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Welcome! This FAQ is your go-to resource for Shaking Medicine—whether you're new or experienced. Answers come from community conversations, real experiences, and research. We update it regularly with community wisdom. Reach out if anything's unclear.
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Shaking Medicine is a somatic healing practice that awakens your innate, genetically encoded mechanism of neurogenic therapeutic tremoring. This natural “anti-virus” for the nervous system evolved over hundreds of millions of years in mammals as a way to discharge stress, trauma, and tension after threat, returning the body to vibrant homeostasis (rest-and-digest state).
Founded by Dr. Keith Motes (PhD), Shaking Medicine blends ancient wisdom from indigenous shaking traditions, Yoga, Qigong, and somatic modalities with modern neuroscience. It is creative, full-body, and spiritually alive — inviting you to surrender control so your body’s instinctive intelligence can move you exactly how your nervous system needs in each moment.
The premise is simple yet profound: by letting go of effort and allowing spontaneous therapeutic tremoring and other autogenic mechanisms, we unravel chronic pain, tension, stress, anxiety, suppressed emotions, trauma, and more — while cultivating our fullest human potential.
For a deeper exploration of our lineage and philosophy, visit our blog: The Roots of Shaking Medicine.
Shaking Medicine taps into a natural tremor mechanism that you are born with. This tremoring process regulates your nervous system by moving you into the parasympathetic (rest and digest) state where your body’s innate healing functions operate most effectively.
The tremoring acts as daily hygiene for your nervous system, unraveling tensions, aches, pains, stress, anxiety, emotions, trauma, and more at the root. This mechanism evolved in animals over hundreds of millions of years (maybe billions) as a natural survival and healing response. Humans share this nervous system “anti-virus” because we are animals too.
Examples from nature: A polar bear shakes off shock after being chased and tranquilized. An impala discharges near-death trauma. When we let our inner animal take over, we address root causes of many ailments organically and move toward homeostasis.
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 deep relaxation, letting go of control, surrendering, allowing, and trusting your intuition.
Shaking Medicine is relatively easy to learn for most people. Because it is an instinctive mechanism within us, 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. We offer varying techniques, strategies, games, shapes, gestures, and ways to move the tremor through all parts of the body, drawing from Somatics, Yoga, Qi Gong, Indigenous cultures, and other therapeutic modalities.
If tremors are slow to emerge, relax and stay with the guided explorations. Less is more — forcing it will destroy the natural response. Sometimes people are already subtly tremoring but haven’t yet developed sensitivity to notice it.
Big or small trembling is neither better nor worse. Switching positions, softening, or exploring different areas of the body or qualities of movement often helps. Reach out for personal support anytime.
We aim for a sustainable practice where you cultivate a lifelong relationship with your neurogenic therapeutic tremor mechanism as your nervous system purifies, tonifies, and returns to homeostasis. You become self-empowered for regulating yourself with your own innate-instinctive mechanism.
Ready to begin your journey?
Explore our progressive online offerings here: Shaking Medicine Online Courses & Community.
Voluntary shaking is when you consciously initiate movement in your body (e.g., through rhythmic movements or exercises). This is generally the type of shaking most people use as part of a warm-up for their class, like their exercise, yoga, or qigong class.
Involuntary shaking arises naturally and spontaneously once you deeply relax and surrender control. It moves you how it needs to in the moment instead of how your logical mind thinks it needs to move you. This comes from the animalistic instinctive intelligence that is encoded within us — the same mechanism mammals have used for millions of years to discharge stress and trauma. This neurogenic therapeutic tremoring lies at the heart of Shaking Medicine.
Both are beneficial though we see the involuntary neurogenic therapeutic tremoring to have significantly deeper benefits as it operates from the subconscious and the nervous system. In our practice, we often begin with voluntary movements to warm up the body and create the conditions for the involuntary therapeutic tremor to emerge on its own.
Over time, as you develop a stronger relationship with the practice, the line between voluntary and involuntary often softens. Many practitioners find that their body naturally begins to self-regulate, moving fluidly between intentional movement and spontaneous therapeutic tremoring as needed.
Shaking Medicine is grounded in both ancient wisdom and modern science. At its core, therapeutic tremoring is a biologically ancient, genetically encoded survival mechanism that has been refined through evolution over hundreds of millions of years (maybe billions). Mammals — including humans — instinctively use this process to discharge excess stress and trauma energy after a threat has passed, returning the nervous system to a state of balance and homeostasis.
When we allow therapeutic tremoring, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest-and-digest” state), which supports the body’s natural capacity to release stored tension, emotional charge, and survival energy. Research on this mechanism and related somatic practices shows meaningful benefits for PTSD, anxiety, chronic stress, sleep quality, chronic pain, and overall nervous system regulation.
Our approach to Shaking Medicine integrates this deep biological intelligence with insights from neuroscience, polyvagal theory, somatics, indigenous healing traditions and more from around the world. Rather than forcing or controlling the process, we create the conditions for the body’s own instinctive wisdom to lead.
For deeper reading on the science, explore our Science of Shaking Medicine Blog right here.
No. Shaking Medicine is educational, somatic, and wellness-oriented. It is not psychotherapy, not a medical treatment, and not a diagnosis. We do not replace your doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or other licensed care.
Many people use it alongside talk therapy, bodywork, or clinical support. The tremor often reaches layers that conversation alone cannot, and conversation can help you make meaning of what the body is releasing.
That said, for some people this deep healing mechanism designed by nature becomes so complete that it may replace other modalities, or even become all that they need. This is why it works so powerfully — it is an ancient, genetically encoded process that the body already knows how to do.
If you are in acute crisis, please contact local emergency or mental-health services first. For personalised shaking support, start with a 1:1 session rather than a group class.
No. Before anything else, this is a mechanism that evolved within us to do its thing. It does not check your cosmology at the door, and it works regardless of your spiritual beliefs.
Some people meet this as straight scientifically-backed nervous-system hygiene. Some meet it from an indigenous perspective, with prayer, a Yogic or Qi Gong lens, awakening Spirit/ Kundalini, or as a sacred space to enter. Both are honest. Shaking Medicine complements everything we do in life, because everything is better when we are in a more regulated, parasympathetic, rest-and-digest state.
