Releasing Tension and Trauma in Grief
Karen Sutton 00:00
Hello, and welcome back to the widow podcast. It's lovely to have you here again and this week, I am really excited to introduce you to a really lovely lady, Sylvia Tillman and we are going to be talking about TRE.
Karen Sutton 00:19
Now you may not have heard of this before, I know I certainly hadn't. TRE is is tension and trauma releasing exercises, okay, a Somatic Self Help tool to release deep muscular patterns of stress. And this can have many amazing knock on effects. So the lovely Silvia, she has a background in IT and business but is now an alternative practitioner. She does, I'm not going to say this right I don't think Sylvia; Jikiden Reiki? Laughter yoga, and of course, TRE.
Karen Sutton 00:58
So, we're gonna dive into this, tell you a little bit more about it, how it can help you the benefits, and all that kind of good stuff. So, Sylvia, hello, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us today.
Sylvia Tillman 01:10
Thank you for your invitation, Karen.
Karen Sutton 01:12
Oh, bless you. So, before we kind of dive into TRE and what it is, can you tell us a little bit about you, your story and what brought you to TRE and realize the wonderful benefits that it has?
Sylvia Tillman 01:31
Okay. That's a big question. Let me combine my story, because my life story and I encountered TRE about 10 years ago, a Jikiden Reiki colleague of mine was training as a PTA provider, and was looking for bodies to practice on. And I'm like, Yes, I'm up for it. I want to try everything. I mean, I'm interested in alternative health. And it was just something I wanted to explore. And it was interesting, and it was relaxing. But I mean, this was 10 years ago. I can't even remember where or what I didn't get.
Sylvia Tillman 02:13
I was like, did I not understand the process? Or did I totally dismiss it? Because I was under the impression, or I've never experienced trauma? Never. I mean, I'm fine. Yeah. Little did I know. So I left it at that and was like, Okay, well, nice experience. But then a few years later, I finished a relationship. I quit a job. And my little brother got diagnosed with cancer. And I lost the will to live. I mean, I really struggled. I didn't have a job. I didn't have this one. And I was worried about my brother, who was miles away.
Sylvia Tillman 03:00
And then I did what usually people do, they go and see a counselor, because we need to talk things through. And it's so important to get support and to look at whatever. So I went to see a counselor over months. And I was like, well, it didn't work for me. Let's put it that way. I mean, I wouldn't dismiss it 100% But for me, it was like, No, I didn't really do it. My brother then eventually died. And things got even worse. And I was feeling sorry for his wife and his little daughter and always feeling like well, I don't really, I'm not really entitled to be so sad because he was living his own life. He has his own family. So do I but I also realized the death of my dad came through the whole grieving process, which I didn't really acknowledge at the time or work through at the time. So again, I had a really, really tough time and was convinced staying with the cognitive therapies, I want to be a bereavement counselor.
Sylvia Tillman 04:10
So I started my training in foundation training in counseling skills. And again, it was interesting, the beginning and it was nice, but it didn't do much for me. It really didn't. I mean, we had fabulous sessions and when we were practicing, and I kind of understand the theory, but I was sitting there with my book.
Sylvia Tillman 04:41
But how does it help me? How do I mean yeah, how does it make me feel? Not good, but what could be better? Well, and then fast forward, I left it at that and I never trained as a grieving house counselor, but I finished the foundation skills, and then fast forward to well last year. When the pandemic hit, and I was reassessing my career, and I was on furlough, and I was like, What Does the world really need? And first, I went back to laughter yoga, because that's what the world needs.
Sylvia Tillman 05:14
And then having watched so many conferences, really about trauma, which seems to be the big, big theme, nowadays, or for the last maybe couple of years, I was like, what the world really needs TRE. Yeah, it's a somatic tool, where you can forget your brain, where you can let the body do the work. Where I can help and teach people how to do it, and where then the participant has the tool to do it themselves, without any dependency on counselor or physio. And then I started training, and I have to say it, it was mind blowing, it was just amazing.
Karen Sutton 06:02
That is incredible, isn't it? And I think, because that's what somatic means, isn't it? You know, like, in the body. And I think we are very, very focused, when we go through traumatic events, and rightly so because it's very important, but with our minds, you know, and processing our thoughts and our feelings and our emotions and talking about it and normalizing it. And that does have a place and like you say, you know, it's really, really important, but the author, the body holds the trauma, the tension, the grief, doesn't it?
