Body armour, trauma, David Berceli

[Mandrake]

From Trunk's personal blog:

 

"Also relevant to contraction around trauma, Sean recently introduced me to David Berceli's work (check him out on youtube & amazon) who has done work in war zones in 9 different countries - helping relieve people from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Not just soldiers, often he worked with whole villages who were traumatized. He developed a set of exercises, "TRE" (trauma release exercises) that mainly access the psoas muscle (deep deep belly) that result in soothing and release of that deep trauma. Really interesting work and hard to think of a better resume than war zone work."

 

 

I thought this so important/interesting that it should be posted here as well; since we have been discussing body armour, suppression, Reich... I think this supplements nicely!

 

This is a short (2:54 minutes) intro by Berceli:

 

Here is an interview in a couple of parts, I find his example of the body remembering a dislocation of a shoulder from an accident interesting, since there were good intentions only; also the discussion about vicarious trauma:

 

 

Here is a video from a guy who recovered from fibromyalgia through Berceli's TRE-system; usually fibromyalgia emerges in conjunction with dee/longterm emotional distress. Notice also that he was in the military:

 

War trauma:

 

There are a lot more videos, Sudan, China, testimonials...

 

I just encountered this, so if anybody has experience with David Berceli's TRE, I would be thankful for your input!

 

 

Mandrake

[Trunk]

Primary source for the exercises is his dvd:

 

I often do just the last exercise of the series before I go to bed.

It's made some big changes for me, accessed~released the psoas to a depth I'd not experienced, with very little effort.

[Kris]

I've used TRE for several months now and highly recommend it.

 

Berceli recommends doing the exercises three times a week for the first month. I did and experienced great benefits. It's still part of my weekly regime.

 

IME TRE is an efficient and very gentle way to release trauma (and the psoas)

[doc benway]

My good friend who is a healer and occasionally on this forum has been studying and using this technique for a while.

He is very impressed with it.

 

I recently had the occasion to watch trembling in action. I treated someone with a very serious hand injury.

During my initial evaluation she was emotionally and psychologically devastated. Couldn't control her emotions at all.

Really a mess. She then began violently shaking and trembling. Her mom tried to intervene and get her to stop and "control herself."

I had recently learned about this technique from my friend and asked her mom to just let it run its course. The next time I saw her she was totally transformed. She was completely at peace and went through her treatment and rehab with an amazingly positive attitude and presence. I'm absolutely convinced that I witnessed the power of trauma release through trembling in action in its natural form. Fascinating!

 

I plan to try it myself. Thanks for the links.

[Jetsun]

My good friend who is a healer and occasionally on this forum has been studying and using this technique for a while.

He is very impressed with it.

 

I recently had the occasion to watch trembling in action. I treated someone with a very serious hand injury.

During my initial evaluation she was emotionally and psychologically devastated. Couldn't control her emotions at all.

Really a mess. She then began violently shaking and trembling. Her mom tried to intervene and get her to stop and "control herself."

I had recently learned about this technique from my friend and asked her mom to just let it run its course. The next time I saw her she was totally transformed. She was completely at peace and went through her treatment and rehab with an amazingly positive attitude and presence. I'm absolutely convinced that I witnessed the power of trauma release through trembling in action in its natural form. Fascinating!

 

I plan to try it myself. Thanks for the links.

 

You might be interested in reading the work of Peter Levine, he has written a book called "Waking the Tiger" about that exact process of releasing trauma through spontaneous trembling. He says that if you observe wild animals they always shake and tremble after they survive a chase to shake off the stress and trauma which is why animals don't usually get PTSD, but humans have forgotten how to do this natural healing process.

[Mandrake]

You might be interested in reading the work of Peter Levine, he has written a book called "Waking the Tiger" about that exact process of releasing trauma through spontaneous trembling. He says that if you observe wild animals they always shake and tremble after they survive a chase to shake off the stress and trauma which is why animals don't usually get PTSD, but humans have forgotten how to do this natural healing process.

 

That's what you see in this video here, in the first seconds (not the woman on the carpet):

 

I was wandering about this since this is the first time I see an animal trembling this way; apparently it is more widely recognized.

 

 

Mandrake

[Edward M]

Guys, thanks for the recommendation. Just ordered one of the books on it. Should be interesting as i've had psychosis for ten years now.

 

Let you know how i go.

 

Ed

[sean]

i really wish i had this exercise 15 years ago!

 

it's so simple and effective ime.

 

really unwinding deep, core tension.

 

i feel like like it is saving me hundreds of hours of, say, trying to dissolve this kind of tension through sitting meditation alone.

 

like trunk i also do the last exercise before bed, sometimes for an hour or so.

 

highly recommended.

 

sean

[RiverSnake]

Sounds like a great book.

 

It's rare that you see a book on amazon with all 5 star reviews. Might just check it out.

[SAMANTABHADRA]

Anybody have a short explanation for someone living in a third-world country without abilities to buy the book at this time? A basic overview would be nice.

 

Just breathing into the perineum or what?

[Birch]

Good to hear from those willing to share about their experiences with TRE.

 

With the many spontaneous vibrations and shakings that stillness-movement induces, I am very curious about this easily accessible technique for release of stored trauma. Esp. the "soft trauma" about which Bercelli speaks.

 

Another video I found:

 

Hey RV! If you've done any mindfulness stuff, you might have come across muscles doing just that. I don't think it has to be full-bodied twitching to get anywhere. But I do like the shaking stuff. I reckon it's half-way. Like shamanic recap is half-way.

What I mean by "half-way" is you're conscious of it. The seeming opposite of what got (me) into the mess to begin with.

