Frequently Asked Questions

We all have different pasts and experiences.

If your background involves emotional or physical abuse, adverse childhood experiences, significant prolonged stress or trauma and you have not yet worked through these, then TRE® is the package you would need to do as this helps release trauma from the body, helping the brain to process your past, creating new neural pathways which can get rid of nightmares, flashbacks, sciatica, hypervigilance and all the typical symptoms associated with PTSD.

HTR is a different medical system to TRE. and is for women who are struggling with hormonal symptoms during perimenopause and menopause and other times of their life, who are not suffering from active PTSD symptoms.

Neurogenic Yin® is perfect for anyone suffering from autoimmune disorders, fatigue, burnout, fibromyalgia, or psychogenic pain – it’s highly restorative and less physically demanding in comparison to TRE, and includes the neurogenic tremoring which is involved in TRE.

The concept of trauma being held in the body is a central tenet of somatic psychology.

Here are some ways in which trauma is thought to be held in the body:

  1. Physiological changes: Traumatic experiences can lead to physiological changes in the body’s stress response systems. This includes alterations in the nervous system, such as increased sensitivity of the amygdala (the brain region involved in emotional processing) and dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls the body’s response to stress. These changes can persist long after the traumatic event has passed contributing to physical symptoms such as muscle tension, pain, gastrointestinal issues, and disruption in sleep patterns.
  2. Muscle memory: Trauma can be stored in the body’s musculature through a phenomenon called muscle memory. This concept suggests that the body retains memories of physical actions associated with traumatic events, leading to patterns of tension or holding in specific muscle groups. Neurogenic somatic exercise helps by releasing these muscular tensions, and facilitate the processing of traumatic memories
  3. Emotional suppression: In response to a traumatic event, individuals may unconsciously suppress or dissociate from intense emotions, associated with the event. The emotional suppression can manifest in physical symptoms or bodily sensations,  as the unresolved emotional energy seeks expression through the body. Practices like neurogenic exercise, TRE, mindfulness, embodiment, yoga, and breathwork aim to reconnect individuals with their bodily sensations and facilitate the release of suppressed emotions.
  4. Nervous system dysregulations: Trauma can dysregulate the autonomic nervous system, leading to chronic states of hyperarousal (e.g., anxiety, hypervigilance) or hypoarousal (e.g., dissociation, numbness). These dysregulated states can manifest as physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, digestive disturbances, and changes in blood pressure. Techniques like Tension & trauma releasing exercises, and neurogenic exercise aim to regulate the nervous system and restore a sense of safety and equilibrium in the body.
  5. Memory triggers: Certain sensory stimuli or environmental cues can trigger traumatic memories encoded in the body. These triggers can evoke intense emotional and physiological responses, often without conscious awareness of their connection to the original trauma. Somatic exercise like TRE and neurogenic exercise can help individuals to learn to identify and process these triggers reducing the impact on physical and emotional well-being.

The James-Lange theory of emotions states that emotion is the result of bodily processes, meaning bodily reactions elicit emotions and this can be demonstrated by the fact that benzodiazepines, which were initially developed as muscle relaxant medication have anti-anxiety qualities. Essentially the muscles relax, which means the brain no longer receives the signals telling it the muscles are tense, and as a result, the anxiety goes away.  Benzodiazepines have subsequently been reclassified as anti-anxiety medication for that very reason – but long-term use of them comes with many adverse effects including addiction, overdose, mind disorders and much more.  

Trauma leaves footprints in the subconscious part of your brain and body – the autonomic nervous system (responsible for unconscious action, hormone & immune regulation etc.), altering brain function and neural pathways, increasing the sensitivity of the amygdala and shrinking the hippocampus – both of which are located in the subconscious limbic system part of the brain.

