Neurogenic tremors against stress and blockages

TEST OBJECT Author Yvonne Adamek should just shake it off. Brrrr

TEST ENVIRONMENT A yoga mat. In addition: expert support

MISSION Trembling – without freezing. And maybe even completely free of fear

So now I'm lying on the floor. My legs twitch as if they were electrified, my stomach vibrates. From there, the tremor continues down my arms and into my hands. They tap wildly in the air, and even my head wobbles up and down uncontrollably.

Neurogenic tremors as part of awareness training

Now that's pretty embarrassing, I think quietly to myself. In everyday life, I usually move very controlled, sometimes almost stiff. But with quite annoying consequences. Back, shoulders and jaw – all too often I am completely tense. Sometimes so bad it hurts. Even massages often do not bring me more than a short break, and yoga doesn't help either. Accordingly, I was very interested when I heard about the neurogenic tremors with which such stubborn blockages can supposedly be easily removed.

Jerking on my yoga mat, I'm glad that only the awareness trainer Beata Korioth is sitting next to me to gently guide me. She herself got to know and love the tremor a few years ago during an advanced training course in the USA. "Sure, at first you feel strange. But when you notice how all tension is falling off you wonders why we don't all do this much more often." Since then, she has integrated neurogenic tremors into her therapy sessions, and from managers to top athletes, people come to her to shake off their stress.

Beginners like me always start in the same position with her: You lie on your back on the mat, put the soles of your feet against each other, let your knees fall apart and lift your pelvis a few centimeters from the floor. What feels like a particularly nasty stomach-legs-butt exercise is supposed to activate the psoas muscle. These are two muscles in the middle of our body that stabilize the left and right spine and connect the upper body and legs. Beata says: "This is where most of the tension is. It's like a storage center for stress. That's why we start with the tremors here." After exercising, when the muscles are already tired, this is particularly easy, she says.

Stress is nothing more than fear

To my astonishment, even without exercising, it only takes a few minutes for my whole body to twitch. It's a little too fast for me. I find it difficult to give up control of my body. Beata seems to feel this, or maybe she knows the concern from other patients too, so she starts talking. "I actually don't like the term stress at all," she reveals. Your voice distracts me. Not from the tremors, but from my negative thoughts about it. "If you take it seriously, stress is nothing more than fear. Fear of failure, of situations that we cannot control, or of whatever else moves us in our everyday life."

It is precisely this fear that weighs on us if we do not let go of it. "Regardless of whether it is an accident, the birth of a child or a broken bone – every physical event leaves traces that can affect your well-being many years after the external wounds have healed." As a result, some people become irritable more quickly in certain situations or feel unreasonable restlessness. "With the neurogenic tremors we can shake off all of this layer by layer and resolve deep-seated fears on a physical level without entering into the psychology of a person." Beata is sure that our body is able to heal itself. "But that requires more than proper nutrition, exercise or even rest. The body has to renew itself from its core. Neurogenic tremors give it the opportunity to do so."

The idea of ​​using tremors as therapy came from trauma researcher David Berceli. The American spent many years in crisis areas to help people where war and violence had left physical and mental wounds. Again and again he was exposed to bombing attacks himself. While he was sitting in the shelter with other people, he made two central observations: On the one hand, we tense our muscles in any kind of stressful situation. And on the other hand, our body releases this stress directly after the experience by trembling. He finally incorporated this knowledge into his therapies – with success. In the USA, neurogenic tremors have been recognized as a recognized method in trauma therapy since 2011. In this country, the method has so far been offered primarily as a component of alternative therapies, but there are more and more interested parties, including from conventional medicine.

Traumas from the daily madness of everyday life

It is important to Beata Korioth to emphasize that it does not always have to be only momentous traumas that strain our bodies. The daily madness of our everyday life is enough. "I just want people to know how to help themselves." Small children, she says, manage this instinctively. "You tremble with fear, excitement and even joy. Completely unnoticed and unintentionally." But like so many things, we also forget this completely natural reaction in adulthood. "In our society, tremors are either seen as a sign of weakness or as something pathological. Hardly anyone believes that it could be part of the healing process." So we suppress it as best we can.

Beata's explanations help me shake off the shameful thoughts a little. And already my body vibrates a few nuances more intensely. When I close my eyes, even my lids and eyebrows tremble. I lie there for almost an hour. Fortunately, I was able to lower my pelvis again at some point. Sometimes the twitching is stronger, then again it gets weaker. I let it flow until I finally slowly come to rest by breathing deeply in and out. I feel free and light, but also a little exhausted, as if I have just come out of the park after a long run. I like the feeling "At some point you'll be able to turn the tremors on and off like a lightbulb. You just need practice."

Beata recommends that I shake about ten minutes two to three times a week before going to bed. No problem i guess. But the very next day I prefer to take a break because I suffer from a slight sore muscles from the session with Beata. It takes me two weeks to lie down on the floor again after a particularly stressful day and try it out. I hardly have to wait a minute and it happens all by itself. My body shakes off all the pressure and tension. It's crazy, I think, as I relax and cuddle in my bed afterwards. And then I actually fall asleep as quickly as I haven't for a long time.

There is a video instruction on shaking on beatakorioth.de, a detailed description in her book "Goodbye Stress!".