History and origins of TRE™
The development of TRE™ is inseparable from the life and work of its creator, Dr David Berceli, and the extraordinary circumstances in which he observed the body’s natural healing mechanisms.
David Berceli’s journey
David Berceli is an American trauma specialist who has spent over forty years working in conflict zones and disaster areas around the world. Trained in both theological and psychological disciplines, he has worked in the Middle East, Africa, and other regions affected by war, natural disasters, and chronic stress.
It was during his time living and working in Lebanon, the Middle East, and various African countries that Berceli began to make the observations that would eventually become TRE™.
Working with populations living under constant threat, Berceli noticed something curious. When people took shelter during bomb attacks, their bodies would naturally begin to shake. Children, in particular, would tremor visibly. Adults often displayed the same response but would suppress it, embarrassed by what they perceived as a sign of weakness or fear.
‘I have described how, during an air raid on an African village caught in the crossfire of a war, I sat holding two children. As the raid continued, it struck me that only the children were trembling. Why were the adults not shaking too? That afternoon, the realization came to me that I was tensing myself against my natural instinct to tremble. […] When the bombing was over, I casually mentioned to the adults present that I had noticed how the children all trembled, and that I too had felt like I wanted to tremble. Each confided that they also wanted to tremble, but they resisted because they didn’t wish the children to know they were afraid. This response was so consistent on the part of the adults, it testifies to what neurologists who have studied this phenomenon conclude — that we have been socialized out of our ability to discharge stress by trembling.’
David Berceli, The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process
This observation led Berceli to a profound question. What if the shaking was not a symptom of fear but a resolution of it? What if suppressing the tremors was actually preventing the body from completing its natural stress response?
Development through field experience
Berceli began to investigate tremoring systematically. He studied how different cultures responded to the tremor mechanism, noticing that in some traditional societies, shaking after stressful events was considered normal and even encouraged, while in Western and Westernised contexts, it was typically suppressed.
He observed animals in the wild, noting that they routinely tremor after stressful encounters. A gazelle that has escaped a predator will shake vigorously before returning to normal activity. Polar explorers documented penguins tremoring after surfacing from dives. Domesticated animals, too, display this behaviour when given the opportunity.
This natural phenomenon is what Berceli terms neurogenic tremors: tremors that originate in the central nervous system as part of the body’s innate mechanism for discharging accumulated tension.
Neurogenic tremors are distinct from:
- Shivering (thermoregulation)
- Tremors from exhaustion (muscle fatigue)
- Pathological tremors (e.g., Parkinson’s disease)
They are specifically related to the nervous system’s stress response cycle.
Through years of working with traumatised populations, Berceli developed a series of simple exercises designed to safely activate the body’s tremor mechanism. Rather than waiting for extreme stress to trigger tremors, these exercises tire the leg muscles in ways that reliably induce tremoring in most people.
Key principles of TRE™
From these observations, Berceli developed not just a set of exercises but a distinctive approach to healing. TRE™ asks us to approach the body differently: to trust rather than control, to allow rather than direct. Three insights underpin this approach:
If your physiology is stuck, you’re stuck
When trauma or chronic stress keeps the nervous system locked in defensive patterns, change is difficult no matter how much we understand intellectually. The body must shift for lasting change to occur. TRE™ works at the physiological level where patterns are stored.
TRE™ is you healing you
TRE™ is not something done to you; it activates your body’s own healing mechanism. The tremor mechanism is not something we impose on the body; it’s something we allow. We create the conditions (through the exercises) and then step back, letting the body do what it knows how to do.
We don’t need to understand, and we don’t need to remember
TRE™ doesn’t require analysing, understanding, or remembering traumatic events. The body can release what it’s holding without the mind needing to process the content. This makes TRE™ accessible even for traumas that are pre-verbal, forgotten, or too overwhelming to approach cognitively.
Research and evidence
Various studies have investigated the effects of TRE™. While the research base is still growing, preliminary findings are encouraging:
- Studies with military veterans have shown reductions in PTSD symptoms
- Research with healthcare workers has demonstrated decreased anxiety and improved sleep
- Studies in various populations have shown reductions in chronic pain and muscular tension
- Improvements in heart rate variability (a measure of autonomic regulation) have been documented
It’s worth noting that high-quality controlled research on body-based practices is challenging to conduct: it’s difficult to create a convincing placebo for a physical exercise, and individual responses vary widely. TRE™ is best understood not as a clinically proven treatment for specific conditions but as a self-help tool for nervous system regulation and stress release.
While TRE™ can be a valuable tool for stress management and general wellbeing, it’s not a substitute for professional treatment. Those with significant trauma histories or health concerns should consult appropriate professionals and consider learning TRE™ from a Certified TRE™ Provider.
The global TRE™ community
Since its development, TRE™ has spread worldwide. TRE™ for All, Inc. works to make the method accessible in communities affected by trauma and disaster, often training local facilitators to offer TRE™ in schools, community centres, and other accessible settings.
This global spread reflects the universality of the tremor mechanism: while cultural contexts differ, the body’s stress response and its need for resolution are human constants.