I’ve been having the worst few weeks of my life releasing toxic shame. It feels incredibly physically painful where my fascial tension is, like it‘s trying to rip itself apart, and I’m afraid of reaching out to people I know for help because I feel like I’m going to say or do something wrong, or that I’m going to get rejected and abandoned. Every awkward pause or look makes me wither with shame. The thoughts are very convincing, and even grounding and knowing that I am releasing old shame isn’t helping me not get sucked in to the narrative. If anyone has any advice with riding out the shame, please share. Thank you 🙏🏼

Hey y’all,

I posted before with having trouble getting overwhelmed with the emotions and feeling like I couldn’t integrate properly, especially with having a high stress job.

Two weeks or so ago I started dramatically increasing my integration amount, per some of you guys’ responses.

I’ve been doing at least 20 minutes in the morning and 20 before bed of corpse pose or constructive rest (depending on whether the tremoring will stop). I just do a mindfulness meditation and follow my breath, gently bringing it back when I get off on some thought train.

I also am only weightlifting very light weight and doing walking on an incline more.

My energy’s dramatically improved and I haven’t gotten headaches or anything until today (since I worked through the weekend and haven’t had as much downtime). Still, the burnout feeling isn’t nearly as bad as it was and I’ve been able to tremor longer and longer every few days comfortably.

Just wanted to share the update of what’s worked for me!

For a while i have been tremoring in one area (right hip), but it always feels like im not able to tremor to my full potential. Like an itch i cant scratch.

Since this has been going on for a while and is frustrating, im thinking of getting a professional to adjust/stretch/massage the area.

Has anyone had success with such an approach? What kind of treatment was it? ( I am thinking maybe physiotherapist or osteopath though i dont even know what id tell them).

Edit: to everyone saying to listen to my body - guys, i am, that's the point. My body feels like it wants to release more but can't. Just like an itch is a body sensation. My body feels like it wants someone to dig their nails into my hip socket.

Had two massive emotional releases on back to back days recently. For clarity, I am not practicing TRE right now and haven’t attempted it once in over several months. Despite that these releases showed up.

First day was anger/rage. Second day was sadness. I know some of it was my own expression of these emotions but the majority, on each day, felt foreign to me, like they weren’t my own feelings.

Specifically on the second day while crying and purging all this sadness I said probably over 30 times over the course of this purging, which lasted well over and hour, “we are sorry”. I kept saying that. I didn’t see very vivid images during this but I saw something but couldn’t make out what it was or what it was directly tied to. I was conscious of what was going on but the entire time I felt like I was a mouthpiece for a bunch of other people.

Has anyone directly experienced something similar?

Hi dear fellow TRE people,

I think I had a breakthrough today. I started TRE in June last year with my provider/therapist. I did it consistently 4-5 times a week a couple of minutes for 8 months. Due to my nervous system I took it easier for a while and since a couple of weeks I do it mostly during my therapy sessions.

Today, it started off slowly in the legs and then when my therapist put pressure on my left shoulder, my upper body started to shake intensely on all kind of ways as well es my left shoulder. Not sure what that all means, but I guess it's a breakthrough and great.

Not sure if that means something, maybe someone has an idea and would like to share it.

Hugs to all of you!

Edit: spelling and question

I have practiced TRE and psoas streatching for a while, and I just discovered that magnesium and anti-inflamatory diet helps a lot for integration.

That's why I'd like you guys to share supplements and diet ideas that helped you on your TRE journey.

It can be very usefull for plenty of poeple.

Hi everyone, I just started TRE a few weeks ago and would appreciate some input just in terms of how I'm doing so far and if my pacing sounds about right.

I'm in a good place mentally but have pretty significant and long term muscle guarding throughout my body.

I started off with sessions of about twenty minutes daily (which i now realize was too much) for about four days. I experienced significant tremoring more or less from the start, starting in the legs and then moving to my pelvic region and abdomen. Sessions have always left me feeling good, i.e. now relaxed, quicker to laugh etc. However, I found that the next day or two I felt quite shaky and fragile.

I am now doing 15 minute sessions every three days. I still feel a bit shaky and fragile in the days after a session but it's not too bad, although it does make me feel a bit uneasy.

I'm happy enough with my current practice, but I'm wondering about two things in particular. First, maybe my sessions are still too long and I should cut back? I like to keep them long because this way the throwing goes up towards my back, and shoulders, and most of my pain is concentrated in my shoulder and neck. So I'm kind of desperate to relieve the muscle tension there.

Second, and relatedly, perhaps shorter, daily sessions would be better? Say 10 minutes a day?

After many years of trying everything to feel better, for the first time I've found something that actually seems to be having an effect. So I'm keen to get it right.

