Shaking Medicine, one of the oldest healing practices on Earth, is a profound, instinctive mechanism gifted to us by Mother Nature. Observed in animals this therapeutic tremoring serves as a natural reset for the nervous system, aiding recovery from trauma and stress while promoting ongoing well-being. As mammals, humans possess this innate "anti-virus" for the nervous system, fostering organic self-healing and balance.

The roots of Shaking Medicine are deep and diverse, spanning ancient traditions and modern practices. Indigenous cultures, particularly the Kalahari Bushmen, have long harnessed shaking as a sacred healing art. Ancient practices like Indian Yoga (Tantra, Kriya, and Kundalini) and Taoist Neidan (including Tao Yin, Qi Gong, Zi Fa Gong, and Nei Gong) have refined this mechanism, weaving it into spiritual and health practices. These traditions, alongside shamanic practices, Biblical references, and the rituals of American Indians, original Australians, Japanese Seiki, and Samurai, demonstrate the universal presence of shaking as a healing modality.

Despite its ancient origins, Shaking Medicine was suppressed in many cultures over millennia by religious and governmental forces, leading to its decline in mainstream awareness. However, a modern resurgence has brought renewed interest, with pioneers like Dr. Bradford Keeney (Sacred Ecstatics), Dr. Alexander Lowen (Bioenergetics), Dr. David Berceli (Trauma Release Exercises), Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), Osho (Dynamic Kundalini Meditation), Ratu Bagus (BioEnergy Shaking Meditation), Seitai Katsugen Undo, Neurogenic Yoga, NeuroPhysics, The Sufis, Shakers & Quakers and others illuminating its transformative power.

How Shaking Medicine Works

Shaking Medicine taps into a natural tremor mechanism that you are born with. This tremoring process regulates your nervous system by moving you into parasympathetic (rest and digest) where your body’s innate healing function operates effectively. The tremoring acts as hygiene for your nervous system, unraveling tensions, aches, pains, stress, anxiety, emotions, trauma, and more.

This mechanism evolved in animals over billions of years as a natural survival and healing mechanism. Humans share this nervous system ‘anti-virus’ as we are animals too. Here are some examples, a a Polar Bear shakes off shock after being chased and tranquilized, while an Impala discharges near-death trauma after escaping a leopard, both showcasing natural neurogenic tremoring that eventuated to restore balance. By letting your inner animal take over you address root causes of many ailments organically and move towards homeostasis.

Is Shaking Medicine Hard to Learn?

To access Shaking Medicine we need to do something fundamentally unique compared to what most of us do in our day to day lives. This is a practice of relaxation, letting go of control, surrendering, allowing, and using your intuition.

Shaking Medicine is relatively easy to learn for most. Because it is an instinctive mechanism within, it often feels like remembering something rather than learning something new.

Most people experience the therapeutic tremors in their first class and nearly all access them within a few sessions. To tune in and explore the shake we offer varying techniques, strategies, shapes, and move it through all parts of the body with movement and teaching fundamentals stemming from Somatics, Yoga, Qi Gong and other therapeutic modalities.

If tremors are slow to emerge for you, relax and do your best to stay with the guided explorations. Less is more. Often softening, relaxing, slowing down is very helpful as trying to force it will destroy it. Sometimes people are often subtly tremoring and don’t notice it because they haven’t developed their sensitivity to it yet. Big or small trembling is neither better or worse. Switching up your approach can sometimes do the trick by changing your position to try a new part of your body, a more soft or strong approach, exploring other qualities of movement, and more. Feel free to reach out to us for personal support too.

We aim for a sustainable practice where we cultivate our relationship with our neurogenic therapeutic tremor mechanism over a period of time as your nervous system purifies, tonifies, and brings you toward homeostasis.

🌟Safety Precautions are a vital and ongoing topic within our Shaking Medicine ecosystem. I’m sharing our guidelines here to increase awareness and ensure everyone can practice SM safely and effectively.🌟

🌴Sustainable Practice: Build Gradually for Lasting Benefits🌴

There’s no need to rush the release of tension, stress, anxiety, trauma, or suppressed emotions through Shaking Medicine. A sustainable practice consisting of shorter, consistent sessions with adequate integration time between them is more effective and beneficial than attempting to address everything in a single session or a short period of time. In SM, you are encouraged to empower yourself by resting and modifying as needed, as you know your body best. Prioritizing a gradual approach ensures safety and supports long-term healing, allowing you to build resilience while honoring your unique capacity. Less is More is a key motto of ours.