Karen Sutton 06:37
So look, and, you know, it's a holistic approach to trauma, because it's not all just a lot of it's in our heads, but also we we have to find ways of looking after ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you know, it just, it covers it all. And I think that's just what's so wonderful, isn't it about TRE, it's a very easy way of releasing that trauma. And that tension from the body empowers you, doesn't it? It allows you to do that you haven't got to go anywhere. And you're not tied into someone or relying on someone else. Once you've learnt the absolutely the way the exercise, you've got that.
Karen Sutton 07:23
So yeah, when you went back to study TRE for yourself, I mean how were you feeling before? And and what did it give you? And how were you feeling afterwards? What were the benefits of it for you?
Sylvia Tillman 07:41
For me personally, two big things. I mean, the first one, I'd say, I don't know how well I would have coped with COVID and the lockdown if, if I didn't have TRE, because I felt it gave me an awful lot of resilience. And I'm much calmer and much more optimistic. And I'm just really more relaxed about the future as well and more trusting maybe in. So that's a big, big aspect. And the resilience.
Sylvia Tillman 08:14
And the other thing, I don't know which one is bigger, but the other thing I struggled a lot with lower back and hip pain. So I play an awful lot of tennis, and I love it. And I was like, gosh, do I need to give that up? It's getting worse. And I was like, I'm far too young. I mean, I'm not young, but I'm far too young for hip operation or hip replacement. So I was like, I need one of the first question at my training was, would it help with my hips and my lower back pain? And the answer was, well, obviously, nobody promises anything. But if it's tension in your muscles, clearly, because I mean, this is where TRE helps you're holding on to some I don't know what I was holding on to. I don't need to know. And I also don't need to know what people I'm working with. Yeah, struggling with. And that's the beauty. So it's totally nonverbal. So I don't know what I was holding on to.
Sylvia Tillman 09:12
But I shook it off. I mean, it doesn't happen overnight, obviously. So I've been on the mat. I always call it on the mat when I do and practice TRE for well over a year now. And I do it really, really regularly. Most days. But oh my gosh, it helped me a lot. Yeah. So I play tennis. I go on the mat. I release it and in between, I'm not struggling with any back or hip pain. Honestly, it's I mean, it's that really my two really main benefits and I love it.
Karen Sutton 09:52
That's amazing, isn't it because if we don't feel well in our body if we're suffering with with pain, discomfort is, you know, that adds to our discomfort, you know in life doesn't it and the things we can do and how we feel within ourselves. And like I said before, I do think the body tells us, you know, we have all these aches and pains and I truly believe a lot of the time these things that are wrong with us, is the body holding on to what we're not able to release. And as you said, when your brother sadly died, that bought up old wounds of your dad's death as well. And I think it's so important in grief to understand that it will bring up old wounds, it brings up old grief, and that it is within us that is within the body. But as well, as you say that it brought you this this calm, you know, this, the balance the optimism. And I think that sometimes, you know, maybe some clarity.
Karen Sutton 11:03
I think is so important, especially when we're grieving, you know, we're up and down like yo yos, we feel out of control in life, and we're going through something traumatic, we are all over the place. And I personally when I was in it, I just craved that balance and calmness and the clarity, I was like, How do I get it? You know, I wish I discovered this then because it enables you to help yourself with that. So very, very, very powerful outcomes there. So tell us a little bit more than about TRE and what it does and how it works.
Sylvia Tillman 11:44
In a way, it's really easy. On the other hand, it's really complicated what it has in the body, but to itself. So if you want to learn it, we go through six warmup exercises to prepare the body to get easier into the tremoring process. It's a bit like yoga, it's a bit like a Pilates exercise just really to warm up the body to fatigue the muscles, because when the muscles are tired, you might notice that in the gym, you've overworked it, and then you start tremoring, so that just makes it easier for process. And after these six warm up exercises, I lead my clients and participants through a grounding exercise.
