When Your Shakes Get Stuck

TRE is designed to be a self-evolving process. Your body's tremor mechanism should naturally change, adapt, and move through different patterns over time. However, sometimes shakes can get "stuck": repeating the same pattern session after session without progressing.

How to Recognise Stuck Patterns

Healthy Progression	Signs of Being Stuck
Tremors move to different body areas over time	Identical tremor pattern for 4+ sessions
Intensity varies naturally between sessions	No new body areas activating
New movements or patterns emerge	Tremors feel mechanical or repetitive
You feel shifts in how your body responds	No emotional shifts or deepening
Emotional releases evolve and change	Practice feels stale or routine

Understanding Stuckness

The body always wants to move toward resolution. If it is not moving, something is blocking the natural flow.

Why Shakes Get Stuck

Nervous System Protection

Your system may be regulating itself:

What Is Happening	What It Means
Reached the edge of your window of tolerance	Deeper material needs more capacity before surfacing
Need time to integrate	Your nervous system is processing what has already released
Protective mechanisms active	System limiting access to deeper layers

This is healthy. Your system knows its limits.

Incomplete Self-Regulation

You may be unconsciously limiting the process:

• Always stopping tremors at the same intensity
• Never allowing full expression in certain areas
• Controlling the shakes too tightly
• Not experimenting with different positions
• Staying in your comfort zone

Environmental Sameness

External patterns can reinforce internal patterns:

• Practicing in the same location every time
• Same time of day, same routine
• Limited privacy or feeling observed
• Rushing through sessions
• Not enough rest between sessions

Unaddressed Material

Deeper blocks may be present:

• Specific emotions being avoided
• Unacknowledged beliefs about the process
• Fear of what might emerge
• Resistance to particular sensations
• Incomplete processing from talk therapy

Strategies for Getting Unstuck

Change Your Physical Practice

Change the variables

Variable	What to Try
Time	Practice at a different time of day
Location	Try a different room or space
Duration	Shorter or longer than usual
Position	Different tremor positions (see below)
Pre-fatigue	Emphasize different exercises

Explore different positions

• Try tremoring on your belly
• Try tremoring on your side
• Let your knees fall wider or narrower
• Move your feet to different distances from your pelvis
• Experiment with arm positions (overhead, out to sides)

Work with specific body areas

If tremors are stuck in one area, intentionally explore others:

1. Before starting, notice where you hold tension that the tremors have not addressed
2. Do the exercises with emphasis on neglected areas
3. Gently place hands on stuck areas during tremoring
4. If legs always shake, try positions that emphasize torso or arms
5. Follow any curiosity about specific body areas

Explore Emotional Material

Sometimes stuck shakes indicate unprocessed emotions.

Questions to explore:

• What emotions do you notice not feeling during TRE?
• What would you least want to feel right now?
• What memories or situations have you been avoiding?
• What would it mean if the shakes brought up [feared emotion]?

You Do Not Need to Force

Simply acknowledging what you have been avoiding can shift the stuck pattern. Awareness itself is often enough.

Take a Break

Sometimes the best intervention is to stop.

Consider a break if:

• You have been practicing very frequently
• The process feels effortful or forced
• You are frustrated or pushing
• Integration time may be needed

Break guidelines:

• Take 2-4 weeks completely off
• Do not think about TRE during the break
• Engage in other forms of self-care
• Notice what shifts in the absence
• Return fresh when it feels right

Sometimes Less Is More

Often the biggest shifts happen when we stop trying to make them happen.

Integrate with Other Modalities

Modality	How It Helps
Somatic therapy (SE, Hakomi, Sensorimotor)	Identifies and works with blocks
Bodywork (craniosacral, myofascial, Rolfing)	Releases physical armoring
Breathwork	May access material TRE alone has not reached
Talk therapy	Processes cognitive/emotional blocks; EMDR and IFS particularly effective

Work with a Provider

Seek support if:

• Stuck for more than 6-8 sessions
• Feeling increasingly frustrated
• Suspecting deeper trauma blocks
• Wanting guidance on exploring stuck areas
• Needing witness and support

A provider can:

• Observe your tremors and identify patterns you cannot see
• Suggest specific positional or contextual changes
• Help you work with what is emerging
• Provide co-regulation for deeper work
• Guide integration between sessions

Using Pendulation

When stuck, use pendulation: moving between activation and resource.

Pendulation Practice

1. Find a resource: Something pleasant, calming, or neutral in your body or environment
2. Touch into activation: Gently approach the stuck edge
3. Return to resource: Come back to the pleasant sensation
4. Repeat: Move back and forth, gradually building capacity

This builds tolerance for what is stuck without overwhelming the system.

Reframe "Stuck" as "Integrating"

What feels stuck may actually be:

What It Seems Like	What It May Be
Nothing happening	Necessary consolidation
Repetitive pattern	Building capacity for next layer
Boring practice	Deepening existing work
Plateau	Your system's wisdom at work

When to Trust vs. When to Act

Trust and Continue	Take Action
You feel calm about the repetition	You feel frustrated, bored, or disconnected
Your body may know what it is doing	Your frustration is information
Give it 2-3 more weeks	Try the strategies above

Summary: Unsticking Your Practice

If your tremors have been identical for 4+ sessions:

1. First: Check if this is natural consolidation or genuine stuckness
2. Change variables: Time, place, position, duration
3. Explore neglected areas: Work with what has not activated
4. Acknowledge avoided emotions: Notice what you have been protecting against
5. Consider support: Work with a provider or complementary modality
6. Take a break if needed: Sometimes stopping creates more movement than continuing
7. Trust timing: Your body's wisdom includes knowing when to pause

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Healing is not linear. Stuck periods often precede significant breakthroughs.

The goal is not constant change: it is responsiveness. Your body should respond to your needs, and sometimes what you need is repetition, consolidation, or rest.

Trust yourself to know the difference.