This is truly a revolutionary and ancient yet very new practice.

Therapeutic tremoring is as old as mammals, yet also new in our times due to the taboo on shaking that has stemmed from its various forms of suppression over the last several thousand years or so.

We aim to reach people all over the world, to help each of them to remember their innate wisdom and instinctive shaking mechanism, aligned with the highest intentions to uplift in vibrations of love, harmony and peace for all beings on Earth.

The Shaking Medicine Foundation acts as an umbrella that invites wisdom from all practices, cultures, movements, and modalities to inspire what we are doing here. Some of the shaking wisdom that particularly inspires us is from:

• Mother nature through our scientific understanding of how this has evolved through animals, including humans.
• Shaking in Indian-style yoga from Tantra, Kriya Yoga and Kundalini Yoga. There is a particular kriya within Yoga called "Spontaneous Kundalini Kriya" and this is how the Indian yogis have evolved and explored their tremoring mechanism. We explore this tradition through the connection of simple Yogic-abdominal breath as well as moving through various asana (shapes of the body) for accessing and exploring your tremoring mechanism and moving it throughout all parts of your body. We look at how this intertwines with and supports meditation as well.
• Shaking in the Taoist style of yoga also known as Neidan. We utilize and study this Taoist style and create with aspects of its fundamental practices like Tao Yin, Qi Gong, Zi Fa Gong and Nei Gong for exploring the shake, including full classes in each of these. Zifa Gong essentially translates to "spontaneous cultivation" and is how the Taoist culture has explored Shaking Medicine and weaved it into their health and well-being practice of Neidan, which is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
• Shaking in indigenous cultures like the Kalahari Bushman.
• Dr Bradford Keeny. His work beautifully explains how the tremor mechanism is used and practised in many different cultures, particularly the Kalahari Bushman. 
• Dr Alexander Lowen (Bioenergetics).
• Dr David Berceli (Trauma Release Exercises).
• Osho and his Dynamic Kundalini Meditation.
• Ratu Bagus. Bio-energy Shaking Meditation.
• Many other modern and traditional modalities.
• And of course our own experience with embodying and teaching Shaking Medicine to thousands. This has certainly been a big part of it as the shake is innate within everyone. We encourage our tribe of teachers to cultivate their own unique style of sharing because Shaking Medicine is quite unique in the way it moves and is expressed by everyone. We believe every teacher should have their own unique way of sharing it with others though building upon a solid foundation of wisdom from the most developed shakers known in history.

Shaking Medicine is primarily a practice of learning to let go of control and trusting your intuition.

Since this tremor mechanism is deeply embedded within your nervous system and subconscious mind as part of your animalistic instinct, they begin to unravel a lot of your 'tensions' within.

These 'tensions' include a lot that doesn't serve us such as aches, pains, physical tension, stress, anxiety, trauma and more.

The beauty of tapping into Shaking Medicine is that you can resolve the root issues of many ailments rooted in these above mentioned 'tensions' all without having to understand it or have to process it with your logical thinking mind.

In other words, your inner animal can easily clear your mind and body of many things as all animals in nature do.

Remember that us humans are very unique animals but animals nonetheless.

Once you access it you will have it for life as a powerful instinctive tool for self-regulation.

To access it we first bring you into a present, grounded, and centred state so that the practice is done safely and effectively.

We then guide you into the tremor process.

We emphasize and share with you how to keep it safe, effective and fun! 

The shake generally feels pleasant, refreshing, nourishing, rejuvenating, energizing and even child-like as you make a conscious choice to explore this spontaneous shaking mechanism to heal and unravel that which does not serve you.

Yes. We humans are mammals. Mammals in nature instinctively shake to heal themselves of traumatic experiences and for the maintenance of their health. As mammals, we too have a built in instinctive shaking mechanism that acts as an anti-virus for our nervous system thus promoting organic self-healing. ​​​​​​​Here are video examples of a Polar Bear and an Impala using this mechanism in nature to heal.

The Polar Bear is in shock after being chased by a helicopter and tranquilized. Upon awakening he begins involuntarily shaking to discharge this shock. The narrator of the video speaks as though this is a common occurrence that he sees regularly. 

The Impala is in the jaws of a Leopard in freeze response to fool the Leopard into thinking he is dead. The Leopard is later frightened away by approaching Baboons. Sensing that she is now safe the Impala begins discharging the near-death trauma through neurogenic tremoring. 

There is no rush to shake away your tensions, stresses, anxieties, traumas, suppressed emotions, etc. It is more sustainable and beneficial to have a regular practice that is shorter, consistent, and allows sufficient integration between sessions rather than trying to shake it all out in one session. In our Shaking Medicine classes, you should always empower yourself to rest and modify as much as you need because you know your body better than anyone.

