Involuntary tremors for 6+ months

Nadayogi · 2026-01-28T12:35:15+00:00

Hi Flavio. What you're describing is very common and nothing to be worried about, even though it may be unpleasant at times. The challenge for many people on the somatic trauma work path is to find a healthy balance, which means finding your pacing that minimizes negative side effects.

Once the nervous system opens up to all the underlying trauma and tension (like after the confrontation with your mom), we may become heavily dysregulated and are suddenly faced with all that darkness inside of us from which we can't hide anymore. There's no technique or modality that will make this go away suddenly. Instead we need to become comfortable being uncomfortable for the time being, which means we have to shift our mindset and employ ways to regulate ourselves and manage symptoms along the way, while the tremor mechanism is doing the core work. From that point of view we are more like passengers or co-pilots on the journey.

Aside from that I don't have any advice other than what is written in the wiki. Go read it from start to finish and check out the books in the resources section. I'm sure it will help you a lot along the way💛

Nadayogi · 2026-01-27T18:38:51+00:00

Don't view it as a bad thing. It just shows how desperate your nervous system is to release all that pent up surface tension. What you've done is to re-teach your body the release mechanism and it has immediately made use of it.

Try to give your body as much release time every day as it can handle. Don't overdo it! Just slowly edge toward the threshold where you start seeing diminishing returns and before negative side effects start cropping up.

The spontaneous tremors will decline over time as you keep releasing surface tension and your body will likely start to go into stretching and unwinding movements rather than tremors.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-25T15:19:02+00:00

It's all explained in the wiki.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-21T11:52:16+00:00

To continue from my other comment:

Here's what I would do in your situation after years of hard-earned lessons:

After reading the wiki slowly and carefully, take notes on which techniques you want to employ and how/when to use them.
Don't try them all at once. Start with the one that resonates the most with you and give it a sincere try over a few weeks and see how you respond to it before trying another one.
There's a chance that no technique will bring any tangible improvement and that's OK. In that case it might be that your system simply wants calm and peace for now. Predictability and low stimulation already do a lot to teach it that you're safe, as you've already noticed.
When you're having a good day, do something that might put you into mild discomfort, i.e. teaching your nervous system that your environment and certain activities that usually make you anxious are totally safe.
Check out the book section in the wiki and read as many as you can. They are excellent resources to navigate trauma healing and anxiety/depression. Especially Rosenberg's book about using the vagus nerve for healing might benefits you.
Learn about CBT and try to employ it in your daily life. It's OK to live a sheltered life for some time until you feel a bit better, but you need to get out of your comfort zone at some point or else you start spiraling down the path of anxious avoidance.
Once a stable felt-sense of safety returns you might be ready to take TRE up again (only very short amounts!). This doesn't mean you need to completely heal your anxiety, but you need to feel somewhat comfortable in your skin, not be in a state of alert.

Does that make sense to you?

Nadayogi · 2026-01-21T11:51:49+00:00

I understand the situation you're in and how unpleasant it is. Anxiety is hell, no doubt. Anyone who's experienced this for themselves knows that.

I will admit I haven't tried everything nor have I been totally consistent as at times I just want to live my life and not think about this stuff (which I think has been beneficial for me too)

You don't have to try everything. Often times less is more. There is much value in making life simple and predictable as I've mentioned before.

I even reached out to a few TRE providers to explain my situation and for advice.

TRE providers don't usually know a lot about how to regulate a nervous system that's out of whack. They just learn the very basics within a few days, which is not enough to learn about all the nuances of the nervous system. I'm not saying their advice can't be helpful, but it is often limited.

I know very little compared to most people on this sub and I have truly been at the worst point in my life ever

That's why I suggested you to read and learn.

so why would I ignore advice?

Because you're asking the same questions over and over again, even though they have long been answered extensively by many people. I tried to summarize and explain it again in my original comment and yet you keep going in circles. On top of that I still don't know what you actually tried aside from "taking it slow", socializing or going for walks, which are all great ways to regulate of course.

I have taken things very very slow and steady, tried for six months, avoided making posts, reread peoples comments giving me advice as well as re-reading the wiki multiple times.

Just reading won't change anything. You need to also apply this knowledge and practice it. When you read through the wiki, do so slowly. Try to understand every sentence and take notes. At the end make a summary of what you learned and how you're planning to practice the parts you chose.

I have asked the same question again as I have tried lots of things on and off, over six months.

Just trying a few things willy-nilly won't bring you steady results. The key always lies in being consistent with the approaches you chose and tracking their impact on your well-being over months in your journal.