We love to be an umbrella that welcomes all shaking movements through history — practices from many cultures, as well as both scientific and spiritual interpretations so that we can be the most comprehensive and well-rounded modality as possible. Sometimes, in certain contexts or for certain groups, we lean towards particular lenses or language to match the concepts and themes of what we are sharing.
Come as a sceptic, a mystic, or something in between. The body will do what it does regardless. That is the beauty of it!
Self-regulation here means you can feel what is happening in your body and respond — speed up, slow down, pause, or stop — without needing someone else to rescue you from the experience.
In class we practise this on purpose: short tremor, rest, check in, tremor again. Over time the mechanism itself becomes a regulation tool you can use in daily life, not only on the mat.
If you cannot yet tell when you are past your edge, that is not a failure. It is a sign to go slower as you build up your relationship with your innate tremor mechanism, or to learn with a teacher until that inner gauge comes online.
No. Big and small are equals. A fine, almost invisible tremor can dissolve a layer just as honestly as a large quake.
Stronger movement often means a thicker band of charge is moving. Softer movement often means the system is working a finer grain. Both belong. Both come and go naturally.
Chasing intensity is one of the fastest ways to leave the therapeutic zone. Stay with what is actually here. We are not here to perform anything.
Shaking Medicine supports profound healing across all layers of being — physical, emotional, mental, energetic, and spiritual. Rather than simply managing symptoms, it works at the root by helping the nervous system discharge stored stress, tension, and trauma so the body can return to its natural state of balance and vitality.
Many practitioners describe it as “finally feeling like myself again” or “coming home to my body.” It is one of the most efficient and natural ways to restore harmony across the whole system.
For the full, expanded benefits article with stories and science, visit: Benefits of Shaking Medicine. Also check out our 272 testimonials — real wins from people practising Shaking Medicine.
For the full, expanded benefits article with stories and science, visit: Benefits of Shaking Medicine.
For the full, expanded benefits article with stories and science, visit: Benefits of Shaking Medicine.
For the full, expanded benefits article with stories and science, visit: Benefits of Shaking Medicine.
Shaking Medicine is excellent for releasing suppressed emotions like worry, guilt, shame, sadness, anger, fear, hate, and all of them. This instinctive intelligence simply knows how to unwind what we’re holding onto even if we don’t logically know what it is. As they arise, feel them to heal them and allow the body to shake, sound, express, and process.
Many practitioners report profound relief and recovery from trauma symptoms, hypervigilance, and emotional numbness. The body’s natural tremoring mechanism helps discharge stored survival energy that talk therapy alone often cannot reach.
Consistent, titrated practice builds resilience over time and helps restore a felt sense of safety in the body. If you are in high states of overwhelm with any condition it is recommended that you embody Shaking Medicine with personalised support such as through our 90-day transformation program here.
Shaking Medicine excels as daily nervous system hygiene. Many people report falling asleep more easily, experiencing deeper and more restorative rest than they have in years, and waking with greater clarity and energy. By gently guiding the body into deep parasympathetic “rest and digest” states, the practice supports the natural conditions for high-quality sleep. It is especially powerful for those dealing with chronic stress, burnout, or high-pressure lifestyles.
Because therapeutic tremoring activates the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” state), many practitioners notice improvements in digestion and gut function. When the body moves out of chronic fight-or-flight mode and into a more relaxed state, digestion becomes more efficient, bloating and discomfort often decrease, and the gut-brain connection is supported. When our system is in parasympathetic states the healing functions of our body work like they are meant to.
Shaking Medicine serves as an effective daily reset for the nervous system. It acts as hygiene for the nervous system, like brushing your teeth for your electrics. Many people use it to recover from demanding days, reduce accumulated tension, and return to a calmer baseline more quickly.
It is helpful for those with high-stress jobs or intense physical training, as it supports faster recovery and greater overall resilience. As that resilience grows we tend to not even allow the daily stressors to take us out of our peaceful state in the first place.
The practice enhances body awareness, cultivates our fullest potential, releases performance anxiety, encourages much faster recovery from training, and is an efficient way to consistently access flow states. Many athletes and performers use it as a powerful complement to their existing training. It’s great for singers as well.
Shaking Medicine also complements athletic and strength training in deeper ways. It fires underused muscles, tissues, ligaments, tendons, and nerves that regular training often misses. This creates profound optimization and efficiency throughout the body, building strength from the level of the nervous system outward. It is an inside out approach that trains from the level of the electrics of the body.
It is a long-held, deep secret of cultivating true power used by Japanese Samurai, Bruce Lee, the famous footballer Maradona, and many other elite athletes throughout history. Anyone serious about athletic training should make this part of their practice. Contact us for personal coaching.
The intelligence behind trauma healing and Kundalini awakening is the same deep, innate, primal, instinctive intelligence. As densities clear through therapeutic tremoring, many people notice Kundalini-type energy beginning to move. This tends to unfold more safely when we take a yin path of surrender rather than forcing yang techniques.
As the nervous system returns toward homeostasis, spirit has more room to come through — presence, intuition, creativity, and a felt connection with life. Cultivation of our highest potential often arises as a side-effect of the release work rather than something we have to chase.
Some of our advanced courses, such as Shaking Medicine Qi Gong, are specifically designed to support Kundalini awakening and the cultivation of spirit once a stable foundation is in place.
Shaking Medicine also supports deep, meaningful tantric experience. When the body is more regulated, grounded, and able to move charge without overwhelm, intimacy, life-force, and energetic connection can become fuller, safer, and more embodied. The first work is still clearing what does not serve. The spiritual and tantric unfolding tends to follow.
With regular practice, Shaking Medicine helps you develop a more resilient, responsive nervous system. Over months and years, many move from ”˜re-active’ patterns into ”˜active’ actions of purpose, presence, and capacity to handle life’s challenges with grace, ease & resilience.
That is one of its best uses. Think nervous system hygiene, not homework.
A few minutes after a hard meeting, before sleep, or at the end of a training block can discharge the charge so it does not become your personality. You do not need a full journey or ceremony every time, though these intentional deeper dives are very useful from time to time.
No. Trauma release is one of the deep gifts, though it is far from the only benefit.
People who already feel “pretty okay” use Shaking Medicine as nervous-system hygiene — like 'brushing your teeth' for your nervous system — so daily stress does not become tomorrow’s armour. Athletes, artists, parents, and high-responsibility people use it to recover faster and stay available for the life they actually want.
