A post by Branches co-owner + director Leslie Stokman.
I leave it unnamed most of the time, but there is a secret ingredient that has supercharged many of the benefits of my yoga practice.
The benefits I’m thinking of are deeper presence, softened body tension, increased flexibility, and more resilience in my nervous system. We might practice meditation, restorative yoga, active asana or mobility work, and pranayama to cultivate these benefits. But there is one practice that cultivates them all, all at once.
Even though I’ve been back to teaching twice a week for a few months now, I don’t bring it up. The reason I don’t talk about it in my classes is because I want the practices we are engaging in to reveal their own goodness and worth. This isn’t about detracting from activities we already enjoy.
That said, it also doesn’t sit right with me to keep quiet. So let me tell you a little about TRE.
TRE stands for Tension (or Trauma) Release Exercises. The long and short of it is this: when you practice TRE, you tap into an ability to complete unfinished cycles of stress responses by voluntarily invoking involuntary shaking called neurogenic tremors (shaking that emerges from the function of your autonomic nervous system.)
Everyone’s body possesses this ability, and some folks can recall times that it happened on its own. Knees knocking before a big presentation, tummy trembles as you lean in for a first kiss, wild leg shakes around giving birth, or shivering terribly after a car accident are some common experiences for which our culture tends to lack context or accurate explanation.
These tremors serve their purpose when they come up on their own. Spontaneous shaking like the examples above give our bodies an outlet for the overwhelming effervescence of exciting moments. Shaking also offers a resolution to the intense activation of survival energy in the face of frightening events.
Thankfully, you don’t have to put yourself through another stressful experience to access this miraculous and fascinating process. The keys to engaging with your neurogenic tremors in a therapeutic way are all about creating safety and a sense of grounding, then staying present while finding the right amount of intensity. That’s where I can help.
Since 2019 I’ve been a Certified TRE Provider, and it’s one of my greatest professional joys to guide others to discover and refine their personal practice. Branches’ co-directors Leena and Emma were some of my first practice clients!
Check out this snippet of the time Leena, Emma and I practiced TRE together in the final days of renovations at 9 Samuel Street.
We certainly had a lot of stress to shake off, which is putting it lightly.
Notice each of us tremoring with unique tempo and style, while also making voluntary choices about to how to move or lay.
The sky is the limit when it comes to what bodies can do when engaged in the therapeutic tremoring of TRE, but almost everyone starts like Emma pictured above, with some moderate hip and leg shakes.
Because a regular TRE practice can release body tension, build nervous system resilience, and deepen presence through a novel type of embodiment, it might be the next game-changing element in your meditation, yoga, or strength and mobility practice. I really believe (and have seen) that TRE is that powerful, and I’ve felt it for myself.
If this resonates with you, too, let’s chat.
I’m excited to return to work as a TRE Provider, and am currently offering weekly one-on-one appointments on Tuesday afternoons at 1:00pm and 2:30pm. Read more about TRE and how to get started on my webpage.
And if you want to catch me in class, I’m teaching on Sundays – 9:45am Stretch & Centre, and Mondays – 7:30pm Slow Flow.
Yours in discovery of all our weird and wonderful capacities,
Leslie
The Branches 