Somatic Body-Based Practice
Tension Release Exercises
(TRE®) for Pregnancy & Baby Loss
"Your body keeps score — and it deserves a gentle way to let go."
Grief after pregnancy or baby loss does not live only in the mind. It settles into your shoulders, your chest, your jaw, your sleep. TRE® — Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises — offers your body a safe, natural pathway to begin releasing what words alone cannot reach.
What Is TRE® — and How Does It Work?
TRE® is a somatic body-based practice developed by Dr. David Berceli. It activates a natural, neurological reflex mechanism — a gentle shaking or vibrating response — that the body uses to release deep muscular patterns of stress, tension, and trauma.
These are the same patterns your nervous system holds when it has been in fight, flight, or freeze for too long. After pregnancy loss, many bereaved parents find themselves stuck in this state — unable to rest, unable to cry, unable to feel like themselves again.
TRE® works directly with the PSOAS muscle system, grounding and regulating the nervous system from the inside out. No talking required. No revisiting the story. Just a gentle return to safety in your own body.
"In the dorsal vagal state, you may know your body is stressed — yet find it hard to step out of the hijack. TRE® creates the conditions for your nervous system to finally exhale."
Your Body Is Always Listening
Our body is like a computer. For every input from our experiences, the body takes in and stores the information. It only deletes when we intentionally click the "move to bin" button.
Every emotion and experience you are consciously or unconsciously exposed to is stored in your body — whether you remember it or not. Your body keeps score of the tension, anxiety, and stress you have experienced since birth. They become manageable when you are willing to physically open these "folders" in your body and release them.
So how can you discharge unpleasant energy stored deeply in your body — especially when you might not have the words, expression, or memory for it?
The good news about TRE® is that you do not need to know the story of "what, why, or how it happened" — or have an explanation to justify yourself.
You are aware of the intense tension, anxiety, and stress in your body. That awareness is enough. TRE® gives you a way to discharge it.
What Happens in a TRE® Session
Gentle Preparation
A short series of mindful movements prepare the muscles and nervous system — nothing strenuous, nothing complicated.
Natural Tremoring
The body activates its own reflex — a soft, involuntary shaking that releases held tension from the muscles and fascia.
Grounded Integration
Gentle guidance to close the session, settle the nervous system, and land back in your body feeling calmer and more present.
Why Bereaved Parents Often Need Somatic Support
When we experience pregnancy or baby loss, our nervous system responds as it does to any profound trauma. Over time — often without us realising — unprocessed grief can manifest in the body as:
TRE® does not ask you to talk through your story. It simply invites your body to release what it has been holding — gently, safely, and at its own pace.
TRE® as Part of Your Healing Journey
Kintsugi Journey
TRE® is woven throughout this signature 12-session trauma-informed coaching programme. Your body is part of your healing — not separate from it.
Essential Care Journey
Somatic support, including TRE®, forms part of this 6-session programme, alongside grief coaching and creative modalities.
Integrated with Coaching
Each session may include 20 minutes of somatic practice — TRE®, mindful movement, or breathwork — chosen to meet where you are that day.
Ready to Let Your Body Begin to Rest?
I would be honoured to hold space for you — and to offer your body the gentle release it has been waiting for.
Begin Your EnquiryAbout Vernessa Chuah, TRE® Practitioner
Vernessa Chuah is Southeast Asia's first ICF-certified pregnancy and infant loss coach, and a certified TRE® Practitioner. She has been walking alongside bereaved parents since 2011 — through miscarriage, stillbirth, TFMR, IVF loss, and infant loss.
Her approach integrates TRE® with Ontological Coaching, Mindfulness, Somatic practices, and the Grief Recovery Method — because healing is not a straight line, and no two bodies grieve the same way.