The amygdala controls the fight or flight stress response. Chronic stress, adverse childhood experiences, and trauma have the power to alter the function of the amygdala and the hippocampus (which processes new memories). The amygdala becomes overactive/overreactive and essentially stuck, sending signals to the rest of your body and nervous system telling them that there’s a real life tiger in the room that it needs to protect you from, activating the nervous system and body into action, when there is no tiger in the room. Changing the body at a physiological level, producing higher than healthy levels of the hormones Cortisol and Adrenalin in preparation to either run away from the tiger or fight the tiger, affecting our fascia (connective tissues), and muscles, which in turn affects our emotions, making you hypervigilant, anxious, angry, depressed etc.

The peripheral nervous system in your body is part of your subconscious brain  The neurogenic tremors activate the brain stem, sending a gentle electric charge around the nervous system essentially unblocking any energetic blockages, rebooting it and regulating the processes in the autonomic nervous system.  The fascia (connective tissue – a sensory organ) in the body, then feeds information to the brain, telling the brain that you are safe, calming the brain into releasing the overprotective outputs in the amygdala,  calming it, creating neuroplasticity (new positive neural pathways) as well as increasing the size of the hippocampus – meaning your short term memory is improved.

So by using a body-up approach in the first instance, rather than a top-down (talk therapy) approach, we are calming the brain, creating new neural pathways. The practices I teach help to bring you back into balance, calming the amygdala’s sensitivity meaning you are less likely to react and be triggered by difficult conversations and the hippocampus is more able to process new memories, which makes talk therapy more effective when you are eventually ready for it.

We all have different pasts, and experiences.  When we experience, adverse childhood experiences, chronic stress, emotional abuse or trauma, the internal threat detection system in our brain can become stuck in a defence physiology, making us overreactive, altering brain function and neural pathways, affecting our mental and physical health.

TRE helps the brain to process challenging past events – even ones that may have happened when you were in the womb or during birth, helping it to let go of these old events, which can be healed & transformed.

TRE® stands for Tension, Stress & Trauma Releasing Exercises designed by David Berceli. These are 7 exercises which stretch and tire out the muscles, activating a natural therapeutic tremor reflex in the body.

The neurogenic tremors help reset the reflexes and habits in the brain that are stuck in a protective mode, creating neuroplasticity – new positive neural pathways.  They send a healing electric charge around the nervous system, acting as a system reboot – regulating the body, regulating the go-quick hormones Cortisol & Adrenalin which can cause a multitude of symptoms including: anger, anxiety, sadness & panic attacks, back ache, sciatica, infertility, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), inflammation, insomnia, high blood pressure, heart disease etc.

TRE is a safe and easy way of releasing long-held tension patterns and waking up the body, taking the body from contraction to expansion

Over time people report feeling more alive, joyful, confident, safe and connected to their body through the simple process of shaking

Essentially, we are reconnecting you to your body through tremoring

What’s great about it is, that it’s not talk therapy – I’m a big fan of psychotherapy which can be really useful at the right time, but studies and science now knows that working with the body, to regulate it should be the first step when healing trauma, followed then by psychotherapy.

Our experience in the TRE community is that TRE is an effective anti-stress tool and many people report benefits of improved sleep. We have also seen that tremoring improves other symptoms:

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Complex-trauma (CPTSD)
  • Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)

Initially though, I will guide and support you to make sense of things that can arise during the transformational process. I will teach you:

  • Simple grounding techniques to help keep you fully embodied, present and safe
  • Bringing you back into your body, in the event you day dream off, feel floaty, feel very sad, become hyper alert, or very hot or cold
  • How to ensure the right part of your nervous system is working

The trauma recovery package is a set of 6 1-hour TRE sessions where you will learn the art of sentience, and self regulation. You will learn how to develop the tremors in your body to the different parts. 

  • For the best results, these classes should be no more than a week apart, because like therapy, you tend to lose the cumulative effect if we have long pauses in-between
  • Your continuous development will give you new skills, which will be more embedded and habitual.

Happy shaking!

Neurogenic Yin is an incredibly peaceful restorative practice that I offer clients suffering from burnout,  fibromyalgia, complex pain and autoimmune disorders, helping to calm their symptoms.