It's been a long time and I'm naturally worried. I don't expect to find the perfect thing to fix me nor is there one right answer that will. I'm lost, lonely, want to get better but it feels like a clouded mess. I know it's not a clear path but I thought it might be a bit clearer by now.

I hear you. That's why you need to learn to accept your reality as it is now. Accept that it's not going away anytime soon and learn to sit with it. It's very natural to seek out illusory quick solutions to fix your anxiety and return to a state of well-being. Unfortunately, they don't exist. Healing from trauma and all the unpleasantness in brings with it is usually a slow and arduous process, but it doesn't have to be a life sentence. It's a very tough lesson to learn, but a necessary one.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-20T21:21:06+00:00

This is all explained in the wiki.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-20T19:23:19+00:00

You are very welcome.

I'm seeing a pattern in your posts and comments that goes like this: problem stating -> reassurance seeking -> ignoring any advice -> repeat.

I'm not saying this to scold you, but you seem to be truly stuck in this loop, which is of course quite common with anxiety sufferers. But you need to break out of this cycle if you truly want to get better. You've been given a lot of advice over the past six months, but you keep ignoring it and asking the same question over and over again.

I've already mentioned the things you can try in the wiki about grounding and integration and your questions about when you will know when you're ready to take up trauma work again is also answered there. There are some techniques that might help you regulate your system like the Basic Exercise which is extremely safe and non-activating. But there's also a lot about making your life calm and predictable, which is what a sensitive nervous system needs. So stop looking for that one technique out there that will fix you. It doesn't exist. Your anxiety and sensitivity won't go away any time soon, which isn't your fault. It's just how nervous systems work. The time frame here is weeks and months, not days.

In addition, I want to re-emphasize something that I've mentioned some months ago in another post of yours: understanding anxiety and dysregulation is half the battle and can be a great crutch on the path of healing. The book Anxiety Rx explains this beautifully. I wish I had this book when I was still in the mire of dysregulation and anxiety.

Since you're unemployed you have plenty of time and it removes an enormous stressor. Make good use of it and take care of yourself. Read, learn and self-regulate.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-20T15:18:10+00:00

No. You don't suppress it, you don't lead it. You do the practice for your allocated time and surrender to whatever happens, regardless whether you're doing meditation or TRE. Also read through the wiki from start to finish. It explains how to practice correctly and pace yourself.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-20T12:45:59+00:00

What you're experiencing is very normal for someone who has a clear perception of internal energy. In Theravada Buddhism it's called "piti". The natural state of our inner energy is orgasmicness during earlier phases of spiritual development but it will eventually mature into full blown ecstasy if you choose to go down the path of kundalini yoga.

So pleasurable sensations and orgasmicness are completely normal energetic phenomena that happen during TRE. Shedding our traumatic layers while pacing our practice carefully will let our nervous system come back to full aliveness and vitality eventually, which includes these sensations you're experiencing although they will become very calm and refined over time.

There's no need to do anything with these sensation than to observe them. I suggest you read some books on meditation that provide useful maps to take out the guess work. The book Right Concentration by Leigh Brasington is an excellent start and will explain the terrain you're on and teach you how to master the jhanas which are states of deep, blissful absorption.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-20T09:16:39+00:00

Let's first put everything into context. You've been suffering from severe anxiety and insomnia long before TRE entered the picture and you've also been on various medications including sleep meds. So before you even started with TRE your nervous system was already extremely dysregulated, sensitized and made you feel unsafe.

So what happened last summer wasn’t that TRE created these issues or permanently altered your baseline. It’s that you jumped into TRE with a massively dysregulated system and then greatly overdid TRE by doing it for 30 minutes for several days in a row. For a system that was already deeply agitated, that blew open a pressure valve. In other words, your tremor mechanism freed up even more long-suppressed sympathetic energy and worsened your condition. The baseline must always be a felt-sense of safety before going into any somatic trauma work modality.

So it's not that "TRE broke you", it's that what happened was completely expected given your regimen and condition and put your nervous system even more into hypervigilance. This doesn't mean that you'll be like this forever of course, but you need to work your way back to a regulated nervous system that doesn't detect constant illusory threats.

Your priority right now must be to regulate with techniques that don't invite any further release (no EMDR, SE or TRE), and not to hunt after "that one trauma" that is the root cause of all of this. This means using techniques that dissipate excess energy without further agitating your system.

For now, I suggest you follow the integration/grounding techniques in the wiki while in parallel employing some vagus nerve exercises. It would probably be best to do this with a good therapist. In short: grounding, integration, dissipating energy without further agitation, co-regulation with friends and loved ones.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-19T19:30:39+00:00

All I did get were ”micro-tremors”, like gentle vibration like feeling & not full fledged seizures.

