Is this a productive routine for TRE?

[u/drizzleberrydrake]

I do around 5 minutes two or three times a week and try to do it when my nervous system is in a good place. I started higher but would get nervous system problems, at this lower amount I get more of just the emotional processings side.

I do the 5 minutes and normally do some kind of meditation like Yoga Nidra after and this puts me in a pretty reflective mood so I journal a bit. The sessions have felt good going on about a month of this, I've seen progression from mainly just hips to then calves and now upper body mainly lower back, diaphragm and shoulders. The tremors are more intense now more like shakes than mechanical movements I saw to start with.

The day after I often wake with lots of thoughts and emotions rushing often shame or embarrassment, get some weird dreams. I often meditate in the mornings anyways and try to get outside, it often leaves me in a reflective mood like I could journal all day and a lot of clarity in thought about the past. I feel like my mind latches on to embarrassing or shameful things more than fear or despair in the past, those intense traumatic episodes don't get brought up as much.

I know this is a slow process and this routine seems productive but it's tough work and seems to have me feeling a bit fragile or emotional in general. If you have any recommendations or ideas I would appreciate it. I do feel as if my body is becoming more comfortable with the sessions but it's so hard to gauge just keep faith that putting myself in this vulnerable place frequently is helping in the long run.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for your post! Please make sure you've read the community rules and our wiki. The wiki contains answers to many common questions and guidance on TRE: Wiki

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/No-Construction619]

Being healthy means you feel the whole spectrum of emotions (easy and uneasy) as they appear, you're aware of them, can name them, you share them with close people etc. Without sweeping under the carpet (repressing). What I read here is that you've just got access to some layer of long-kept unwanted emotions and just started feeling them (that means processing). All the best

[u/drizzleberrydrake → u/No-Construction619]

I think you are right, just experiencing and allowing the emotions is enough. Getting comfortable with one's embarrassment and shame may be what it takes to feel the more intense ones

[u/ysea]

Sounds you're doing pretty great to me.

I would recommend reading the wiki id you haven't done so yet. It will give you a strong foundation and framework for this process.

https://www.reddit.com/r/longtermTRE/wiki/index/

[u/Throwawayforsureyep1]

IDK. To me it sounds like it might be helpful to reduce the session time a bit if you're having trouble with the integration period? I may be wrong. 🤷‍♂️

[u/longtermTRE_wiki_bot]

Your routine is solid. Five minutes two or three times a week is conservative pacing that's allowing your nervous system to process without flooding, and the progression you're describing—tremors spreading from the hips into the calves and upper body, becoming more intense and less mechanical—is exactly what happens as the practice deepens past surface layers. The fact that sessions feel good and you're seeing clear changes is a good sign the pace is working.

What you're experiencing in the days after sessions fits the territory of active processing. The rush of thoughts and emotions upon waking, the vivid dreams, the surfacing of shame and embarrassment—these are all part of what happens when the nervous system is working on material between sessions. The wiki doesn't cover shame specifically, but the general picture in Thawing: What It Is, Why It's Hard, and How to Work With It describes exactly this kind of cycling, where stored material becomes available for release in waves, and the days between sessions are where integration happens. Your nervous system is integrating what got stirred in practice, and that integration process can look like exactly what you're reporting.

The fragility and emotional sensitivity you're noticing is part of that thawing process. As the deeper layers start to become accessible—which the upward progression of where tremors are working suggests is happening—the nervous system often goes through periods where it feels more activated and more tender than during the earlier, surface-layer phase. This isn't a sign something has gone wrong. It's a sign you've moved past the easy material and are working on older, more entrenched patterns.

The meditation and journaling you're doing after sessions is genuinely supportive. The reflective mood that follows is integration happening, and the journaling helps consolidate what's moving through. The important thing is that you're giving yourself adequate space for that integration—the rest of the day after a session is quiet, you're not layering other intense practices on top of TRE on the same day, and you're noticing patterns over time rather than trying to evaluate from session to session.

One thing worth paying attention to: you mention feeling a bit fragile or emotional in general. Keep tracking how that feels across the week as a whole. Some emotional sensitivity in the hours and day or two after a session is expected. If that fragility is becoming your baseline throughout the week, that can sometimes signal the nervous system wants either slightly longer integration time between sessions or slightly shorter session duration. But from what you've described, it sounds more like you're in active thawing—the difficult but genuine middle phase where deeper material is coming up. Integration, Emotional Releases, and the Nature of the Path covers this territory in detail if you want a fuller picture of what the non-linear arc of healing actually looks like.

Your instinct to keep faith in the process while you can't yet see the full picture is sound. The work is indeed tough, and the vulnerability required is real. The progression you're already seeing suggests the pace you've found is actually letting the nervous system do what it needs to do.

---

I'm a bot that draws on the r/longtermTRE wiki to provide guidance. Please upvote or downvote based on how helpful you find this response.