Sylvia Tillman 12:27
Because grounding is really important. You want to feel safe. And we want to just create a safe space for my clients and really holding the space that they are feeling they are you know, they can let go. Because it's a weird thing, if you imagine I mean, you've experienced it, but you're lying on the floor and your body starts shaking in voluntarily. You don't really and you're like, your your mind. Again, we're thinking too much. I suppose your mind is like, goodness me what's going on? Whereas your body is like letting go. Everybody has been waiting for it. I suppose. That's how I see it.
Sylvia Tillman 13:12
I'm just passionate about and I tell all the wonderful things, but you've experienced it? Do you want to explain it?
Karen Sutton 13:20
Well, yes. Obviously we met didn't we when you told me about this. And I was intrigued, I'd never heard of it. And I said, Oh, you know, I think this would be really helpful for my followers for my listeners. And for those going through grief.
Karen Sutton 13:38
And you very kindly said, you know, let's have a session together, there's only one way really isn't there to experience these things and to understand them. And I remember when you said to me about doing some exercises, I was like, Oh God, what you gonna make me do. Igot nervous, but very, very simple, very easy, you know, you're very reassuring and calming. And you explain it and you show exactly what we need to do. And it kind of just all made sense. And it was fine. It was perfect.
Karen Sutton 14:10
You know, and then just like you say, the grounding exercise where you just you feel safe and you know, you're in your environment. And that was very relaxing and nurturing. And I have to say through the whole experience I wasn't worried or thinking Oh god, what am I doing? it just it was lovely. It was really lovely.
Karen Sutton 14:29
And then we went on to do the tremoring, the shaking and it's so strange because you can feel it and what you know you talk about the different positions we have to get in and stuff and you tweak it a bit, don't you and sometimes the tremors are really sort of slight and then other times you can feel your light almost bouncing. And automatically you want to stop that don't you? Just like Oh, that's weird. I haven't had that or do you want to stop it and bring The pattern I suppose, but again with your reassurance and guidance is it's like, okay, this is what's supposed to be happening and ending and that feels right.
Sylvia Tillman 15:12
But can I just say, but also keep in mind, you're always in control, what you want to achieve. So you know how to stop it. You're like, Okay, if I had enough if that's all getting a bit too weird. That's its phases. You know how to stop it. You know how to control it, To provide a safe space.
THe importance of rest and relaxation:
Karen Sutton 15:31
That's a really good point. Because you showed me how to break it. You were like, if ever you want to stop it, this is how you break it. And that's all you have to do. And it's very simple. And I think that helps as well, because I knew if I really wanted to, I couldn't, I was completely in control of it, but I kind of trusted in the process. And yeah, it's, it's, you know, the process itself. Like I say, it felt a bit weird. But there was that feeling afterwards and I'd finished at the end, I think you said it to me, it's almost like you know, when you've had a proper full on massage in a beauty place or whatever. And you feel a little bit I do anyway, I don't know about anyone else. But that's almost that sort of spaced out kind of feeling because you're quite relaxed, and you've just switched off for a bit. And this calmness kind of comes over you and I just felt very zen.
Sylvia Tillman 16:29
That's the right word.
Karen Sutton 16:31
I'm just very calm and relaxed. And afterwards, I went for a walk. And that night, I slept so well, I think I messaged you the next morning, say, Wow, I just I really had a wonderful night's sleep. And I definitely that afternoon felt just felt really relaxed. You know, and and I have to say up to that point, I've been a little bit kind of stressed, I suppose with work and stuff. So from my point of view, I think definitely is an ongoing tool. I think it's brilliant, and I would definitely use it. And we were talking earlier about sleep weren't we and you were saying well, you know, do it just before you go to bed at night to help you sleep.
Sylvia Tillman 17:21
Or if you wake up at night and you fall asleep, just go into the position and you know how to do it.
Karen Sutton 17:27
Yes, that's it and how wonderful to have that, you know, to kind of release what is within you. So yeah, absolutely. So the other clients that you've had, I mean, what kind of reasons do people come to you for help with what they're going through? Maybe? And then what what for them? You've talked about your benefits? Do you find your clients have talked about other things that it's helped them with? Or are they fairly similar?