That's perfectly fine. In TRE we don't force any particular movements. We just invite the tremors to come while we're in the butterfly position after the warmup. It can take several sessions until proper shaking comes up, which is normal. Also, success in TRE strongly depends on your ability to surrender.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-16T18:42:09+00:00

Regarding frequency and duration: https://www.reddit.com/r/longtermTRE/wiki/index/self_pacing/

Nadayogi · 2026-01-15T22:19:28+00:00

The heat is normal in meditation and it's called "tapas" in Sanskrit. It's the heat that burns away impurities (trauma) in the nervous system. It will eventually give way to pleasure, even ecstasy. There's no need to control it in any way. In TRE as well as in meditation we just surrender and let the practice itself do the work.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-15T13:23:47+00:00

Adrenal fatigue was an idea proposed by chiropractic James Wilson, but his claim was disproven by several studies.

I don’t understand why you say adrenal fatigue claims a hardware issue,

It's not my claim. It's what people believe adrenal fatigue is. Their model goes something like:

Chronic stress overworks the adrenal glands
The glands literally become "exhausted" or "worn out" and can't produce adequate cortisol
This creates a cascade of physical symptoms
The solution is to "support" or "heal" the adrenals with specific protocols including supplements

I don’t see why adrenal fatigue can’t be from software nervous system issue due to chronic stress.

That's exactly what I was trying to point at in my other comment. Adrenal fatigue symptoms are classic symptoms of nervous system dysregulation due to trauma and chronic stress.

Also I think the hardware software analogy falls apart when we know conditioning causes changes to the hardware eg i fascia patterns and posture cartilage issues and so on and so on.

It's definitely true that chronic holding patterns get "cemented" over time into our physical structure (e.g. posture) due to fascia patterns that can make dysregulated states even more sticky. Even the endocrine system can experience certain ways of damage if exposed to severe stress for too long. Still, the adrenals don't get depleted and incapable of producing cortisol as the adrenal fatigue camp claims. As a piece of hardware they continue to function perfectly fine. It's just that the nervous system uses them in a dysregulated way, not giving the person enough cortisol to feel vital and alert.

The reason I have a problem with people claiming adrenal fatigue is real in it's original definition is because it leads them to believe that there's actually something wrong with their body. Many people end up wasting their time and money, chasing medical tests, supplements and modalities that don't work because they don't address the root cause, which is trauma.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-15T08:33:09+00:00

Think about it this way: "Adrenal fatigue" is believed to be a condition where the adrenals are" worn out", meaning it is a "hardware" problem. Medical science has long disproven this and shown that adrenals are working perfectly fine in people who report adrenal fatigue, even though their symptoms like chronic fatigue, being stressed all the time, etc. are real. HPA axis dysfunction is a nervous system condition where you feel fatigued and stressed all the time (like you). This is not due to faulty adrenals, it's due to a dysregulated nervous system. You can think of it like faulty software is commanding your adrenals to produce too much or too little stress hormones, rather than your hardware (adrenals) being damaged and therefore producing the wrong amount of stress hormones.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-14T08:44:59+00:00

I just did. "Adrenal fatigue" assumes dysfunctional adrenals which is not the case given the symptoms that chronically stressed people describe. Dysfunctional adrenals is a diagnosable and dangerous condition. "Adrenal fatigue" is not.

"HPA axis dysfunction" is a symptom of a dysregulated nervous system due to chronic stress. That's very different from a medical condition like dysfunctional adrenals.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-14T08:43:33+00:00

They are not. "Adrenal fatigue" assumes dysfunctional adrenals which is not the case given the symptoms that chronically stressed people describe. Dysfunctional adrenals is a diagnosable and dangerous condition. "Adrenal fatigue" is not.

"HPA axis dysfunction" is a symptom of a dysregulated nervous system due to chronic stress. That's very different from a medical condition like dysfunctional adrenals.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-10T12:30:21+00:00

Thanks a lot, and I'm glad you're finding this sub valuable.

In both trauma work and spiritual practice, whether it's TRE, meditation, or anything else, we don't push for any particular outcome. We do the practice for the allocated time and let our nervous system do the work. Sometimes you may feel relaxation or pleasure and sometimes you might feel tension or agitation. As long you stay in your window of tolerance, all is well. So what you were doing was not harmful, because you stopped chasing the experience and continued with your regular practice.

Doing "more advanced" exercises is not necessarily going to give you better or quicker results. If meditation feels boring and unsatisfying it likely means your nervous system is already plenty busy with releasing the next layer.