Even if you have no big story that you are aware of, your body is probably hiding many hidden un-serving patterns in the background that the tremor can easily find and unravel. Those unconsciously held patterns are costing you something in the background whether you know it or not.
Because you have let the nervous system finish a cycle it usually never gets to finish. Held muscular armour softens. Survival charge that was stuck in fight, flight, or freeze has a pathway out. The body drops toward parasympathetic rest-and-digest, which is where repair, digestion, sleep, and a quieter mind can happen.
Some people feel lighter, warmer, clearer, in a flow state, or more themselves right away. Some feel tired in a clean way where their body finally feels safe to actually rest deeply. Some feel a delayed wave the next day as integration continues. All of that can be part of a great session.
If you feel worse in a scrambled, wired, or raw way for a long time afterwards, you likely did too much. Shorten the next one.
Many people feel a shift in the first class — warmth, a quieter mind, easier breath, a first tremor, or simply “I can feel my body again.” Lasting change comes from building a relationship with your tremor mechanism so that it becomes second-nature again, not a one-off event.
A rough compass from our ecosystem: one weekly journey already compounds significantly for many people though a consistent 2–4 sessions a week tends to be the most efficient sweet spot. You don't have to take on a "part time job" to get the amazing benefits.
Consistent and sustainable practice toward the Intermediate / second-nature threshold, and later toward a more animalistic baseline of homeostasis is what will deeply and profoundly positively change your life forever.
There is no honest guarantee of a timeline. Humans each have different “trauma onions” from their unique life experiences. Show up gently and let the evidence accumulate sustainably in your sleep, mood, pain, and presence.
Shaking Medicine is safe and accessible for the vast majority of people when practiced with awareness and respect for your nervous system’s capacity. The tremor is a self-regulating mechanism in and of itself — generally your body won’t release more than it is ready to handle, especially if you don’t force it and take on our ”˜less is more’ approach.
For anyone not in severe or acute conditions, this is generally very safe: we evolved by nature to do it, and we do not force anything here. We access it gently.
We emphasize a sustainable practice: start gently, listen to your body, and build capacity over time. Titration (doing a little, then resting and integrating) is key, especially for those with higher trauma loads or sensitive nervous systems.
Always feel free to pause or stop at any time. There is no rush. Patience is powerful — The turtle wins the race.
For our complete safety guidelines and detailed precautions, please read: Precautions for a Safe Therapeutic Tremoring Practice.
While Shaking Medicine is generally safe, certain conditions require extra care or professional support:
Recommendation: If any of the above apply, begin with personalised one-on-one sessions with a certified teacher rather than group classes or solo practice. Always consult your healthcare provider when in doubt.
Often yes, with extra care — and never as a replacement for the plan you have with your prescribing clinician. We do not give medical advice, and we do not tell anyone to change, reduce, or stop medication.
Because the tremor can shift how activated or relaxed you feel, it is wise to:
It is possible that Shaking Medicine may help some people eventually wean off medications, as it naturally dissolves stuck energy and dysregulation in the body. Any such process must only happen under the guidance of your prescribing clinician.
If a medication itself causes shaking, that is a different conversation from therapeutic tremoring. Read Therapeutic vs Non-Therapeutic Shaking and work with your clinician and/or a certified Shaking Medicine teacher.
That is your cue to downshift, not to push through. Overwhelm is information, not a test you have to pass.
Do this:
Next time, go smaller: shorter tremor windows, more rest, fewer shapes, more warm-up. If this happens often, leave group classes or self-paced courses and book personalised support.
We would rather you unravel one thin layer of your “trauma onion” and integrate it sustainably than blow through many layers too fast spending a week scrambled and ungrounded.
Sometimes we may feel emotions and memories surfacing that were long buried. This is often a powerful sign that something important is shifting.
Old stories, suppressed emotions, long-held aches, pains, and tensions that have been numb or frozen inside the body are beginning to surface and move.
Shaking Medicine gently unravels these frozen layers. As they process and integrate, we sometimes have to feel it to heal it. Indeed this can be uncomfortable and unpleasant, though this is not a setback — it’s a clear sign that you’re releasing what no longer serves you and making real progress in your healing journey.
Those numb and frozen parts of you that you’ve stored away are affecting you in the background even if you don’t know it or usually feel them on a day to day basis. The journey to process and integrate all that junk is to move through it and not to keep burying it deeper.
In Shaking Medicine we learn to enjoy even these uncomfortable moments as we know on the other side of it is more joy, love, presence, purpose and abundance.
Here are some ways to support yourself during these processes:
With consistent, titrated practice, many people notice their resilience steadily increasing. You become a clearer vessel, more capable of deeper work and greater freedom in your life.
There is no one-size-fits-all prescription. Listen to your nervous system. The amount that your system needs can change from day to day, week to week, and season to season.
Less is more, especially in the beginning. Build your relationship with the tremor sustainably so it becomes a lifelong tool rather than another thing you burn out on. Once this part of you becomes second nature then how frequent, how long, etc. becomes intuitive. Until then, as you are unsure, less is more as you build your relationship with Shaking Medicine.
Frequency has no single fixed answer — it changes from person to person and even from day to day. For those with a sensitive nervous system, the guiding principle is “less is more.” We do not want to over-shake. When in doubt, take a day or two or more off before the next session.
Many people can practice daily for a period and then naturally need rest days. Others do well with several sessions per week. Because therapeutic tremoring is a genetically encoded self-regulation mechanism and we approach it without force, it remains inherently safe. The basic idea is to shed one layer of the “trauma onion,” integrate, and only then move to the next layer.
As your relationship with the practice becomes more second nature, the right frequency becomes intuitively obvious. Take your time building to that point rather than rushing.
Therapeutic tremoring (as practiced in Shaking Medicine) is gentle, self-regulated, and healing. It nourishes the nervous system and brings you toward balance.
Non-therapeutic shaking (e.g., from exhaustion, abuse, overdose, certain neurological conditions, or forced over-exertion) can sometimes feel similar but may not serve healing if pushed too hard.
