Shake Things Awake
Come experience a 10-minute invigorating movement practice designed to help you release stagnant energy and reconnect with your body’s natural rhythm. Through gentle shaking, bouncing, and free-form movement, you’ll wake up both your body and mind, cultivating space for clarity and renewal. This playful, all-levels practice invites you to let go of tension, reset your nervous system, and energize your entire being. It’s a powerful way to shake off stress and come back to life—one movement at a time.
Transcript
Hi friends.
Welcome to your movement practice all about shaking things awake.
I love to shake.
My mom always says actually that I was born dancing and I think that was true.
I think I probably came out and just started shaking,
Shaking,
Shaking and moving so much that she enrolled me in dance classes.
And so there's such profound benefit to shaking and to releasing.
And so I'm going to invite you into this practice and we're actually going to start really simply.
We're going to start with some just gentle rubbing of the body actually.
So I invite you to start by rubbing your hands together and you rub,
Rub,
Rub,
Rub the palms.
Start to create a little friction,
A little bit of heat.
And once you feel something start to build and you feel okay,
That's good.
I feel okay.
I feel this start to happen.
Then you're going to take that rubbing from your palms and you're going to go to the outsides of your hands.
So one hand will be rubbing the outside of the other hand.
You do that for a little bit and then just keep kind of switching back and forth as you feel called.
Just kind of rubbing.
And notice this is my favorite part of starting with rubbing is just rubbing your hands together.
You are going to start shaking.
So even if you're like,
Oh man,
I started this seated.
I need to stand.
You start realizing like,
Oh,
Just rubbing my hands together.
Just moving this kind of little bit of energy around can create so much.
Okay,
From your hands,
Move up to your forearms,
The belly of your forearm,
The top of the forearm.
Go to the other forearm.
The belly,
The belly.
Go to the top of your forearm.
And then just go ahead and keep going up that arm.
Go to the upper arm,
The belly of the upper arm.
Get to your armpits.
Get into your armpit.
Go all the way up to the other arm.
If you didn't go to the top,
I didn't go to the top or go into the top.
The belly of the other upper arm,
The other armpit.
And then your chest.
Your throat.
We'll come back to the face.
Don't worry.
Don't worry.
But then start to move from the throat down the chest.
Right?
Yes.
All the way.
All the way across the chest.
The whole chest.
Across the chest,
Down through the ribs,
Down through the belly,
Across the breasts even.
Get really comfortable with massaging,
Right?
And rubbing and shaking the whole body.
It's yours.
It's yours.
It's yours.
And then keep going down the legs.
We'll go down the front of the leg.
Down the thighs.
So here you can do both hands on one leg or you can do one leg and one hand.
Your call.
Just rubbing and starting to shake to the knees.
Down to the fronts of the shins.
And you do what you gotta do to get to these spaces,
Right?
You bend what you gotta bend.
Go all the way down to the feet.
And then we go tops of the feet.
Soles of the feet.
And then we'll work back up.
Back up the back of the body.
Start rubbing the calves.
Rubbing the calves.
And if you want to start inviting a little bit more shaking too.
I love shaking my calves a little.
Shaking,
Shaking.
Go rubbing onto the backs of the thighs,
Onto the bum.
Each side of the bum.
From the bum to the back.
And then I like to do a little back to front action here.
I got one hand going on my abdomen,
On my chest.
One hand going on my back.
Just kind of doing their thing.
And then switch it out.
Switch it out.
Get the side body.
Get your back.
Get your chest.
And then we'll come to the back of the throat.
So go to the back of the throat.
Work your way up from the back of your throat.
Up and over to the back of your head.
To the top of the head.
Down the front of the face.
Perfect.
And then just pause for a moment.
Take a deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
And just feel.
Feel what you've created just from this sensation of rubbing.
Rubbing your hands,
Right?
That's where it all started.
And we'll go back to the hands.
And now we're going to invite in some more shaking.
So start to shake your hands.
A little bit of a shaky,
Shaky,
Shaky.
Good.
And then from here,
We're going to start to bounce the hands.