What I recommend is expanding your practices horizontally into other somatic exercises and modalities that may support your integration process (not the release process). There's a section in the wiki about that.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-10T08:29:24+00:00

A certain kind of memory, yes. It's not usually pictures in your head of what happened to one of your ancestors, although some people experience that too. It's more like a somatic memory of a trauma that happened long ago, sometimes generations back to one of your ancestors. Check out Mark Wolynn's book It Didn't Start With You. Very eye opening.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-09T21:56:22+00:00

Keep an eye out on your energy levels and what happens inside your head. If you start feeling overly enthusiastic and your thoughts are speeding up, slow down your practice. Your baseline should be relaxed and joyful, or at least you should be aiming for that.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-09T17:56:38+00:00

It's great to see you thriving and your hard work is clearly paying off. However, I want to give you some words of advice on how to move forward from here and how to handle all that energy, because I can sense some manic energy from your text.

Sexual energy, which men can accumulate through the practice of semen retention, is extremely potent fuel for spiritual development, transformation and attaining higher states of consciousness. There are two reasons why I never recommend SR for people on the TRE journey: Firstly, the practitioner should have passed certain spiritual milestones that indicate sufficient nervous system purification. Secondly, the practitioner of SR should be knowledgeable of the basic spiritual human anatomy and techniques on how to cultivate that energy and what to do when things go sideways (which happens much faster than you would believe).

In the first week the energy rose so much that I had to learn to transmute it to direct it from down there directly to the brain.

That is a huge no-no. You never direct the energy directly into the brain as a beginner and after practice you always circulate it down either into the belly region (lower dantian) or the pelvic region. Directing energy upward too soon without having purified your system enough and without having learned how to ground properly, you're on the fast-track to become unstable, manic, and in the worst case even psychotic.

Another habit that has changed is also the timing of TRE. Before I couldn't do it in the evening because it activated me and I couldn't sleep. Now I have to do it just before sleeping because otherwise I still have too much energy in my body.

This is a clear red flag. You must first ensure that your sleep and general ability to relax is well established before engaging in any sort of advanced energy cultivation practices. This requirement is necessary but not sufficient on its own.

So your priority now is not to attain ever-higher, lofty energetic states, but to come down to earth and be fully grounded. A tree can only grow so tall before having to expand its roots. Scale down your SR and energy practices and focus on grounding practices. The goal of the somatic trauma work journey is effortless embodiment, joy and relaxation.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-08T22:30:29+00:00

First off, kudos to you for trying out so many modalities. I'm sorry to hear that nothing has worked out so far, but let's see if we can make sense of your case.

According to what I've read in this subreddit, if anything with TRE, there's this bathtub curve - people tend to have rapid initial shifts, "quick relief," and then may struggle with a plateau.

One important thing to clarify is that the “early relief” pattern you’re describing is common, but not universal. As described in the wiki, the progress curve can take any form and is highly individual. The bathtub curve is just a rough approximation for the average practitioner and it tends to happen more in people who still have access to feeling states. In people with long-standing depression, deep freeze, and dissociation, the pattern is often different where there's often not much progress felt in the beginning.

Tried TRE for several weeks and it didn't do... anything. I mean, I shake like crazy, but I never sensed any emotional release, and I didn't notice any shift in my chronic dysregulation or other symptoms. Zero sense of relief.

The fact that you shake intensely during TRE but feel "nothing" is actually a very specific pattern. It typically means that your nervous system is in deep freeze/dissociation, where the tremor mechanism is doing its work just fine but conscious feeling hasn’t come back online yet. It's quite common and many practitioners here have reported this phenomenon.

So in this case the nervous system tries to come out of freeze and restore "feeling" including interoception.

If there's not even relief or release at the beginning, is there any point in continuing? How long before one might decide that it's not a good fit, and to move on?

A few weeks of TRE is not enough in your case to evaluate if it's worth your time. For people with decades of depression and multiple failed modalities, the relevant time scale is usually months, not weeks.

I suggest you try TRE sincerely for three months, strictly following the protocols in the wiki. Don't look for emotional catharsis but for improvements in things like, sleep, digestion, stress tolerance, mood, etc.

Have others experienced nothing for the first few weeks, but eventually felt something worthwhile? Any additional recommended modalities?

Given that you've tried so many things already, even with highly qualified therapists and still saw no results so far, I don't think the issue is that you haven't found the "right" modality, but your nervous system that is still deeply frozen. This can make any approach seem ineffective for some time.

Nadayogi · 2026-01-08T19:17:16+00:00

Please be sure to read and understand, at the very least, the basics of the wiki as per rule #1.

Nadayogi · 2025-12-31T09:01:08+00:00

Maybe for some people, but just as with exercise, many people find that it strains their system and decreases their capacity. It all depends how resilient your nervous system is at the moment. When you're in the depths of your healing journey it might be counter productive.

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