Integrating or stuck?
One of the most common experiences as practice matures is the sense that ‘nothing is happening’. Tremors might feel repetitive, predictable, or less intense than before.
This can mean two very different things:
- You might be integrating — Your nervous system may be consolidating previous releases. What looks like a plateau is actually deep processing happening beneath the surface. Integration periods are necessary and healthy.
- You might be stuck — The same pattern has repeated for weeks without any sense of movement or shift. Something may be blocking the natural flow of release.
How do you tell the difference?
Integrating tends to feel calm: practice still feels nourishing even if nothing dramatic is happening. Life outside practice feels stable or improving, and your body seems to know what it’s doing.
Stuck feels different. There’s frustration, boredom, or disconnection. Practice feels stale or pointless. You sense there’s more but can’t access it, and the same pattern has repeated for four or more sessions with no variation.
Your body knows the difference between rest and stagnation. If you feel patient and settled, trust that. If you feel restless or frustrated, that’s information worth exploring.
When you’re integrating
If you’re in an integration period, the best approach is to continue with your regular practice without forcing anything. Integration takes time. Deeper work requires more integration time, and there’s no way to rush this process.
You might:
- Keep sessions shorter and gentler
- Allow longer gaps between sessions
- Focus on other forms of self-care
- Trust that the next layer will emerge when you’re ready
When you’re stuck
If you genuinely feel stuck, the techniques in this section can help. First, though, consider what might be blocking the natural flow:
- Nervous system protection — Your system may be regulating itself, limiting access to deeper material until you’ve built more capacity. This is healthy.
- Unconscious control — You might be subtly limiting the process: always stopping at the same intensity, never letting tremors spread to certain areas, staying in your comfort zone.
- Environmental sameness — Practising at the same time, same place, same routine can reinforce internal patterns.
- Unaddressed material — Specific emotions or memories you’ve been avoiding may be creating a block.
Taking a break
Sometimes the most powerful intervention is to take a break. Two to four weeks off, with other forms of self-care, can reset your practice and allow fresh responsiveness when you return.
Working with specific areas
If tremors consistently stay in one area and you want to invite them elsewhere:
- Attention — During tremoring, bring soft awareness to the area you want to release. Don’t force; simply notice with curiosity.
- Position changes — Try positions that specifically engage different areas. Wall-supported, side-lying, and seated variations can help access what supine work doesn’t reach.
- Activation techniques — Use squeeze and release, isometric contractions, or PNF stretching to pre-fatigue areas and invite tremors to spread.
- Self-touch — Gently place your hands on areas that don’t tremor. Warmth and attention can invite release.
- Breath and sound — Breathe ‘into’ the place that feels stuck. Vocalisation can also help release held areas.
- Co-regulated practice — Practising with a partner or group can sometimes unlock areas that solo practice doesn’t reach.
Sometimes, despite everything, tremors don’t arise in a particular area. Trust the process and continue with regular practice. Everything releases in its own time.
Pacing deeper work
As you explore the techniques in this section, remember that intensity and depth require proportionally more integration time.
A session that touches deeper layers will need more time to settle. This might mean:
- Longer rest after practice
- More days between sessions
- Being gentler with yourself in the following days
- Noticing delayed effects (dreams, emotions, sensations)
The nervous system changes through consistent, well-regulated practice, not through pushing limits. More is not always better.
Return to foundational practice when life is particularly stressful, you feel destabilised, new techniques feel like too much, or you’re recovering from illness or difficulty. There’s wisdom in simplicity.