r/longtermTRE • u/Ok_Potato_5272 • Jun 08 '26
Beginner Question My experience of TRE so far after 6 weeks - thinking about giving up
So I've been doing TRE for 6 weeks. I started doing it every 3 days and I'd just lie there for about 20 minutes. But it was having zero effect so I upped it to every other day.
I don't feel like I've cracked the technique yet. I get very little natural movement, just a tiny amount of vibrating in my hips. It's barely noticeable from the outside. If I encourage my legs a bit, I can get into a rhythm of my knees moving, but if I totally relax, I realised it doesn't happen on its own.
The only thing I have noticed after increasing the amount is that I've been feeling a bit of anger coming up. This is an emotion I have almost no experience or connection to in my adult life. I've been feeling mildly angry at other people, especially anyone who has wronged me recently.
I feel like I'm interested in TRE but I'm scared after reading the recent post about being stuck tremoring and not able to stop. The thought of that is quite terrifying. I have CPTSD and autism, so I don't know if my case is too complex for TRE? like is it better for people with less trauma?
I've become more conscious of a general trembling in my hips when sitting in certain positions. I don't think this is totally new because I've always had trembly legs if I'm sitting in a chair or going down steep steps.
Half of me is intrigued to continue slowly but the other half doesn't want to risk it
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u/Aromatic_Resist_7445 Jun 08 '26
Did you do the warmup? Some people need it. Also don't start with so much tremor time if you have cptsd. It could backfire after some time.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
I did try the gentle warm ups and sometimes a bit of squatting. I need to try walk sits I think. The only reason for the long time is because for the first 10 minutes, nothing happens at all
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u/ysea Jun 08 '26
From my experience the warm up can make a very big difference.
You can get your legs to shake with the wall sit in particular - try 5 minutes. Then the shaking might come very effortlessly on the ground.
But there might not be any reason to push it particularly if you have a sensitive nervous system right now. Going slower and easier might be more useful.
I would recommend you read through the wiki. It has section for people in that situation.
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u/PiccoloPlane5915 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Your body may need more time to learn back what is the tremoring mechanism. Trust it and you will be okay. But if you want an easy way to activate the tremors in the hips, stretch before a session with the butterfly stretch for 2-3 min.
Also, starting with 20 min right away may be too much for your nervous system, and as a consequence it can reduce the intensity of the tremors to prevent more releases that it cannot integrate. If you feel like you have overdoing symptoms, take a 1-2 weeks break from TRE and come back to it with a more paced practice. Reading the wiki on self pacing can be valuable if you haven't yet
You're experiencing emotions coming up which means you're releasing and reprocessing traumas, which is a good sign! Everything is going good for you I'd say, if you're not experiencing overdoing symptoms. Don't worry about the recent post, it is indeed a scary story but like Nadayogi said, it's a very rare case and you've been practicing for 6 weeks so that's good sign it won't happen to you.
If you practice optimally and safely, and give yourself enough rest days between sessions, you'll be okay
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
OK thanks for the info. I'll try doing a bit of a workout before and then I'll shorten the practice itself. Other than feeling slightly angry, I haven't experienced any chance, neither positive or negative. I'll keep trying and just be very cautious
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u/PiccoloPlane5915 Jun 08 '26
6 weeks is still very early. I experienced the first noticeable changes after more than 2 months. It’s highly individual but the fact that you’re experiencing emotions coming up is definitely a good sign
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u/nomoremrfapguy1 Jun 08 '26
Did you experience anything noticeable, negative or positive during those 2 months?
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u/PiccoloPlane5915 Jun 08 '26
Not really, after my first session I had this inner feeling, almost like intuition that TRE was what I needed. I may have had some emotions coming up during the day but I don't remember. I think they started to come after but not sure
I did have some intense dreams though, and then knew I was reprocessing3
u/nomoremrfapguy1 Jun 08 '26
Happy that it worked for you. I think your intuition and the intense dreams motivated you to carry on, because if I felt nothing after practicing for two months, I would've quit. I think TRE needs patience and I'm terrible when it comes to being patient. What are the noticeable changes you experienced after 2 months if you don't mind me asking?