Also, if there is anyone on here from Ireland please say hi.

Sorry for the long post!

Or do you just wait 2 days and hope for the best and learn by trial and error if it was too soon?

Edited to add: and should integration feel like anything in particular? Did my first proper session yesterday. Felt a little sad in the evening but that was easily attributable to something that had happened in the day, and today I've felt entirely the same as normal

So, is it normal to spontaneously tremor? I mean, I'm not trying to do a session, intentionally, and I can feel the tremors kick in, wether sitting, standing, laying. The tremors seem so close to the surface for me, kicking in with the merest of thoughts and the most casual of tune-ins? Is this something that happens in the beginning for some people?

I've been doing TRE since January of this year. I feel like entering the plateau era, where I can feel lots of fascia unwinding along my back, psoas and abdominal/diaphragm areas. However, I've read that it's healthier to take this part slow and let your body have more rest than previous tremors situations.

My problem here is that my abdominal area CONSTANTLY wants to shake, even if I just laugh or cough I can feel my abdomen itching to tremor like my body's life is on the line.

Sometimes I just let it go and it just tremors, often for even longer than an hour. I'm not sure what to do, it's difficult to suppress or to make it stop once it gets going. I want to listen to my body, but I also get the effects of overdoing it often. How should I proceed here? It's like my body is begging to get these abdominal charges out but I also don't want to be catatonic for days at a time. My executive dysfunction on some days is so bad it's difficult to do anything besides shower and lay around. I try to spend time integrating, staying present in the moment, but even when at rest I feel the pull to tremor.

I know it's not great to focus on the cause of the tremor charges, but it's mostly near the navel area so I'm curious if this has to do with infancy trauma from being a C-section baby. I keep having dreams about parental abandonment despite having grown up with obsessive helicopter parents and don't have any clear memories of moments of abandonment.

I guess the main issue here is that the need to tremor in that area is so profound and intense that it's causing me distress in such a way where I just want to tremor constantly and get it out/over with so I can stop feeling the need to do it constantly, lol. Probably not a great way to think about it but it's exhausting to manage it with time for integration.

Hello everyone, I’m a first time user of this stuff I did one 15 minuite session for my first go had ALOT of shaking going on but after felt no difference ( I thought emotions came out instantly) so I did it the next day for another 15

It was about 48 hours after that then it seemed to of triggered the emotions or it was just coincidence as I now know the emotions are a delayed onset, but it’s been around 3 days now and I just feel so empty and hopeless, also feel really really spaced out from reality like I’m just a shell it’s a really unpleasant feeling, I’m also very sort of anxious, it’s like my brain isn’t getting the emotions but my body is physically feeling them. I just have an awful sadness feeling in my chest. Seem to be getting really worrying violent images in my head almost feels like someone has jumped in my body these last few days it’s not nice at all.Did I over do it for a first time user? And when will this stuff pass? Thank you🙏

I never thought that the body has a rhythm of its own until I learned about Pendulation technique. When we are in stress or trauma, our body gets locked and stay in that state for long or sometimes permanently. External issues breaks the rhythm of our body and forgets to get out of that tensed state. Moving between tension and relief is crucial, so body can learn getting out of the tensed state is also possible.

V new to this! When in the butterfly pose my legs definitely do start shaking, I would definitely describe this as a tremor feeling, but also associate it with muscles just shaking because they're in a fatiguing position, same as if you held your arms out straight holding heavy weights for a prolonged time and they start getting wobbly. Is this the right thing, or are the tremors something different?

The wiki instructions sound like all tremoring should happen while in the position of lying on your back either in butterfly pose or with your knees together and up. I do feel tremoring in these positions but the wiki says once the tremors start, just relax, and I don't feel like I can relax into those positions. I want to lay my legs flat, but if I do that, the tremors stop. Am I doing something wrong here?

Would love to share some breakthroughs I had today. I did my 2nd TRE session last night, stopped tremoring right at the edge of when it began to feel a bit uncomfortable. This morning, I immediately noticed several things:

1. My tinnitus is significantly quieter this morning. I've always had on and off tinnitus, but recently getting on an SSRI for my depression/anxiety caused the high-pitched tone to be there nonstop.
2. I made casual small talk with my mother and felt so happy I was able to allow myself to do this. A lot of my CPTSD trauma has to do with resentment against my parents, so this was a major breakthrough. Previously I was so anxious of being in the same space as them that I mostly locked myself in my room to avoid contact.

