Customer Reviews

The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process: Transcend Your Toughest Times

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I have two military sons that have served in Bosnia and IRAQ. Both have returned with stong symptoms of PTSD but were unwilling to seek out professional pshychological help. They will not discuss their war time experiences with anyone. After hearing about Dr Berceli's Trauma Release Process and learning that physical exercises were the key, not years of verbal dialogue with therapists, I immediately ordered books for my entire family. Although we have all benefitted greatly from the exercises it was the psychological improvement of both military sons that was absolutely astounding. Being soldiers, they had no problem doing the exercises and both saw improvements within weeks. What a miracle! They continue to do the exercises and are amazed at the results. I can not thank Dr. Berceli enough for bringing peace back into their lives.

As a clinical psychologist, I have been trained to believe that if we assist the client with changing the way that they think, they will change the way that they feel. In essence, the mind can be taught to control the stress and tension of the body. Dr. Berceli provides convincing theory to support the contention that this is not a viable first line intervention for those who have experienced significant stress or trauma. In these circumstances, the body freezes and the resulting physical tension prevents the emotional tension from being released, which maintains the negative thought patterns. Consequently, to attempt the release of physical tension by talking about it, is likely to be a very slow process. I was struck by the truth of this from my own experience with my clients who have suffered from chronic stress and/or trauma.

Dr. Berceli's book offers a simple self-help solution. He has developed a set of physical exercises which release deep chronic tension from the body by creating a vibration in the body. I have been teaching the exercises to my clients and they are consistently reporting an increase in the relaxation response, deeper breathing, increased energy, better sleep, and significantly fewer negative thoughts. In essence, as they are thawing the physical tension, their thoughts are also thawing, thereby permitting easier access to rational thinking. They are healing their minds by first releasing the tension from their body. By using this intervention as the starting point with chronically stressed clients, I am noticing a significant decrease in the number of reported symptoms and an increase in feelings of well-being. It is a therapeutic short-cut to healing!

Don't be fooled by the title of this book. You do not need to have experienced trauma to benefit from the technique. In fact, if you are stressed and no matter how many times you talk about it, the tension continues to be felt, these exercises are for you. In my experience, the sooner we take the time to learn and practice them, the more alive and healthier we will feel. Joan Wright, PhD Psych.

I am using these exercises to relieve my own stress and "soft trauma" of adopting a child from Russia. I also am adapting these exercises for my son who is 6 years old.

I have done the TREs about 10 times for myself now and wow, can't believe the relief I feel. It's like an after massage "glow" that last for a couple of days until I do the next exercise. This is helping me be a better person and calmer parent.

I believe that my son also carries within his body the trauma of his early beginnings of being separated from his birthmother and being in an orphanage for 6 months. I am adapting the exercises to keep my son's
attention. I am trying some creative ways to do this:
- naming the exercises "swaying tree", "flamingo" "waterfall"
- adding tempo by counting by the days of the week/months, singing twinkle,twinkle, little star, reciting a bible verse;
-using 6 beads and a bowl to count down the exercises.
-using a visual timer on the last two (longest) exercises so he knows how much longer the exercise will be.

The first time I did these with my son, it was a bit chaotic because he didn't know what to expect. The second time, he did start to tremor (we call it wiggling) a bit and said "wow, that feels really good."

It wasn't until the 3rd time that it all came together for him. His
tremors were very slight, but after about 10 minutes, he said "Mom, I
feel really tired." That night he fell asleep in 10 minutes---usually takes him 45 minutes because of overarousal, and he slept through the whole night! He told me in the morning that he had a really happy dream during the night.

The fourth time I did the exercises, at the very end when he put his feet forward to finish the tremors, he fell asleep for 5 minutes. He was totally relaxed. We have done many therapies, but I have never seen that kind of result.

For about 24-36 hours after the exercises I can tell that he is much calmer and not as anxious or angry. We are doing the exercises every other day and I am hopefull that they will systematically heal the past and the affects will be long lasting. I am sure it will take some time and we will be doing tune ups after the more intense beginning phase.

When you think about trauma, it comes in so many forms that I believe these exercises have great potential of being adapted for adoptive parents and children.