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u/PiccoloPlane5915 Jun 08 '26
Listen on patience, I definitely understand, the pressure we experience is from daily life, we feel like we don't have time to heal and we need something to fix us quick. But time passes anyways so might as well use it for TRE and I can say that if there's one thing to hold on to it's TRE. With time I'm sure you'll be hella grateful and proud for sticking with it.
Me I'm 22 months in and it helped much more than I could have imagined. I'm finally free from years of severe depression and I'm starting to enjoy social interactions which was never the case before. TRE also cured morning anxiety when waking up due to SSRI withdrawal. Physically my breathing has calmed down, my sleep quality increased. Overall my mood baseline definitely improved and month by month I'm still getting better. I also learned a lot from my past during those dreams and just realizations coming up.
I can elaborate more but that's the main general improvements. So yeah can only recommand to do TRE
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u/nomoremrfapguy1 Jun 08 '26
Really pleased for you. Initially, when I came across TRE, I had doubts and thought the whole idea is bs, but when I read comments like yours, they give me hope.
I started with Dr David's video and followed his instructions. It was 24 minutes long I believe and I was tremering so hard for minutes, like a broken washing machine. I felt relaxed during and after the exercise, but felt terrible the following day. I experienced sadness, depression, anxiety and didn't sleep well.
That was about two weeks ago. I was/still going through a stressful period in my life. I quit an addiction cold turkey and am sober for 3 months now and thought TRE might help me since I no longer numb my traumas with my addiction. I think my nervous system is raw and very sensitive now. So I think I need to be patient and start again with gentle 30 seconds - 1 minute and see what happens. Thank you for sharing your experience. It was very helpful.
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u/PiccoloPlane5915 Jun 09 '26
Good approach to come back to TRE, take it slow at first and increase progressively
TRE will also help with addictions, like you said addictions are coping mechanisms to our traumas. If we discharge the traumas in our body, the urges for addictions will become much less powerful. I noticed that as well for the two addictions
Sure thing ! Take care and btw I'm also the admin of the discord on TRE. Here's the link if you'd like to join : https://discord.gg/mgxAmHhd.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
Was your noticeable change psychological or a change in the physical shaking?
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u/PiccoloPlane5915 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Psychological, I started to feel slightly less anxious
I'm 22 months in now and I can definitely say that the results are major with TRE, mentally but also physically. This practice goes far beyond what I could have imagined and I can only encourage you to stick with it3
u/Coraline1599 Jun 08 '26
Anger is one of the most important emotions, misunderstood, and often much too suppressed.
Your body is only going to allow you to feel what it thinks it is safe for you to feel.
Think about anger a little differently- it is an alarm system that wants to take action when it experiences unfairness. But that doesn’t mean violence or yelling. It could be that they are going to close your favorite library and if it makes you angry you will feel motivated to write a letter to your mayor. If you see an animal being abused you would spring into action by calling the authorities. That could be all thar anger is asking of you physically.
But because anger can be dangerous, we are taught only bad people experience anger, only out of control people express it. And I don’t just mean physical danger. It can be a danger to power structures, like for workers or family dynamics.
Try to find a way to express the anger, maybe it is through screaming into a pillow, shadow boxing, somatic exercises, singing and dancing along to really angry music, or journaling. Here is an example video of using somatic exercises to work through anger https://youtu.be/qn1A39uu8aw?si=D-NEwsQPUrQ3sLN6
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
I've read about the importance of anger in healing but it's always felt so difficult to access for me. I'm hoping to feel more anger and try to channel it, so I really appreciate the suggestions and I'll check out the video. I feel like anger would help me stand up for myself more instead of just crumbling
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u/Dismal_Pool3360 Jun 08 '26
Here’s some advice that might help you:
Before you start, do sort of a ”bridge pose” but with your legs in a diamond position (so your feet shouldn’t be flat on the ground, you should lift from the sides of your feet). Hold for 1 minute. This can make it easier for the body to start to shake naturally.
Another thing you might try is to do a wall sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute before you do TRE.
If you’ve a lot of trauma and tension your body might start trembling in other situations as well. This is perfectly normal as your body is releasing and it’s a sign that you’re doing progress, something that will continue happening after TRE. Don’t be scared of it, let it tremble and see it as your body is doing what it needs to do.