 🧬Nervous System Capacity: A Titration-Based Approach🧬

Shaking Medicine promotes a sustainable method to enhance your nervous system’s capacity over time, inspired by the somatic concept of titration from Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing. Avoid pushing too hard or progressing too quickly. Instead, gently explore the edges of physical discomfort, tension, stress, anxiety, suppressed emotions, or trauma to release blockages and stuck energy. This careful approach maximizes safety and effectiveness, allowing you to process and heal gradually and effectively. Sometimes you have to feel it to heal, but only in manageable increments that respect your body’s limits. It is enough to kiss the edges of discomfort. No need to push through anything intense.

🐒Intuitive Practice: Trust Your Instincts and Stay Present🐒

Every element of Shaking Medicine is an invitation, offered as a guideline rather than a requirement. You’re encouraged to trust your instincts and intuition, engaging only in practices that feel right for you. Never push through pain or discomfort and modify, adjust, or skip anything that doesn’t support your well-being. This intuitive approach ensures SM remains a safe, personalized experience, empowering you to honor your body’s unique needs at every step. To fully embody this, stay as present as possible during each class. Set aside distractions, release external obligations, and tune deeply into your body’s sensations, allowing the practice to unfold naturally.

🙌Personalized Support: One-on-One Classes for Tailored Guidance🙌

For those seeking additional support, Shaking Medicine offers one-on-one personalized classes. These sessions provide tailored guidance to address your specific needs, ensuring a safe and effective practice. Sometimes to go that next step further we need that extra layer of safety with having some personalised support. Whether you’re navigating unique challenges or desire more individualized attention to grow your SM practice and cultivate your highest potential, these classes are available to support your journey. Message us to schedule a session and deepen your SM experience. One-on-one sessions are particularly recommended for individuals with more complex or severe health conditions instead of our pre-recorded courses or group classes, ensuring a tailored and safe Shaking Medicine practice.

♻️Natural Healing Cycles: Embracing the Process♻️

Healing through Shaking Medicine follows a natural cycle of ups and downs. While the overall trajectory of consistent practice is clear improvement in quality of life, you may experience moments of discomfort as your body processes and releases old tension, suppressed emotions, trauma, etc. At times, this may feel like a purging process, similar to how a fever helps the body eliminate pathogens. While mostly participants feel significantly better after SM, it’s normal to occasionally feel challenging emotions, traumas, or old tension patterns arise as part of the healing journey. We encourage an appreciation for even these harder times as they are fostering a healthier, more vibrant, and peaceful life. On the other side of the harder times is more lightness, love, joy and radiance that we get to embody and feel.

📅Frequency of Practice: Find Your Rhythm📅

The frequency of your Shaking Medicine practice will vary based on individual circumstances. Some may practice daily or every other day, while others might need more time between sessions ranging from every 2 to 7 days initially. This depends on factors such as your current life stage, levels of accumulated stress, anxiety, or trauma, your resilience, and your mindset and belief systems. There is no universal approach. We recommend starting with a few sessions per week if within your capacity, with a minimum of once per week to see meaningful results in a reasonable timeframe. The SM Beginners Course is usually a good goal for your first week of embodiment. If a class feels too intense, adjust by doing less—your needs may vary from day to day.

🕉️Progression and Milestones: Build Toward Intuitive Mastery☯️

The goal of Shaking Medicine is to cultivate your intuition through embodied practice, fostering a deeper trust in your inner knowing to determine what feels right for you. With regular practice, whether daily, weekly, or somewhere in between, you’ll experience profound long-term benefits, building your capacity for SM gradually over months. A key milestone, often reached around 20 embodiment classes, is when SM becomes second nature which is the focus of our SM Intermediate Course. At this stage, therapeutic tremoring becomes intuitive, much like a wild animal or infant, allowing you to use SM effortlessly. This paves the way for the next major stage: complete animalistic homeostasis. There’s no rush. Progress at a pace that feels sustainable, ensuring a safe and effective journey.

💚Self-Regulation: Key to a Safe Practice💚

Self-regulation is fundamentally important to the safety of embodying Shaking Medicine. As you learn to reconnect with your therapeutic tremoring mechanism, we'll ask you to frequently pause and restart the process, even perhaps before you feel the need to stop. Grounding, integrating, and resting between SM shapes and entire sessions are essential for a sustainable practice. The aim is to unravel one layer at a time, integrate the shift, and then move to the next, ensuring SM becomes a lifelong tool for well-being.

