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Yoga

Yoga and TRE™ share common ground: both work with the body to affect the mind, both cultivate body awareness, and both can support nervous system regulation. Many practitioners find they complement each other naturally.

How yoga and TRE™ work together​

What yoga offers TRE™​

  • Develops interoception (sensing internal body states)
  • Creates flexibility that allows tremors to move more freely
  • Builds breath awareness that supports self-regulation
  • Cultivates mindfulness for present-moment awareness
  • Warms and opens the body for easier tremoring

What TRE™ offers yoga​

  • Releases holding patterns at the nervous system level
  • Provides discharge mechanism when yoga surfaces difficult material
  • Helps process the activation that intense practices create
  • Deepens relaxation benefits
  • Makes yoga’s effects more lasting

Tremors in yoga​

Tremors sometimes arise spontaneously during yoga, especially in poses that stress the psoas or hips (such as low lunge, pigeon, or happy baby). Understanding TRE™ helps practitioners work with these experiences rather than suppress them.

Integration​

After yoga​

This is the most common approach. The body is warm, stretched, and open after yoga practice. Tremors often come easily, and the release can deepen yoga’s effects.

How to sequence​

  1. Complete your yoga practice
  2. Move into the TRE™ tremoring position (similar to constructive rest/supta baddha koṇāsana)
  3. Allow tremors to arise
  4. Rest in śavāsana

Before yoga​

Some practitioners prefer TRE™ first, then gentle yoga. The release from tremoring can make the body more open to stretching.

Best for​

  • Gentle, restorative, or yin yoga
  • When you want the yoga to feel more easeful
  • When your body feels particularly tight

As separate practices​

Others keep them as distinct practices on different days, giving each its own time and space. Consider this if:

  • You want to focus fully on each practice
  • Combined sessions feel too long
  • You’re still developing your relationship with each practice

When tremors arise during yoga​

If tremors arise spontaneously during practice:

  • Don’t suppress them
  • Allow them if it feels safe
  • Use your self-regulation skills if intensity increases
  • Consider this a sign that something wants to release

In a class setting, you might choose to settle the tremors; in private practice, you can allow them fully.

Practical guidance​

Compatible yoga styles​

  • Restorative yoga — Long-held, fully supported poses allow the nervous system to settle. Combined with TRE™, this creates deep relaxation and release.
  • Yin yoga — Long holds in passive poses stress the fascia and can surface held tension. TRE™ helps discharge what yin yoga accesses.
  • Trauma-sensitive yoga — Designed for trauma survivors, emphasising choice, interoception, and safety. These principles align well with TRE™.

Dynamic styles​

  • Vinyasa and flow — Energising practices that build heat. TRE™ after vinyasa can help discharge activation and support transition to rest.
  • Ashtanga — Demanding practice that creates significant physical and nervous system activation. TRE™ can support recovery.
  • Power yoga — Intense practice that benefits from the release mechanisms of TRE™.

Breath practices​

Some prāṇāyāma techniques (particularly those involving breath retention or rapid breathing) can significantly activate the nervous system. TRE™ can help discharge this activation if needed.

Intense breathwork

Powerful prāṇāyāma practices like kapālabhāti or bhastrikā can create significant activation. If you’re new to these, be cautious about combining with TRE™ in the same session. Build familiarity with each separately first.

Considerations​

  • More intense yoga styles create more activation to discharge.
  • Allow adequate rest between intense yoga and TRE™.
  • Watch for overworking the nervous system with too much of both.
  • Some bodies respond better to TRE™ after yoga, others before; experiment.
Exploration

Yoga and TRE™ are both practices of self-discovery. Experiment with different ways of combining them. Notice what serves you. Your body will teach you what works.