I want you to imagine that you have two basketballs right underneath your hands.
Good.
And you get to control the speed,
Right?
You control the speed for all of this.
But especially this.
So if you want to go,
No,
No,
No.
Really bounce your balls.
Go for it.
Get it out.
But I just want you to imagine bouncing,
Bouncing,
Bouncing.
And start to create that.
And your hands aren't going the direction in terms of how far they're moving.
They're not moving too far,
Right?
You're just bouncing,
Bouncing.
It's like you're dribbling a ball.
One in each hand.
You can go do,
Do,
Do,
Do.
Or you can do it at the same time.
What I care most about is that you create something.
You start to be a cause for moving energy,
For creating new frequencies and allowing new things to shift into your body.
Good.
Keep bouncing with this with your hands.
Just your hands,
Right?
10,
9.
Mm-hmm.
Breath matters too.
Take a breath in and out.
8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
And then 1.
Pause.
Take a huge breath in.
Big,
Big breath out.
If you're not standing,
This next practice will be a little bit easier done standing,
But you can still do this seated.
I recommend standing just because we're going to start to bounce more with the legs.
And you can do this seated.
It's possible.
It's a little easier if you're seated on a stability ball.
And if you'd like to learn more about that,
I love stability ball practices.
I'd love to guide you.
But either way,
For here,
Whether you're seated or standing,
Bring your feet to face 12 o'clock.
We've talked about this.
Organize your feet.
Legs are about hip-width distance apart here,
Perhaps a little bit wider.
And then I just want you to start just kind of elevating through your feet,
Almost like pushing yourself.
You're not actually jumping,
But just a slight little bounce of your heels.
Just a gentle baby bounce.
Now,
In order to support this bounce and to allow this really to move throughout your body,
You have to soften your knees.
And I want to invite in the idea,
Again,
Of releasing just unnecessary grips.
When we start bouncing or when we're invited to bounce,
And you're invited now,
Keep going,
Keep bouncing.
When we're invited to bounce,
The most common thing I see wake up in people is the resistance to do it.
Oh no,
I might look a little silly,
Or oh,
I'm too old,
Or oh,
I don't know about this,
Right?
That's kind of what comes up.
And so if I could invite you to just,
One,
Be with those sensations,
And two,
Continue moving through them by allowing yourself to be where you are.
So what do you do here,
Right?
Just gentle rocking,
Gentle movement,
Gentle bounces on your feet.
Allow your shoulders to move up and down.
Allow your face to bounce.
Allow things to shake.
Yes,
You will feel it.
That's part of it.
Good.
And then gradually,
As you feel comfortable with this big full body shake,
Then you keep making it bigger and bigger as you need.
So your bounces might become bigger.
Maybe your drops become heavier.
Maybe you start including your arms,
And now your whole body is just shaking and kind of twitching and shivering and just moving around because you know that this is good for you,
And you know that this is releasing,
And you know that this is powerful.
And so we keep going,
And we keep shaking,
And we keep breathing.
Why?
Because we deserve to feel.
We deserve to heal.
We deserve to come alive.
Keep shaking,
And shaking,
And shaking,
And shaking,
And shaking,
And shaking,
And shaking.
Take a deep breath in,
And empty it out.
Allow your shakes to gradually stop.
Feel yourself rooted here on the planet.
Bring both of your hands to your heart.
You can press your hands together in a prayer-like position or bring your hands to actually press palm to palm into your chest.
And in this moment,
Just feel,
Right?
Maybe a temperature change.
Maybe your heartbeat has changed.
Maybe the environment has now changed.
Maybe you're forever changed.
But in this moment,
Just feel.
Just feel.
And in the feeling,
In the knowing,
In the remembering,
We generate trust that this feeling,
This profound act of just shifting and creating new frequency,
New vibration,
Is possible anywhere,
Any moment.
Let's close this shaking practice with one more deep breath in.
Reach your hands up overhead.
And then exhale,
Release,
And release them down,
Down,
Back to the earth.
Have a wonderful day.
