Somatic Shaking: Beyond a Quick Warm-Up Before Yoga

Trembling, shaking, noogenic and neurogenic shaking, and Kundalini kriyas are all part of my everyday professional practice. What I find interesting is how many practitioners and teachers still overlook the depth of shaking, often treating it as a brief warm-up—ten minutes at most—before a yoga class. For me, shaking is yoga itself.

The way I teach shaking involves more than voluntary or involuntary movement that may look chaotic from the outside. The practice follows a clear progression from conscious, intentional movement into a more spontaneous, subconscious experience through rhythm, sound, vibration, tapping, and specific postures. For me, shaking is a leap from matter into spirit.

In our sessions, we use playlists featuring psychedelic music, rave, trance, and electronic music more broadly. Rhythm and sound accompany trembling, vocalizations, shouts, tapping, rocking, and advanced energy work. Through this process, participants may experience altered states of consciousness in which visions, scenes, and symbols emerge. Somatic Shaking™, as I practice and teach it, is a shamanic journey: a shift in awareness from the Nominal—the world of form—to the Numinous—the formless—and a way of bringing back qualities, virtues, and what I describe in my spiritual vocabulary as healing frequencies.

 

The Message That Sparked This Reflection

“I wanted to let you know that I had some incredible visions during your session last week. You really hold an amazing space; keep doing what you’re doing!!”

I received this message from a participant, and I think it captures a dimension of shaking that we rarely talk about. We see the body moving, we notice the trembling, and we hear the sounds. But the experience unfolding within that person can be far more expansive than anything visible from the outside. That is true even for me as the teacher. My role is to facilitate the experience; I cannot fully know what someone else is experiencing.

When I talk about visions during Somatic Shaking™, I mean inner images, scenes, colors, or symbols that arise spontaneously, sometimes with the vividness of a dream. For the person experiencing them, they can carry deep emotional or spiritual significance, even when their meaning is not immediately clear.

What stands out to me is that this participant mentions both the visions and the space in which they emerged. This is where two dimensions of the practice meet: the willingness to explore what arises within, and the sense that you can do so without being pushed, analyzed, or judged.

Visions are one possible experience, but they are never a requirement. A session can be meaningful when all you notice is movement, warmth, emotion, or stillness.

 

The Science Behind Somatic Visions: What Happens in the Brain?

For me, spiritual language describes the meaning of an experience, while research investigates the mechanisms that accompany it. When I speak about moving from the Nominal to the Numinous, I am describing the perspective through which I understand and teach this practice. Explanations about the brain, in turn, need observations and measurements to support them.

Relevant research exists on meditation, inward absorption, and trance. In one study involving 15 experienced shamanic practitioners, entering a trance while listening to rhythmic drumming was associated with changes in brain connectivity consistent with inwardly directed attention. The study examined a different practice from Somatic Shaking™, but it offers a useful reference point for understanding these altered states of consciousness.

 

Alpha and Theta Brain Waves: Turning Attention Inward

As rhythm, movement, and sound take up more of our attention, the inner dialogue may recede into the background. A person may feel less caught up in analyzing the experience and more immersed in it.

Meditation research often examines alpha brain waves, roughly 8–12 Hz, and theta brain waves, roughly 4–8 Hz. One study of nondirective meditation found increased alpha and theta activity compared with ordinary relaxation. These findings suggest that certain practices can influence brain activity, without establishing a single “frequency” for inner experience.

The connection to shaking, however, remains a hypothesis to investigate. Without EEG recordings during sessions, we cannot claim that trembling automatically shifts the brain from beta to theta activity or reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex. The appearance of an inner image alone cannot tell us which brain-wave patterns are present.

What we can explore directly is how the experience changes: how noticeable the inner dialogue becomes, how the perception of the body shifts, and how spontaneously images arise.

 

Body Memory: Sensations, Emotions, and Symbolic Images

A past experience can influence us without appearing in our minds as a clear story with a beginning and an end. Sometimes we notice the response first: we tense up, pull away, or feel an urge to protect ourselves before we can explain why. Implicit memory refers to the ways past experience influences us without conscious recollection.

In an exploratory study, Bessel van der Kolk and Rita Fisler described accounts of traumatic memories initially experienced as sensory and emotional fragments, including sensations and images. This supports an interest in the nonverbal dimensions of experience, without demonstrating that memories are stored in muscles or fascia.

Somatic Experiencing, developed by Peter Levine, pays close attention to bodily sensations and defensive responses. Clinical research on this approach exists, but its findings do not establish that relaxing the psoas or releasing fascia unlocks images. They also cannot be automatically applied to Somatic Shaking™.

In practice, a sensation, an emotion, and an image may emerge together. We can explore that connection without immediately deciding that the image represents an accurate memory. For me, a symbol deserves our attention before we assign it an explanation.

The Autonomic Nervous System and Somatic Experience

The autonomic nervous system helps regulate involuntary functions, such as heart rate and digestion, as well as the responses through which the body mobilizes or settles.

Stephen Porges’s polyvagal theory offers a framework for understanding the relationship between autonomic regulation, safety, and connection. Within this model, “ventral vagal” refers to processes associated with social engagement and physiological regulation. It is an influential model in somatic practice, although its underlying premises are debated in the scientific literature.

For that reason, I would not interpret the appearance of visions as proof that someone has entered a particular vagal state. The practical question is how they are moving through the experience: can they stay connected to the present, communicate, and choose to reduce the intensity?

 

Creating a Supportive Space: How Safety Supports Inner Exploration

In Porges’s terminology, neuroception describes the process through which the nervous system evaluates cues of safety and danger without conscious analysis. Tone of voice, facial expressions, and the way we are welcomed all play a role in this model.

For me, the somatic container is the actual structure surrounding the practice: how I offer instructions, the pacing of the session, the pauses, and each participant’s freedom to say they have had enough.

The music may be intense, and the movements may become expansive, but participants must retain the ability to slow down, open their eyes, or stop. Part of guiding the process is recognizing when the exploration calls for less intensity.

Safety supports that freedom. It does not guarantee visions, and visions alone do not establish that someone feels safe. My aim is to support each participant in staying present with their experience and moving at their own pace.

 

 

3 Steps to Integrate Visions and Images After a Session

 

1. Ground Yourself in Your Body Before Looking for Meaning

When the session ends, take a few minutes to feel the support of the floor, look around the room, and let your breathing settle into its natural rhythm. Notice how you feel and whether you need to sit, lie down, or take a few steps.

Interpretation can wait until you feel grounded in the present.

 

2. Write Down the Symbols Without Deciding What They Mean

Write down what you saw, what you felt, and any associations that arise naturally. You can also draw the image if that feels easier than describing it.

Keep some space between the experience and your interpretation: “I saw a door” describes an image; “I need to end this relationship” is already a conclusion. An image can hold personal meaning without becoming an instruction or evidence about the past.

3. Make Room for Rest and Everyday Care

Drink water when you are thirsty, eat if you are hungry, and give yourself time to rest. You can return to your notes the next day, once the intensity of the experience has settled.

Also notice what carries over into everyday life: how you feel in your body, how you respond to an emotion, or how readily you recognize a need. That is where integration begins to take shape.

 

From Inner Experience to Everyday Life

For me, the wisdom of the body becomes clearer through this ongoing attention to what you feel and what you need. Shaking can open the door to a profound experience, but your relationship with that experience continues after the music stops. Visions may be part of the journey, as may an emotion finding expression or a moment when you feel closer to yourself.

If you would like to explore Somatic Shaking™ with me, visit SomaticShaking.com to learn about the practice and available sessions. Come with a willingness to discover what unfolds at your own pace.