Summary
Dr. David Berceli, creator of Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE), joins hosts Andrew Weil and Victoria Maizes to discuss how neurogenic tremors help the body discharge accumulated stress and trauma. Berceli describes how he first observed children tremoring freely in bomb shelters during wartime, while adults suppressed the same instinct due to cultural conditioning. The conversation covers TRE's physiological mechanisms, including how tremoring affects the nervous system, fascia, muscles, and the psoas. Berceli walks through the practical technique — lying down, opening the knees in a butterfly position, lifting the pelvis, and gradually closing the knees to activate involuntary tremoring. He recommends starting with 15-minute sessions every other day and maintaining the practice long-term as ongoing nervous system maintenance. The hosts discuss TRE's accessibility — it requires no equipment, costs nothing, and can be taught to hundreds of people simultaneously in disaster zones. Berceli also addresses working with trauma survivors, the importance of safety and self-regulation, and the connection to Stephen Porges' polyvagal theory.
Key Points
- Neurogenic tremoring is a genetically encoded mechanism shared by all mammals that helps discharge stress and down-regulate the nervous system
- Children tremor freely and naturally; adults suppress the response due to cultural narratives associating shaking with weakness
- Wild mammals that tremor regularly don't suffer from PTSD, while domesticated animals that suppress tremoring do
- The TRE technique involves lying down, opening knees in butterfly position, lifting the pelvis, then slowly closing the knees to activate involuntary tremoring
- Recommended starting protocol is 15 minutes every other day for two weeks, then adjusting to personal comfort level
- TRE should be maintained long-term as ongoing nervous system hygiene, similar to healthy eating — once or twice a week for five minutes keeps the mechanism active
- People with severe unresolved trauma should work with a provider or trusted person rather than practicing entirely alone
- Tremoring moves through the body's tension patterns via the psoas, pelvis, and spinal column, affecting the nervous system, gastrointestinal system, and all organs
Key Moments
Children tremor freely in bomb shelters while adults suppress it
Berceli describes the pivotal moment in a bomb shelter when he observed children tremoring freely with terror while teenagers tried to control it and adults suppressed it entirely, revealing how cultural conditioning trains us out of a natural stress-discharge mechanism.
"And I could feel them tremoring with terror in their body. And it was fascinating, actually. But when I looked around the room, all of the small children were tremoring quite freely. They had no inhibition to do it."
Wild mammals don't get PTSD because they tremor regularly
Berceli explains that wild mammals tremor regularly after stressful events and don't develop PTSD, while domesticated animals that suppress this response do suffer from post-traumatic stress — pointing to tremoring as a built-in self-regulation mechanism.
"As far as we know, every mammal species tremors. And through several books that I've been reading, actually mammals in the wild tremor very regularly, and they don't suffer from post-traumatic stress."
Step-by-step TRE technique using butterfly position
Berceli walks through the core TRE exercise — lying on your back, feet together with knees open in butterfly position, lifting the pelvis for one to two minutes, then slowly closing the knees an inch at a time until involuntary tremoring activates and moves through the body's tension patterns.
"All they have to do is lay down on their back, put the bottoms of their feet together and let their knees fall open, sort of like the butterfly or the frog position in yoga."
TRE is a lifelong practice like healthy eating
Berceli explains that TRE should be maintained for life — just five minutes once or twice a week keeps the mechanism active so the body can immediately respond with tremoring when future stress or trauma occurs.
"You have to do it for the rest of your life. It's no different than saying eating a healthy diet. Do it for the rest of your life."
