. I made myself a nice meal, I wrote out some goals and interests that I'd like to pursue.

I just can't believe how powerful this is. I know that there is going to be ups and downs in this journey, and I'm also aware that I've probably only scratched the surface. But I am catching glimpses of what life feels like without the burden of all this trauma, and that is more than enough for me to keep going, no matter how long it takes or how slow progress may seem at times.

I am personally willing to bet this after meditating on what trauma is, how it forms, and how it manifests in one's life.

The scary part about all of this relating to trauma is that no one is really born with a "clean slate" and completely free from trauma. I read somewhere (it may have been in the beginners section) that we also inherit through DNA all the trauma of our ancestors. This sometimes makes me think of the saying that some people are "just born bad or evil". With this inherited trauma as a baseline, we also accumulate additional trauma from general day to day life.

Inspect yourself internally and introspectively. Assess others around you. Depression, anxiety, social anxiety, paranoia, aches and pains throughout the body, mental disorders. Could all of this be related to accumulated and inherited trauma? I'd say the majority of it is. Sure, other conscious, unhealthy activities contribute to these things such as addictions and unhealthy lifestyle habits. However, if we address the root of the issue (trauma) and release it healthily (through TRE), then I'd wager that we wouldn't be partaking in further activities that damage us. I'd argue that it is unreleased trauma causing us to go towards bad choices.

I've recognized in myself that I have a ton of trauma and am working on releasing them through TRE. I've dedicated each day to some sessions and hope to see the progress over the coming months and years. It's a long process but I am glad to have found it.

Growing up around religion in the US, I've seen lots of videos of people shaking in church either during music or after being guided through it by a pastor.

To me it seems obvious now that they were actually just experiencing neurogenic tremors and the music or the pastor put them in a state where they could fully embrace that.

I think the same applies to "speaking in tongues" AKA glossolalia. I think speaking in tongues is just allowing your tongue, mouth, voice box, and jaw to move and release tension freely, like is done in TRE.

I spoke in tongues once, and looking back on it, it was a very similar sensation to doing TRE, just focused in the mouth and throat.

I wonder how many people (aside from medical seizures) have been convinced that a pastor had exorcised a demon from them, when they were actually just experiencing neurogenic tremors.

Love how there's always a biological explanation for everything that feels supernatural.

I've been doing TRE regularly for over a year. By now, the tremors have worked their way up to my face, so that I often grimace while the rest of the body is shaking. Somehow though the practice felt "stuck" at that level, and there were no major releases occuring for some time.

Two weeks ago I booked a session with a somatic coach who suggested adding my voice to the practice, by checking in with the body to see if a tone wanted to come while doing TRE. I've always been a bit shy around anything voice related - I try not to speak too loudly and avoid singing or screaming, so it wasn't very easy in the beginning to giving a "voice" to whatever the body wanted to release.

After a couple of minutes though I completely surrendered to the practice and started screaming at the top of my lungs while the rest of the body was shaking violently. The rage and pain that were beeing released came in a couple of waves and I felt completely exhausted by the end of the hour. The coach then gave me a pat on the back and told me what I did was very "efficient", i.e. a pure and intense emotional release without any dissociation.

And sure enough since this session occured, there's barely any need to tremor anymore, a couple of chronically tense hotspots in my body (e.g. shoulders and lower belly) are completely relaxed, and it feels like I have much more energy available.

