YOUR wellbeing editor Kate tries out a treatment or event or activity each issue this time shaking to release trauma through TRE.
I must confess to feeling a bit apprehensive about this issue’s Kate Does… I’ve been following Carmella B’Hahn’s journey into TRE (Tension and Trauma Release) with interest. It fascinates me the idea that humans share the same shaking/tremoring reflex that animals use in the wild to release trauma.
At the start of our session, Carmella explained that the body shows “a startling intelligence about what needs to be released and how” but that “we have pathologized the shaking reflex to make it into something wrong”. She described shaking as “the completion of the trauma cycle” and said that in her 25 years as a grief guide, she has noticed that for some people there are places in grief that words cannot reach, and neither can symbology or deep inner work.
Trauma can become lodged in the body. I have certainly experienced that for myself – a frozen shoulder that has occurred twice at times of prolonged stress, deep aching inside my hips that I associate with loss and grief and a tendency to lose my voice when I don’t feel heard. The idea that my body knows how to let go of trapped emotion feels appealing but I went along to the session wondering how on earth Carmella would get me to trigger my own tremor reflex. I envisioned myself lying on the floor, immobile as a statue, apologising profusely for not being able to do it. Or, worse still, I imagined feeling embarrassed as my body twitched and shook beyond my control.
Carmella’s warm, calming demeanour helped to dispel these fears almost immediately and her assertion that “you can’t get this wrong” put me at my ease. She explained that we would begin with some exercises designed to fatigue the muscles a little before lying on the mat to induce tremoring. I told her that, as much as I was fascinated by this therapy and keen to try it, I couldn’t really cope with the idea of a huge release of trauma at this point in my life. I needed to be able to hold things together and not “fall apart” just now.
My body seemed to hear and respond to my request. As I lay on the mat, I began to experience a gentle kind of fluttering in the tops of my legs, like the beating of butterfly wings. It built slowly and gently, never feeling unpleasant or out of control. Carmella, who was there to provide support and reassurance throughout, suggested I move my hands around to different parts of my body to see what would happen. At various points – particularly when my hands were on my throat and abdomen – the tremoring became stronger and more pronounced.
Each short session of tremoring (there were three) was interspersed with a period of rest and integration. That evening when I went home, I felt profoundly tired and slept better than I have done for some time.
As someone who lives almost entirely inside her head and takes her body very much for granted, I’m not really accustomed to thinking of my body as having its own intelligence and knowing what it needs to do to heal itself. However, I really like the idea of supporting it to do that. Carmella explained that TRE is a self-help tool that people can use throughout their life. She recommends four sessions to fully understand the process and how to use it to the best effect. I have already booked my next session.
• Carmella practices at Heartwood, Bowden House Community near Totnes. For more information about TRE contact her on 01803 867005 or email: carmella@heartofrelating.com and visit www.heartofrelating.com