Neurogenic Yin stimulates the meridians and pranic energy channels, reboots and reintegrates the nervous system, and recalibrates the brain’s limbic system, calming the brain’s over protective outputs, the pain response, inflammation etc.

Reframing our perception of our body and how we talk to it can be very powerful, it’s the reason Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is offered on the NHS, however, I had CBT far too early in my treatment, by a therapist who was clearly not trauma-informed and to be quite frank in my opinion, should not be allowed to teach it. She was out of her depth, which re-traumatised me, putting me in danger.

Other studies have noted that it’s very difficult to see if CBT is an effective treatment for PTSD – one study, in particular, involving 255 female veterans given CBT, saw no change in their depression after the treatment[i].

With regards to TRE, the only questions I’m going to ask you are questions about your body and symptoms for example: 

  • What presenting symptoms would you like to work on?
  • What sensations are you are feeling inside your body?
  • Where are you feeling these?

 

You don’t need to tell me about your past, which could be retraumatising. 

The neurogenic tremors enable the body to process your past intuitively.

[i] Shedler J. Psychology Today. 2017. 

Selling Bad Therapy to Trauma Victims

People who are trauma-informed are qualified professionals who are able to help people recover from trauma.

People who are trauma-aware are not able to help people recover from trauma.

Always ask your therapist whether they are trauma-informed and ask to see their qualifications.  I regularly treat clients who have sadly come to me having previously paid for expensive therapies from people who are not trauma-informed.  Save your money and time by vetting your service provider in the first instance. 

Always check whether your therapist has the correct qualifications. It’s important for your safety and health.

  • It’s important you get the correct diagnosis from a psychiatrist in the first instance
  • ADHD and trauma can overlap and often interplay with one another 
  • ADHD is a neuro developmental condition which is influenced by genetics and early life exposure to stress in the womb, adverse childhood experiences and trauma 
  • Trauma within the first 6 years of being born has been linked to the risk of possible ADHD development and severity of symptoms
  • Children and adults with childhood trauma can sometimes be misdiagnosed as having ADHD when in actual fact they don’t have it and likewise children with ADHD can sometimes be misdiagnosed as trauma when what they have is ADHD
  • This is because the presenting symptoms can be similar – for example both conditions can result in, emotionally unregulated behaviour like agitation and irritability, they can involve problems with concentrating – distractibility, poor memory, disorganisation, sleep issues and being hyperaroused etc.
  • Common symptoms of trauma that are not seen with ADHD include dissociation – where the child can feel floaty and out of their body (disconnection), nightmares, flashbacks, hypervigilance, sudden uncontrollable bursts of anger or  etc.
  • Ultimately they are different conditions which need different treatment plans
  • ADHD medication like Ritalin – which is effective in treating ADHD, can often make children with trauma symptoms (and not ADHD) become even more hyper vigilant, anxious and on edge
  • Given people with PTSD are 4 times more likely to end up with PTSD and have a higher risk of PMDD, I believe neurogenic exercise is very beneficial for them
  • ADHD and trauma can overlap and often interplay with one another  
    • A 2013 study found that the prevalence of PTSD in adults was much higher in those with ADHD than those without the condition
    • According to the research, people with ADHD are four times more likely to have PTSD than neurotypical controls
    • ADHD is a neuro developmental condition which is influenced by genetics and early life exposure to stress in the womb, adverse childhood experiences and trauma
    • Trauma within the first 6 years of being born has been linked to the risk of possible ADHD development and severity of symptoms
    • With this in mind, its vital people with ADHD learn anti-stress tools from certified trauma-informed professionals. 
    • The techniques I teach including TRE and neurogenic tremoring, help to calm the stress response, and have the power release adverse childhood experiences and trauma from the body.  Creating new positive neural pathways in the subconscious brain, calming the amygdala and increasing the hippocampus, regulating the nervous system and hormones   and in my opinion are the most powerful anti-stress tool on the market

