How to Try Somatic Shaking for Stress Relief

Shak Your Body — Imagine you’ve just washed your hands, and there’s no towel. Give them a gentle shake, and then let your arms join in.

That’s the start of a stress-management exercise that may help loosen your tense muscles and give you a break from anxious thoughts, says Kim Penberthy, a clinical psychologist and professor of research in psychiatric medicine at the UVA School of Medicine. It’s a small movement experiment—sometimes called somatic shaking—that takes a minute or less, doesn’t require any equipment. Additionally, gives you something to try when telling yourself to calm down isn’t getting you anywhere.

Here’s why shaking things out might help, plus how to give it a try.

How does shaking your body help with stress?

Think about what happens when you’re replaying an argument or worrying about tomorrow’s big work presentation. Your mind is busy, sure. But your jaw might be clenched, your shoulders raised, and your neck stiff enough to make turning your head unpleasant. Therefore, shaking your body gives you a chance to notice—and loosen—some of that tension. “If you try to tense your shoulder and shake your arm, it’s sort of hard,” Penberthy says. Letting your arm hang loosely and gently moving it encourages you to relax those muscles.

The movement also gives your mind something else to focus on. Instead of mentally rewriting the email you just sent, you’re noticing how your hands feel or concentrating on moving one leg at a time. That shift may briefly interrupt rumination—and remind you that you have a way to respond when you’re feeling stuck. Therefore, part of the relief, Penberthy says, is realizing: “I’ve got some ability to do something. I don’t have to just sit here and suffer.”

Penberthy sometimes shakes things out herself. “I often do it after a very stressful day,” she says, especially when she notices her neck aching. The image that comes to her mind is athletes shaking out their limbs before heading onto the field: a mental and physical move. 

How to try somatic shaking

Start small, advises Lisa George, a psychiatric and family nurse practitioner and founder of Talk Tribeca Psychiatry in New York. Stand comfortably with your feet planted on the floor, or sit down in a chair. Let your hands hang loosely and give them the same gentle shake you’d use to flick off water. Therefore, try that for 10 or 15 seconds, then let your arms join in, keeping your shoulders relaxed.

If it feels comfortable, loosen one leg and then the other, holding a chair or wall for support if you’re standing. If you’re sitting down, you can try small foot taps instead. Keep your eyes open, leave your head and neck steady, and breathe normally. Therefore, a little movement is plenty.

“This isn’t something where you have to be aggressive,” George says. “You’re not throwing your arms.” She “shakes things out” in her own office, including around other people. Additionally, likens it to “an active form of stretching.” You’re moving enough to see whether it feels good, rather than trying to work up a sweat.

George’s own anxiety tends to show up in her body: Her heart races, her muscles tense, and she feels overwhelmed. When that happens, being told to meditate or work on her thoughts doesn’t necessarily help. Movement gives her another place to start. Therefore, it’s also something you can fit into a stressful workday: a realistic alternative to telling a client, “‘Oh, you’re feeling stressed at work, you should go for a 20-minute run,’” she says.

After a brief shake, stop and notice how you feel. Are your shoulders a little lower? Do your hands feel less clenched? Therefore, has the conversation in your head quieted down? You might feel calmer, unchanged, or more energized. Use that information to decide whether this is something you’d like to try again. However, “If it feels good, great,” George says. “And if it doesn’t feel good, then stop.”

Don’t worry if the difference is small. Penberthy sometimes suggests rating your tension before and afterward. However, she doesn’t want people thinking, “Oh no, I’ve only moved from 7 to 6. I’ve failed.” Any stress reduction is valuable, she says.

How to make “shaking it out” a stress-relief habit

You don’t have to save shaking for the end of a terrible day. Try it between tasks, after a tense phone call, or once you’re somewhere comfortable following an appointment you’ve been dreading.

Morgan Starr-Riestis, a therapist in Honolulu, recently did a quick shake beside her car after a trip to the dentist. Dental appointments are stressful for her, and she had already used breathing and other calming techniques beforehand. Afterward, she spent about 10 seconds bouncing around before getting into the car. Therefore, “You just kind of allow that pent-up energy to feel like it has a place to go,” she says, “so you’re not carrying it around.”

It’s something she encourages her clients to try, too. “If you could think your way out of your problems,” she often tells them, “you would have done it by now.”

If you’re having trouble picturing the movement, Starr-Riestis suggests imagining water droplets on your skin and gently shaking them off, like a dog after a bath. Focus on where you notice tension, and move in whatever way feels comfortable. 

Starr-Riestis wishes the movement felt less socially awkward. “If somebody saw you doing squats publicly, they wouldn’t think, ‘Oh, that’s weird.’ They’d be like, ‘Oh, they’re doing squats,’” she says. If you’d rather experiment without an audience, she adds, head to a private spot, even if it’s the restroom at work.

There’s no need to turn shaking into another time-consuming thing on your to-do list. Starr-Riestis likes that it’s free, takes very little time. Additionally, gives people something they can try anytime they have a spare second. “I think so much of our healing culture has become these long drawn-out routines,” she says. Therefore, “You go to yoga for an hour, you have to do this and you have to do that.”

Just leave yourself a moment afterward to be still. Take a breath, notice how you feel. Additionally, give yourself a chance to settle before checking your phone or opening the next email. “The stillness after that is really, I think, the more important part,” Starr-Riestis says.