Facilitators:
Luke Mullen – Kinesiologist. TRE Provider, Embodiment Coach specialising in stress and trauma. 

What is TRE (Trauma / Tension Releasing Exercises)?

TRE is a gentle somatic method consisting of a series of 7 simple, body-based movements, designed to activate the body’s innate tremor (or shake) reflex. This tremor mechanism is built into all mammals as a natural way to discharge excess tension, stress, or trauma held in the body. When initiated safely and within a supported container, the tremor can help the nervous system shift toward regulation, releasing deep-held muscular patterns and stuck energy.

Because the tremor reflex is a primitive, evolutionary response shared across mammals, TRE offers a universal gateway into down-regulating protective states (fight / flight / freeze / collapse) and reconnecting with our inherent capacity for nervous system balance. In short: rather than bypassing or suppressing activation, TRE invites the body to complete (or partially complete) its natural discharge — in a controlled, regulated way.

How TRE Helps with Anxiety, PTSD / CPTSD, Tension & Injury Recovery

When we live in a state of chronic stress or trauma, parts of the nervous system can remain “on alert” long after the original threat is past. This may manifest as:

• Persistent anxiety, rumination, or hypervigilance

• Tension (neck, shoulders, back, pelvis, jaw) that resists release

• Sensitivity to triggers, overwhelm, dysregulation

• “Stuckness” in the body, emotional numbing, or dissociation

• Slower healing from injury, pain signals remaining heightened

• Sleep disruption, unresolved muscle guarding, digestive disturbances

TRE provides a gradual, nervous-system-friendly portal for releasing what the body already wants to shake off. Over time, repeated practice can help:

• Rebalance the autonomic nervous system (favoring parasympathetic rest / repair)

• Reduce baseline muscle tension and physical pain

• Lower stress hormone levels (e.g. cortisol)

• Improve emotional resilience, regulation, and capacity to tolerate activation

• Enhance bodily awareness, interoception, and embodiment

• Support recovery from injury by reducing chronic guarding

• Cultivate a self-regulatory resource you can use independently

In short: TRE doesn’t impose “release” from the outside — it invites the body to complete its own natural unfolding, gradually.

The Importance of Self-Regulation & Embodiment

One of the most potent gifts of TRE is that it supports self-regulation — the ability to notice, respond, and settle activation in the nervous system without spiraling or shutting down. When we build capacity to meet rising sensations with curiosity and skill (rather than fear or avoidance), we expand our window of tolerance.

This is deeply tied to embodiment: the practice of being present with sensation (even intense or uncomfortable ones) without being “hijacked” by them. When embodied, we learn to be with what arises, rather than over-identified, suppressed, dissociated, or overwhelmed. In trauma-sensitive work, embodiment is not about forcing sensations, but about learning to hold space for them — noticing them, tending them, and letting them transform.

Over time, embodiment becomes a kind of inner scaffolding: you become more resilient to life’s challenges, more anchored in your own nervous system, and more able to move through activation without fragmentation.

Other Benefits of TRE (Beyond Trauma / Tension)

Here are additional benefits people often experience through TRE practice:

• Improved sleep quality

• Greater sense of calm, ease, spaciousness

• More fluidity in posture, movement, alignment

• Relief from chronic aches, pains, tension patterns

• Enhanced immune function & overall vitality

• Increased creativity, clarity, and presence

• Better stress recovery after emotional or physical challenge

• Liberation from reactive patterns, rigidity, “stuckness”