Dr. David Berceli’s work first came to my attention over 15 years ago, when someone gave me a copy of his book on releasing trauma exercises. His idea is that we can physically remove trauma and stress from our bodies using very specific exercises.

In that first book, he explained that once a gazelle has escaped being chased by a lion, its body shakes, with ripples moving down its flanks. This removes the cortisol from the animal’s body so that it can rejoin the herd without long-term trauma.

Dr. Berceli applied this concept to humans, explaining that stress, tension, and trauma are in our bodies and not just our brains. Since his early work, he has created an entire program related to his discoveries. If you are interested in working with a professional—which Dr. Berceli recommends if you are dealing with serious trauma—check out his website, https://traumaprevention.com. You can find more information and perhaps a practitioner there.

If you are looking at releasing everyday stress and tension rather than PTSD, consider exploring his book The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process: Transcend Your Toughest Times. It comes with photographs of the exercises. I have a copy in my office for clients who wish to borrow it.

For those who benefit from following visual and audio guidance, I suggest this quick, 13-minute video on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeUioDuJjFI .  In it, models demonstrate the order of exercises and how to perform them.

I am aware of at least one person doing home training for neurofeedback who has found that doing the TREs before a brain-training session improves the benefits of their brain training. I am not aware of any scientific literature to support these subjective experiences, but it is intriguing.