The Animal Mechanism
We return to where we began: the gazelle escaping the lion.
The gazelle runs, is caught, goes limp (freeze response), and if it survives, shakes violently for minutes before walking away. This neurogenic tremoring is built into mammalian neurobiology. It is the body's way of discharging the massive survival energy mobilised during threat.
Humans have this mechanism too. Watch someone immediately after an accident or near-miss — they often shake uncontrollably. Watch a child after a frightening experience — trembling, crying, shaking.
But we were taught to stop. "Calm down." "Get a grip." "You're overreacting." We learned to clamp down on the trembling, to suppress it through muscular control, to override the body's discharge mechanism through willpower.
The survival energy didn't go anywhere. It stayed in the body, held in chronic tension, waiting for a discharge that was never allowed to complete.
TRE: Trauma Release Exercises
David Berceli developed TRE (Trauma Release Exercises) after working in war zones and disaster areas. He observed that the tremoring response existed across cultures and tried to find ways to deliberately activate it.
The technique involves fatiguing the psoas muscle — the deep hip flexor that is centrally involved in the fight-flight-freeze response — until tremoring begins spontaneously. Once initiated, the tremoring tends to spread through the body, releasing tension patterns without conscious effort.
This is not shaking on purpose. It's creating conditions where the body's own tremoring mechanism activates. You don't make the tremoring happen — you allow it to happen by removing the suppression that normally prevents it.
The Psoas Connection
The psoas muscle connects the upper and lower body. It runs from the lumbar spine through the pelvis to the femur. It's the muscle that pulls the legs up — in fight, for kicking; in flight, for running; in freeze, for curling into protective ball.
Chronic stress and trauma often lodge in the psoas. The muscle remains contracted, shortened, ready for action that never comes. This chronic contraction affects posture, lower back health, breathing, and overall nervous system tone.
When the psoas releases — through tremoring or other means — effects ripple through the whole system. The spine lengthens. The breath deepens. The nervous system shifts.
Protocol: Basic TRE Sequence
Warm-up exercises (10-15 minutes):
The following exercises fatigue the psoas and surrounding muscles, creating conditions for tremoring:
- Standing with feet wide: Knees slightly bent, bounce gently for 1-2 minutes
- Wall sit: Back against wall, knees at 90 degrees, hold until muscles tire
- Forward fold: Knees slightly bent, let upper body hang, shake head gently yes/no
- Deep squat holds: Squat as low as comfortable, hold until fatigue
- Butterfly stretch with forward fold: Soles of feet together, let knees fall open, fold forward
Tremoring position (10-20 minutes):
- Lie on back, soles of feet together, knees falling open (like butterfly on back)
- Slowly bring knees toward each other until tremoring begins
- There's a "sweet spot" — usually when knees are about 8-12 inches apart — where tremoring activates
- Once tremoring starts, allow it — don't control it, don't intensify it, just let it happen
- The tremoring may spread from legs to pelvis, spine, shoulders, jaw
Completion:
- Bring knees to chest and rock gently side to side
- Roll to one side and rest
- Take time before standing
What to Expect
The tremoring can feel strange at first. We're not used to our bodies moving without our control. The mind may try to stop it. The first few sessions are often about just allowing — letting the body do what it's doing without interference.
Physical sensations: Tremoring, vibrating, shaking, twitching. May be subtle at first, intensifying with practice. May spread from legs through whole body.
Emotional release: Tremoring often releases emotional material. Tears, anger, laughter, sadness — allow what comes. The body is processing.
Fatigue: Some people feel tired after tremoring. This is normal — rest. The system is integrating.
Euphoria: Some people feel unusually good after tremoring — light, clear, calm. The discharge happened.
Gradual change: Single sessions produce effects. Regular practice over weeks and months produces cumulative change in baseline tension and nervous system tone.
Cautions
Tremoring practice is generally safe, but some considerations:
- Start slowly: 10-15 minutes of tremoring initially; build duration gradually
- You're in control: You can stop the tremoring at any time by straightening your legs
- Ground afterward: Take time after practice; don't rush back to activity
- Trauma history: For those with severe trauma, the practice may release intense material — working with a trained provider initially can be helpful
- ME/CFS: The exercises that initiate tremoring require some energy; for severely depleted systems, start very gently or wait until some capacity returns
The Permission
Perhaps the deepest aspect of shaking practice is the permission it provides.
We were trained that trembling is weakness, loss of control, something to be ashamed of. We learned to override our body's natural discharge mechanism and call that strength.
The practice reframes this. Shaking is not weakness. Shaking is completion. The body is doing what it was always trying to do. The shaking we suppressed was not dysfunction — it was function. What we called "holding it together" was actually holding it in.
To shake is to give the body permission to complete its interrupted cycles. To shake is to trust the body's wisdom over the mind's control. To shake is to let the survival energy finally move through.
The species that forgot how to shake is remembering. One body at a time, the trembling returns. Not as pathology but as healing.