Some reasons to be cautious when choosing to practice Shaking Medicine may be severe physical injuries, recent surgery, broken bones, pregnancy, significant mental health ailments, major medical conditions, PTSD, extreme or complex trauma, being easily overwhelmed emotionally, panic attacks or medical conditions that involve non-therapeutic tremoring like Epilepsy, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.

To be cautious here doesn’t necessarily mean to not practice Shaking Medicine for these reasons but rather to be sure to do your due diligence. If any of the above apply to you or you are concerned in any way about whether Shaking Medicine is right for you feel free to contact us before joining.

Shaking Medicine is actually very easy to learn. The experience is more like remembering something rather than learning something new because involuntary shaking is already part of you. The majority of people get involuntary shaking in their first session. Nearly all people get it deeply within 2-3 sessions.

Most people tend to experience therapeutic tremors in their first session; however, some people may take a few sessions to get it. If you experience it even a little bit early on then you are doing very well and so trust that your body is beginning the unravelling process.

One of the biggest blockages we see in people who struggle to experience the tremors is simply that they are trying too hard. Remember that this is a practice of surrendering, allowing, and letting go of control, which is very different to what most people are doing in their life and in other modalities that they may be practicing, even Yoga. Often less is more and so if you struggle to find the tremors, then step back, follow the instructions really carefully, go even slower, go even more relaxed and with less effort, etc.

Another phenomenon we commonly see is that people are actually tremoring and don't even know it. Really little tiny tremors are also potent and so don't discard those thinking that it has to arise as big shaking. Often it is tiny at first and then will grow as you become aware of what it is and settle and relax into that experience. The tremors will move you how you need to be moved as you cultivate your relationship with them and one way that it will move is by oscillating between bigger and smaller shakes and even completely still rest. All are equally great and part of the process.

This is not a practice to rush and so take it easy as you develop a relationship with Shaking Medicine. Soon enough, after a couple of sessions or maybe 10 or so, you'll be able to start moving the tremors through your whole body.

Shaking Medicine’s origins lie ultimately from Mother Nature, who gifted us with this instinctive birthright that animals in nature use regularly. Animals in nature instinctively shake to heal themselves from traumatic or stressful experiences and for regular maintenance. Check out the polar bear and gazelle in the next FAQ item.

As mammals, people have this built-in instinctive shaking mechanism that acts as an anti-virus for our nervous system promoting organic self-healing.

The world is rich with cultures that have explored and advanced the art and science of shaking. Some have been doing this for a very long time, and so, we also learn and teach from their wisdom including indigenous cultures all over the world (especially the Kalahari Bushmen), our ancestors, ancient traditions of Indian and Taoist Yoga, modern-day shaking and movement practices, scientific research, as well as those who are embodying Shaking Medicine all around the world.

Some of the modern-day shaking practices that have really inspired what we do here are Sacred Ecstatics (Dr Bradford Keeney), Trauma Release Exercise (TRE – David Bercelli), Bioenergetics (Dr Alexander Lowen), Dynamic Kundalini Meditation (Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh aka Ohso), Somatic Experiencing (Dr Peter Levine) and BioEnergy Shaking Meditation (Ratu Bagus).

A class of Shaking Medicine is guided simply, powerfully, safely and effectively with wisdom from all of its origins and a lot from our own experience in developing, teaching, and embodying Shaking Medicine.

Today, we are a not-for-profit foundation set up as the Shaking Medicine Foundation for teaching the somatic body-based modality we're calling Shaking Medicine with the aim of helping people all over the world remember their innate mechanism of therapeutic tremoring for healing and to empower them to come into their fullest human potential.

There is certainly a difference between therapeutic tremoring, which Shaking Medicine focuses on, and tremoring caused by other, sometimes non-therapeutic reasons. Shaking in our culture has largely been associated with the more non-therapeutic type and has thus been seen as something bad and scary. We are here to say that therapeutic tremoring is nothing to fear.

Often this phenomenon of 'involuntary' shaking is misinterpreted as something bad and we suppress it. Our modern culture has largely conditioned us to suppress this. The suppression of our natural tremor mechanism keeps us from using one of the most powerful healing functions our body has to alleviate aches, tensions, pains, stress, anxiety, suppressed emotions, trauma and more. As well as helping us let go of what doesn't serve us, this mechanism also supports us in cultivating life-force energy and a vibrant life. Animals in nature use spontaneous shaking all of the time. We too are animals and we are born with this mechanism so it is our birthright to use it!