Rene Campagna
Portland, Oregon

Building upon the insight that higher mammals discharge incurred trauma through tremoring or shaking (think of a National Geographic scene of a polar bear waking up after being shot with a tranquilizer dart), David Berceli has devised a series of exercises designed to induce bodily tremoring. The body thus releases the pent up trauma energies stored from our inability to tap into our own atrophied natural mechanisms to do just that.

One thinks of human bodily mechanisms frowned on or diminished by our culture to illustrate that "tremoring" is a natural instinct lost over time. Children often cry with deep, belly level sobbing and shaking which adults regularly hurry to quiet up. When one gets extremely nervous, due to some perceived threat, there is often a tremoring of the body and voice. But showing nervousness is often interpreted as a sign of weakness and to be overcome. After a serious accident, where one may not even be physically harmed, one may feel "shaky" and unstable, unfit to attend business as usual. Often, people feel the expectation to get back to normal ASAP.

What we have conditioned ourselves to do is shut off the intuitive, natural mechanisms designed within us to process trauma and danger from our minds and bodies.

Berceli's thesis is that trauma is circuited by the defensive/protective minded "reptilian" part of our brain and branded into the psoas related muscles of our body, chiefly located in the lower back, abdominal, pelvis, and leg areas. (Perhaps the area of our body that once determined the fate of our survival in the face of physical threat.) This is the area of the body that Berceli stresses by his exercises to induce often very pronounced tremoring and shaking. The shaking clears the trauma imprint out of these "trauma muscles".

I had previously read Peter Levine's seminal book "Waking the Tiger" that reinforces much of Berceli's theory. (Also consider much of the current research that validates that the body vividly stores our unprocessed experiences.) But where Levine establishes the theory, Berceli provides the pragmatic, hands on exercises to practice the theory in real life. (Would be very interesting to get Levine's take on it.)

I am a middle-aged male who suffers from chronic anxiety and PTSD from extensive child abuse. With nothing to lose, I have embarked on giving the exercises a go. After several month's practice, I am pleased that something good is going on. After doing the last culminating exercise of the set of seven exercises, I can sometimes shake for over 20 minutes and consequently feel very calm and relaxed.

I would suppose that what really needs to be done is some sort of research that can assess the results of the practice in as neutral and unbiased way as possible. But who can wait around for that? Try it and test it yourself! Even if it doesn't entirely work, developing kick butt psoases may pay for the price of the book for many! ;)

My thumbs up to a low-cost resource to help mitigate cumulated trauma effects. By all means, for those with acute symptoms, seek out professional help and try out the many other "energy-medicine" techniques available (e.g. Emotional Freedom Technique, acupressure for emotions, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing etc.). But this may well be an important contribution to the arsenal in treating the PTSD symptoms rampant in our very violent world.

P.S. Go to his web site to obtain a DVD of the exercises for a real life demonstration. For an interesting interview try: www.consciousmedianetwork.com/members/dberceli.htm

Stress, trauma, fear, anguish...sometimes they seem to build and build as we move through life. Like walking through a field of prickly weeds that grab and stick into the clothing and chafe with every step, the traumas of life seem to accumulate and even old torments seem not to expire but to insult anew. There is no shortage of interesting books to tell us why emotional discomfort is part of human life. Still other authors describe the many adverse influences on digestive and immune system and other body function that these emotional burdens create. The missing piece in the puzzle of emotionally related illness and distress has been an easy to understand theory of how the physical body comes to mirror the emotional burdens of the mind and a simple way to teach anybody an efficient self-treatment procedure to reliably and safely shed some of that accumulating load. David Bercelli has changed all that.
I'm pleased to find that David Bercelli in his book "The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process: Transcend Your Toughest Times" provides exactly what has been needed, a way to understand what happens to us as we go through life and store more and more of this emotional trauma. Even more important, Bercelli teaches a wonderfully effective and easy to learn and to do set of "trauma release exercises" in his book and DVD. These exercises, maybe I should say activities because they are so easy and comfortable to perform, produce a profound and immediate result that is felt at a physical, mental, and emotional level. Performing these exercises, even on those days that feel so heavy with troubling emotions, leaves one feeling a sense of relaxation in all the muscles as if tension had been magically drained away. There is the wonderful sense of release like that which comes after the emotional cleansing of a good cry. There is the refreshing mental clarity that comes when emotional turmoil leaves the mind. And, these are all effects that anyone can produce for themselves, anywhere, any time. What a blessing David Bercelli has given with his teaching - trauma release exercises give the one thing we have all longed for at one time or another - freedom from emotional trauma. I recommend this simple and effective training for anyone of any age. Tell your friends and family about "Trauma Release"!
I recently met a friend who is in his early 70's, whom I had introduced to Trauma Release Exercise one year ago. I couldn't believe how great he looked, trimmer, happier, more alert. His answer when I asked him to account for how he had turned back the clock, "I've been doing Bercelli's Trauma Release Exercises every day since you showed them to me a year ago." It is amazing the healing that can occur when chronic emotional burdens are relieved!