 

I see my cat doing it's shake-out thing spontaneously and there I am, jumping around

[Birch]

Anybody have a short explanation for someone living in a third-world country without abilities to buy the book at this time? A basic overview would be nice.

 

Just breathing into the perineum or what?

 

Send me your address and I'll mail the book to you.

As far as I can figure and have tried. You set yourself up to have very specific muscle tremors. If you've ever tried "sitting at the wall" type exercises and found your legs shaking after, then that's some ways to explain it. I don't know if Bercelli has selected very specific areas to focus on. I figure he probably has.

 

edit:typo

Edited May 3, 2011 by -K-

[寒月 Hanyue]

Good to hear from those willing to share about their experiences with TRE.

 

With the many spontaneous vibrations and shakings that stillness-movement induces, I am very curious about this easily accessible technique for release of stored trauma. Esp. the "soft trauma" about which Bercelli speaks.

 

 

Bercelli's theories are very interesting, and his explanations worth looking into. The practice he advocates is not original, simply plucked out and focused upon due to a specific understanding of how the body tries to release trauma. His work his heavily influenced by the work of Peter Levine, who is a preferabble source for the how and why behind this approach to trauma as far as I am concerned.

 

The actual core practice Berceli uses appear in several books I have read, Anodea Judith has it in one of her chakra books, I believe Barbara Brennan also has it in her famous healing book. The practice is basically the same as the 'Shaolin' zifa gong I was taught, except they like to teach it standing straight off, whereas Berceli gets you used to the process lying down and then says to try it standing. While I feel it has value, especially to enable people to become aware of and let go into allowing the body to move without conscious effort. And in an easy and pretty harmless manner.

 

The emergence of tremours in proper neigong and meditation as reported by many people, is not always the same thing, though it seems many will go through this stage first depending on the patterns held in the energy and physical bodies. It should be remembered that the outward manifestations are not always the reuslt of the same things going on inside.

 

The process is not the same as jingdong gong as far as I am aware. It is a body-mind method at best, and a body method at least.

 

Best,

[manitou]

Is the stage set with specific childhood memories, anyone?

[ralis]

After a numbers of years practicing Vipassana, I started to shake and have muscle tremors. From what I can tell, it was the breath that caused it.

[Creation]

So the psoas has been mentioned in regards to this work, but what if there is trauma stored in say, your hand or foot? Would Berceli's techniques help release that?

[Trunk]

So the psoas has been mentioned in regards to this work, but what if there is trauma stored in say, your hand or foot? Would Berceli's techniques help release that?

If the trauma to your hand affected you to your core, then yes.

If not, then no.

 

Many people receive trauma to all the way to their core through no physical impact whatsoever.

[Creation]

Many people receive trauma to all the way to their core through no physical impact whatsoever.

I might know a little about that...

[Simplicity Rules]

Is this not similar to Yi Gong or Shaking Medicine of Keeney? I tried this out this morning and felt similar shaking. I am not sure if one needs to do all the standing exercises or simply the last, but I am going to stick to only the last one. I did not get full body shakes or anything, but legs were going much crazier than in Yi Gong.

[Simplicity Rules]

Not to take this topic out of track - but are there other trauma release methods, more wholesome and addressing the entire body perhaps? I have been told Holotorpic Breathwork is one.

[寒月 Hanyue]

If the trauma to your hand affected you to your core, then yes.

If not, then no.

 

Put simply. I disagree.

 

Of course it depends on the kind of trauma, any other trauma present in the body/mind, and other factors. There is a reason the core is targeted and that all the decent methods that make use of this kind of methodology use it.

 

Best,

[Birch]

I guess this is properly on topic. The qi-gong stuff I've been reading more recently points to building up core before doing anything with limbs. The latest one I read (another one from Yang, Jwing-Ming) explained that if you lead the qi to the limbs before having it sufficient in the core then you'd just end up with physical force (I think the word used was "bravery" which IMO has other implications).

 

I figure the trauma itself could be dependent on a bunch of things, including one's own sense of self throughout the event. I wonder if core-trauma might also have something to do with one's own sense of volition. I dunno, just rambling :-)

[suninmyeyes]

Thanks for sharing Mandrake and everyone,very useful.

[Jetsun]

Not to take this topic out of track - but are there other trauma release methods, more wholesome and addressing the entire body perhaps? I have been told Holotorpic Breathwork is one.

 

Depends on the sort of trauma you are working with, EMDR works quite well if you have precise events to work with. Peter Levine's Somatic experiencing is similar shaking but without focus on the legs, although I never got it to work. Bruce Frantzis Water Method can allow you to let go of trauma. I know a form of Qigong called CFQ qigong was used to help tsunami victims recover from trauma. I always thought holotropic breathwork was for birth trauma, it's probably less safe than tre because it uses breath.

 

But most traumas will have an impact on the tensions throughout your body so you don't necessarily have to work with the area it's stored in order to connect with it.

 

All severe life or death type traumas will be connected to the psoas in some way no matter where in your body it is stored in order to energise flight in the fight or flight response brought up by the trauma.

Edited May 8, 2011 by Jetsun

[Birch]

"All severe life or death type traumas will be connected to the psoas in some way no matter where in your body it is stored in order to energise flight in the fight or flight response brought up by the trauma. "

 

Can you say/write more about this? Thank you

 

I'm currently very very aware of my glutes being overly tight (oh that sounds so...I dunno) but IMO/IME that whole area can seriously "set-up" your movement to feel unpleasant. And I guess I've sort of figured that feeling unpleasantness leads to thinking it.

 

Reckon some of this is where the FL posture comes from? Basically if you can sit that way you've (re)solved a bunch?