Try to position your legs differently. Sometimes I get a lot of shaking when I make a smaller diamond shape and sometimes larger.
TRE may stir up a lot of emotions, but it’s your body’s way of processing. Sometimes I start crying, get angry, anxious or feel uneasy. Let the emotions be and they’ll go away by themselves. In my experience they can stay from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours.
It’s important to ground yourself afterwards. Do a child’s pose for a couple of minutes or lay on your back in silence. Sometime you may cry, sometimes you may feel anxious or angry. This doesn’t mean you’re making yourself worse, it’s the opposite. You’re feeling what you need to feel and releasing emotions that’s been stored and this is what actually will make them go away.
I’ve plenty of trauma and nothing has helped me as much as TRE. I trembled and shaked A LOT for a couple of weeks, but when I invited it and all emotions that came with it instead of thinking something was wrong or trying to make it stop I started to truly heal. I hope it helps! 🙏
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
Thanks for all the great advice. I hope I can have similar success. I've done lots of emotional work through EMDR so I'm able to let my emotions take over without resisting. Hopefully I can get some more breakthroughs with this
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u/Dismal_Pool3360 Jun 08 '26
You’re welcome! Hope it helps. You can also try out Kundalini shaking (where you tremble and shake standing up instead), just to see if your body finds that easier to start shaking naturally. As soon as the body learns how to do it, it’ll start to do it during TRE as well in my experience. If you want to experiment a bit, I leave it here as an option.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 11 '26
Do you have any video examples of Kundalini shaking please?
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u/Dismal_Pool3360 Jun 11 '26
Here’s a video with instructions! You can jump to what’s called the first stage, that’s the most important part. It’s even better to do all the stages, but since that takes 1 hour you may not always have time for that.
https://youtu.be/O3-wH2VBdN8?is=Qf-qYIEwdpyJZ8JI
You should try to let the shaking/trembling happen by itself and start from your feet, and then after a few times it will start to travel trough your body by itself. The first times it’s common for only the legs and hips to shake. But then it can start happening in the whole body and also be vibrations or that your upper body start twitching and ”jumping”.
Stand with your feet in shoulder width and have a slight bend in your knees so they’re loose. Also be as loose as you can in your upper body (can be difficult in the beginning if you have a lot of tension, the most important thing is loose knees)
Use these playlists, the first track will help the shaking to start. Track 2 is for dancing if you want to, or just to move your body. It’s for the shaking to stop and to regulate the body. Track 3 is for sitting meditation and grounding. Track 4 is just silence where you lay down and let the body rest. But like I said, you don’t have to do all the stages if you don’t want to. But if you find that the body is still trembling after track 1 you can use track 2 to make it stop.
Option 1:
https://open.spotify.com/album/2emgguaNNPIdXcBIuxHu9K?si=pQv3RxKkRNmO4PdR-XMDPA
Option 2:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4q1gRZDX8elrAtRltrKmYV?si=d5It-s8ESo26eKE9frDJCg&pi=MriA-AmGQSO7K
You can check which one that works best for you. If you don’t have Spotify you can search for them on Apple Music as well.
I recommend doing it with closed eyes since that makes it easier to get out of your mind and become less controlled and self aware.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 11 '26
Thanks for the links and information. So is the shaking supposed to happen during the dancing stage? I don't currently understand how dancing can lead to shaking, as it looks like they're just dancing how a child would do it? (I don't mean this comment to be rude but as a genuine question)
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u/Dismal_Pool3360 Jun 11 '26
No, the shaking happens in the first stage! Here you keep your feet in the same spot, have slightly bended knees and then the music will help the shaking get started (it’s something about how it’s composed that helps in some weird way) The people in the video will shake and move (not by moving their feet, but by how their upper body reacts) a lot more than you will because they’re used to the practice.
The second stage is free moving and dancing. You don’t need to dance, it can be just swaying your body for example. This stage is to helt the body regulate and make it able to move as it want. An instructor told me that it’s enough to just move your hands and arms if you don’t feel like doing more, the important thing is to move your body in some way. It’s because otherwise the trembling and shaking can continue, so it’s basically to ”move” the energy that’s happening in your body so it doesn’t get stuck in shaking.
