Gyrating and Undulating Our Way Toward Resilience

I was struck by the article "Being Shaken" in the Fall edition of Tricycle, a magazine about Buddhist teachings. The author, Edward Brown, describes how he was unable to stop his body from shaking when he first began meditating. Fortunately, with the support of a compassionate teacher, he was able to hold steady and just witness his experience without fear, judgment or an impulse to shut it down. Eventually, he discovered that the shaking was related to severe childhood trauma that his body was attempting to release. It is encouraging that the world is beginning to realize that these experiences are not to be altered or suppressed. If you witness them from the relative safety of the here-and-now, with non-judgment, curiosity and equanimity, the body will complete the release and return to calm.

In his book In An Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness, Dr. Peter Levine, creator of the trauma-healing method Somatic Experiencing®, describes this process as holding "the potential for catalyzing authentic transformation." He goes on to say:

"What do all of these involuntary shakes and shivers have in common? Why do we quake when frightened or tremble in anger? Why do we quiver at sexual climax? And what might be the physiological function of trembling in spiritual awe? What is the commonality of all these shivers and shakes, quivers and quakes? And what do they have to do with transforming trauma, regulating stress and living life to the fullest? These gyrations and undulations are ways that our nervous system "shakes off" the last rousing experience and grounds us in the readiness for the next encounter with danger, lust and life. They are mechanisms that help restore our equilibrium after we have been threatened or highly aroused. Indeed, such physiological reactions are at the core of self-regulation and resilience."



It is no coincidence that we have expressions in our language such as "I'm shaking off the whole event." Now, if we could only do what we say, we would experience the unbelievable bliss of dropping back into our selves. Let us shake the shackles of our past experiences and return to life with a clearer lens so we can see things as they truly are, not as we've been conditioned to see them.