How to shake out tension to restore balance

Have you ever noticed how a drake shakes out his feathers? Enjoying the sunshine by a lake a couple of years ago I saw that whenever a duck had any kind of altercation with another bird on the water, afterwards he would do a whole body shake, freeing his feathers of any extra adrenaline that had built up. Sometimes he would flap his wings right out in a noisy flourish, finishing off by giving his tail a wiggle. Then he was able to move off gracefully, his equilibrium restored.

As a composer I’ve been trying to regain my own equilibrium since the pandemic hit. I soon realised the old patterns of our musical life had been broken - so, time to create some new ones. Seeking ways to be more mindful and ‘present’ though, I found to my horror my mind was dominated by my teenage self - who eye-rolled at every suggestion of nourishing practice, preferring to stay in bed flicking around on my phone.

When in a Qi Gong class I was introduced to a ‘shaking meditation’ where you allow your body to shake out and disperse all the tension held in arms, wrists, shoulders, back, legs and neck, I started to imagine how I could use this technique easily any time. The breath releases, the body moves gently and freely, relaxing and releasing muscles and tendons. The mind clears, dispersing tension and anxiety. I found my inner teenager less resistant to this idea, and since then I’ve been experimenting with this shaking technique more creatively.

Last summer, encouraged by a couple of musician friends who were feeling equally at sea, we started tentatively experimenting on Zoom to see if we could find something musically satisfying that could reconnect us in some way, to each other, to our instruments and to ourselves. We started without our instruments, with some time just shaking. Arms, body, legs, shoulders. Then, focusing on the ‘feel’ of the movement, I asked each person to find a musical gesture that matched their ‘shaking energy’. This seemed to work! The act of shaking not only freed up the physical body but also the mind, so that the musical responses had an open quality, enabling ideas to grow and develop without (too much) judgement.

When last winter we decided to start InsideOut Musician officially and run Zoom workshops, we were suddenly having to navigate website design, marketing and technical computer things - normally I would avoid these like the plague. In our Zoom planning meetings if I felt stress building up in my body I would say: ‘I need to shake!’. We would take a moment to all just shake, and laugh, and breathe. And then we were better able to ask: what was wrong? And then, we could discuss how we could support each other more effectively. This set me thinking about the old way I used to function: armouring up and ‘just keeping going’ - that tendency some of us have to ignore the messages from our bodies until they are screaming at us to stop. For me this has been something on which I have worked a lot, though not through choice.

About seven years ago my body was screaming and I wasn’t listening. To cut a long story short, this led to a complete breakdown, to the point that I couldn’t walk, couldn’t work and couldn’t think any more. My successful journey back to health has included a lot of reading and thinking about vulnerability, shame and acceptance. Particularly useful guidance came from Brené Brown’s book ‘Daring Greatly’. Brown has researched how opening up channels of honest communication and connection relies on trust. Allowing yourself and others to be open and vulnerable enables deeper levels of communication, understanding, wellbeing and creativity.

I decided there was a need for an online forum to explore these issues of vulnerability and how we cope with the ‘wobbly moments’ in life. And so the interactive online discussion group ‘Taking the Plunge’ was born. These hour-long online sessions include an interview with an invited guest who is willing to open up and share some of the moments in their life in which they have felt really wobbly, or in which they bravely ‘took the plunge’ into unknown territory.

We start with a physical and also an imaginative warm up relating to my guest’s story. For example, in our July session - led by my guest Ade Anifowose on the djembe - we will be physically exploring in a child-like way ‘turning ourselves into a drum’, without judgement, moving playfully and freely. Then we will sit for a minute and examine in our minds how our different internal voices respond to that activity: What did the inner child notice? What did the inner wise one notice? (All the while, trying to ignore the inner eye-rolling teenager.)

The sessions include breakout rooms in which everyone has a chance to reflect on the guest speaker’s story and their own experiences in small groups, sharing together in a supportive space. Allowing vulnerability to be revealed like this seems to be paying off:

‘Participating in Taking the Plunge has led me to reflect on my own creative practice. Following the session with Kath Burlinson, I went back to rethinking a certain creative idea I nursed in the past and had abandoned.’ Neta (writer and filmmaker)

‘The session offered the opportunity to reflect and discuss on the topics with people from a wide-variety of backgrounds in small breakout rooms as well as the larger group on a whole.’ Matt (MA student)

‘Thank you Liz for these inspiring and connecting sessions. It is also a great thing to be in a group of curious, open and talented people like that and have the chance to exchange ideas. I came away stimulated and refreshed!’ Sophie (professional musician)

I know at any point these days I may feel out of my depth and the anxiety levels may rise. But now I try to remember to let go of the tension, take a moment to move physically and breathe out, ‘shaking out’ whenever I feel anxiety rising in my body, or even while waiting for the kettle to boil.

Here’s a simple shaking exercise for you to try:

• Start gently by flicking out fingers with loose wrists and hands
• Add in elbows, arms, shoulders, keeping everything relaxed
• Allow the breath to flow freely
• Add a gentle bounce, keeping your knees soft
• Shake out turning side to side
• Raise your arms up and shake gently above your head
• Allow your spine to move and dance freely with your whole body
• Gradually reduce the movements back down
• Bring yourself back to stillness with a reinvigorated centre

Like the duck, you will have released some of the tension that builds up during the day. You can shake it out and let it go. 

InsideOut Ceilidh hosted by Mairi Campbell 7-9pm June 24th 2021

Taking the Plunge special guest Ade Anifowose 7-8pm July 8th 2021

More courses and free resources can be found at at insideoutmusician.com