Dinkaltranen

Tension/Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) is the latest in this current series of psychology dressing up a common phenomenon as something novel. It took me a little while to figure out what it was after I first heard about it, as it is buried under so much therapy speak and corporate health language that I wasn’t quite sure.

It’s yoga.

Strip away the language, and it’s yoga, or callisthenics, depending on which course you look at. Do these stretches and exercises, hold until fatigue, repeat. But wait until you hear how they say it works.

The shaking of muscle fatigue is implied to be the nervous system releasing anxiety and trauma. Note that since beginning to write this, and more criticisms have come of it, on the TREGlobal.org website it now describes these exercises the as “activating a mechanism suppressed in normal life. These tremors help to release stored physical tension and emotional stress, restoring balance and well-being without the need for verbal processing.”

You’ll have to forgive me for not going back to find where I found the original description.

From the TREAustralia website:

“Overlooked by western science until now, our human body possesses a natural shaking reflex that releases stress & tension below the level of our conscious awareness. We’ve all seen or experienced it – hands shaking when public speaking or trembling after a car accident or a shock, children vibrating with excitement or simply just shaking during yoga or pilates or when maxing out at the gym.”

‘Overlooked by Western science’, first red flag there. No, actually, the effects of exercise on mental health, including on the traumatised, has been extensively studied, especially when it comes to yoga. There are multiple sections discussing it in the most popular mainstream trauma book, The Body Keeps The Score. Again, this is them trying to tell you this is somehow secret, erudite knowledge, when it is completely in line with the conventions of our current knowledge.

Why? Because if it’s special they can sell you a course in it, or sell you certifications to sell the exercises to other people. Psychology now preys on the hope of the traumatised at a premium, and it’s offering you a piece of the pie.

Next red flag is ‘natural’. I think from that you can tell what kind of market this is aiming for.

Lastly, and the most hilarious, the claim that the sympathetic shake response is the same as the tremors that come from muscle fatigue. One is happening on autonomic level where your body is flooded with neurotransmitters, the other is happening at a peripheral, muscular level outside the CNS. These are different systems with different results and causes, their observable physical similarities outside of conscious awareness does not mean they have anything in common in terms of mechanism or purpose. Maybe while you’re there consider ketamine a treatment for depression. It really works to make you stop being unhappy! Actually, no, maybe you’re just on drugs.

Unless you lifted without a spotter and nearly crushed yourself, to compare the trembling from an overwhelming event with the overwhelm from exercise is very silly. But hey, the market here is underachievers with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) who are looking to find themselves and heal their inner child in the range of 25-45, so the bar is in hell.

Tensing your body until you shake won’t secretly let you process your trauma that you’ve been repressing, especially not if that that trauma isn't real.