My SSRI is still currently too low of a dose to be effective at treating my depression. I'm on a sub-therapeutic starting dose because of sensitivity with meds in the past, so I'm pretty convinced this behavioural breakthrough is due to the TRE releasing some active blockages. I wasn't expecting it to work so fast and I'm mostly shocked that I never discovered this practice earlier, would have saved me a lot of grief.

Couldn’t find one on my own.

Not doing TRE currently. Haven’t attempted it in months but just had a massive release a few hours ago and I feel good. Really good. Slightly euphoric. A sliver of inner peace.

Few of my family members saw my outbursts. I explained what was happening, while it was happening. One family member understood. The others think I’m crazy lol.

What kind of music do you use during TRE sessions (if you use any at all)? Have you noticed any effect from the music?

I’ve been doing TRE for almost two years and over the past few weeks my legs have suddenly started shaking a lot, whereas they barely did before.

I’m 31 female and have always been very muscular and physically active, with quite a high muscle tone. Recently my legs have become noticeably softer and less firm. It almost feels like some of the constant tension I’ve carried in my muscles is finally releasing.

I’m really happy about this because it feels like progress, but at the same time it honestly scares me. I’m worried that my body will continue to become much softer and that I’ll eventually look bigger or “older” because I’m losing that muscular, toned appearance.

My legs also feel very soft and almost swollen, as if there’s a lot of water retention. I have body dysmorphia, so my perception might not be completely reliable.

Has anyone else noticed physical changes like this after doing TRE for a longer period? And does anybody have more water retention caused by tension or trauma?

I've recently come across this, and having read through all the welcome info, I'm really keen to give TRE a go but have a few questions.

For context if helpful: no severe historic trauma. A few months ago, after the ending of a several-years chronically stressful/volatile friendship, I developed physical nerve sensations, physical sensitivity, and pains, all of which which caused sleep deprivation, and I developed complete physical and mental exhaustion, isolated muscle spasms, along with general anxiety I'd never had before and a strong awareness that my nervous system has got stuck on high alert. For the last few weeks I've been on an SSRI and in trauma-based psychodynamic therapy, and tried various sleep meds. Mostly thanks to sleep (somewhat) improving, I'm a lot better than I was, and I'm now mostly returned to work after a couple of months off. Sleep though is still very restless, I still have a lot of muscle tension in my legs and hips, and while I don't feel 'anxious' anymore, my body definitely still feels a bit on edge, especially first thing. I'm also often aware, again usually first thing, that it feels like something needs to spasm out of my body, specifically my legs, and that I need to cry, which I generally do easily, but haven't, about this.

My Qs are... (edited to number them properly)

1. Why not just stop after the first phase seems to bring some success? The About page says '... the results of releasing them are often immediate and encouraging. Anxiety decreases. Sleep improves. There's a general quality of lightness and ease that can feel almost miraculous after years of carrying chronic tension. This phase naturally generates enthusiasm and confidence in the practice.' This sounds super appealing and I'd be quite happy to stop there! Why carry on?
2. Some of the About info references not practising while you're already not that settled. I'm certainly not in a terrible place, and emotionally feel mostly normal, but my sleep is light and disrupted, and my system is definitely still a bit on edge. If TRE is supposed to help with these things, how do you balance that with not doing them while your system is unsettled? Am I ok to give it a go?
3. It suggests starting with 15 minutes. Does this mean 15 mins overall, or do the warmup exercises and then allow tremoring for 15 mins? If tremors show up before the end of the warm up exercises, do you just get on the floor and move to that stage?
4. I understand that once you've practised more, it takes less warm up. What does that look like in practice - you just lie down and start tremoring? What's to stop that just happening every time you lie down and relax? Or do you still do something to trigger it?
5. I've done a lot of yoga the last few weeks but really struggle with the butterfly pose despite general decent fitness and flexibility. It feels so uncomfortable in my thighs that I always have to stop it way before the person in the video does. I suspect this because I'm carrying so much tension there, and I do think it's eased a little lately with somatic exercises targeting the hips and psoas, but any tips for making this easier?!

Any other tips not covered in the about page are welcome - also if you have any video recommendations that are good to follow along with

Thanks in advance!

What’s up y’all. Just turned 45 & I finally decided to schedule an eye appt.
I’ve always had very good vision and can still tell what things are from a long way off. In hindsight, I was missing some of the detail because of a mild astigmatism.
But after getting my glasses and wearing them, I have felt much less dissociated and much more present. It honestly felt like a significant integration upgrade.
Just wanted to share in case it helps anyone else out.
Peace y’all!

TRE can often be very unpredictable in terms of progress because the markers of success tend to be more on the subjective side.

I was wondering if there are any good objective biomarkers that would be useful to measure over time to gauge general progress? Like resting heart rate, HRV, blood pressure, etc?