Leslie S. Feinberg, D.C.
NMT Seminars
www.nmt.md

This book was highly recommended to me. I then saw it not only boasts dozens of 5 star reviews here but that they are unanimously 5 stars, something I have never come across before.

I was however disappointed to have to plough through 100+ pages, mainly anecdotes about traumas - treated in a somewhat shallow manner - before getting to the nitty gritty. Only the last 80 pages of this slim (200 page) book were practical. I felt the first two thirds was essentially filler except the parts explaining how Bercell, a former monk who has voluntarily spent half his life in war-torn countries, came to realize that shaking was highly beneficial and that adults have been socialized out of shaking. His investigations discovered that the big psoas muscle was involved and how to address the problem.

The steps of the 7 exercises themselves are pictured and explained simply enough even for a clumsy person like me, who usually has difficulty with instructions and diagrams. I had no trouble at all there but, as I have been unwell for years, I was concerned about trying them, even though they looked so easy. I have tried repeatedly to exercise, only to find it counterproductive, which is disheartening given its many proven benefits. I was OK with the floor exercise, though. Even though I was anxious it wouldn't work for me, I had no difficulty in experiencing tremors, vibrations, shaking and more. I came out of my first experience highly impressed and so relaxed I needed a brief nap.

Given all that padding, I was even more disappointed that what I would consider vital information was missing, for instance: do you do all the exercises one after the other or do you just pick one or two? If one or two, do you just pick them at random? Do each of the exercises have a generally different effect, does it matter how you create shaking (since even a little gardening can achieve that for me)?

So I ended up ordering the companion DVD from Namaste in the US "The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process Demonstrated in Real Time". I am still waiting for that and trust it answers my many questions as well as ones others may have after reading this book. (That's another thing: Bercell has been teaching this process for at least a decade and even started producing videos from 2002, and then DVDs, about his program - so why is there no Q&A section in his book; he must have answered many questions over the years and be aware that many readers would have similar ones.)

(Later note: the person who recommended this book to me later said of his experiences: "I only find the last exercise worthwhile, even the previous one where you are sitting against the wall isn't that great. I'm not sure whether the previous exercises are meant as warm up exercises to prepare you for the last one or not. But I've been tempted just to do the last exercise, which is great. It feels like my psoas muscles is vibrating about 100 times a second." However, different people react better to some exercises than others, so it seems worth trying out each of them to find the one best for your own body.)

It's irritating that in this book seemingly basic questions have not been addressed by the author because I am keen to learn as much as possible: this is one of the very few methods that has ever been successful for me. To understand how stratospherically high that praise is, coming from me, I have to explain that, of the hundreds of avenues I have pursued over the decades, I can count on the fingers of one hand those that have both measurably and lastingly worked for me.

Over the last 3+ decades I studied intensively many many forms of therapy - and personally experienced several for at least a year each - including group, Jungian, Primal, Gerda Boyesen, Biodynamic, hypnotherapy, rebirthing and different types of bodywork. I studied and sincerely tried most of the researched suggestions in dozens of books on happiness including numerous affirmation, release, forgiveness and gratitude processes. I have a huge personal library on alternative health, subtle energies, positive psychology and cognitive/behavioral plus the last twenty years of research on what makes the brain focused and calm. I've tried many many exercises, procedures, and techniques such as EFT; EMDR; NLP; HeartMath; meditation; Options Institute; kinesiology (5 years with several schools); acupuncture; Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTM); holistic & natural health treatments; and careful nutrition.