If you feel overwhelmed, overly fatigued, experience excessive pain, uncomfortable breathing, intense emotions, uncertainty, or painful cramping, pause the tremoring process for the day or ease up significantly. Allow time for integration before gently resuming. As always, every element of our sessions is a guideline—modify, adjust, and trust your intuition, engaging only with what serves you and leave the rest behind or come back to it when it feels right. We have many suggestions on offer. If even one or a few of them land in any session that is more than enough to have a powerful impact.

🌞Cautions: Practice with Care🌞

Certain conditions may require caution when practicing Shaking Medicine, including severe physical injuries, recent surgery, broken bones, pregnancy, significant mental health conditions, major medical issues, PTSD, complex trauma, emotional overwhelm, panic attacks, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, or medical conditions involving non-therapeutic tremoring, such as Epilepsy, Parkinson’s, or Multiple Sclerosis. In these cases, we strongly recommend starting with a one-on-one personalized session with an SM teacher rather than a group class to ensure safety and proper guidance.

Being cautious doesn’t necessarily mean you cannot practice SM, but it does require due diligence. If you’re particularly sensitive, begin with just a few minutes of tremoring to assess how your body responds over the following day(s). You might also focus solely on the physical or energetic warm-ups in our classes, which are powerful for initiating healing, before gradually incorporating therapeutic tremoring as you feel ready.

❓Questions: We’re Here to Support You❓

If any of the above applies to you or if you have concerns about whether Shaking Medicine is right for you, please message us. We’re here to ensure your SM journey is safe, effective, and tailored to your needs.

😱Our Society Has an Embedded Fear Around Spontaneous Shaking.😱

Shaking Medicine taps into a natural instinctive process within us all called neurogenic therapeutic tremoring. Modern society often views that spontaneous shaking is something negative, alarming, or unsettling. This perspective echoes the historical suppression of many alternative therapies. Think of all the times our parents or guardians have said to “be quiet,” “stop crying,” or “hold it all in,” or even the dramatic stories of exorcisms or burnings at the stake we might recall from tales or movies.

This cultural conditioning has embedded a deep fear, teaching us to suppress a powerful self-healing tool. But Shaking Medicine, when approached with care, is a beautiful gift—not something to fear. Animals naturally shake to restore balance after stress or trauma, a birthright we humans share too. We’re here to gently shift that old mindset and celebrate this innate ability, inviting you to embrace it and let go of what no longer serves you, so we can all thrive.

🙌What’s the Difference Between Therapeutic and Non-Therapeutic Shaking?🙌

At its heart, therapeutic shaking heals and nourishes—it calms, clears, and strengthens your system. Non-therapeutic shaking, on the other hand, can cause more harm than good, potentially straining the body. Even therapeutic shaking can become non-therapeutic if overdone, so it’s important to listen to your body and find balance.

Some conditions associated with spontaneous shaking—like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, brain injuries, seizures, stroke, dystonia, cervical dystonia, addiction withdrawal, dissociative disorders, drug effects, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s, psychosis, schizophrenia, hypoglycemia, or epilepsy—are often viewed negatively. This list isn’t exhaustive, and we suggest approaching these with care. If you have any of these or similar conditions, consider checking with a healthcare professional before starting Shaking Medicine. Be aware that many professionals may not know about therapeutic tremoring, as it’s rarely part of medical training.

Choosing to practice is your decision and comes at your own risk, especially since large-scale studies on therapeutic tremoring, particularly for these conditions, are still limited—Western medicine hasn’t prioritized this research yet. We’re passionate about changing that and would love to collaborate on rigorous mainstream scientific studies. Reach out if you or someone you know is interested!

🕉️The Complexity of Spontaneous Shaking: Therapeutic, Non-Therapeutic, or Both?🕉️

When spontaneous shaking occurs, especially in the context of conditions often labeled as non-therapeutic—like Parkinson’s, epilepsy, or withdrawal—it’s easy to assume it’s entirely harmful or something to suppress. However, the reality can be more nuanced. In some cases, what appears to be non-therapeutic shaking might actually include a therapeutic component, where the body is attempting to self-correct or heal at a deeper level. For example, the nervous system might be activating its innate tremor mechanism to release stored stress or trauma, even within a condition that’s typically seen as purely medical or harmful. On the other hand, it’s also possible that the shaking is indeed non-therapeutic in nature, potentially exacerbating an underlying issue if not approached with care.

