Customer Reviews

Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement

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If you are drawn to movement as a therapy, this book is a must. I have been interested in energy medicine and practicing as a homeopath since 1996. For years I have studied shamanism and have walked the path of a shaman. More recently I became fascinated with the idea of movement. I felt it from the inside out. This book was able to give me historical and practical information about "shaking medicine" that i have always known on a gut level. I also liked that the book explained the relationship between "sitting still" meditation and "movement" meditation. In my practice there are many clients who struggle with beign able to sit still yet they have a desire to meditate. In Shaking Medicine, I have found a tool to help them. This book has been of great help to me. The CD is also excellent quality.

For anyone who enjoyed reading the author's first book on shaking titled Bushman Shaman, Shaking Medicine gives the reader a more in-depth look on the shake itself. Amongst other things Keeney talks in length on what the shake means to different societies and how it has evolved or became suppressed over time. How the shake relates to our society and/or religion. And he also discusses how anyone can learn to shake.

Quite a fascinating book that I would highly recommend. I would also highly recommend Keeney's other book, Bushman Shaman.

I am conflicted about this book.

There is no doubt in my mind that shaking is good for us. At its minimum, rhythmic movement of the body connects body systems into an organic whole. Shaking restores the flexibility of the connective tissue and eases communication between ligaments, bones, fascia, blood and lymph vessels and the endings of afferent/efferent nerves. Furthermore, when done with a proper attitude and surrender, dancing propels the dancer into the transpersonal.

Here is where it gets a little shakey for me. What Keeney promotes as "shaking medicine" may not have that much to do with the !Kung (Bushmen). Here is an interiew with a !Kung recorded by the anthropologist Richard Lee: "Trance medicine really hurts. As you begin to trance the power (n/om) slowly heats inside and pulls at your insides. Your mind and your senses leave and youdon't think clearly. You can't listen to people and understand what they say. In !kia (trance) your heart stops, you're dead, your thoughts are nothing, you breathe with difficulty. You see ghosts killing people, you smell burning, rotten flesh. Then you heal and you pull sickness out." During the trance, the shaman (according to the anthropologist) "trembles violently, sweats profusely, staggers, lower his head, bleeds from the nose, froths at the mouth and finally crashes to the ground."

How many people at Keeney's workshops bleed from their nose (a result of dehydration), dance the whole night into exhaustion, exorcise ghosts or fall unconscious to the ground? How many will "journey" into the sky where they learn from the ancestors in a village in the sky, animal totems (giraffe and eland especially) and the "Big God"? My guess is: zero, and that includes Keeney himself. In other words, Keeney's "shaking medicine" is, in my mind, an invitation to innocuous social feel-good dancing. No problem with that, i enjoy shaking booties as much as any other guy... but this has little to do with the !Kung.

Keeney is never detracted from name-dropping... he has studied with this Zulu, that Bushman, this cybernetic specialist, that African-American church all of whom have had (according to K.) the wisdom to recognize the importance of this holy man. Unfortunately, in this day and age name-dropping is at the very core of the definition of a spiritual charlatan. What has the man actually learned? Real spiritual message should stand on its own - yet when dissociated from these 'credentials", there seems to be little to Keeney's insights. I kept asking myself, what is this man's ACTUAL contribution to spirituality? The fact that we need to shake our bodies?

I would be more impressed if Keeney actually learned from the Bushmen how to "ascend the ropes to the Sky God". This does not seem to be the case, at least it is not mentioned in the text. I am inclined to think that, if anything, this book reveal a man who is the quintessential opportunist and trickster. As for the CD, "arrhythmic cacophony" is what comes to mind.

I recently discovered shaking through a friend. She invited me to a shake with an Energy Master named Ratu Bagus. I got into it, and it's great!!! I can't recommend it enough. It is healed my body, and I am so much happier!!! I have more energy, and feel great! You can check out his website: [...] Shaking is GREAT!!!!

Shaking medicine has shaken me to my core and opened me to a whole new way of seeing and connecting to Spirit. Brad is right move over meditation shaking medicine is going to be the next revolution.

I have proceeded to read Brad's latest book. "The Bushman way of Tracking God." this has become new bible for me and continues to crack open my heart and blow my mind. I can feel the n/om , life force energy, coming through every word, like arrows piercing my heart.

His Crazy Wisdom is Brilliant beyond words!

In deep gratitude