I started most with high enthusiasm, exploring them thoroughly (that's my style) and usually felt that failure was my fault. I completed trainings in at least a dozen of the many processes listed above. It was truly rare to see objectively measurable and lasting benefits. In the end, and despite acquiring a huge, almost encyclopedic, knowledge of many, I have not continued practicing or using any of them except for careful nutrition, supplementation, acupuncture, CTM and homeopathy (where my amateur experimentation usually misses but the few hits have been impressive). A very frustrating and unsatisfactory journey, overall. I am not saying that these methods don't work for everyone, just that they didn't for me (nor many of the people I trained with, worked with or kept in touch with).

After that weasely disclaimer, I would point out that few therapies boast much research proving their benefits and in particular there is increasing evidence that talk-therapies are actually worse than useless - except where the therapist and client create a strong and positive personal relationship. It is therefore particularly refreshing to come across a release process that not only can be done alone at home but works so directly on the body that little, if any, talk/emotion is involved - but perhaps it is so effective for that very reason?! (Berceli explains that emotional release is not unusual during this process of bodily release by tremors, but I haven't experienced any during my first weeks (in fact I now read during my sessions, except when the shaking gets quite strong). And it's wonderful to be able to offer the body, which like a computer never works against us, an apparently very effective way for it to clear what it has had to hold for so long.)

So, even though this trauma release process, too, has little researched evidence of any ultimate effectiveness, it gets 5 stars and (rarely for me) I would give it more if I could.

P.S. I watched the companion DVD as soon as it arrived; it costs $28 plus shipping and is about 1 hour 40 minutes long. I found it MUCH more helpful than the book.

Part 1 is a 15 minute background explanation by Berceli and Part 2 takes 40 minutes and goes through each exercise with 3 people demonstrating Berceli's detailed talk-thru. Part 3 comprises about 15 minutes of sharing of experiences by participants and clarification by Berceli and a rhapsody by one of the participants who explained he'd been seeking release for many years and had consulted many therapists culminating in this very helpful process.

Part 4 is the final 35 minutes, a rambling but interesting interview with Berceli in which he touches on "hard" and "soft" trauma, the need to release stored trauma, PTSD, some of the background explanation (again), how in this process the body is releasing chronic held tension, that each body's reaction is unique, that different people respond better to some of the exercises than others which is why he developed several, that most can do this alone but some people with deep emotional release may need to work with a therapist and that people do begin to sense a spiritual element to this process.

At the end Berceli shares that traumas are common and frequent but, hidden in traumatic events, is the shift in consciousness we are trying to make as a species. If we go into the pain of our suffering, go into our body and explore it so that we eventually come out on the other side of that pain, all of us will have learned some profound lessons (giving Mother Teresa, Ghandi and Nelson Mandela as examples) so that we could no longer ever inflict pain on others because we realise that nobody wins if we continue to repeat the violence of inflicting pain. Hopefully that will be the new place of human consciousness that we are striving to achieve now on this planet so that our new humanity can rebirth itself.

DON'T get the DVD called "Trauma Release with David Berceli" as that's just an interview. Get the companion to this book, which has the same name (to be exact, it's called "The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process Demonstrated in Real Time") and seems only available from Namaste Publishing.

Later note: I have found "The Healing Code" by Lloyd to be THE only emotional healing technique that really works. For me, it only works with specific experiences rather than general health, but that alone is a stunning benefit, given that the more famous methods like EFT and NLP have not worked at all for me (and others I am in touch with).

From working with the Special Forces in places like Afghanistan, Kosovo etcetera, I suffered from PTSD, sleep deprivation and internal anxiety. After using TRE I could start sleeping an entire night for the first time in many years. I was about to give up on really being able to sleep again. Thanks to TRE I'm now full of energy, happy and can enjoy life to its fullest again. Unbelievable and supprisingly, TRE made a transformation within me. David Berceli, thank you!!!

