History of Shaking

From ancient shamanic rituals to modern psycho-somatic therapies, shaking has always been the body’s hidden medicine — a bridge between spirit, body, and science.

Shamanic Roots

Among the San Bushmen of the Kalahari and many indigenous peoples, tremor was seen as sacred fire — “n/um” energy rising through the spine, burning away illness and restoring harmony.

Ecstatic Traditions

Sufi dervishes spun until trembling shifted perception; Taoist adepts practiced spontaneous movement qigong; Christian mystics described holy shaking during prayer. Tremor was a passage for the divine.

Psycho-Somatic Science

Modern trauma therapy recognizes tremor as the body’s innate reset. Peter Levine and Bessel van der Kolk describe how shaking discharges stress, balances the vagus nerve, and heals trauma stored in the body.