This activity may make you feel goofy the first time you try it! We invite students to shake out various parts of their bodies. Once you do it for a few seconds, it gets really fun, and might even turn into a dance. Get weird! Why not?!

This trauma-informed SEL intervention is based on therapeutic shaking. When scary things happen, our autonomic nervous system releases adrenaline and cortisol, and we get a big burst of energy. Shaking is used to bring the nervous system back into balance after this happens.

Shaking can be practiced at the moment when something scary happens and over time as a daily practice to manage big physiological responses. If you want to learn more about therapeutic shaking, check out this article!