With that being said, there may be reasons why we shake that are not therapeutic. Some of these may be due to various neurological reasons, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, brain injuries, seizures, stroke, brain injuries, dystonia, cervical dystonia, withdrawal from addictions, dissociative disorders, drugs, manic depressive bipolar conditions, Alzheimer, psychosis, schizophrenia, hypoglycaemia, epilepsy and surely more things we haven't included yet. If you have any of these or any other diagnoses, then you may consider consulting a healthcare professional before beginning. It is likely however that mainstream healthcare professionals will not know much or anything at all about neurogenic therapeutic tremoring since it is not included in their medical studies so you may need to make up your mind and do your research. Whether you practice with or without a diagnosis, or, with or without a healthcare professional’s approval, you do so at your own choice and risk as large-scale scientific medical research regarding therapeutic tremoring about diseases that involve non-therapeutic tremoring remains mostly absent (western medicine doesn't make much money off of us healing ourselves).

In our view when people start spontaneously shaking they probably often get misdiagnosed by mainstream medical professionals who aren't even usually aware of our animalistic instinctive mechanism of therapeutic tremoring for self-healing. Likely, when people start spontaneously shaking for any of the reasons above and others it is seen as something 'bad' by the mainstream medical field that they need to stop. These professionals will often try to diagnose them and prescribe them medication to be on, sometimes for life. While medication certainly has its place, this is typically not going to cure the root cause. It is very possible that if the person would allow the spontaneous shaking to be expressed instead of perceiving it as something bad that they need to shut down as quickly as possible, then the issue may work itself out realising that their animalistic healing mechanism is activating to self-correct. In other words, we've put these items on our list as possibly non-therapeutic reasons we may shake to be extra cautious in considering if Shaking Medicine is right for you when dealing with any of these. It may also be that the body is spontaneously shaking to support the healing of these conditions. It's hard to say for sure as the world has yet to do significant large-scale studies. We have the intention to do these sorts of studies though we need some funding grants and/or the right partners.

In Shaking Medicine we explore embodying the tremor mechanism safely & effectively and aim to empower people to make it second nature again and use it as needed just like animals do to ultimately come into homeostasis. We aim to resolve conditions at their root level rather than suppressing them and bottling them up for life. If you do use this for supporting any sensitive ailment, like the ones listed here but not limited to these, then we suggest the 'Less is More' strategy of taking it on a very little bit at a time and taking more on in a sustainable way.

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

Shaking Medicine is arguably the oldest medicine on Earth. It is something that many animals have been utilizing since before humans existed. It is an inbuilt mechanism that acts to balance and regulate our nervous system and all that it relates to. We certainly learn and are inspired in this way from nature and animals. 

Shaking Medicine has been largely lost in our culture primarily due to various religious and governmental groups throughout his-story.

Shaking Medicine has a rich history in indigenous cultures, Yoga, Taoism and modern practices and modalities.

In modern-day times there is a resurgence of Shaking Medicine emerging. Some examples include: Dr. Bradford Keeney (Sacred Ecstatics), Dr. Alexander Lowen (Bioenergetics), Dr. David Berceli [Trauma Release Exercise (TRE)], Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing), MD Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score), NeuroPhysics, Osho (Kundalini Meditation), Holotrophic Breath-work, Shakers and Quakers (Religious Groups), Ratu Bagus (Bio Energy Meditation) and Neurogenic Yoga. The name of Shaking Medicine that we have chosen to use is inspired by the works of Dr. Bradford Keeney, who has been one of our biggest inspirations.

Some more ancient examples of people using Shaking Medicine include: Kalahari Bushman of Africa, American Indians, original Australians, Japanese Seiki, Japanese Samurai, Shamans, Biblical Figures, Taoist Monks (ZiFa Gong),​​​​​​​ and Yogis (Kriya).

This shaking mechanism may be related or described similarly to:

• Neurogenic therapeutic tremoring
• Spontaneous shaking
• Involuntary shaking
• Zifa gong
• Spontaneous Kundalini Kriya
• Shaking yoga
• Neurogenic yoga
• Trauma release
• Vibrational therapy
• Whole body vibration
• Somatic therapy
• And more

The Shaking Medicine Foundation is an ever growing and evolving not-for-profit foundation 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 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 Tribe are encouraged to create their own unique style of sharing that is built upon the solid backbone of wisdom that we are continuously growing and evolving in.

There is nothing quite like collaboration. Would you like to host or collaborate on Shaking Medicine events, classes, workshops, immersions, retreats, teacher trainings, corporate events, festivals, health and wellness events, charities, media, blogging, public speaking, outreach, affiliate, ambassador or others? Contact us to collaborate.