NOT-FOR-PROFIT  •  IICT APPROVED IN 39 COUNTRIES

The Oldest Medicine
on Earth.
Remembered.

Therapeutic tremoring is your body’s innate, genetically encoded mechanism for releasing trauma, stress, and tension — and returning you to vibrant health, clarity, and presence.

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Dr. Keith R. Motes, PhD Physicist · Yogi · Founder
Humanity’s Original Self-Regulation System

What is Shaking Medicine?

Shaking Medicine is the conscious, safe practice of therapeutic tremoring — your nervous system’s ancient, built-in mechanism for discharging stress, trauma, and emotional residue.

Every mammal on the planet uses this instinctive shaking to reset after threat. Gazelles do it. Humans have the same capacity, yet modern culture has largely forgotten and suppressed it.

In Shaking Medicine we create the precise conditions of safety, permission, and deep relaxation so the body can do what it already knows how to do: let go. There is no forcing. The tremor arises spontaneously when you stop trying to control it.

The tremor is autogenic. It knows exactly what your system needs.
A gazelle shaking off charge in golden savanna light — the same instinctive reset living in us
Your nervous system already knows how to let go. The tremor is how it does it.
Ancient Wisdom, Modern Understanding

Lineage & Science

Therapeutic shaking has been documented across cultures for thousands of years — from the Kalahari Bushmen and Indigenous shaking traditions, to the Quakers and Shakers of early America, Japanese Seiki Jutsu, and ecstatic movement practices worldwide.

Dr. Bradford Keeney brought global attention to this “Oldest Medicine” in his seminal book Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement.

Today, somatic psychology and trauma research (Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing, David Berceli’s Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises, and others) have independently validated what indigenous cultures have always known: the body possesses an intelligent, self-regulating tremor mechanism that discharges survival stress when given the right conditions.

Core understanding:
The tremor is autogenic. It knows exactly what your system needs. Our role is to create safety and get out of the way.

The involuntary tremor — oldest medicine, remembered in the body.

Benefits

Why People Come

Trauma. Stress. Anxiety. Chronic tension. Sleeplessness. A nervous system that cannot come down. Shaking Medicine is natural healing at that root — the body’s own way of discharging what it has been holding, so regulation can become second nature again. More on Our Benefits Blog →

Trauma & PTSD

Release stored trauma and stuck emotion when talk has not been enough.
  • Free up fear, apprehension, and suppressed emotions
  • Unravel unresolved trauma — stuck energy you may not even know is there
  • Heal common trauma-caused disorders like PTSD
  • Shift out of emotional overwhelm and depressive moods
  • Supports the grieving process
  • Move out of persistent sadness, low motivation, and emotional flatness
  • Let go of habits and addictions that aren’t serving you

Stress & Anxiety

Leave the constant “on” state and return to a real, lasting calm.
  • Alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression — chronic too
  • Free up nervousness and persistent worry
  • Move into parasympathetic states of deep relaxation
  • Cultivate powerful skills for self-regulation and self-rejuvenation
  • Become evermore present, aware, and at peace
  • Enhance your sensitivity and simultaneously your resilience
  • Shift out of brain fog, overthinking, and mental stress & fatigue

Pain & Tension

Soften chronic holding in the jaw, neck, back, and gut.
  • Alleviate aches, pains, inflammation, injuries, tensions, and blockages
  • Improve arthritis and similar conditions (e.g. fibromyalgia, chronic joint pain)
  • Enhance mobility, strength, flexibility, and reflexes
  • Tone muscle, lose weight, and soften tight fascia
  • Improve lymphatic transport and blood flow
  • Improve stamina and quicken recovery time
  • Become more grounded, balanced, centred, and aligned

Sleep, Burnout, and Digestion

Help the system downshift so rest, energy, and digestion can land.
  • Sleep better, eliminate insomnia and chronic fatigue
  • Removes stagnation and lethargy
  • Support digestion as the system leaves fight-or-flight
  • Ease gut tension held from chronic stress
  • Improve your vital energy levels so you can do the things you love
  • Increase your immune system
  • Boost your health and vitality

Nervous System Regulation

Return toward homeostasis — the body’s natural, grounded balance.
  • Move into parasympathetic states of deep relaxation
  • Cultivate powerful skills for self-regulation and self-rejuvenation
  • Become deeply embodied in letting go and allowing your body to regulate itself
  • Access powerful flow states consistently
  • Increase your sensitivity in a grounded, sustainable way — and become more resilient
  • Free up psychological mental health ailments somatically and organically
  • Enter effortless spontaneous states of meditation

Cultivating Your Potential

Grow aliveness, Kundalini, spirit, and deeper connection from the body.
  • Become more playful, creative, spontaneous, and expressive
  • Move from uninspired to inspired — find and tune into purpose
  • Awaken Kundalini in a yin, safe way — by letting go, not forcing
  • Grow presence and life-force; listen to your higher self
  • Enter effortless, spontaneous states of meditation
  • Deepen connection, tantra, and the capacity for pleasure
  • Raise feeling, instinctive, and intuitive intelligence
The Foundation

Our Mission

The Shaking Medicine Foundation exists to awaken the innate mechanism of therapeutic tremoring in people worldwide. From that awakening, people become empowered — able to regulate themselves, heal trauma, and come out of the chronic condition of stored trauma, stress, and tension.

