TRE revisited: Body armour, trauma, David Berceli

[Mandrake]

Last April, I brought up Berceli's Trauma Releasing Excercises in this topic here:

Body armor

 

There were several of you bums who said you would pick it up and try it: Steve, Edward M, Enishi, Bokonon, mYTHmAKER, Tactile...

 

Now, after a couple of months I - and many others - are probably very curious about your experiences with this method. Would be very happy if you wanted to chime in. Have you had any psycho/emotional release, any deep changes in your everyday emotions? Has this affected your other practices? Anything else?

 

Feel free to contribute, you are the veterans!

 

 

Mandrake

[Nilo]

I found out about TRE a year ago and now i feel that I don't have to do it as much since my body is alot more relaxed than before. I feel it has helped me immensely.

[Birch]

I haven't redone in a while. Have been too busy playing about with other things. Yes, the incarnated 'stuff' is very important IME/IMO and there's also 'other' stuff that you can't get at with TRE. It's certainly helpful though.

[mYTHmAKER]

i did it for a few months. I found it helpful but nothing black and white.

I stopped as got involved in other things

May go back at some time.

I only did the last posture as I didn't like the others.

I think it's worth a try - the book is not expensive.

[Nilo]

I recommend practicing with the DVD.

[Mandrake]

Nilo, K,

What are you using now to target the more subtle tensions and issues? Have you found anything complementary or better?

 

 

Mandrake

[Birch]

Nilo, K,

What are you using now to target the more subtle tensions and issues? Have you found anything complementary or better?

 

 

Mandrake

 

Hmm, using...

Mind tricks:-) But hard to do in any other than an oblique way.

And I'm dabbling with the Yuen Method which i'm currently at pains to dissect properly. It reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle, highly symbolic, totally irrational. Oblique though:-)

Edit: reminds me of homeopathy or (again) a sort of a tantric melting into the gaps. I will also say that "karma" in this case ought not to be taken literally but as a way of getting at things in an oblique way, which one would obviously protest against if it was said outright to one's face.

Edited October 22, 2011 by -K-

[Trunk]

.. now i feel that I don't have to do it as much since my body is alot more relaxed than before. I feel it has helped me immensely.

Similarly here.

 

I don't know if it's really designed as a daily practice (?), certainly has the use of deep trauma release which someone might not need every day but invaluable to do occasionally, ime. If I got nothing more from it than what I got during the first weeks of practice, it was still way way worth it.

 

Next time around, I'll employ Nilo's advice:

I recommend practicing with the DVD.

[Birch]

"deep trauma release which someone might not need every day "

 

Which I really hope not!

 

Bercelli wrote in the book that he was teaching it to populations who had seen some terrible violence/injuries/war etc. I mean, if folks who are otherwise not confronted with terrible violence/injuries/war are resorting to deep trauma release exercises, where is this trauma coming from in the first place?

[Nilo]

Everyone has experienced trauma and we store it in our bodies, even small daily tensions get built up. For me, TRE really helped release alot of tight energy in my core and solar plexus area. I don't do it as often as before but I feel that doing it weekly is very beneficial.

[Nilo]

For subtle tensions I use the tool of meditation. It's alot easier to meditate after the body has been relieved.

 

 

Nilo, K,

What are you using now to target the more subtle tensions and issues? Have you found anything complementary or better?

 

 

Mandrake

[Birch]

Everyone has experienced trauma and we store it in our bodies, even small daily tensions get built up. For me, TRE really helped release alot of tight energy in my core and solar plexus area. I don't do it as often as before but I feel that doing it weekly is very beneficial.

 

That's what I was trying to get at. WHY has 'everyone' experienced trauma? I think that by itself is very weird. Unless we're saying 'trauma' is just/also an accumulation that gets built up (would 'conditioning' qualify for this marker?) . I mean actually living, is that 'traumatic'?

[konchog uma]

That's what I was trying to get at. WHY has 'everyone' experienced trauma? I think that by itself is very weird. Unless we're saying 'trauma' is just/also an accumulation that gets built up (would 'conditioning' qualify for this marker?) . I mean actually living, is that 'traumatic'?

 

i think trauma is a common experience.

 

not that it happens often but that its common to the human experience. Like we all in our own way know what trauma is.

Edited October 23, 2011 by anamatva

[Birch]

i think trauma is a common experience.

 

Oh I know it is

I just want to know why it is.

[konchog uma]

Oh I know it is

I just want to know why it is.

 

Well i don't have your answer, but in light of that, I think that asking "why" is kind of an infinite regression. I mean, you can say, why? Because... but then it leads to another thing to ask why about. And that keeps going ad infinitum.

 

So you can know about who what when where how but you can't really ever know why in a definitive way.

 

I think that lack of knowing is essential to the idea of "the mystery" and is why people invent God as the ultimate "because"

[Birch]

So just stop at the most recent "why" you can recall:-)

[Mandrake]

Oh I know it is

I just want to know why it is.

 

Isn't it that trauma is connected to shock -physical or mental - or intense negative emotion? In that case, in the modern world, bouts of excessive self-hatred, doubt or loathing would in effect be like depositing a big chunk of dump inside oneself. Even if it is done in one's teenage year it just makes it easier to assimilate and become blind to. Self-destructiveness is rampant in the modern world, so it would make sense.

 

I had a physical accident that gelled my left, and then my right side. After a couple of years, while practicing the Nine bottle wind, the right side just released and cleared up. It was marvellous. Felt like I was two bottles of water where the right became clear and limpid and the left stayed muddy, still is.

 

I tried to figure out what the Yuen method is about through the homepage, with little success. Care to give a short summary K?