This overlap creates a gray area that can be confusing. For instance, someone with a neurological condition might experience shaking that feels distressing, leading them or their healthcare provider to label it as a symptom to stop. But part of that shaking could be the body’s natural attempt to restore balance—like how animals shake after stress—working alongside the condition’s effects. The challenge lies in discerning what’s happening, especially since fear or lack of awareness about therapeutic tremoring can lead us to shut down the process entirely. If we allow the shaking to unfold gently, with proper guidance, it might support healing in unexpected ways, even in complex cases. However, if the shaking is primarily non-therapeutic and tied to a condition that needs medical attention, it could require a different approach, possibly integrating Shaking Medicine with other therapies over time.

This complexity is why we advocate for a cautious, personalized approach in Shaking Medicine. Each person’s experience is unique, shaped by their health, history, and circumstances.

☯️A Possible Misunderstanding to Address.☯️

When people experience unexpected spontaneous shaking, they might be misdiagnosed by medical professionals who aren’t familiar with our natural, animalistic healing instinct. This tremor is often seen as a problem to stop rather than the body’s healing mechanism at work, sometimes leading to lifelong prescriptions. While medication can play a helpful role in certain cases, it often masks symptoms instead of addressing the root cause.

For some “non-therapeutic” conditions (like those listed or others), this shaking might actually be the nervous system’s attempt to self-correct using our innate tremor mechanism. However, fear of losing control or lack of awareness about this process can cause us to contract, amplifying the issue. Education is key—understanding this gift can shift our response from fear to acceptance.

Ideally, starting Shaking Medicine while in a healthy state acts like a preventive hygiene for our nervous system, tonifying and cleansing it. Shaking when we’re young and healthy means we won’t have to shake so much when we’re old and it means that we are less likely to end up with chronic issues. But if you’ve discovered Shaking Medicine after a condition has become more chronic, don’t worry—you can still begin your journey toward balance and harmony at any stage. We’re here to support you with care!

🫶Shaking Medicine’s Approach to Healing🫶

For chronic or sensitive conditions, allowing this therapeutic tremor to express itself—rather than suppressing it—may help the body self-correct and address the root cause. Sometimes what seems like “non-therapeutic” shaking could be the body’s attempt to heal, but the more extreme or sensitive someone’s state, the slower they may need to go to avoid overstimulation. In some cases, precursor therapies or embodiment exercises might be needed to prepare for tremoring, as each person’s journey is unique, shaped by their life experiences and current needs.

We recommend a “Less is More” approach for sensitive conditions (like those listed or beyond)—start small, build slowly, and honor your body’s pace. If you’re navigating a diagnosis and want to explore Shaking Medicine as a potential path, we’re here with love and care to support you. We highly recommend personalized sessions, especially for those in more sensitive situations, to ensure a slow, steady, and sustainable approach that integrates into your life. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or for support!

It’s worth noting that while tens of thousands of personal accounts from our work, alongside other somatic modalities and shaking traditions, highlight the power of therapeutic tremoring, more rigorous research is still needed. We’re eager to conduct these studies and hope to collaborate with the right partners soon.

Shaking Medicine (SM) and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) both center on the body’s natural therapeutic tremor mechanism—a powerful tool for healing and wellbeing. We are the two most prominent modalities that have this as their focal point. We share a commitment to exploring spontaneous shaking safely and effectively. While we have this common ground, our approaches take different paths.

TRE offers a clear, structured method: seven steps designed to make therapeutic tremoring accessible to the mainstream. It focuses on the psoas muscle, keeps its philosophy mostly scientific, and follows a consistent step by step protocol that its practitioners are supposed to follow. This is ideal for those who value a lot of structure and framework. Its strength lies in its simplicity and broad appeal especially to those who are minimally into alternative ‘skools’ of thought.

Shaking Medicine, by contrast, takes a wider, more flexible approach. It began with my own spontaneous experience of tremoring—a moment of personal transformation that sparked this modality before I knew of TRE or about any kind of spontaneous shaking at all. From there, our modality of SM grew by blending my own experience of embodying this and learning about this phenomenon through science, wisdom from indigenous traditions, Yoga, Qi Gong, Chinese Medicine, and our community’s ongoing discoveries. While TRE stays streamlined and simple to appeal to the more mainstream, Shaking Medicine embraces a mix of scientific, somatic, spiritual, shamanistic, and other creative elements.

TRE has traditionally focused on supporting people with heightened nervous system distress, such as war veterans with PTSD or others facing extreme trauma. Shaking Medicine, by contrast, tends to meet people more in the middle. Many who come to SM have already done some health or healing work and are now using it to release lingering layers of stress, anxiety, or trauma holding them back. While we absolutely support those with extreme states like PTSD, typically through private 1:1 sessions, we often work with people in a more average state of health—folks ready to not only shed what isn’t serving them but who are also ready to take the next steps toward vibrant, thriving wellbeing.

