Trauma Release Exercises
7 exercises to help you release trauma from your body curated by David Berceli
What happens to our skeletal muscles when we are frightened?
Our bodies are designed so that when we sense danger, our skeletal muscles contract to help us curl up into a ball to protect our softer organs, our neck, heart and abdomen. Not dissimilar to the foetus position. This is instinctive. When we feel safe, these muscles should then relax.
“The psoas muscles are considered the fight/flight muscles of the human species. These primitive muscles stand guard like sentinels protecting the centre of gravity of the human body”
- Dr David Berceli
To heal from the impact that trauma has upon our body, these muscles must let go of the tension they hold and return to a state of relaxation. However, our learned ability to over-ride the messages we get from our body, means we often don’t let go of this tension as fully as we need. Even if we take a bath, go for a run or do something else that might help us unwind, the tension often remains deep seated within our body.
When our psoas muscles are contracted for lengthy periods that outlast the original danger, our secondary muscles work harder to counteract the forward pull. The erector spinae muscles try to pull the body backwards to keep it upright. The tension between these two muscle groups creates a spinal compression that causes back pain which, if left unaddressed, can spread to the shoulder and neck.
What’s our body’s natural solution for this tension?
Our body does have a natural remedy for this tension. Our body is actually designed to shake and tremble whenever we experience something that is frightening. We can all recall feeling this on some occasion.
This danger might be a threat to our physical integrity or may be a profound threat to our emotional well-being. Road traffic accident, sexual assault, humiliation, fear of rejection. Sometimes we’re frightened in joyful circumstances – giving a speech at a wedding, presenting an idea in the boardroom. Diverse experiences impacting on us differently but sharing fear at the heart of the experience. Our body’s natural inclination when we are faced with these challenges is to want to shake uncontrollably. This is the body’s natural way of dealing with the tension and chemicals that have flooded our body as we felt fear. As we shake, tremble and quiver, our body discharges the excess energy and restores itself to a state of calm. Berceli discovered in his work with traumatised people in Africa, that those who let themselves shake didn’t need psychotherapy or medication to recover from their experiences.
Unfortunately, as humans we’ve learned to over-ride our capacity to shake. No society values weakness. So instead of letting ourselves shake in the way our bodies are meant to, we’ve learned to disguise our fear and push through for fear of being seen as weak.
In this 2-minute video below you can watch what happens when a polar bear is chased. It’s worth a watch as you get a sense of all the energy we are over-riding in the aftermath of a traumatic incident.
How can you restore your body’s natural need to shake?
David Berceli and others have argued that the body wants to shake like the polar bear in this video when we’ve had a frightening experience. But our mind won’t let us. So we are left with this hyper-aroused charge that we are unable to release. If we don’t get the opportunity to release it, we are left with our muscles in a contracted state. If we don’t release the tension, the brain continues to receive messages that it’s in a state of danger. A kind of self-perpetuating loop.
What should happen is that after the trauma is over, our body should naturally activate itself to shake and release the excess energy and chemicals. This tells our brain that the danger is over.
Berceli has developed a set of seven exercises which are designed to trigger this shaking mechanism. These simple, painless exercises evoke involuntary shaking from the centre of gravity outwards. Your body will begin to shake involuntarily in searching for areas of tension within your body and slowly discharge all the tension and relax your muscles. Most other exercises release surface tensions but TRE are designed to discharge the deeper chronic tensions that are created in a traumatic experience. Whilst two people will get different effects, the exercises are designed to help your body restore itself to where it should be.
For some people, shaking can produce a feeling of exhaustion like when you’ve had a hard workout. Others can feel invigorated. The pattern of shaking may be different each time you do the exercises. And they can be done to cope with small daily stressors as well as bigger trauma. Which is why many practitioners of TRE will perform the exercises regularly (ie at least once per week)
Although these exercises are simple to do, they can have a profound effect on the body and can have a very deep physical and psychological effect. Berceli suggests you consult with a health care provider or therapist before embarking on them advising that:
“They can quickly reduce blood pressure, cause strong trembling and a deep release of emotions. They can also elicit past traumas for which you may want professional guidance and / or personal support. As always, the key is to respect your own body, emotions and psyche. If for any reason you feel the need to stop the exercises or the shaking, simply do so by stretching your legs out flat on the floor and just relaxing your back or curling up on your side. You can always return to them when you feel calm, safe and comfortable”.
