Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement

by Bradford P. Keeney

A revolutionary call to reawaken our bodies and minds to powerful healing through ecstatic movement

• Shows how shaking medicine is one of the oldest healing modalities--practiced by Quakers, Shakers, Bushmen, Japanese, and others

• Teaches readers how to shake for physical as well as spiritual therapeutic benefit

• Includes a link to 40 minutes of ecstatic drumming audio tracks to use while shaking

Shaking Medicine reintroduces the oldest medicine on earth--the ecstatic shaking of the human body. Most people’s worst fear is losing control--of their circumstances, of their emotions, and especially of their bodies. Yet in order to achieve the transcendent state necessary to experience deep healing, we must surrender control. Examining cultural traditions from around the world where shaking has been used as a form of healing--from the Shakers and Quakers of New England to the shaking medicine of Japan, India, the Caribbean, the Kalahari, and the Indian Shakers of the Pacific Northwest--Bradford Keeney shows how shaking can bring forth profound therapeutic benefits.

Keeney investigates the full spectrum of the healing cycle that occurs when moving from ecstatic arousal to deep trance relaxation. He explains how the alternating movement produced while shaking brings all the body’s energetic systems into balance. He includes practical exercises in how to shake for physical therapeutic benefit, and he shows how these techniques lead ultimately to the shaking medicine that both enables and enhances spiritual attunement. The book also includes a link to 40 minutes of ecstatic drumming audio tracks to use while shaking.

Genres: Health

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2007

Reviews

[Glynda-lee Hoffmann]

This is a wonderful book about the power of old/new medicine and shamanic experience. Keeney is knowledgeable and easy to read.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved watching documentaries that show traditional African or North American Native dancing. The participants seem so deeply focused into the action that their bodies are doing the movements without conscious thought. That many of these individuals have deep spiritual experiences during these sessions doesn't surprise me at all. The dance is simply another form of mediation, much more active but still so all focused that nothingness is achieved so that the spirit self is given its freedom.

Shaking Medicine is a wonderful introduction to ecstatic movement. The author himself is an experienced shaker. He is also a life-long learner who is extremely interested in finding out why people choose to shake, how they shake, and what they experience during and after the experience. Much of this book resembles a memoir of his experiences and his explorations of shaking in various cultures around the world, past and present.

I found this book fascinating. I came to realize that there is no real right or wrong way to shake. Being with others who have traveled that path will certainly be a good resources but ultimately every person needs to find that something inside themselves. Reading Shaking Medicine and using the included CD of ecstatic drumming is certainly a good place to start.

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book gives an interesting tour through a number of 'religions' or groups which have shaking or ecstatic dance as a vehicle for reaching Spirit.
Some parts were a little repetitive and I was disappointed that there was very little in the way of accessing these states for oneself. I haven't yet used the accompanying cd.