 

 

Mandrake

[konchog uma]

So just stop at the most recent "why" you can recall:-)

 

hahaha fair enough. I can't even answer the first why when it comes to why do bad things happen. I guess they just do!

[3L3VAT3]

K: That's a good question... It's one of the big philosophical doozies that people have constantly trying to explain.

Like "why do bad things happen to good people"

 

This is something I constantly think about also. Why everybody experiences trauma (or suffering to some degree) so much. Some consider it "karma". Suffering is just part of life, just like pleasure. In fact, in this dance of duality; one is defined by the absense of the other. Can't have pleasure without suffering.

 

On a more practical level, there simply aren't enough resources to meet all of our needs; physical, emotional, spiritual, etc... Then the fact that other people/creatures are trying to get their needs met also, so there's inherent competition. That's what war is, ultimately.

 

Dude talks about the difference between hard and soft traumas also. So whereas everyone hasn't experienced straight up war zones, most everyone has come across some kind of emotional traumas in their life. I think these have their cause in ignorance about and pursuit of getting out human needs met. For example, a kid feels self-concious at school so he picks on some other kids lower in the pecking order to make himself important.

Hopefully us humans will figure out the difference between what we need and want and come up with more clever ways to meet those needs. Like sports is a good example. Instead of raping and pillaging, guys can play competetive sports to harness those instincts in a positive way.

 

anyway, that's my sunday morning ramble... booyah!

[Nilo]

Peter Levine has good programs for trauma as well:

 

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness [Paperback]

Peter A. Levine

 

http://www.amazon.com/Unspoken-Voice-Releases-Restores-Goodness/dp/1556439431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319398874&sr=8-1

[doc benway]

I practiced consistently for about 3 months. I did the entire set.

I feel that it helped loosen the low back and hips. It helped show me how tight those area were and so I've added some additional stretching and have made some real progress in that area.

From a psycho-emotional perspective, it's extremely hard to tell whether or not there is a meaningful change as that is an area I've been working on regularly with a number of approaches that change from time to time.

My usual routine has continued before and after (Taijiquan, some Qigong, Xingyi, Bagua, and regular meditation).

I think I let this go mainly because my time's extremely limited and the other practices just take higher priority for me.

[gendao]

I practiced consistently for about 3 months. I did the entire set.

I feel that it helped loosen the low back and hips. It helped show me how tight those area were and so I've added some additional stretching and have made some real progress in that area.

From a psycho-emotional perspective, it's extremely hard to tell whether or not there is a meaningful change as that is an area I've been working on regularly with a number of approaches that change from time to time.

My usual routine has continued before and after (Taijiquan, some Qigong, Xingyi, Bagua, and regular meditation).

I think I let this go mainly because my time's extremely limited and the other practices just take higher priority for me.

I'd love to get some basic instructions to try this myself.. But my hunch is that these shaking/trembling practices are good for releasing big, gross blockages and traumas.

 

So, mileage will vary. Someone ready for that stage may experience large releases.

 

But, those not yet ready for that stage, or already passed it from other practices, may not experience much. Either because they've already made their big releases...or are not ready to yet.

 

I've now stopped my Kunlun practice for more half-lotus. The reason why is I feel I'm working on a more subtle, deeper level now...and I can go deeper in half-lotus. Like you, I also only have so many hours in a day to practice, so I have to choose only what I feel might be best for me at the time.

[Birch]

Isn't it that trauma is connected to shock -physical or mental - or intense negative emotion? In that case, in the modern world, bouts of excessive self-hatred, doubt or loathing would in effect be like depositing a big chunk of dump inside oneself. Even if it is done in one's teenage year it just makes it easier to assimilate and become blind to. Self-destructiveness is rampant in the modern world, so it would make sense.

 

I had a physical accident that gelled my left, and then my right side. After a couple of years, while practicing the Nine bottle wind, the right side just released and cleared up. It was marvellous. Felt like I was two bottles of water where the right became clear and limpid and the left stayed muddy, still is.

 

I tried to figure out what the Yuen method is about through the homepage, with little success. Care to give a short summary K?

 

 

Mandrake

I only just started dabbling with it.

My "short summary" is that it's an intuitive "thing". If thing there is. From my "getting" of it so far it goes:

- indentify what's bothering you (one tends to know:-))

- find reason (this is the fun part IMO/IME) for your hook into what's bothering you

- resolve reason to point of no more hook

 

And that's about it.

 

But i just started dabbling so there you have my total understanding:-(

[Mandrake]

Sounds like psychoanalysis in a new packaging : D, or have I completely misunderstood it?

 

Thanks -K-

 

Mandrake

 

I only just started dabbling with it.

My "short summary" is that it's an intuitive "thing". If thing there is. From my "getting" of it so far it goes:

- indentify what's bothering you (one tends to know:-))

- find reason (this is the fun part IMO/IME) for your hook into what's bothering you

- resolve reason to point of no more hook

 

And that's about it.

 

But i just started dabbling so there you have my total understanding:-(

[DeefMan]

I've found a simpler definition of trauma to be useful for me...

 

Trauma is an experience that overwhelms and confuses the nervous system.

 

Confusion is the unique aspect to trauma.. that causes the energy to get stuck and cause problems..

 

More severe traumas include multiple events, physical injuries, life or death situations, etc.

and often overwhelm not only the nervous system but all of a person's defense mechanisms and coping methods..

 

One issue is that people only pay attention to severe traumas and overlook many minor traumas that happen all the time. So they search out magic methods to fix the big trauma, but never learn how to deal all the smaller traumas that are still unresolved in the system.