The exercises:
You can see Berceli demonstrating the exercises here:
Please consult with your GP before you try these exercises for yourself.
If you have any physical health problems, or feel you would benefit from further advice, I would encourage you to skip below these exercises and consider participating in the programme discussed beneath these descriptions.
Exercise 1:
Stand with your feet hip width apart.
Turn both feet onto their sides in the same direction. This will cause you to stand on the outside of one foot and the inside of the other.
Hold for 30 seconds and then sway your body in the opposite direction changing your feet to the other side. Continue swaying slowly about five times in each direction.
Exercise 2:
Stand in front of a chair with your back to it and place one foot face down on the chair.
With the standing leg, raise your heel as high as possible and then lower it back down to the floor
Repeat about 20 times. It is normal for it to cause a little tightness or discomfort in the calf but stop if it becomes painful
Raise the heel 1 inch off the floor and hold for 30-60 seconds
Stand on both feet and then shake the leg you just exercised to get rid of any discomfort.
Repeat on the other side.
Exercise 3:
Stand on one leg with the other knee bent and take hold of your foot behind you.
Slowly bend and touch the ground with your free hand. Whilst touching the ground, bend your knee of your standing leg as deeply as you can and then straighten it.
Repeat this 10-15 times depending on the strength of your legs. If it’s too difficult, hold on to the back of a chair rather than bending down to the floor
Switch sides
Exercise 4:
Stand with your legs spread apart so there is some tension in your inner leg muscles
Bend forward until you can touch the ground, you should feel a stretch down the back of your legs and your inner thighs.
Slowly walk your hands over to one foot and hold for three slow deep breaths
Walk your hands over to the other side for another three slow deep breaths
Walk your hands back into the centre and reach between your legs behind you. Hold this position for three deep breaths.
You might feel some shaking start to happen. If you do, just let it happen.
Exercise 5:
Make two fists and place them on the top of your buttocks.
Push your pelvis slightly forward so there is a gentle bow in your back and you can feel a gentle stretch in the front of your thighs
Gently twist from the hips looking behind you in one direction. Turn again from the hips and do the same in the opposite direction.
Come to a standing position
Exercise 6:
Sit with your back against the wall as if there was a chair beneath you. This will put stress on the upper leg muscles. After a few minutes you might begin to feel some slight pain, tightness or quivering in these muscles.
When it becomes slightly painful, move up the wall by a couple of inches. The pain should subside although the quivering might get stronger. If you need to move up again, that’s fine. Find a spot where there’s quivering but no pain.
After five minutes of quivering, come off the wall and hang over forward. Keep your knees slightly bent whilst you lean forward to touch the ground.
The quivering may well increase. Stay there for about 3-4 minutes.
Exercise 7:
Lay on your back with your feet flat on the ground and your knees bent and up
Let your knees fall apart and turn your feet together
Lift your pelvis off the ground for one moment keeping your knees open
Set your pelvis on the floor and let your knees relax open for one minute. You may begin to feel some shaking.
Close your knees together by about two inches and lay in this position for two minutes. The quivering may get stronger. If you find it pleasant and comfortable, allow it to continue.
Close your knees a further two inches and allow the shaking to come into your legs. If you are uncomfortable at any point straighten your legs and relax.
Close your knees again two more inches and allow the shaking to continue. At this point you can continue shaking until you feel it’s time to stop. Do not shake for more than 15 minutes as you will become over tired.
To finish, place the soles of your feet on the floor. Keep your knees slightly apart and the shaking will continue. Allow this movement to move into your pelvis and lower back. To end, simply slide your legs down long on the floor.
--------
Further resources
The video above demonstrates the exercises in full. You can also read more about them and how they were developed in David Berceli’s book “Trauma Releasing Exercises”.
Some people find they need additional support. Yoga teacher, Caroline Purvey was trained by David Berceli but has modified the exercises. Her long history of working with the body enabled her to see that some people could find them difficult to do. She has a short online programme that teaches her adapted version of the exercises and can be taken at any time that’s convenient to do. The advantage of this programme is Caroline is able to provide personalised support for any queries that may arise and prides herself on being responsive to her clients.
You can contact Caroline via her website here
I interviewed Caroline and her son and business partner, Daniel, for the Locked Up Living Podcast. You can hear more about Caroline and her take on TRE here
And if you want the chance to talk about your trauma, please get in touch for a free consultation via here