Sylvia Tillman 18:01
There are some which occur more often than others. I'd say the common denominator is really there's deep relaxation after the no treatment and after the practice of TRE. And the majority of people always say gosh, I haven't slept that well for years. But I mean, having said that, that's really the majority of people I don't want to promise anything or put the expectation, some people might get really emotional after. Yeah, because stuff is coming. And stuff is being released. And we are working on the source muscle, so as much as less big muscle here which connects our legs, our pelvis and the trunk of the body, it also holds an awful lot of physical emotional and mental stress. So, as we are working on that, obviously, that doesn't have to. So some people are like, Oh, God, some people might might cry. Which again, is fine. Because they let it out and they let it go. And sometimes you need to go through.
Sylvia Tillman 19:16
I'm always comparing and you need to get slightly worse before it gets better. But your body, your body doesn't. That's the beauty, the body really, lets go. But your body needs to let go. The tremors are being kind of controlled by you and your brain. It's a different part of the brain is really the reptilian brain who works on the tremoring process. So you can tremor while you're talking to somebody, while you're watching television while you're listening to your podcast. Yeah, it's a totally different part of your brain. As I said, I mean, we are so unique. Everybody, everybody's different. And everybody reacts in a different way. And as I said, I don't want to say, Oh, you will get an amazing good night's sleep, because some people might just be too overwhelmed. But also that might then stay for a day, 24 hours, and then they go back to normal.
Sylvia Tillman 20:25
Even when I practice, it's always different. Sometimes I'm super energized, sometimes I'm super relaxed. Sometimes when I talk with my peers (we have peer support meetings) the energy is much better. It's different because we all bring something different, even if it's online. They are on the other side of the world. Some are in South Africa, some in Israel. But when we tremor together, I have a totally different experience than afterwards, when I'm tremoring on my own, for instance. I mean, whatever happens, whatever your body needs, well, your body kind of needs to release and also the experiences and the beauties you mentioned. I don't know how you phrased it.
Sylvia Tillman 21:19
But the beauty is, when we do it online, and via zoom, everybody who takes part can be in their favorite place, you're not going somewhere. And it's a yoga center, and you don't maybe like the yoga center, the colors on the wall or whatever. You are in your theater. And that also helps you to feel safe, and it feel good.
Karen Sutton 21:41
And it's nice as well, because I did it at home. And then afterwards, I'm at home, you haven't got to pack up a bag and get in the car, go and sit in traffic or get on a bus or whatever you've got to do. Because you're at home. So you could have a sleep, or you could have a bath, or read a book, or do some journaling, or meditate, or go out for a run. If you're feeling energetic, I don't know. But yeah, you're then free to go with what it releases for you. And if you feel emotional, you can let it out.
Karen Sutton 22:11
Because it's so important to release what we're feeling, isn't it, you know, physically, mentally, emotionally. And if it does bring up emotion, which it can do, as you say, you're at home, you're in a safe space, and you can sit down and cry it out and let your grief flow.
Sylvia Tillman 22:28
And as you probably know, it's good to cry. It's such a relief as well.
Karen Sutton 22:36
I always, always always I harp on about it. People are probably sick of me, but I'm always saying it's not what we let out that causes us harm, it's what we keep in. You know, it's like, we keep things in, we bottle things up, it presents itself mentally, physically, all of it, doesn't it? And when we create shame around it, and then our internal, it just, everything just sucks.
Release tension and trauma:
Sylvia Tillman 22:59
That's exactly the TRE principle, because when you think you are stressed, you don't know all these psychosomatic. Not illnesses, but ailments, where you go to your doctor and say, I've got terrible tension headaches, back pain, and your doctor checks you and puts you in the spin machine or whatever. And they say no there's nothing wrong with you. All that psychosomatic pain is mainly caused by stress, and you're holding onto it. What you're holding onto, into your muscle, is being released. And I find that super fascinating, super funny, because I live, I don't know, 99% of my life in my head. Like I said earlier, you go and see a counselor, you talk things through, if you don't see a counselor, you phone a friend, and you talk things through and need to talk, but you're always going in circles, it's always the same words.
Sylvia Tillman 24:08
Just discarding the whole thing. Forget about all the cognitive modalities, just trust your body. What does your body and funnily enough, Karen, I recently read, I was depressed by Sigmund Freud. Big psychologist. He apparently said, 'The mind has forgotten, but the body has not.' So he saw the body mind connection.