There is a gray area. In some conditions (MS, Parkinson’s, epilepsy), spontaneous shaking may contain both therapeutic and non-therapeutic elements. The key is discernment, gentleness, and working with a knowledgeable teacher. When in doubt, prioritize personalized support and medical advice.
A common misunderstanding is pathologizing all spontaneous shaking. When the body shakes therapeutically, it is often the nervous system doing exactly what it needs to heal. Suppressing it can sometimes prolong dysregulation.
For a deep dive into this topic see our What’s the Difference Between Therapeutic and Non-Therapeutic Shaking blog.
Almost always yes, especially if your session was titrated. Give yourself a few quiet moments first to land and integrate, which we always add at the end of a journey anyway. This is rare but, if you do feel too floaty, heavy, emotional, or uncoordinated, do not drive yet. Rest, eat, walk, or wait a while.
Plan new or deeper sessions when you do not have to be “on” immediately afterwards. Once you build up your relationship with Shaking Medicine, this is even more rarely an issue.
Pause. Those are common “too much, too fast” signals, or signs that a layer is moving and the system wants rest.
Stop the tremor, sit down or lie on your side or back, soften the breath, and wait. Nature, hydration, food, etc. can help grounding. If the feeling passes, you may gently continue when you're ready or you may have had your fill for the day.
Part of the work is allowing the subconscious, numb, or frozen parts of ourselves to surface and move through — this is often necessary for real healing. At the same time, we do not want to overdo it. The most efficient path is finding the sweet spot: enough contact with what is arising to release and integrate, without flooding or exhausting the system.
If this happens regularly, shorten your sessions, go even more gently, and consider 1:1 guidance.
That can be dissociation, and it is a stop sign, not a trance to chase.
Open your eyes. Sit up. Feel your contact with the floor. Name three objects in the room. Use a little voluntary movement or a simple Qi Gong-style grounding rather than more involuntary tremor.
Next sessions should be shorter, more upright or seated, and preferably with a teacher. People with a history of dissociation belong in personalised support, not in a long solo deep-dive.
If you are in acute illness, fever, or collapse-level fatigue, rest is a wise choice, though Shaking Medicine is a nourishing modality where we aren't forcing anything and allowing the body's instinctive intelligences to take over, which are very smart.
Some people notice that ongoing tiredness or low energy is connected to long-held tension, trapped emotions, or unresolved trauma in the body. Because Shaking Medicine works with these layers, a gentle approach can sometimes support the system in recovering capacity. This is not medical treatment and is never a substitute for care from your healthcare provider.
If you choose to practise while feeling depleted, keep it extra gentle and short. Prefer floor-based, yin-oriented journeys that prioritise relaxation and nourishment over intensity. Let your body vote in real time. Shaking Medicine is overall a yin modality though our unique journeys within our ecosystem can relatively be more yin or yang compared to each other. Go with the more yin journeys.
Extreme fatigue / chronic fatigue appears on our cautions list. When in doubt, skip the session, rest, and consider speaking with your healthcare provider or beginning with personalised 1:1 guidance.
It depends on the severity.
With major injuries such as broken bones, recent surgery, or significant tissue damage, any movement can upset the healing process and potentially cause more harm. In these cases it is usually best to wait and prioritise rest and recovery.
There is often a balance, however. Once the acute phase has passed, a very gentle, carefully dosed amount of tremoring can sometimes support the healing process. It may help the body restore movement and alignment rather than remaining numb, frozen, or heavily scarred. There can also be a stage in recovery — even before everything is fully healed — where light shaking becomes appropriate and may help the system recover more quickly, efficiently and completely.
Pain that is already present in the body sometimes becomes more noticeable as numbness begins to thaw. This is different from creating new injury. Stay on or before the edge of any sharp or alarming pain whether you are dealing with something acute or in general practice, as the numb-frozen parts come alive again for you to feel. Change shape, shorten the session, and work around the area rather than directly into it.
See also our precautions article. When in doubt, go very gently or wait.
Practise sober while you are learning. You need a clear enough system to feel your edge, stop when you should, and integrate. We strongly recommend learning Shaking Medicine first without any substances.
Alcohol is generally not complementary. Certain plant medicines, cannabis, and some other therapeutic substances can be more complementary, because they can help the system soften control and surrender — which is exactly what Shaking Medicine trains us to do without needing anything external. Many people describe Shaking Medicine as the most complementary practice they have found to plant-medicine work, even when they are not using those substances.
It is ideal to learn the tremor first. Spontaneous shaking often arises during plant-medicine journeys. When people already know what it is, they usually feel safer, can let it happen, and frequently report that the shaking was one of the most profound parts of the experience. Learning it beforehand can prevent fear from taking over the journey.
If substances are part of a wider healing path or a transitional period in your health, they can sometimes work alongside the shake — everything in the right balance. Even then, less is more.
This is not a container for “pushing a trip” or overriding the nervous system.
The core instruction is beautifully simple: relax deeply, let go of control, surrender, and allow.
We guide you into present-moment awareness, then invite the body to tremor through various supported shapes and explorations. The tremor arises involuntarily when the conditions are right — you do not force or “do” the shaking.
Breath is natural and relaxed. You remain aware while entering a trance-like, deeply relaxed state. You can stop or start the tremor at will.
If you’d like guided support, our Shaking Medicine Skool Community offers progressive courses that take you deep into the foundations, techniques, games, strategies, and gestures we use to move the tremor through all parts of the body.
Shaking Medicine gives you general strategies and frameworks that can be applied to an infinite number of movements and shapes. Even within a single position, we explore many possible variations and qualities so the tremor can access whatever your nervous system really needs in the moment.
Here are some of the main positions we work with and within these we have many shapes that we explore:
Yes. You stay in choice the whole time. The tremor is a self-regulating mechanism, and we train you to turn it on and off on purpose — especially in the beginning.
If anything feels like too much, pause, change your position, sit up, ground, drink water, rest, etc. You can invite the tremor back when you feel ready, or end the session there. Less is more. There is no prize or benefit for staying in it longer or over-shaking.
In Shaking Medicine journeys we actually ask you to stop and start several times on purpose, so you learn that you are not trapped inside the shake and can turn it off at anytime.
Yes. It is completely normal for the tremor to first awaken in the bigger muscle groups of the body. As your connection with the tremor grows, it will naturally begin moving through more parts of the body. There is no rush. Simply allow the parts that want to shake to shake.