    • Women with ADHD are more likely to suffer from PMDD – premenstrual Dysphoric disorder which is a debilitating psychiatric disorder that I detail in my book HTR: Hormone Tension Release – PMDD is caused by the fluctuations of the female sex hormones and is linked to trauma
    •  
  • Stress can trigger an increase in histamine release
  • Stress switches off digestion and impacts the liver’s ability to metabolise histamine, leading to an overload of toxicity in the body, which can lead to histamine intolerance
  • Giving rise to many frustrating symptoms including painfully itchy skin, depression, panic attacks and insomnia
  • The practices I teach help to reboot the nervous system, switching digestion back on as well as helping to regulate and calm the immune system – they can be very beneficial for histamine intolerance which is often just a symptom of chronic stress – which is chronic activation of the nervous system

You have to take accountability and set aside time in your day to shake.  You will probably notice some positive differences in the first 2 weeks of practicing it, however, the major changes tend to take place between weeks 6 and week 12.  It’s a process – but if you don’t do the work, you won’t experience the transformation.

When you’re first starting out, I recommend having 2 sessions per week.

In my experience, if we work more intensely at the beginning, you’ll need to work much less in the long term.


For the best results, the first 3 classes of the trauma recovery package should be no more than 1 week apart, because like therapy, you tend to lose the cumulative effect if we have long pauses in-between

Absolutely – you can stop the tremoring whenever you want to, and I will teach you how to do this.

  • When you are fully in control of your emotions, thoughts, feelings and sensations
  • Every other day is a strong practice in which you will notice deep change in your system
  • It’s important to leave a day of integration between each session
  • Ideally shakes should be between 15 to 20 minutes
  • Experiment with the times of day you shake
  • Make sure you keep a diary where you record your sleep, dreams, emotions etc. because this will help you get to know your triggers externally and internally

Whilst the programs I offer are simple and powerful for 99% of the people I treat, there is no guarantee that they will work for everyone.

For the best results:

  • Please don’t miss sessions unless you are ill and therefore unable to
  • Going on holiday is not a reason for missing a session, because the programs are online and can be practiced anywhere
  • You need to be consistent, because like therapy, you tend to lose the cumulative effort if we have long pauses in-between
  • You need to complete the programs, to experience the journey and notice the changes in your system.
  • Your continuous development will give you new skills, which will be more embedded and habitual

There are contraindications, which are listed against each programme – if you suffer from any of these, then I am afraid you wouldn’t be able to take part in them.

  • Neurogenic Yin®, HTR and TRE® have not been evaluated by the US Food & Drug Administration or the American Medical Association or NICE in the UK.
  • This technology is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
  • Medical advice must only be obtained from a physician or qualified health practitioner.
  • Results may vary between individuals.
  • There are no guarantees, expressed, or implied.

My programs and classes are not for everyone

Whilst they help most people, I advise anyone who has serious body/mind issues to first seek medical help (doctors or psychiatrist).

If you have a chronic ache, I advise you to get it investigated to make sure there’s nothing physiologically wrong with you, before you embark on any of the programmes that I offer.

I would specifically hold off from doing TRE and neurogenic exercise if you have any of the below conditions which are contraindications.

Physical limitations

  • Irregular blood pressure (high or low)
  • Irregular heart conditions (surgery, pacemakers, arrhythmia)
  • Physical limitations (broken bones, strains, sprains)
  • Not yet recovered form a recent operation
  • Hypo or hyperglycemia (medications)
  • Post 12 weeks of pregnancy
  • Epilepsy

Psychiatric conditions (with medication)

  • Bi-polar, manic depressive conditions
  • Schizophrenia
  • Severe depression
  • Psychosis

The Graduate classes are for people who are experienced shakers, who understand grounding and how to self regulate

  • I advise a minimum of 6 individual shakes before being eligible to take part in these classes
  • In the classes I can help you progress the shakes into different areas of your body
  • I will also focus on a range of topics