Sylvia Tillman 24:49
Sorry. I need to go back to how chichi works as well, because we are so disconnected, mainly from our bodies, we don't even know what is going on, but with TRE you have through the spine or the neural pathways and the neurons who connect the body and the brain, and then they feed back. And I mean, I don't want to go into details, but on my website is a video by David Purcell. He is the creator of TRE, he talks about all the technicalities, and it's just amazing.
Karen Sutton 25:37
Because Dr. David Vercelli, he's an international expert in trauma isn't he, and conflict resolution. And he's been been working all over the world, helps numerous people with this. And then it has come up. And he has discovered this.
Sylvia Tillman 25:50
Interestingly, because he was sitting in the in the bomb shelter when the bombs went off with a whole range of people. And he noticed that the kids were shaking. And afterwards, he said to the adults, notice the kids were shaking. Why did you not do that? Or did you not feel the urge? And the adults replied, by saying, we want to, but we don't want our kids to see us. We want to be strong. Exactly how we want to be strong. No, you don't want to shake when you have an argument with your boss, or when you have yourkids wind you up, or whatever happens, You don't want to shake, because I mean, you don't want to show vulnerability.
Sylvia Tillman 26:41
Later on, in the comfort of your own home, living room, bedroom, or wherever you get on that one. And then you shake it off. And that's exactly what I said earlier on, we don't really feel our bodies in certain times or circumstances because when you are traumatized people are disassociated from their body. And reason being that's also I find it super interesting when you're in a stressful situation, or you get whatever stress, just any stressful situation. Your body produces adrenaline and your body helps you with hormones and everything to help you fight this situation. But if you don't get the chance to kind of fight or flight you still have all these hormones in this energy in your body. So you are on a constant level of Oh my god. Oh my God, I need to look, Is there danger coming? It can take years. And there's all these side effects, you're never in this calm, rest and relax. Have good night's sleep. You're always on the lookout.
Sylvia Tillman 28:06
Just to give you an example: Somebody fell off a ladder as a child, and then developed a fear of heights. So only when you give your body a chance to complete the cycle, as in let go of this. Yeah, excess stress, your body comes back into equilibrium again, this is when we are like, rest, rest and digest and the parasympathetic nervous system, and so on and so on. I mean, it's just wonderful.
Sylvia Tillman 28:41
The other thing I always compared TRE with, because it makes sense to many people. When you watch a dog, a dog after a stressful situation, what do they do?
Karen Sutton 28:57
Shake it off.
Sylvia Tillman 28:59
Yeah. And then they happily get on with their day. That's what I find. I mean, as I say, not in the situation, when you're having an argument with somebody and you don't want to know.
Grief:
Sylvia Tillman 29:16
And I love it, because you're just reinforcing everything that I'm always saying to people about, you know, when we're in that moment our sympathetic nervous system is kicked in, we're in a fight or flight response mode, or we're on high alert, we're kind of you know, ready to pounce. And all those stress hormones, the adrenaline, the cortisol, it's so soothing, you know, and it's in grief, we are permanently in that high state of alert in that stress response. And, you go back to where we needed that, to hunter gatherer days, and we have to sort of find the saber toothed Tiger and run from danger that served us well, in this day and age. We don't need it as much but we're still human and that's how we respond to situations. But exercise, you know, I'm always saying to people, you have got to exercise, I don't mean to run marathons and all that. But financial,
Sylvia Tillman 30:13
Yeah, just in the fresh air.
Parasympathetic Nervous System:
Karen Sutton 30:17
Yes, get your heart racing a little bit. And release those stress hormones, bring them down, they bring in the feel good hormones, you know, kicking your parasympathetic nervous system, and we've got to activate the vagus nerve that runs all the way through, doesn't it? Calm everything down. And that helps us and in exactly the same way as TRE. I'm not saying it's, instead of exercise, but it's something that we can use that allows us to step out of that sympathetic nervous system, that the fight flight response, and kick in our parasympathetic nervous system and to calm things down and feel more calm, more balanced, more in control. And that is just so important. Because exactly like you said, you touched on the stress that we are under.
Stress and overwhelm:
And I mean, stress is a whole other thing, because it's something we cause internally, it's within ourselves and how we perceive situations and experience, you know, what's going on around us. And obviously, when we're grieving, everything becomes very stressful, like, we are unable to process things as we ordinarily would. And things are perceived in a different way. And just the way we experience the world changes and that's stressful.
