Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE®)
A somatic pathway to recovery
We shake with joy, we shake with grief.
What a time they have, these two
housed as they are in the same body.
-Mary Oliver
Life often asks a great deal of us.
We navigate loss, heartbreak, uncertainty, illness, responsibility, and the countless demands of daily life. We move through experiences that exceed our capacity to process and articulate them. Other times, it is the accumulation of years spent adapting, enduring, and carrying too much.
The body keeps track. Not always as a story, but as sensation. A clenching of the jaw before a difficult conversation. A breath that feels shallow and tense, as though it’s on guard. Shoulders that remain lifted and tight long after the moment has passed. The body learns to prepare, anticipate, and brace. Over time, enormous amounts of energy become devoted to protection and survival, creating patterns that settle into the muscles, tissues, breath, posture, and the nervous system.
The body is not only a record of what has been. It also holds a pathway forward.
You long for more energy for the people, passions, and work that matter to you the most. To wake feeling restored instead of already depleted. To be present with a partner, a child, or a friend. To move through life with a greater sense of trust in yourself and your body.
It’s not a lack of insight, intelligence, or personal growth. It’s a matter of capacity.
Tension and Trauma Release Exercises® (TRE®), offered in person in Rochester, NY, or online, is a refined somatic practice that can be learned in as few as three sessions. Through a series of simple exercises, the body is guided into the process of neurogenic tremoring. This natural reflex helps to release chronic tension, complete stress responses, and unwind long-held patterns of bracing and holding.
What emerges is often more than relief. It’s a quieter mind, a grounded body, deeper trust in yourself, and a renewed sense of safety from within. As the body, integrates, energy once devoted to enduring and protection, can be redirected toward connection, recovery, creativity, pleasure, and rest.
In three sessions, you will learn to:
Experience and build a relationship with your body’s natural ability to neurogenic tremor
Trust your body’s response
Learn modulation and integration
Leave with embodied confidence and competence with the practice
Build your own practice to use TRE® strategically — during stress, travel, life transitions, or recovery
TRE® sessions are gentle and yoga-like. Rather than focusing on the memory or story, TRE® sessions invite the body’s innate intelligence to lead the way.
This work is subtle, powerful, and profoundly effective. TRE® is for long-term self and communal support and transformation.
What people like about TRE®:
It’s a simple, clear, and easy way to connect with their bodies without feeling overwhelmed.
It’s not an open- ended commitment of sessions, but a learned practice to weave into their lives to support handling anxiety loops, conflict, hypervigilance, and work and relationship stress
Rather than dissecting problems, TRE® allows tension and stress patterns to resolve at the physiological level, which makes it complementary to therapy models
Memories and stories often do not appear much to the relief of many survivors
It’s a simple practice that requires little effort or time once learned
Stopping, pausing, and resting are just as important and helpful as the tremoring
Who is TRE® best for?:
Caregivers, parents, athletes, activists, survivors of trauma, and high-functioning people who live with a body that constantly feels “on”
For those who are in burnout, who need a recovery model that supports relaxation
Those who have done therapy or insight-oriented work, who understand patterns intellectually, but their body still feels tight, guarded, braced
Folks who feel like their relationship to self and others is suffering and who are looking for long-lasting change
TRE® supports people with:
Better sleep
Reduced anxiety
Improved mobility
Emotional regulation and presence
Greater capacity to remain present under pressure
Greater capacity for pleasure and the joys of life
Integration of trauma
My Approach:
Sessions are grounded in presence, pacing, and agency.
You are taught how to:
Start and stop the tremoring
Slow it down or modulate intensity
Take breaks
Stay oriented to safety and choice
I do not believe healing requires pushing through discomfort or overwhelm. I believe it requires safety, choice, and attuned support.
If you’re ready to live in relationship with life and not only in response to it, book a consultation to see if TRE® is the right fit for you. I work with individuals, couples, families, and groups, both in-person and online.
Testimonial
"I felt very comfortable working with River from the beginning. The TRE sessions were friendly, grounded and focused at a slow pace that suited me. The exercises were clearly demonstrated and are now ingrained as a valuable tool I can use on my own, safely. River's email check-ins throughout our were were very helpful and holding. I'm grateful for River's warm approach and gentle curiosity in our work together."
-Jeanne
