Shaking: The Original Path to Ecstasy and Healing ebook

I am a dancer, but also an intellectual and struggle with being in my head -- even in meditation after many decades of meditation : ( These cds are designed to be primal, so I just listened and let myself go with it. Yes, it is free-form "beatnik" style, but you can grape what he's saying and just be with those ideas. After listening to the first cd laying on my bed, I got to the shaking part and moved with the free-form Afro-jazz type music, I had profound feeling move through me and a big release of energy -- crying, but then coming to a major feeling of connectedness. Throw your intellectual judgements out the window and listen with your heart and your cells!

i have to admit, the first minute of this CD set made me think i had made a terrible mistake in purchasing it. i expected a professorial exploration of the history of the practice, and an overview of the cultures that continue to use it. i figured there would be some good drumming tracks that i could use in some of my classes. imagine my shock when Keeney begins the audio session with the oratory style of a zealous, crazy Baptist minister, loud and in partial rhythm with drum play in the background!

i thought the whole thing was ridiculous, and so i turned it off, angry that i had purchased this set.

but then i decided to at least play one of the 6 discs all the way through. i'm so glad i decided to give it a second chance because quickly i realized that the absurdity was the very crucible of it's genius.

in TCM it is taught that all illness in the body is a result of blocked energy flow, and through techniques such as qigong, tai chi, and acupuncture, a person can clear out those blockages and restore health. Keeney's approach, right from his crazy presentation, is taking this understanding to another level. we are a culture of ill souls, blocked and boxed in by our norms, assumptions, and definitions. we have lost the ability to be free, to be loud and expressive, to be crazy. and in losing that, we've lost our connection to the divine. we've lost our natural birthright of self-healing and spiritual evolution. gibberish and nonsensical expressiveness make us feel uncomfortable. letting go and being raw, even silly, makes us self-conscious. relinquishing our controls makes us scared.

Keeney's radical performative style demanded that i let go of my walls and barriers that determined what form of knowledge was allowed to reach me. he didn't allow me to distance myself from his words as a scholar, examining his concepts in the 3rd person so i could file it away for later use if appropriate. he made me uneasy right from the start, and he challenged me to be daring, to let go, to shake and move and vocalize nonsense with intense feeling and expressiveness. he challenged me to set myself free. and i am immensely grateful.

the reason i give it 3 stars instead of 5 is because the music tracks are pretty terrible. at the end of each disk there is a music track for your shaking practice, and maybe 1 of the 6 tracks is mediocre at best. the others are just plain bad. that's 2 HOURS of crappy music! and since a big part of the reason i wanted this set was for the music, the overall value is diminished. additionally, Keeney was a little lazy with the sound balance in the studio. whenever he whispers i have to turn the volume all the way and can still only barely hear him. then, when he immediately transitions to being loud and boisterous again, the volume needs to be turned down. because of his performance style, i have to constantly adjust the volume, and while i appreciate the beauty of what he's done, he could have done a better job equalizing the sound.

i imagine that many people (mostly men like myself) will have the same initial reaction as i did. i say to you, give it another chance. This CD set isn't just talking about shaking medicine, it IS medicine! have the courage to receive his message. suspend judgment for just a little while and let him in; it just might change you like it did me.

i almost let it pass me by. now i think it might be the most important purchase i've made in years. now if only i can find some good music to shake to! ;)

I did not intend to write a review of "Shaking"; but I thought I had better warn anyone who might consider purchasing the set. Don't do it! Save your money! I read the previous reviews here before I checked it out of our public library, and those reviews led me to believe that it might be interesting. It isn't.

Apparently Mr. Keeney's thesis was something like spirituality/healing/life is physical and experiential and ecstatic; not verbal or intellectual. Therefore, the teaching of those things should be non-verbal and experiential. Keeney seems to have attempted to present that kind of teaching, but he failed miserably.

Of the 6+ hours on this program, about half is insipid, jazz-like instrumental music. The effect is similar to listening to your bank's on-hold telephone music. If this is intended to get you "shaking," it doesn't work.

For the other half of the program, imagine it is 2:30 in the morning in 1959 and you are listening to a drunk beatnik endlessly reciting self indulgent poetry at a coffeehouse while he plays bongos. It doesn't take long before you wish he would stop - but he won't stop.

I am reminded of a song by the late-60s British art rock band, the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. The song is entitled "Jazz: Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold." These recordings show the cold side of jazz and discourse, and they definitely left me cold.

I've been a Catholic, Conservative Christian, Four Square Christian, New Ager and Now Truth Seeker!
And here it is The TRUTH! .........Wild, Wild Truth!
My Bones tingle with excitement listening to "Shaking"
This is the guide to Waking YourSELF up the leader is inside us not a Pastor or a Priest! YOU ????
If your conservative try listening to 1 or 2 tracks at a time ~
This is my Path to the Light of the World for the Rest of My Life!
Thank You, Ahó, Ùra, Hohóu, Danke, Mahalo, Grazie, Ngiyabonga, Thuk-je-che (ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ།) Mr. Brad Keeney! ????