Sylvia Tillman 31:42
So stressful, if not traumatic.
Karen Sutton 31:46
Absolutely. 100%. Exactly. And that causes us so many other problems, doesn't it? You know, I do believe that stress, I don't know, I'm not a doctor. I haven't done any research. This isn't a statistic I've kind of, you know, looked at, but I would say 90% of the time, it would appear to me that all of our problems. stem from stress.
Sylvia Tillman 32:16
Right. It's almost 90%. I mean, I read that when Dr. Rodin Pitarrio was a medical doctor who invented laughter yoga. He says exactly that, 90% of all illnesses. There has been research carried out. And that's exactly what I said earlier about all the signs of psychosomatic. It's caused by stress, because your body is constantly fighting. You're grinding your teeth, you have tension headaches. And we have I mean, it's just sad when we were hunter gatherer we were shaking it off. As animals still do in the world. No we don't do that. It's not socially acceptable. We have unlearned it. Yes, we absolutely can bring that back into our lives.
Coping mechanisms:
Karen Sutton 33:15
I completely agree with you. Stress, I've said this before but I'm I'm certain stress is the underlying cause that killed my husband. I know he had a heart attack and he had a blocked artery. So obviously there were lifestyle events, he drank too much. I mean, he wasn't an alcoholic, but he had a very stressful job and he worked really hard. And the way he would distress was come home and drink a bottle of wine of an evening you know, and I mean, he actually exercised, he had a heart attack on a bike so he did keep fit, he ran marathons but this stress isn't it and then how you try and release that stress we have so many unhealthy coping mechanisms. Now we don't look to exercise we don't look to do things like TRE and laughter yoga and, and these things that actually are healthy coping mechanisms, we turn to alcohol, we turn to food, we turn to sitting in front of the telly, you know, spending money dating, sex work, I don't know, but they're just, they're not healthy, and we have unlearnt, haven't we, how to respond to the situations and we live in a society that teaches us all the wrong things.
Karen Sutton 34:39
All the wrong things are too readily available. I mean, you watch TV, everyone's in the pub all the time drinking alcohol, aren't they? You know, social events revolve around people drinking alcohol and stuff and eating rich foods and you know, it's great. It has a place, I like it, but we have to learn how to care for our minds, our bodies, our souls in a much healthier way, you know, we're living longer these days, life is very stressful. And we are overwhelmed. The NHS is overwhelmed. And I think you know, if people had more of these tools, if we combated stress a little bit more, and people's daily habits just improved a little bit and we could work on our mindset and our skills, which is what I love helping people with, you know, said before these questions going round and round in our minds, and we can't break the cycle.
Karen Sutton 35:34
I love helping people break those cycles, change your thoughts, shift your focus, you know, ask yourself more empowering questions, because that helps you feel more control and releases the cycle that just sort of rabbit hole of doom, doesn't it? Yes. But also we need the physical exercises and tools to help the body through it all. And it's just so very, very important. So, obviously, there's, there's science behind this. But as you say, Dr. Bill Celli has got a little video and that's on your website, and I'm gonna put your website in the show notes. But I mean, what is it? Now if you just tell people in case they can't see the shownotes? Or the website?
Sylvia Tillman 36:20
is yeah, it's tremendous, because it is tremendous, tremendous TRE.co.uk
Karen Sutton 36:29
And do you have everything else on there as well? Because you said you do the Reiki and the laughter yoga?
Sylvia Tillman 36:34
Reiki, laughter yoga, yes i do. I mean, my big love is TRE, because it's tremendous.
Karen Sutton 36:41
It absolutely is a great word. I love the word tremendous. So if somebody wanted to, obviously, they can visit your website, and I'll put that in the show notes. But it could you just explain, briefly, sort of how people would learn how to do it, maybe sort of the cost implications, time implications, and so they've got a little bit of knowledge around them.
Sylvia Tillman 37:04
It's a self help tool. And you can learn that online just by watching videos. And any healthy person can do that anybody who has got major trauma or stressors should be careful with that. I have to say, but I mean, it's like yoga, you can do yoga with your computer, or you can go to a class and then get corrected. But if you want to do it properly, I teach classes, and I teach one to one, or in a small class of maximum, four people, okay. And we do that in four sessions. Because think of my own experience, I experienced it once. And I was like, Yeah, that's interesting. But I don't need that. You need to really want to I mean, if you want to learn something, you really need more understanding, repetition, also, more practice, and trust more, the tool as well to self regulate yourself. So the first session is, you get to know TRE and just experience the suggester session in your body. That's what you had.