In Shaking Medicine, we see tremoring as a dynamic process that shifts with each person and each moment. Our classes are built upon a foundation to keep them safe, effective, and enjoyable. We encourage teachers to adapt, innovate, & create from this foundation. SM Teachers often draw on their unique skills combining that with our foundations to create uniquely themed journeys. Every class of SM is unique just as the tremor mechanism moves through us uniquely each time we explore it. TRE holds to its step by step protocol, ensuring consistency across its teachers as it tailors to a particular and important niche of people that SM would not resonate with.

Shaking Medicine is a somatic modality under the Shaking Medicine Foundation based out of Australia. We are an umbrella that welcomes the wisdom from all who’ve explored tremoring across time and cultures, including TRE. SM is evolving and growing constantly, much like the tremors themselves as we cultivate our relationship with our innate tremor mechanism.

In Shaking Medicine, we’ve outlined rough stages of embodiment—Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and points in between—to guide people deeper based on where they are. We incorporate ideas like clearing our roots, breathing intentionally, supporting the spine and core in therapeutic tremoring, the 'Bushman’s Pump,' and much more. Our name, Shaking Medicine, was inspired by Dr. Bradford Keeney’s work, who studied with the Kalahari Bushmen, the oldest and most advanced shakers on Earth.

Many who’ve trained in both TRE and Shaking Medicine (SM) share that SM extends tremoring beyond the psoas to more of the body, creating a fuller, deeper experience. They often highlight their love for SM’s creative freedom, appreciating its less rigid approach. They also note that SM feels less 'political' and lacks the fear-based mindset sometimes found in how we explore our innate therapeutic tremor mechanism.
It’s worth noting that at their core, both TRE and Shaking Medicine (SM) connect us to something primal within. Therapeutic tremoring wasn’t invented by anyone—Mother Nature likely crafted it as a way for animals to restore balance after stress or trauma. This innate mechanism evolved over billions of years, long before humans existed. TRE and SM are modern, creative approaches that help us tap into this precious gift. As a result, both often guide us to a similar place: greater freedom, presence, sensitivity, resilience, and improved health.

We respect TRE deeply, collaborate with its practitioners, and see it as a vital part of this broader movement bringing peace and harmony to the planet . We have created something new and unique that doesn't diminish what’s come before; it adds to the richness of what’s possible.
This is a conversation in progress, and I welcome your input—whether you’re from our Shaking Medicine Community, a TRE practitioner, somewhere else, or simply curious. How do you see these differences? Do you see any differences we didn’t point out here? Let’s shape this together. Ask any questions or comment your thoughts.

Here are some of the most cutting-edge books on the topic of therapeutic tremoring, which have been of great inspiration for us:

Shaking Medicine – The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement (2007) by Dr. Bradford Keeney

Bushman Shaman – Awakening the Spirit through Ecstatic Dance (2005) by Dr. Bradford Keeney

Bioenergetics: The Revolutionary Therapy That Uses the Language of the Body to Heal the Problems of the Mind (1975) by Dr. Alexander Lowen

Waking the Tiger – Healing Trauma (1997) by Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing)

The Way to Vibrant Health – A Manual of Bioenergetic Exercises, co-author Leslie Lowen (1977) by Dr. Alexander Lowen

The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process: Transcend Your Toughest Times (2008) by Dr. David Berceli

Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) – A Revolutionary New Method for Stress/Trauma Recovery (2005) by Dr. David Berceli

Shake It Off Naturally – Reduce Stress, Anxiety, and Tension with [TRE] (2015) by Dr. David Berceli

The Body Keeps the Score – Mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma (2014) by MD Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers (1994) by Dr. Robert Sapolsky

The Shaking Medicine Foundation is an ever growing and evolving not-for-profit foundation founded by Dr. Keith Motes, PhD for uplifting people all over the world. We aim to help people realize their full potential and optimize their quality of life by reminding people to safely, easily and joyously access their own in-built instinctive mechanism of spontaneous therapeutic shaking. We support, fund, and collaborate with community, sustainable projects, etc. that provide benevolent and philanthropic services to the world. We are professionally organized as a non-profit called the Shaking Medicine Foundation based in Australia. 

We are an umbrella that welcomes all types of knowledge, skills and practices that complement the art and science of Shaking Medicine. Each sharing of a Shaking Medicine journey is as unique as each individuals’ process every time they allow the shaking to move through them. For this reason our Shaking Medicine Teachers are encouraged to create their own unique style of sharing Shaking Medicine based on our fundamental that keep it safe, fun, professional and effective.