After 7 years of chronic pelvic floor dysfunction, pain, anxiety and losing my normal life, I’m finally recovered. My journey with TRE and anterior pelvic tilt.
I never thought I’d be writing this post.
For almost seven years, since around 2019, I suffered from chronic pelvic floor tightness and a long list of symptoms that slowly destroyed my quality of life.
Today, I can finally say that I feel completely recovered.
I want to share my story because I know there are people out there suffering the way I did. People who have tried everything, spent years going from doctor to doctor, and started believing they might never get their normal lives back.
I was one of those people.
How it all started
My problems started with pelvic floor tightness, constipation, bloating and difficulty passing gas.
Over time, everything became worse.
I was eventually diagnosed with obstructed defecation syndrome and non-relaxing pelvic floor muscles.
Imagine feeling like you need to poop but your body simply won’t let you. Your muscles won’t relax. You can’t empty your bowels properly. Gas gets trapped inside you, your abdomen becomes extremely bloated, and the pressure keeps building.
That was my everyday life.
But the pelvic floor problems were only part of it.
My symptoms were unbearable
Over the years, I experienced:
Chronic pelvic floor tightness and spasms
Severe constipation and incomplete bowel movements
Difficulty passing gas
Constant abdominal bloating and pressure
Burning sensations around my bladder and perineum
Urinary urgency and difficulty urinating
Lower back, hip, groin and abdominal pain
Anal pain, fissures and haemorrhoids
Constant headaches, migraines and head pressure
Neck tension and brain fog
Anxiety, fear and an overwhelming feeling that something was wrong with my body
Sexual difficulties and a deterioration in my intimate life
Extreme physical tension, sometimes to the point where my entire body would shake
The worst part was that these symptoms seemed connected.
When my stomach became bloated, my pelvic floor tightened. When my pelvic floor tightened, the pain and pressure increased. Then came the headaches, anxiety and fear.
I felt trapped inside my own body.
My life was falling apart
People who have never experienced chronic pelvic pain might not understand how devastating it can become.
I couldn’t enjoy normal things.
Going to the office became difficult. Driving could be uncomfortable and frightening. Socialising became exhausting. Sometimes even having a conversation was difficult because I felt so anxious, distracted and physically uncomfortable.
I was constantly monitoring my body.
Would I be able to poop today? Would my stomach become bloated? Would I get another headache? Would my pelvic floor tighten again?
I couldn’t relax.
My sex life was deteriorating, and the condition was putting enormous pressure on my marriage. I was scared about what this meant for my future and my relationship.
I was young, married, trying to build my career and enjoy my life, but my body felt like it was working against me.
There were times when I genuinely didn’t know how I was going to live like this.
I tried EVERYTHING
I went to doctors, underwent investigations and spent a long time trying to find an explanation.
I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy. Both came back normal.
I was diagnosed with pelvic floor dysfunction and obstructed defecation syndrome. I also dealt with anal fissures and haemorrhoids.
I saw pelvic floor physiotherapists and spent months working on my condition.
I tried pelvic floor relaxation exercises, internal release with a pelvic wand, reverse Kegels, breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, stretching, magnesium, running, cold showers and Wim Hof breathing.
Some things provided temporary relief.
But nothing seemed to solve the underlying problem.
I could have a relatively good day, followed by a terrible flare-up that made me feel like I was back at square one.
The more I tried to fix my muscles, the more frustrated and stressed I became.
Eventually, I began wondering whether my pelvic floor was really the source of everything, or whether something else was keeping my entire body in a constant state of tension.
Then I discovered TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises)
At the beginning of 2026, I discovered TRE.
For anyone unfamiliar with it, TRE is a method involving exercises designed to encourage natural muscle shaking or tremoring. It’s intended to help release physical tension and promote relaxation.
At that point, I was desperate.
I had spent years trying to fix my pelvic floor directly. TRE felt like my last resort.
I started practising it and gradually noticed changes in how my body responded to stress.
For years, I had felt like my nervous system was constantly on high alert. Even small amounts of stress could make my muscles tighten, my abdomen become uncomfortable and my symptoms flare.
As I continued TRE, I began feeling calmer.
My body started to feel less tense. I became less fearful of my symptoms. I felt like I could finally relax in a way I hadn’t been able to for years.
For me, this was the turning point.
I started to believe that chronic stress, fear and nervous system dysregulation had been playing a much bigger role in my condition than I previously understood.
Instead of constantly fighting my pelvic floor muscles, I started focusing on helping my entire body feel safe and relaxed.
The next discovery: anterior pelvic tilt
Once my overall tension began improving, I started paying closer attention to my posture and the way I was using my muscles.
That’s when I realised I appeared to have anterior pelvic tilt.
My lower back was excessively arched, my abdomen protruded, and I was experiencing tightness around my hips, groin, glutes and lower back.
I started learning about the muscles involved and introduced exercises and stretches targeting my posture, hip mobility, abdominal control and lower back.
I worked on movements like dead bugs, planks and appropriate stretches.
The difference was that I was no longer approaching everything from a place of panic.
I was calmer, more aware of my body, and better able to recognise when I was holding unnecessary tension.
Gradually, things started coming together.
My recovery
It wasn’t one magical moment where everything disappeared overnight.
Things came back slowly.
My pelvic floor started relaxing. My bowel movements improved. The constant pressure and bloating reduced. My headaches and anxiety improved.
My lower back began feeling stronger and more comfortable.
My sexual function and confidence gradually returned. My intimate life improved, and the fear surrounding my condition began to disappear.
I started feeling like myself again.
I could go to work, drive, socialise and enjoy my life without constantly thinking about my pelvic floor.
And when I experienced significant stress, TRE became something I could turn to rather than allowing the stress to take over my entire body.
Today, I feel completely recovered.
After seven years, I finally feel free.
What I learned after seven years of suffering
The biggest lesson from my experience is that I spent years focusing almost entirely on the symptoms.
My pelvic floor was tight, so I tried to relax it.
My hips were tight, so I stretched them.
My bowel movements were difficult, so I focused on my digestion.
But I hadn’t fully appreciated how much my stress response, emotional state, muscle guarding and posture might have been interacting.
TRE helped me recognise that connection. Working on my posture and physical conditioning helped me address other issues I had overlooked.
I can’t say that everyone’s pelvic floor problems come from trauma, or that TRE will cure everyone. I can only tell you what happened to me.
For me, TRE was the biggest turning point in my recovery.
One important thing about TRE
Please don’t overdo it.
I found it important to keep sessions short, listen to my body and avoid pushing myself too hard.
More shaking doesn’t necessarily mean more healing.
TRE isn’t a guaranteed treatment, and some people may find it overwhelming or experience increased symptoms. If you want to explore it, learn about the method and consider working with a qualified practitioner, especially if you have significant trauma or anxiety.
I’m not suggesting anyone should stop medical treatment or assume every unexplained symptom is caused by trauma.
I’m sharing this because I wish someone had told me years ago to consider the bigger picture.
To anyone still suffering
I know what it’s like to wake up every morning wondering whether today will be another day of pain.
I know the frustration of normal test results when you know something is terribly wrong.
I know what it’s like to spend money on appointments, treatments and exercises, only to feel like nothing is changing.
I know how chronic pelvic floor dysfunction can affect your confidence, your relationships, your sex life and your mental health.
And I know how lonely it can feel when nobody around you truly understands what you’re experiencing.
Seven years of my life were affected by this condition.
But today, I’m living proof of my own recovery.
For me, the breakthrough wasn’t just about fixing a tight muscle. It was about understanding my body, changing how I responded to stress, and eventually addressing the physical issues that remained.
If you’re still struggling, please don’t give up on finding answers.
I’m sharing my experience in case it helps someone look at their situation from a different perspective.
I genuinely never thought I’d reach a point where I could write this.
But here I am.
Seven years later, I’m finally free.