Sylvia Tillman 38:20
Then in session two and three, I want to build up tremoring confidence so that people still have me, but they know. Yes, safe place. That's what I do. Also learn to self regulate, and to stop or to take a break when they feel and really listen to the body. And then ideally, people go and continue practicing. And then in a month, I have the 4th session.
Sylvia Tillman 38:46
And in the fourth session, I want to see how has the tremoring developed? Can we tweak anything? So some people just tremor with like, size, and then some maybe a little bit? Fine, but they really feel like I want to release something here. Yeah, I mean, it could release because I mean, it's all connected through muscles and fascia and nerves. But sometimes it helps when you bring the tremor up. And then I suggest some interventions. So which I then see after people have more experience in kind of tremoring. So that's kind of four session over two months.
Karen Sutton 39:29
And that's I think the beauty of it, you know, it doesn't take months to learn how to do it for yourself, you know, really you could have, you know, after one session, you can then practice and then come back and tweak can't you and make sure you're doing it the right way.
Sylvia Tillman 39:45
The only thing is if somebody is pregnant or diagnosed with epilepsy. I wouldn't do it or advise doing TRE. If somebody has a really strong kind of medication for any psychological issues, they should check with a doctor. That's why I always send health questionnaires to see what are people kind of suffering from? Or what is the health background? And that you need to be careful, Because it is very simple, but it's also very complicated and you're like, you don't want to then overdo it.
Karen Sutton 40:34
No, no, absolutely, no. But I mean, it just, it sounds incredible. It really does. You know, and through experiencing my session with you, I certainly can see the benefits of it. And I think if you were to use that long term, you know, for people grieving, it's something you can use at home for yourself, and it will benefit people in different ways. But the benefits of TRE are fantastic, in what it can do for you.
Karen Sutton 41:09
So, I just wanted to say sort of TRE, okay, the exercises assist the body in releasing deep, muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma, created and held in the body during a traumatic experience, or through chronic stress. TRE activates our innate reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating, which calms down the nervous system. Practiced in a safe and controlled environment, the body is encouraged to return to a state of balance.
Karen Sutton 41:38
And I thought that was just lovely. And it just sounds so appealing. And it's something I think we could all benefit from, whatever we're going through in life. And I think it's wonderful. Your passion for it, and you wanting to spread the word and help people through your own life experiences and how you've benefited from this and wanting to share that with others. That's a real gift.
Sylvia Tillman 42:07
And ideally, people don't wait 10 years as I did to discover it.
Karen Sutton 42:13
Absolutely. Take action and take action today. You've heard about it, it can help you. It's not too time consuming. It's not ridiculously expensive. And I think you know that is the power in it, isn't it.
Sylvia Tillman 42:29
I mean, as I said, it's one of these tools. Yeah, many tools. Laughter is amazing. Mindfulness is amazing. I mean, there's so many MRD, rapid eye movement. Everybody needs. My big aim really is to put TRE on the map. So that people are aware because it's still so niche. Hopefully that will help a few people and then they can look into it.
Karen Sutton 43:13
Absolutely and become aware of it.
Sylvia Tillman 43:16
It's not for everybody. But they can see if it's for them.
Karen Sutton 43:25
That's it and I think you know, go look it up, get in touch with Sylvia, Sylvia is so lovely. She likes all your questions. You have her website, I will put your social media handles and your website details onto the shownotes so that people can have a look there and contact you. And thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time, your energy, your knowledge and your passion. It is truly wonderful. And I know you're going to go on and help many, many people.
Sylvia Tillman 43:56
Well, I hope so yeah. Because I mean, I see the benefits. I waited too long.
Karen Sutton 44:01
Yes. Yeah. Take action.
Sylvia Tillman 44:05
Thanks for this opportunity. Karen blessed to be in touch.
Karen Sutton 44:09
Thank you. Take care.
Sylvia Tillman 44:12
Bye. Bye, everybody.