It depends on the container and on your nervous system that day.
In a standard Beginners class the tremoring itself is often somewhere in the range of about 10–30 minutes, with several stop–start cycles inside that window so you can integrate as you go. The whole class is longer than the tremor time because we also warm up, rest, and integrate. You are always encouraged to shake even less if at anytime you feel you've had enough for the moment.
At home, a few gentle minutes can already be real medicine. Sensitive systems, or anyone with a more complex history, should start much shorter — sometimes only 1–8 minutes of light tremoring (1:1 sessions highly recommended) — and build from there.
Once the practice becomes second nature, length becomes intuitive. Until then, shorter and consistent beats long and forced.
Short is not only allowed — it is often wiser.
Five or ten honest minutes of surrendered tremoring, with a deep integrative rest after, may take you much further than a forceful heroic hour plus session that you pay for later. If you're ever in a class that is going longer than you need listen to your body and rest. We have a series of guided therapeutic tremoring tune-up videos (~10 min) in our Shaking Medicine Online Community for those days when you just need a little tune up.
When in doubt, do less, rest more, and come back tomorrow. Consistent sustainability is key for maximum long term benefits. Less is more!
No. Every cue is an invitation. Getting the tremor even in one shape or suggestion is already powerful.
In our classes — especially the pre-recorded courses — we offer several suggestions in each class (each of which is a uniquely themed journey) so that various aspects can land for everyone. These suggestions are like games: tools that help us reach the deeper space of the neurogenic tremor. The games themselves are not the point. The tremor is.
Skip what does not serve. Stay longer in what does. You are not failing the class if you don't get each suggestion or never make it to the last exploration. In fact, chasing every shape is a common way beginners leave their own nervous system behind. These classes have a lot of repeatability value mirroring how the tremoring moves us uniquely each time we tune into it, so you are likely to gather different bits of 'gold' each time you journey through.
What matters most is landing in a shaking station and hanging out there. Even one solid station, especially in the early stages, is already an amazing space and already enough to deeply build your relationship with your innate tremor mechanism and powerfully impact your life!
Yes. Completely normal. The tremor is not only a physical muscle, tissue, fascia, etc. event. As frozen layers thaw, the body may sound, weep, laugh, yawn, sigh, growl, sing, or go very quiet. Sometimes an old emotion moves through without a story attached. Sometimes a memory surfaces.
You do not have to perform the feeling, and you do not have to analyse it in the moment. Stay with sensation. Let the sound or the tear be part of the discharge if it wants to be. If it gets too big, pause, ground, and come back later to continue.
This is one reason we say feel it to heal it — not as a push into overwhelm, but as permission for what has been numb to move, a little at a time.
Yes. Shaking Medicine can be done in any position and anywhere we feel comfortable. We have a whole Chair Shaking Medicine course for seniors, injury, wheelchair users, or just anyone who wants a gentle relaxing shake in a chair. This is powerful, not a lesser version.
We also have Shaking Medicine Qi Gong, a neurogenic style of Qi Gong we created, which is mostly done standing.
Floor tremoring is powerful, but the tremor does not require it.
Our base breathing is natural ‘belly’ breathing where the breathing is parasympathetic breathing like a baby breathes. No special breathing techniques are required or necessary. We are aiming to relax the nervous system to access neurogenic movement and so too should we not over-think or force breathing.
In more advanced explorations we can and do indeed explore how breath can play with our autogenic movements and how these autogenic movements can enhance our breathing practices. We’ve started a ”˜spontaneous breathwork(play)’ branch of Shaking Medicine that we explore in our ecosystem and online community.
Shaking Medicine pairs beautifully with Yoga, Qigong, Somatics, pandiculation, meditation, stretching, breathwork, meditation, tantra, bodywork, general exercise or training and so much more.
Many find it powerful for bringing about spontaneous states of meditation — first discharge the trauma and tension and then the next natural phase is the deeper meditation.
Shaking Medicine complements all things in life because all things are better when we’re more regulated.
People use it for singing and vocal training. Ancient traditions use this sort of thing to spontaneously create songs.
It brings about an optimal efficiency of the mind-body system that is hard to put in words. It optimizes all of the connections to the brain and body, which often goes really far to massively increase our reflexes, strength, mobility, flexibility, etc.
We are one of the few world pioneers of exploring how neurogenic tremoring with pandiculation work together. They are both instinctive mechanisms and pair really well for even greater and more complete healing and optimisation.
Experiment and let us know how Shaking Medicine complements your life.
Shaking in the root is a very common and natural place for the tremor to begin. Our roots are about grounding — the first chakras, the legs, the big muscle groups, and the holding patterns in the hips. Clearing from the Dantian downward is often one of the most important early stages because it creates a pathway for the energies, anxieties, stresses, and trapped emotions to ground into the Earth as we unravel the deeper layers.
As that area clears, the shake almost always evolves and shifts. Timing is individual — there is no exact schedule — but for most people it does progress rather quickly (within a few classes or so). Sometimes it moves on its own; sometimes a little gentle intention helps (softly inviting the tremor into the spine, chest, shoulders, or wherever you feel the next density). The key is balance: don’t over-focus or force it, but also don’t let the body settle into the exact same “shaking station” forever. A light micro-movement or soft curiosity toward a stuck area is usually enough to invite the flow onward.
Keep letting the body lead. Trust the intelligence of the tremor. It knows where to go next.
Both modalities work with therapeutic tremoring at their core and are highly effective. Key differences:
Many people practice both and find them complementary.
Learn more about this in our blog: Shaking Medicine & TRE: Key Differences and Similarities.
No. Dr. Bradford Keeney’s book *Shaking Medicine* inspired our name and is a beautiful window into ecstatic and indigenous shaking streams. Our modality is its own living body of work, founded by Dr. Keith Motes.
TRE is the other major contemporary school centred on therapeutic tremoring. We share the same ancient mammalian mechanism and we differ in style: TRE is more protocol-and-psoas; we are more creative, full-body, and culturally/spiritually woven. Many people practise both or find phases where they get inspired by each.
Here are some suggested Blog posts of ours related to this questions: The Roots of Shaking Medicine and Shaking Medicine & TRE.
