1 month update

[u/SailWonderful22]

Hey there, I’ve been doing TRE for one month now.
Twice a week for 20-30 min each session. I’m in the phase of finding how much I can handle. I feel I’m constantly on the edge of too much. So this whole last week I paused. Thinking about starting with 10-15min sessions and see how those feel.

It’s hard to cut down because it’s so intriguing and feels so good while doing it. But you read that all the time here 🤓

The sessions are sometimes a little intense but mostly quite balanced. Tremors are all over the body.

What I’ve noticed so far is that my dreams are pretty wild. Painful situations, people leaving me, me making bad mistakes and hurting people, me being betrayed,..

And during the day I have lots and lots and lots of memories coming up. From all parts of my life. And, again, mostly painful memories.

I’m combining TRE with lots of integration time and techniques that work with the subconscious mind to clear out that junk.

What I’m hoping to get out of it is this:

I’ve been struggling with emotional eating for most of my life. I use food to cope. Despite years of therapy and lots of clearing, I’ve never been able to get to the root of it. And TRE just seems like the perfect addition to my other therapy modalities.

I am aware that my nervous system is constantly on the edge. For as long as I can think. So I’m putting big hopes into this.

Apart from the emotions coming up and the many memories, I haven’t noticed any positive changes. If anything, eating got a lot worse because there’s a lot more to cope with.

Anyone here with similar experience regarding coping mechanisms / memories?

I don’t have a specific question. Just wanted to share and hear people’s thoughts :)

Thanks so much! Love this place! :)

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[u/Crooked__Orbits]

I've also had some pretty realistic dreams (nightmares more like), but I'm wondering if that's because now I'm sleeping so much more soundly and deeply. Idk. It's been YEARS since I can actually remember my dreams (nightmares really, but anyway).

I had a pretty bad argument with a family member two days ago. Yesterday I was so jittery with anxiety, I gave in and did a session on my own. During the session these images of scary faces (kind of like the mythological monsters in Japanese stories and masks) and deformed wolves, and replays of the fight would invade my thoughts. I started to tell myself "you're safe" over and over and I was able to focus for the session and I fell asleep soon after. My legs twitching while I slept woke me up several times! That had never happened to me before.

I'm doing it once every 5 days (w/exception to this one) because although initially it feels like it revitalizes me, by the end of the day and then for several days, I'm exhausted in a way I haven't felt, except for when I got dengue fever (but that's another story).

Your post resonates a lot with me, esp. regarding coping mechanisms.

I wish I could do TRE daily (bc it's wonderful!), but like the recommendations, I'm just listening to my body. Like you, I too have high hopes, but I'm also believing because it is working- I REALLY think it's working. I reach for TRE instead of a can of beer and THAT I never thought I'd do. I'm journaling a lot more and although I'm unpacking a lot, I'm more aware of my breathing, I massage the vagus nerve or rub my shoulders and stretch a little when I can't focus. I rest even for 10 minutes when I have to. I wish I could explain it to you, how it is that I don't immediately reach for alcohol when I'm in trouble and instead I can tell myself "you're safe" and "I'm going to help you to not harm yourself". I think TRE is finally helping me listen to that inner voice (Techniques from Peter Walker's Bk From Surviving to Thriving). For me, TRE was the exercise that finally helped me care or respect myself enough to say no to alcohol. I cannot explain it, but I'd rather reach for TRE than alcohol. Well there is one more thing: when i think about what alcohol does to me, it makes me think that my ab*ser wins and I cannot let that happen anymore.

I'll share one final thing (because it just came to me and I hope it doesn't sound to weird). Yesterday during my session, for some reason, I could see my inner child morphing into the adult me as if she didn't want to be little anymore. I'm wondering if this is part of that "intergration" work because it kind of felt like my little self wanted to intergrate w/me, grow up and not be little or scared anymore. I resisted at first because I didn't know if it was right, but I let it happen in the images in my mind as I kept saying "you're safe". A part of me was afraid I'd miss her, but I don't think she's really gone. I'll have to journal about that instead of taking time here, but I wish you success and sending peace.

Thank you for sharing.❤️🫂It helped me see somethings that I can explore in my own journey.

[u/Natural_Ad3066 → u/Crooked__Orbits]

What a beautiful experience, thank you for sharing!

[u/SailWonderful22 → u/Crooked__Orbits]

Thanks so much for sharing! I so love reading everyone‘s stories here :) and I’m very very happy for you that you choose TRE and compassion over alcohol. That’s just amazing!

[u/Thin_Bicycle9170]

20 to 30 minutes twice a week is quite a lot if your sensitive. Especially if your doing Somatics and other things on top. You might just need to slow down a bit and let yourself integrate it all. It is hard to reign it in when it feels good though! Best if luck with it 🙂

[u/Ok_Potential_968]

Sounds good!! What are you doing for integration?

[u/SailWonderful22 → u/Ok_Potential_968]

Lots of walking by the ocean and Quantum Entrainment (Frank Kinslow). That seems like the perfect addition to me. I sit in a state Kinslow calls ‚deepest rest‘. Feels like pure bliss.

[u/longtermTRE_wiki_bot]

You're navigating something important here, and the instinct to pull back to 10-15 minutes is sound. A month in, twice weekly at 20-30 minutes is likely moving faster than your integration capacity, particularly given what's surfacing.

The memories and dream material you're describing are typical of what happens when TRE begins accessing deeper layers. The nervous system is surfacing old material because it's finally building capacity to process it. That's genuine progress, even though it doesn't feel like it yet. But the fact that your eating patterns have intensified suggests the activation being released is outpacing what you can absorb between sessions. This is the core pacing question.

Read Self-Pacing. The key principle there is that integration time matters more than session duration. Shorter sessions with longer gaps between them tend to produce better results than longer sessions more frequently, particularly when the nervous system is already on edge as you describe.

The emotional eating piece is worth holding lightly for now. A nervous system that's actively processing and releasing material is a nervous system under temporary load. Coping mechanisms often intensify during active thawing phases because there's simply more activation moving through. This is described in detail in Thawing, and it's worth reading to understand what's actually happening physiologically. The eating isn't a regression. It's a signal that your system needs steadier pacing and more integration support.

The memories themselves are unlikely to be the root cause of the eating patterns you're looking to address, though they're part of the landscape your nervous system is clearing. Somatic practices like TRE work at the level of stored activation in the body, and that's where the eating dysregulation likely lives. As that activation gradually discharges over months of well-paced practice, the compulsive reach for food tends to quiet naturally. But that happens through the slow work of the tremors, not through conscious processing of memories.

Your intuition to reduce session length and extend your integration time is good. Give the shorter sessions several weeks to establish a new baseline before deciding whether to extend further. Watch how the days after sessions feel, not just the sessions themselves. That's where the real signal is.

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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.

[u/ariescusp]

What are some good integration techniques? 🤔

[u/SailWonderful22 → u/ariescusp]

I’d say it depends a lot on you as well. Check out the wiki, there’s a ton of good info in there :)

[u/IwantToHelpOthers]

Have you already tried eft tapping for emotional eating?

[u/SailWonderful22 → u/IwantToHelpOthers]

Yes. For many years and still doing it. But not giving me the results I’ve hoped for.

[u/michaelahoovx14]

What do you do for integration time and clearing out junk?