I recently read Dr Berceli's book and ordered the DVD by the same name with the exercises from the Namaste website (suggested by one the reviewers here). I have gone through the series of exercises several times, so I'm probably not as advanced as some of the other reviewers here but I must say, so far, I'm cautious to continue on a daily basis as some overwhelming sensations occurred (namely, momentary out of body experiences and split-second hallucinations) . As directed, when the discomfort or feelings of overwhelm occurred, I stopped the exercise; however, there's been a residual sense of overwhelm that stayed with me the rest of the day, even after stopping. After experiencing this, I don't believe this book and the prescribed exercises are a substitute for working with a somatic experiencing practitioner or trauma sensitive somatic or body-oriented psychotherapist/specialist, especially if the trauma you experienced was severe, multi-layered or deeply buried. Please understand, however, that this was just my unique experience with this approach that I wanted to share,as I cannot imagine I'm the only one who's had this reaction to the exercise program. The key for me is that when this powerful fight/flight/freeze energy surfaces, I don't feel like Dr Berceli has really given me tools to truly integrate or understand what's happening (outside of stopping and honoring the overwhelming sensation); it just feels like "too much too soon". I find Peter Levine's work Waking the Tiger : Healing Trauma : The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences to be a far more comprehensive, gentler and nurturing approach, by comparison, as his work and research over 40 yrs has centered on the nervous system and the individual's innate need for a deep sense of safety to enable a natural expansion of an individual's capacity to gently re-experience and re-integrate long dormant "frozen" and highly potent energy. Clearly, many of the readers here are having extremely positive and life-changing body responses to this work, which is truly wonderful and I certainly do not want to take away from the amazing effectiveness of Dr Berceli's unique approach. So, please do not let my review convince you not to try this work. I will continue to do Dr Berceli's exercises now and again but will mostly rely on Levine's exercises Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body as they are a better fit for my unique experience. I just wanted to share with you the reasons for my caution and to emphasize that for trauma survivors, the body is perceived as a very dangerous place and reclaiming and/or finding resources that offer deep comfort, pleasure and safety is a vital part of reclaiming our true selves. To anyone going along this path, which I consider the deepest sense of soul reclamation, I wish you well on your healing journey!

"I was in China when the earthquake that killed 700,000 people happened
in Sichuan, China May 12, 2008. I learned in my professional crisis
training that counseling is very limited in helping in situations of such
massive trauma. I felt that we needed an intervention that could be used not only with individuals or small groups but also for massive numbers of
traumatized people and a method not mainly depend on talking.

We decided to invite Dr. Berceli come to the earthquake area in Sept.
2008 for one month to teach TRE to the students and teachers. The comments of the people who attended Dr. Berceli TRE sessions were that TRE is the most effect method for us because it is simple, practical, and magical. Once you learn it, you will have an inner desire to use it when you feel stressed. You do not need much effort to do them. Many of the
participants felt it was the first time they felt relaxed and felt relief since the earthquake. From a professional point of view, I found it transcends culture and is therefore much more suited for international traumas than all other trauma treatment methods. It is non intrusive and is the only method I know that can be used very effectively for individual and massive traumatized populations. It can be used with both children and adults.
It is also for people who experience stress. In fact, it is a great stress relief technique. It is also excellent for mental health workers. It is a wonderful tool to help clients who have anxiety and have had traumatic experiences.

Helena Guo, M.D., Ph.D., LPC
Chief Clinical Officer, www.Psychcn.com

I have read many books and tried for many years to understand the mechanics of trauma and its effect on us as a race, as families and as individuals. In a way that traces trauma to its roots and exposes why humans process it differently than other species, David Berceli shows us a new way to unlock the trauma that has been stored in our bodies and release it in the way it was naturally meant to be released.

Through an insightful overview of the history of trauma in our race along with the acknowledgement of the power of forgiveness, Berceli weaves together an insightful and radically new approach to trauma that involves an understanding of the historical, emotional and physical aspects of healing this condition that unknowingly grips so many.

An important thing to remember about this book is that when we think of trauma, many of us conjure up an image of sever trauma like war or natural disasters or other forms of violence. What I learned from reading this book and practicing its exercises is that trauma can actually take the form or more subtle stresses in our lives and when we experience these stresses over prolonged periods of time even these subtle stresses can immobilize us from living a more fulfilled and peaceful existence. I have found that when I go through times where I am practicing Berceli's exercises, my entire experience of the day, even stressful events, is more manageable and I am better equipped to move through life in a more grounded and peaceful way.