What happens when a quantum physicist discovers the healing power of neurogenic tremoring during a profound psychedelic journey? In this captivating episode of the Neurogenic Integration podcast, host Alex Greene sits down with Dr. Keith Motes, founder of Shaking Medicine, to explore the transformative intersection of science, spirituality, and somatic healing. Dr. Motes shares his remarkable evolution from academia to becoming a leading voice in therapeutic tremoring, weaving together insights from quantum physics, indigenous wisdom, Qigong, yoga, and hands-on bodywork. This conversation offers a comprehensive exploration of how surrendering control and trusting the body's innate intelligence can unlock profound healing, emotional freedom, and expanded human potential.

1. The Journey from Academia to Embodied Healing

Dr. Keith Motes began his career studying quantum physics and quantum computing technologies in Australia, where he earned his PhD and citizenship. During this intensive academic period, he discovered yoga as a practice for breathing and movement, which gradually opened doorways to deeper aspects of himself through meditation and Qigong. However, Keith noticed he was plateauing in his yoga practice—growth had stagnated despite consistent practice.

He later realized that trauma and stored emotional energy were holding him back, and that Western yoga approaches often don't adequately address the deeper layers of the emotional body and subconscious trauma. This realization became a catalyst for his journey into somatics and eventually led to the creation of Shaking Medicine. After completing his PhD and first postdoc, Keith felt burnt out from academia and made the courageous decision to dedicate himself full-time to his spiritual and healing path—a decision that continues to serve him powerfully nearly a decade later.

2. The Transformative Plant Medicine Experience That Changed Everything

Keith's discovery of therapeutic tremoring occurred during his first extended DMT experience combined with psilocybin mushrooms—an eight-hour journey that he describes as profoundly life-changing. During this experience, his body spontaneously moved into intense shaking, tremoring, and vocalization that resembled the exorcisms he'd only seen in movies. He had no framework or language for what was happening—it was simply a primal, full-body experience.

During this journey, Keith felt waves of childhood trauma energy releasing from his system through purging, movement, and sound. Despite the intensity, the experience felt liberating and amazing—what he calls a "rebirth." The next day, he felt like an entirely new being. This seed experience became the foundation for everything that followed, inspiring him to branch from yoga into deeper somatic work and to begin teaching therapeutic tremoring by combining it with simple yoga shapes that could activate tremoring throughout the entire body.

3. Viewing Tremoring Through Multiple Cultural and Scientific Lenses

In his Shaking Medicine teacher training, Keith explores therapeutic tremoring through four or five different lenses: scientific, yogic, Qigong, indigenous/shamanic, and more. He emphasizes that all these perspectives complement each other beautifully, describing the same human experience in different languages. Starting with the scientific lens, Keith explains that neurogenic tremoring evolved as a natural mechanism for bringing organisms into self-regulation and homeostasis—it comes from nature itself and represents millions of years of evolutionary wisdom.

Moving to indigenous and shamanic cultures, Keith draws heavily from Dr. Bradford Keeney's work with the Kalahari Bushmen, who practice a sophisticated shaking shamanism. In their culture, shamans become stronger through embodying the shake, progressing through levels where the tremoring eventually centers in the "pit of the belly"—what Qigong practitioners call the dantian, a major energy center. As the energy centers there, it pumps through the nerve plexus into the spine and brain, nourishing practitioners from the inside out. Advanced practitioners "dance with the spirits," reaching cosmic and spiritual dimensions of the practice.

4. The Kundalini Connection: A Yin Path to Awakening

Keith describes Shaking Medicine as a potent yet gentle way to awaken Kundalini—the mystical energy that yogis say awakens at the root of the spine and travels through the nervous system and energy channels. Traditional Kundalini yoga often uses forceful, yang approaches to awaken this energy, whereas therapeutic tremoring offers a yin alternative through deep surrender, relaxation, and letting go of control. This feminine, receptive approach allows practitioners to work with Kundalini in a much gentler way.

Keith emphasizes that the illusion of control is just that—an illusion. By relaxing and surrendering, practitioners allow their primal life force to awaken naturally as blockages clear. This practice isn't about controlling the mind, body, or breath (as traditional yoga often emphasizes), but rather about balancing that control with deep surrender. When practitioners can truly let go, their instinctive mind and nervous system—which are supremely intelligent—know exactly how to vibrate them back to peace, harmony, and homeostasis.

5. The Powerful Synergy Between Psychedelics and Therapeutic Tremoring

Both Keith and Alex have observed that many people first encounter spontaneous tremoring during psychedelic journeys—with psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, ketamine, and other medicines. Keith notes that people respond in two ways: some intuitively allow and trust the tremoring, while others contract in fear because they don't understand what's happening. For those who get frightened, cultural conditioning around shaking and tremoring makes their fear understandable, but it can significantly diminish the medicine experience.

Keith views plant medicines and therapeutic tremoring as highly complementary practices. Psychedelics primarily help the ego surrender control, moving people into presence and feeling while revealing what's alive, what's stuck, and what needs to shift. Shaking Medicine teaches the same fundamental skill—letting go of control. Keith strongly recommends that anyone planning psychedelic work should learn about and practice therapeutic tremoring beforehand. Many people have told him that their favorite part of their journey was simply lying there and tremoring or moving instinctively for hours. Alex shares a powerful example of a client who, through MDMA work combined with years of tremoring practice, was able to let his body lead him to memories of early traumatic incidents that had been previously inaccessible—healing that required both modalities working together.

6. The Art of Bodywork Integration: Facilitating Deeper Release Through Touch

Keith's recent exploration into Zen Shiatsu bodywork has revealed a rich tapestry of possibilities for integrating touch with therapeutic tremoring. He explains that when a bodyworker can sense when someone is at the precipice of their body wanting to "crack open through the quaking," the work becomes effortless—the practitioner simply listens to how the nervous system wants to unravel from their own centered state. This takes bodywork beyond the physical layer of muscles and fascia into the energetics of emotions and trauma.

Keith emphasizes that this is fundamentally intuitive medicine that must be learned through embodiment. Bodyworkers cannot effectively sense charges and vibrational energy in others if they haven't first sensed it in themselves—making personal practice essential. He shares how he spontaneously discovered he could feel trauma energy or "charges" in others during a simple hug with a friend, which led to her dissolving into deep release. His approach combines presence, intentional touch, breathing, and sometimes plant medicines to help people access tremoring states they've never experienced before, creating profound relief and transformation.

Dr. Keith Motes' journey from quantum physics to Shaking Medicine demonstrates the profound healing that becomes available when we bridge scientific understanding with ancient wisdom and embodied practice. His work reminds us that therapeutic tremoring isn't just about releasing trauma and stress—it's about cultivating our fullest human potential, awakening life force energy, and returning to the vibrational field of love that connects us all. As channels clear and the body returns to homeostasis, we access more energy for what we love and experience more states of love itself. Whether you're a practitioner, a bodyworker, someone exploring psychedelic healing, or simply seeking nervous system regulation, this episode offers invaluable insights into trusting your body's supreme intelligence and surrendering to nature's healing wisdom.

Listen to the full episode to dive deeper into Keith's transformative approach to therapeutic tremoring and discover how this practice can revolutionize your healing journey.

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