A special thank you and the videos that helped me get started
I want to personally thank u/throwaway394821.
Earlier this year, I came across your post in r/PelvicFloor, “Completely cured - 1.5 years later.”
Your story was the reason I discovered TRE. Reading about how your whole body was holding chronic tension, and how you stopped focusing only on your pelvic floor, completely changed the way I looked at my own condition.
I was at one of the lowest points of my life when I found your post.
You probably have no idea, but you changed my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I also want to share two YouTube videos I started watching when I first discovered TRE:
Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6r5q6SdQ-U
Video 2: https://youtu.be/eT8042h1Efk?si=r2P6GOoGnww4dxyu
There are plenty of videos about TRE on YouTube. Take your time learning about the practice, start gently, and please don’t overdo it.
I hope these resources and my experience help someone else who is struggling the way I was.

Ok, I started TRE about 3 years ago, spent like a year doing it regularly, went through the classic overdoing, taking break, getting back, and continued doing it before I kinda “got it” and stopped doing it as a formal practice. I only let my body do what it wants to do when it wants to do it.

Now I can’t really tell when I’m doing TRE vs just living my life anymore. When I feel the urge to burp if I let myself fully receive a compliment, when I massage my jaw and yawn when someone is sharing a hard situation, when I blink repeatedly whenever I feel into the “self”/self-inquiry, when I let my body just shake mid way when I’m on the dance floor, when I cry and laugh at the same time at a situation without knowing why and really just enjoy that sensation… Yesterday I was exhausted and I went to sleep with the intention of “doing nothing”, like literally nothing, no effort to do anything even reacting to any thoughts. In the middle of the night my stomach contracted/shook multiple times during my sleep.

A lot of joy has come into my life, and together with the openness a full spectrum of depth and emotions. I recently have been able to process the grief of the death of my grandma whom I lost as a child decades ago, and the emotions of what I feel is very old, like ancestral, the pain of people dying in wars killing others and stuff like that coming from my hips. Sounds tough right? No - it’s actually very enjoyable. I’m exhausted, but also very alive. I feel more like myself than ever.

I’m grateful for TRE.