When we first learn TRE (Trauma Release Exercises) we are often living a life that is full of strong emotions we can’t control. Are you hijacked by emotions?TRE is a body based technique that helps us unwind and let go of deep patterns of tension.  To begin with it is often a revelation. Am I doing this myself? Am I making these tremors happen, or are they moving my body?

Our bodies are doing these wonderful involuntary things, its exciting and usually it feels so very, very pleasant. Ripples of joyful laughter often come up as client’s body’s come awake and alive in a way they have never felt before. One client described TRE as ‘being in a jacuzzi without the bubbles!”

Often the early movements are bigger (legs flapping or psoas contracting) as the client negotiates what their body can show them. Its important to come to TRE with a spirit of curiosity…what can my body show me? There maybe years of built up tension in certain muscle groups.

However to access the true richness, safety and artistry from TRE I have found that the slower we go, the more we LET GO. Taking lots of pauses then listening in stillness to how our body feels, focusing on the breath, and make micro adjustments to the body position are vital techniques to help us slow right down.

Going slowly counteracts our primitive trauma responses, it uncouples the fear cascade of fight, flight and freeze from the memory and switches off our ‘fear circuits’. So often in life we are hijacked by these circuits and triggered into responses that we have no control over. It is like having our ‘red alert’ siren turned up high all the time.

If we are triggered to anger/fear/sadness/anxiety very quickly they can hijack our daily interaction, when what we would like to be is calm, loving and in control.

When we go slowly and listen to our bodies using TRE we can re-programme our responses in the present moment, from a place of safety and turn down those triggers so that you are no longer hijacked and feel in charge of how you feel. Its a great place to be!

Are you hijacked by emotions? Would you like to learn TRE? Come to a workshop, they run monthly every Friday at The Sunflower Centre in London.

Kate Munden

Kate is a trauma and embodiment specialist. She is a TRE & EFT Supervising Mentor and is on the Executive Board of EFT International (formerly AAMET) and is a Comprehensive Energy Psychology Practitioner, DipPsych, Master Hypnotist, Master Practitioner of NLP and Time Line Therapy (accredited by the ABNLP) and has been an intuitive body & energy worker for 30 years. While she works with any problem state she specialises in the sensitive areas of Post Traumatic Stress, emotional abuse, chronic pain and anxiety.