David Berceli turned a couple of overwhelming constraints into a revolutionary way to help people heal from trauma.
As a trauma specialist, David had learned how to help people in a one-on-one setting, using talking as therapy.
But here he was in one war-torn country after another, tasked with creating programs to help hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people traumatized by war and famine. How could he possibly scale talk therapy to meet that need?
And as the lead instructor, how could David work effectively with people who didn't speak his language?
And that's how TRE (Tension, stress, and trauma Releasing Exercises) was born.
If you've ever watched a nature special about African predators and prey, you may recall a scene where a gazelle narrowly escapes from a lion and then, a safe distance away, shakes for a few seconds up to half an hour.
What's going on?
The gazelle is processing the stress of their brush with death so that it doesn't get locked into the tissues of the body as trauma.
Shaking, shivering, and tremoring are all natural and completely organic processes that mammals use to recover from stressful events. But humans, with the unique gift of being able to override our nature, can repress the tremoring impulse through tight muscular armoring.
And stress stuck in the body does a body no good, whether the symptoms are “just” tight muscles and the concomitant aches and pains, compromised posture, and eventual chronic conditions; or acute post-traumatic stress (PTS).
One day in Lebanon, David was in a bomb shelter during a bombardment, and noticed that the young children were shaking in fright, while the adults were not. When he asked an adult about this, he was told, “We hold back the shaking so we don't frighten the children.”
This impulse to maintain control is the thing that can lock trauma into the body, such that no amount of talking therapy could possibly unlock it.
When David began teaching people how to tremor involuntarily, he soon noticed that long-standing traumas were now releasing their grip. People were able to return to their lives, to their relationships, to their joys and passions.
Our bodies are designed to give up control when faced with overwhelming situations. We're not defective, doomed to suffer endless repetitions of historical trauma, whether war or accident or violence or childhood abuse. The body contains its own healing powers, and all we have to do is allow them to activate.
We have to say yes to the impulse to freedom rather than trying to fight against it.
In our conversation, David and I talk about the biology of trauma and trauma recovery. We explore his work, and how anyone can benefit from the simple exercises that David teaches.
Enjoy!
Links
TraumaPrevention.com
David Berceli's YouTube Channel
Shake It Off Naturally, by David Berceli, PhD
And here's a photo of the long beans I harvested this morning:
Dr Howie Jacobson
This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).
My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.
Here are three gigs that I do:
1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation
I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.
At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.
My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.
2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance
I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.
We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.
The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.
3. High Stakes Conversations for Fast Growing Small Business Teams
I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.
So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.
You CAN Change Other People!
Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.
What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.
Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.
Music
The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.
It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.
You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.
Gratitudes
Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.
Disclosure
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