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 what happened. 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.
Learn TRE® in Three Sessions
TRE® is designed to be a practice you can carry with you for life.
In as few as three sessions, you will learn how to:
Access your body’s natural neurogenic tremoring response
Develop trust in your body’s innate capacity for regulation and recovery
Recognize when your body and nervous system need support and respond before stress becomes overwhelming
Slow down, pause, and modulate the practice with confidence
Integrate TRE® safely and effectively into daily life
Build a sustainable self-care practice you can return to during periods of stress, transition, travel, recovery, or increased demand
Leave with the confidence and embodied understanding to continue the practice independently
TRE® sessions are gentle, modifiable, and yoga-like. Rather than focusing on the retelling of memories or revisiting difficult experiences, the practice works directly with patterns of tension, stress, and protection held within the body.
This work is subtle, powerful, and profoundly effective. More than a technique, TRE® becomes a lifelong resource for self-awareness, nervous system support, recovery, resilience, and increased capacity to experience life with greater presence, choice, and ease.
What Makes TRE® Different?:
Many people arrive at TRE® after years of personal growth, therapy, healing work, and deep self-reflection. Others may not know why they feel the way they do, only that something continues to feel off.
TRE® offers a different pathway to recovery beyond insight— one that listens to the body and supports its natural movement toward regulation and trust.
Clients are often drawn to TRE® because:
It provides a direct, body-based approach to stress recovery and nervous system support
It can be learned in as few as three sessions and integrated into daily life as a practical resource for anxiety, conflict, hypervigilence, and life transitions
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
What Becomes Possible:
As patterns of tension, vigilance, and bracing begin to unwind, many people notice:
More restorative sleep and recovery
Greater emotional regulation and resilience
Increased capacity to remain present during stress and uncertainty
More aliveness available for relationships, creativity, and meaningful work
Improved mobility
Reduced anxiety and stress reactivity
Increased athletic recovery and physical restoration
A deeper sense of trust in themselves and their body’s signals
My Approach:
Sessions are grounded in presence, pacing, agency, and attuned support.
In our work together, you will learn how to:
Start and stop the tremoring process
Slow down, modify, and modulate intensity
Take breaks as needed
Stay oriented to safety and choice throughout the practice
My role is to support you with building a relationship with your body that feels supportive, sustainable, and empowering.
There comes a point when holding it all is no longer the goal. You want room to breathe. To let the body yield. To trust the parts of yourself that have been waiting patiently beneath the noise.
Schedule a consultation and let’s talk about what becomes possible when more of your attention can be devoted to presence, joy, and connection.
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