They share a deep respect for the nervous system, for going slowly, and for not flooding the system. Our safety work even borrows the spirit of titration — kiss the edge, then come back — which Somatic Experiencing helped make widely known.
The practices themselves are different:
They can complement each other. Shaking Medicine is not a substitute for SE therapy, and SE is not a substitute for building a lifelong relationship with your own tremor mechanism.
We also offer personalised guidance via one-on-one private sessions with Shaking Medicine: Shaking Medicine 1:1 Transformation.
Yes. Some Shaking Medicine after a long hike, a hard lifting session, Pilates, martial arts, running, sport, or any other physical workout is a beautiful recovery tool. It can help the nervous system downshift, release leftover charge from effort, and support the body in integrating and recovering more quickly so you can show up sooner and perform better for the next session.
Let Shaking Medicine be the softener — it is excellent for integrating the energies of the day rather than becoming another performance. It is also amazing at optimising the body's capacity for greater efficiency, so many people find a significantly and surprising sense of heightened performance.
Many people also shake *before* their practices to start from a clearer, more regulated system. Because this is a practice of the nervous system, it can also prepare the body for what comes next in a way almost nothing else can. Experiment. Protect your integration time. Recovery is part of the practice.
Many traditional and modern practices — including Yoga, Qigong, breathwork, and Kundalini work — are often approached through deliberate control, focused effort, and structured technique. While this can be valuable and effective, it can also be easy to overdo, creating more tension, force, or striving than intended. It even sometimes pushes people into overwhelm, exhaustion, or even psychosis.
Shaking Medicine offers a powerful balance to all of this and for many a much more aligned, sustainable, and efficient approach. By learning to let go of control, relax deeply, and surrender, we allow the body’s instinctive intelligence to move us how it actually needs instead of how we think it needs or how our teacher said so.
This surrender of Shaking Medicine also helps to unwind the excess force and effort that may have accumulated from more controlled or forceful approaches. It restores equilibrium between doing and being, effort and ease.
Interestingly, many of the phenomena people seek through dedicated Yoga, Qigong, breathwork, or Kundalini practices — such as expressions of the body, energetic cultivations, deeper states of presence, or profound shifts in consciousness — often arise naturally and organically through the deep surrender of Shaking Medicine. Expressions that need to be controlled or forced simply arise effortlessly in Shaking Medicine.
Our perspective is that the control should at least be balanced with the letting go of control. It’s not to say we shouldn’t practice or do things in a wise, logical & controlled way sometimes, it’s just that it should be balanced. Often things we spend some time practicing ”˜logically’ are more likely to emerge spontaneously too.
Because Shaking Medicine first helps clear stored tension, trauma, and nervous system dysregulation, many practitioners find that their subsequent Yoga, Qigong, meditation, or breathwork practice becomes significantly more effective, easeful, and profound.
EMDR is a structured psychotherapy that uses bilateral stimulation (often eye movements) while a trained clinician helps you process specific memories. It lives in a mental-health treatment frame.
Shaking Medicine is a somatic self-embodiment practice. The first and most important stages are about awakening your innate-instinctive neurogenic therapeutic tremor so the body itself can do most of the healing. We create conditions of deep relaxation and surrender so the tremor can discharge charge that talk and memory work sometimes cannot reach.
We do sometimes use EMDR-inspired eye movements and similar techniques to help discharge energy and memories. In the early stages, however, we generally do not ask you to recount a trauma story or follow a set memory protocol. The tremor mechanism is the main engine, that is designed by billions of years of evolution, which is why it simply works so powerfully.
Further down the road — in one-on-one work or in our progressive courses — we sometimes consciously bring a memory as a means to explore and clear those subtle parts of your psyche into a session once the tremor is well established and the nervous system has more capacity.
Plenty of people do both as they are very complementary methods.
Dr. Keith Motes is actively developing many creative branches. Current explorations include:
If you have skills in any area and want to help or lead a branch, reach out!
Pandiculation is the natural, instinctive process of contracting and then releasing muscles — the same movement you see when a cat or dog wakes up and does a big stretch followed by a yawn. It resets muscle tone, improves circulation, and helps the nervous system return to balance. Unlike passive stretching, pandiculation is an active, neurological reset that the body does automatically when it feels safe.
Pandiculation with therapeutic tremoring (as practiced in Shaking Medicine) combines this natural reset with the involuntary tremor. After pandiculating (actively contracting and releasing), the body can more easily drop into therapeutic tremoring, allowing for deeper release and integration. Together they create one of the most powerful and intelligent ways for the nervous system to self-regulate.
When we truly and deeply pandiculate these two phenomena cycle together creating even more potent, powerful, and efficient discharges and healing.
Exploring this synthesis has become one of our specialties at Shaking Medicine. We are one of very few pioneers in the world around this and have one of the most fleshed out approaches to accessing true spontaneous pandiculation and allowing that to cycle together with neurogenic therapeutic tremoring.
We have a masterclass series for embodying pandiculation with therapeutic tremoring and a full blog on this topic coming soon.
The intelligence of the tremor mechanism is, in many ways, the same intelligence behind natural trauma release and spiritual awakening — including things like Kundalini awakening.
A lot of people first go hard into psychedelics or very yang control practices (Kundalini yoga, intense breathwork, etc.). What is often needed is the balance of a more yin approach — like Shaking Medicine — where we let go, surrender, and allow this same intelligence to safely and sustainably shed the densities. When we do that, the awakenings tend to unfold more naturally on their own.
Many people who carry unresolved trauma or who have pushed intense practices and substances end up with health issues, nervous-system overwhelm, residual intensity that feels unsustainable, or even psychosis.
When things feel intense or unstable in your awakening, the most important work is not to push harder toward higher states. Focus on grounding, integration, and consistent, sustainable unraveling. Every bit of tension, charge, or suppressed emotion that softens is real progress. Celebrate the small releases.
Keep shaking sustainably to discharge those layers — without over-exertion, force, or rushing. Avoid anything that fries the system or takes you into extreme states, especially while feeling sensitive or fragile. Rest deeply. Eat well. Unravel charge by charge, tension by tension. One day at a time. There will be ups and downs (we often need to feel it to heal it), but on average the system settles toward homeostasis and balance.