We blend ancient wisdom, modern nervous-system science, and creative embodiment so this work stays safe, accessible, and free of force. Our aim is simple and deep: help people make Shaking Medicine second nature again — like it is for every other mammal — return the nervous system to homeostasis, and cultivate our deepest human potential.

Through community, courses, 1:1 support, teacher training, and open education, we steward a not-for-profit path out of chronic trauma and back to vibrant animalistic homeostasis.

Read Our Purpose Join the Community
Global Shaking Medicine community practising together

The Shaking Medicine Foundation community — not-for-profit, IICT approved, worldwide.

No Force. Let Go. Soften.

How Shaking Medicine Works

This is not voluntary shaking — not making yourself shake, bounce, or perform a movement. Voluntary shaking is good for the body, but it is surface-level. Shaking Medicine is the involuntary, spontaneous tremor that arises when you deeply relax, soften, and let go of control so the nervous system can move you how it needs to.

  1. 01
    Arrive in safety

    Presence, breath, nothing to perform.

  2. 02
    Soften deeply

    Release the need to control.

  3. 03
    Allow, don’t force

    The involuntary tremor arises on its own. The body leads.

  4. 04
    Rest and integrate

    So regulation lands, gently.

You do not do the shaking. You soften until the instinctive healing mechanism can move you as it needs to in the moment. This is a yin, non-forceful practice.

Deep relaxation and allowing in a Shaking Medicine session

Soften. Surrender. Let the body lead.

Voices from the Community

What People Are Saying

Stories from the community. Discover 272 additional wins →

Founder

Dr. Keith R. Motes, PhD

Dr. Keith R. Motes (PhD) is the founder of the Shaking Medicine Foundation — quantum physicist, yoga and Qi Gong teacher, and Zenthai Shiatsu bodywork therapist. Originally from Louisiana, he blends rigorous science with somatic wisdom so people can awaken their innate healing capacity.

  • PhD · Quantum Physics
  • Yoga & Qi Gong
  • Zenthai Shiatsu
  • Founder · SM Foundation

Learn More About Dr. Motes

Dr. Keith R. Motes, PhD — Founder of the Shaking Medicine Foundation

Shaking Medicine Foundation founder, Dr. Keith R. Motes

Journal

Explore Our Blog

Guides on therapeutic tremoring — benefits, science, safety, and how Shaking Medicine compares to other modalities. View All Chapters →

How to Begin

Offerings

Start where you are. Join the community, work privately one-on-one, or learn to share the work.

01
Your Own Pace

Shaking Medicine Online

Progressive courses, live classes, and a worldwide community. Practise at your own pace until the tremor is second nature.

Enter the Community
02
Private Offerings

One-on-One or Your Own Group

One-on-one with Dr. Keith — trauma healing, cultivation, bodywork, and retreat — or create your own group offering. The flagship is the 90-Day Transformation: weekly sessions, a coherent arc.

Explore Private Offerings
03
Facilitate

Teacher Training

Learn to hold Shaking Medicine safely, teach in your own voice, and join a certified tribe. No royalties.

Explore Training
A Growing Global Network

Certified Teachers & Facilitators

Rigorously trained and mentored teachers sharing this medicine worldwide — many weaving it with therapy, yoga, bodywork, and coaching. Meet and Find the Teachers →

IICT Approved Training Seal Shaking Medicine IICT approved in 39 countries
Common Questions

Frequently Asked

Discover 70 FAQs Answered →

Yes. The practice is inherently trauma-informed when held with proper safety and consent. 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. Many therapists and trauma survivors use it as a primary or complementary tool. We always encourage working with a trained facilitator when beginning with significant trauma history.
None at all. The practice meets you exactly where you are. Beginners often have the most powerful first experiences because they have fewer expectations.
Absolutely. One of the primary goals is to give you a reliable, lifelong self-regulation tool you can access anywhere — at home, in nature, before difficult conversations, or after stressful events.

Your Body Already Knows
the Way Home.

All you have to do is remember how to listen, soften, and let it move you.

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SHAKING MEDICINE FOUNDATION • NOT-FOR-PROFIT