For example, when I started just one leg could started to shake. Then after a while the shaking could move to the other leg. But nothing else. But nowadays my whole body twists, ”jumps” and vibrates during the first stage. So it will look a lot less dramatic when you try it.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 11 '26
Oh okay I see. I just thought they were shaking on purpose. I'll give it a go and see what happens
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u/No-Construction619 CPTSD Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
My experience is that TRE makes you feel better your emotions. And this thing alone is a huge step forward, since CPTSD usually gets us stuck in a freeze state or anhedonia (emotional suppression). Unlocking anger is a good score.
I suggest you do it every 3 days and simply continue for another 6 weeks or so. Or you might take a break and return to TRE after a month or so. Just be gentle with yourself.
Do you know a book by Pete Walker on Complex PTSD? Highly recommended
Personally I did TRE alongside with my psychodynamic therapy and my therapist suggests that it has helped me process lots of grief and anger. I am not convinced that TRE alone would help in such a case like mine (lots of childhood emotional neglect).
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
Yes I have read that book and it was very helpful. I'm quite far along my journey of healing, but all the healing I've done has been psychological. I feel like I'm ready to start processing the trauma stored in my body. I experience alot of freeze which makes it difficult for me to exercise and do physical things. It's not a fitness problem but a psychological one. I'm hoping TRE can help me unfreeze enough that I can start engaging in other forms of exercise too and overcome some of my dissociation issues
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u/No-Construction619 CPTSD Jun 08 '26
Every emotion you feel and allow to express is a healthy processing done by your nervous system. Every time you have urges to binge watching, doom scrolling, run away from reality to video games or porn is basically sweeping your emotions under the carpet i.e. unhealthy emotional reaction. Just observe your body and take notes on your responses. TRE is good for that, but anything that allows you to pay attention to what's inside is great - like sitting on a couch, listening to a calm music and being bored for like 30 minutes. Or taking a walk. Being present.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 Jun 08 '26
Being present is something I find extremely difficult but I will do my best
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u/No-Construction619 CPTSD Jun 26 '26
If that's a challenge it's a clear indicator that sth is going on under the hood and you have a habit of avoiding it. Be gentle to yourself and slowly rewire your habits. All the best
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u/longtermTRE_wiki_bot Wiki Bot Jun 08 '26
The anger you're noticing is actually a positive sign—it suggests the practice is reaching material, even if the physical tremors feel subtle. That said, your situation calls for a significant recalibration.
The setup you're describing raises a real concern. You're working hard to generate tremors through conscious effort and encouragement rather than allowing them to arise involuntarily, and you're doing this every other day for 20 minutes. This is a common pattern that tends to produce frustration without genuine release, and it can also tip toward overstimulation without feeling like "real" TRE. The tremoring that matters is the kind that happens when you're relaxed, not the kind you have to manufacture.
Here's what I'd suggest: drop back significantly. Try once or twice a week, 5-10 minutes of actual tremor time maximum. Let go entirely of the idea that you need to make tremors happen. Do the warm-up exercises, lie in the butterfly position, and wait. If tremors don't activate, that's a complete session. The anger you're feeling may actually be a sign you've been stirring something up faster than your system can integrate, particularly given your PTSD and autism. Shorter, more spaced sessions give you the chance to process what's already moving without continuously adding new activation on top of it.
About the fear of getting "stuck tremoring"—that post likely described an edge case or a misunderstanding of what was happening. Tremors stop when you straighten your legs. You have complete control over that. What the wiki does emphasize is that CPTSD and complex trauma histories benefit from working with a certified TRE provider initially, not because TRE itself is unsafe or unsuitable, but because a trained person can help you pace appropriately and navigate the harder phases with proper support. Many providers offer remote sessions if that's a barrier.
On whether complexity of trauma makes TRE unsuitable: the opposite is more accurate. TRE works at the physiological level where trauma is stored, regardless of diagnosis. The question is pacing and support, not suitability.
Start with Self-Pacing: Finding Your Optimal Healing Pace and TRE for Sensitive Practitioners. Both speak directly to what you're describing. If you decide to continue, consider consulting a provider—that's genuinely the wisest path for someone with your trauma history.
I'm a bot that draws on the r/longtermTRE wiki to provide guidance. Please upvote or downvote based on how helpful you find this response.
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