Trust that the first big step is clearing the trauma, the suppressed emotions, and the accumulated densities. The other side — cultivating our highest potential — will come without forcing it. There will be a natural time when that becomes the focus. For now, do not rush or force into the bliss without doing the groundwork stages. Get stable first.
Keep going gently.
Our growing global network of Certified Shaking Medicine Teachers has been personally trained and authorized by Dr. Keith Motes.
Visit the full directory to connect with a teacher near you or online: Certified Shaking Medicine Teachers Directory.
Our Shaking Medicine Teacher Training is available for those called to share Shaking Medicine professionally. It emphasizes deep embodiment, safety, creativity, and the ability to hold space for diverse nervous systems. Details and upcoming trainings are shared in our community and on our Teacher Training Page here.
We are professionally certified through the IICT (International Institute for Complementary Therapists), a recognized international professional body that provides membership and insurance pathways for complementary therapists across numerous countries worldwide.
This certification reflects the growing worldwide acceptance of Shaking Medicine within somatic, trauma-informed, and holistic health fields. Our teacher training meets IICT’s professional standards, allowing graduates to practice with appropriate insurance coverage and professional recognition in 39 countries.
As more people experience the benefits of therapeutic tremoring, Shaking Medicine continues to gain credibility as a valuable and legitimate modality alongside other body-based and nervous system-focused approaches.
No. Taking classes is not certification.
Sharing this work professionally asks for your own deep living embodiment of Shaking Medicine, a real grasp of safety and titration, practice teaching, and completion of the Shaking Medicine Teacher Training. Friends can know that you shake. They should not be your unofficial students.
If you feel the call to facilitate, start with the Teacher Training page.
We are organised as the Shaking Medicine Foundation, a not-for-profit based in Australia, offering this work worldwide. The point is to help people remember a birthright and to train teachers who can hold it with grace.
Offerings include the online community and courses, 1:1 support, teacher training, and a growing global teacher body.
For the wider purpose, see Purpose of the Shaking Medicine Foundation.
Practitioners around the world report profound shifts through consistent practice:
In many modern cultures, spontaneous shaking or emotional expression has been suppressed or pathologized. Shaking Medicine helps reclaim this natural, mammalian birthright. What was once seen as “weird” or “out of control” is revealed as intelligent, healing, and deeply human.
Field consensus (not advice):
Yes, you can practise. Shaking Medicine works with an inherent healing and regulation mechanism that we are evolved and born with. Especially done in a more yin and gentle way, it can be aligned with all the phases of your cycle — including during menstruation.
Menstruation often asks the body to relax even more and let go, which is also how we most deeply access the tremor. Cramps can be a sign that the body wants to shake. Just as you shake out a cramped hand after writing so it can keep going, gentle tremoring can help release cramping energy in the pelvis, the belly, and anywhere in the body.
Rest is intelligent. If something feels like too much, change shape or stop. Especially while you are still learning, err on the side of ease and less. Go shorter and softer, and gently build your relationship with the practice. As it becomes second nature, when and how much to shake during menstruation or anytime becomes intuitive.
If it does not feel right, do not. If you are not sure, choose less and more ease. Trust the body you have today, not yesterday’s capacity.
Physical pain can sometimes interrupt the tremor, especially when working with old injuries, chronic conditions, or areas where the body has been holding tension for a long time. Usually, the body is already in pain or discomfort — the shaking simply helps us feel what has been numb or frozen.
The most effective approach is to work with titration. Rather than pushing through pain, we gently move toward the edge of discomfort, “kiss” it and hang out there just enough to allow a layer to discharge, and then ease back to integrate. By repeating this process over time — going to the edge, discharging a little, and integrating — the pain gradually dissolves and releases.
Often, aches, pains, tensions, and stuck emotions live numb or frozen in our senses. As we shake, these frozen layers begin to unravel and move through our felt sense awareness. This process of “feel it to heal it” is often a powerful sign of progress.
Practical tips:
Scoliosis: Many report tremors naturally moving more into the contracted side. Shaking Medicine often brings spontaneous spinal adjustments during deep surrender.
Neurological conditions (Parkinson’s, epilepsy, etc.): There is a clear distinction between therapeutic and non-therapeutic tremoring. Therapeutic tremoring is self-regulated and healing. Some conditions may involve both; work gently with a teacher and consult healthcare providers. Many in the community have seen misdiagnosis — spontaneous therapeutic shaking mistaken for something pathological.
Seniors & muscle building: Yes, it tones and engages muscles deeply (rapid engage-relax cycles access underused areas). Chair Shaking Medicine branch makes it highly accessible. “Less is more” — focus on shapes that feel good and build from there. Many seniors thrive with it.
Absolutely suitable and highly recommended. Babies and children tremor naturally in the womb and early years — we are conditioned out of it. Approach with play, fun, and games (shorter attention spans). Guardian consent required for under 14 per our IICT certification.
Dr. Motes is actively seeking passionate people to lead the “SM for Kids & Schools” branch.
Yes. Sexual energy is a beautiful part of our humanness. Life-force does not always stay in neat categories, and it is very normal for warmth in the pelvis, waves of pleasure, or even full-body orgasmic sensations to arise during Shaking Medicine.
Orgasmic feeling is, at its core, a deep sense of letting go — and Shaking Medicine is a practice of letting go. So it is common for the process to feel deeply pleasurable and even orgasmic, including while uncomfortable energies, aches, pains, and traumas are moving through. There is often a layer of pleasure that rides alongside the release. Many people in class have said things like, “Whoa, I felt like I was having full-body orgasms.”
This same opening can also support a richer, more embodied, and more tantric sex life over time. There is even a branch of what we're creating Shaking Medicine Tantra as those who are deeply embodied with the shake tend to be able to access the deepest sensitivity and full bodied orgasm moving through all of the chakras.
Stay with breath, presence, and the shaking force that is moving you. You do not need to act it out, suppress it, or turn it into a story. Just be with it and keep the container respectful always. If it becomes overwhelming or confusing, pause, ground, and integrate.
Yes. Of course we can and most likely should. Practicing both alone and in groups is amazing and powerful.
The shake is contagious. When one person starts letting go, it often inspires everyone else to let go more fully. Practising beside others can be deeply regulating and inspiring for us on many levels.
Practising with a partner can also be very deepening on a soul-tantric level — a powerful way to tune into the subtle energies with each other.
Your first session is a gentle introduction though is often completely profound. You’ll be guided into a relaxed state through simple movements and breath, then invited to allow the body’s natural therapeutic tremor to arise. Many people feel warmth, tingling, or subtle shaking in their first class — some experience stronger tremors right away. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to do it. There are no limitations here because we are awakening something that’s already part of you. You are born with this mechanism. Many people say it’s more like remembering something ancient rather than learning something new.
When you feel ready, you can start learning in our Shaking Medicine Skool Community right here!.
Three honest steps:
1. Skim the precautions. If a caution applies, message us or book 1:1 instead of diving into a self-paced course or group journey.
2. If you are in ordinary health, join the Shaking Medicine Beginners Course and do one guided class per day at most as you are learning. Stop and start as you are invited to regulate the practice. You may still grab a 1:1 if you prefer personal guidance.
3. Rest a day. Notice sleep, mood, and body. Then decide your rhythm — often about one solid journey a week at first is already enough to begin embodying this as a lifelong tool.
It is for people in all stages of life who want a more regulated, vibrant nervous system — not only people who identify as “having trauma.”
People come for chronic tension, anxiety, sleep, recovery from a full life, athletic performance, emotional stuckness, spiritual cultivation, or simply because they want a daily hygiene tool for their nervous system. You do not need a diagnosis, a spiritual belief, or any prior movement background.
It is not recommended to do on your own if you are in extreme overwhelm, acute psychiatric crisis, or any serious caution conditions without support. In those cases, speak with your healthcare provider and/or begin with personalised 1:1 guidance. For full details on cautions and how to approach them safely, please read our Precautions for a Safe Therapeutic Tremoring Practice page.
We prefer the word cautions over a hard “you cannot.” Many people with complex histories practise beautifully when they go slowly with a teacher.
Very little. The idea is eventually we can do this anywhere at anytime we choose.
You do not need incense, special music, or a perfect shrine, though these can be amazing additions. A room or a corner of nature is perfect. What matters is that you can relax without performing.
Many people begin at home through our guided Shaking Medicine Beginners Course in the online community. The recordings are designed so you can awaken the tremor safely, learn to stop and start it, and build a relationship with it.
A certified teacher is the wiser first step if you carry a heavier trauma load, feel very sensitive or frazzled, have a condition on our cautions list, or simply want eyes on you while you learn. You can also mix both: start the course, and book a 1:1 session if you want personalised support.
Find teachers here: Certified Shaking Medicine Teachers.
Read this first if you have any health questions: Precautions for a Safe Therapeutic Tremoring Practice.
It’s normal in the beginning to feel like you’re still kind of “doing” the shaking a bit. Over time the needle moves toward more authentic involuntary movement as you build your relationship with it.
You are close when you are relaxed, unforced, and able to stop. The tremor may be tiny. Your mind may still commentate. That is fine.
A good sign you are doing it well is that it feels like you are going deeper by relaxing more, and the involuntary shakes arrive from that softening — not from trying harder or skipping ahead.
Other signs you are in the territory: unexpected micro-jolts, a vibration that is not quite voluntary, heat, buzzing, a wave, a yawn-stretch that has a mind of its own, a sudden quiet after.
Signs you have left the territory: gripping, performing, racing to make it bigger, overriding pain, or leaving your body. Come back to less.
If you still cannot find it after several guided classes, a 1:1 session is the kindest shortcut. Almost everyone can access this. We are born with it.
No. You do not need a belief system, a spiritual identity, or even much faith. The tremor is a biological mechanism you were born with — the same kind of discharge you can watch in other mammals after threat.
Curiosity and a willingness to relax and not force are enough. You can treat the first few sessions as an experiment: notice what your body does, notice how you sleep and feel afterwards, and decide from experience rather than conditioned beliefs.
Scepticism is welcome. Forcing yourself to “believe” usually just adds more control, which is the opposite of this practice.
It is both a means to an end and endless.
In the beginning the intention of the shake is clear: release what no longer serves — the trauma, the suppressed emotions, the chronic tension and stress — until the system returns toward homeostasis. That felt sense of being more like a wild animal again: present, balanced, vibrantly healthy. That is the main work at first.
Once a deeper baseline of stability is established, the relationship with the tremor can naturally evolve. Some people continue shaking as gentle maintenance (life keeps offering new charges). Others choose to keep using it as support for further cultivation and highest potential. Both are valid.
The spiritual unfolding and deeper awakenings tend to arise as a side-effect of the trauma release anyway — they don’t need to be chased. We can shake forever if we wish, but the purpose and quality of the shake shift over time.
Keep letting the body lead. Trust the intelligence of the tremor.
This is very common for beginners. The tremor mechanism is always there — it just needs the right conditions (deep relaxation + safety) to emerge. Many people start with subtle internal sensations before visible shaking appears. Trust the process, stay curious, and keep practicing gently. Most people access it within the first few sessions. If it still feels elusive after a few classes, a 1:1 session with a certified teacher can help you tune in more quickly.
The hardest part for many people is simply starting — finding the time and space, and pressing play. It’s not like taking on another part-time job. Even one class a week is already powerful progress. Two or three sessions will move things faster, but consistency of around one solid journey a week or so is enough to start embodying this as a lifelong tool.
A lot of the resistance people feel is subconscious. On some level we know this practice will create real change — releasing trauma, softening control patterns, and shifting how we live — and the ego often resists that. Yet our wiser self knows that healing and a more relaxed, regulated state would make life better.
Shaking Medicine is an embodied process, not something you just learn about analytically. Once you hit start and drop into the journey, the hardest part is already behind you. From there you simply let go and follow along. It also serves as a beautiful balancer for all the controlled, effortful parts of life — a powerful lens of softening, letting go, and nervous system hygiene.
Give the body time to land. The session is not finished the moment the tremor stops. Integration is part of the medicine.
Helpful aftercare:
If you feel tender, spaced-out, or emotional afterwards, that can be a sign a layer is still integrating. Keep resting. Less is more.
Our online membership and course platform (hosted on Skool) offers progressive classes, live events, community connection, and ongoing support.
We encourage you to join the global Shaking Medicine tribe there to deeply learn and embody— ask questions, share experiences, and connect with others walking the same path.
All you have to do is remember how to listen, soften, and let it move you.