Extreme body shaking and trembling in religious settings. What causes them?

[WellbeingSeeker]

I've noticed there is a strange phenomenon occurring in religious settings, particularly in Pentecostal and Charismatic groups. There are people that seem to be experiencing episodes of body shaking and trembling, which sometimes can be very extreme and dramatic. I'm sharing illustrative examples below so you can understand what I mean:

• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3
• Example 4
• Example 5
• Example 6
• Example 7
• Example 8
• Example 9
• Example 10
• Example 11
• Example 12
• Example 13
• Example 14

I was really curious to know whether the phenomenon had been scientifically studied already and if there was an official scientific explanation for it. So I decided to post two questions, one on Psychology & Neuroscience StackExchange and another on Skeptics StackExchange. Both sites have very competent moderators and a culture of peer review and making sure answers are serious and backed by sources. Subjective, speculative and baseless answers usually are harshly punished with downvotes and sometimes even straight up deleted by moderators. If you are looking for serious answers, these sites (and StackExchange in general to be honest) are the way to go. So I posted these questions. It turns out, to my surprise, that so far no one has posted an answer providing a scientific explanation for the phenomenon. At the moment only one person has posted an answer, but by the author's own admission his answer is just speculative and not based on rigorous science.

I also posted a similar question on reddit, but the best answer I've received at the moment is this paper where they perform a comparison analysis of spiritual experiences reported by people from different religions, but unfortunately the paper doesn't provide a scientific explanation of the causes behind the extreme body shaking and trembling some people experience. The paper acknowledges that the phenomenon happens but doesn't explain why and how it happens.

Having said that, I would like to know your take guys on these weird manifestations. If you happen to know a scientific explanation for this phenomenon, I would deeply appreciate it if you post an answer either at psychology.SE or skeptics.SE. On the other hand, if you don't know a scientific explanation but you have anecdotal experience to share, or if you believe the phenomenon is truly supernatural and have experienced it first-hand yourself, or if you just want to speculate and state your opinion, feel free to share, all ideas and opinions are welcomed.

Edited July 31, 2020 by WellbeingSeeker

[Jay Ray]

I have had a very similar experience to something like this happen to me a few mouths ago and I will try and explain it the best I can.

I was meditating and I was looking at my hand and I thought "who is in control of this hand? I am going to try and see if I can remove the feeling of being in control of my hand and see if it can be automatic without "me" doing it". so I did this and and after a few minutes of moving my hand in a random way the feeling of "me" controlling it was gone, it was being done automatically, but I could come back at any moment. 

 

a few days later I was on a walk and then I was thinking "Who is really in control of me?" and pondering other spiritual things. I got this feeling like I may have just believed that I was in control my whole life when actually is was just automatic.  this feeling of control is so thin that moving your hand in a repetitive way for 3 minutes can make it seem like it will automatically continue without "you" untill you stop it. I.E. autopilot mode for your body. 

 

I then decided to "give up" control to this other automatic process. maybe it was my subconscious or a spirit, I am not sure what to say. but many weird things started to happen.

 

first, I just let my self walk automatically, then it felt like my normal walk turned into a child-like skipping and I started dancing like a lunatic (I was alone at the time). I tried this again by saying " I give up control, I will embrace any action that my body is doing. I wont judge it nor will try and control, any act that is done from my body is ok".  a few days later, I got the urge to walk o the floor like a dog and I did it, I then felt like I was a dog for a few seconds running around and felt like it was not "me" doing it 

"I" am the one who stops it not controls it. what your body wants to do will happen automatically when "you" dont stop it. 

"I" had the ability to come back at any time, because I believed that I can, however, it is a possibility that these people's beliefs are such that some other entity is doing it and everyone around them is cheering them on too which adding to the belief. thinking that they are being possessed this makes it so much more powerful for them and they may not have an "off switch." 

 

one thing I will say is this feeling for me was amazing. It feels like all of the social awkwardness and being uncomfortable in your own body goes away for a few seconds or minutes. It is a beautiful experience and I bet that an experience like what I would be enough to keep someone in a stage blue faith because of how freeing it can be. 

 

I recommend trying it, even if you dont believe in an entity taking over, you at least believe that your subconscious mind is VERY powerful. stage Orange and green can do this too, say to yourself "I let my subconscious take over my body, I do not judge myself for any action that I do, I can leave this state at any time. any urge to move or to talk or to do anything non-voilent is OK and I accept it fully. I will let the urge to move or dance or whatever, do what it wants to do if it is safe.    "

 

 

hope this was helpful. 

[Jay Ray]

@WellbeingSeeker in example 5, everyone there is in a space of "total social acceptance" (for the time being ignoring stage blue traps of course). they can let them self's just be and this feeling is so amazing. It feels like love, pure love and the part of yourself that is hated is gone for a few minutes. every amount of social judgment is gone, they can just BE. they can just dance and wiggle and move randomly, they don't have to act in a way that society deems as normal. all self judgement, self-criticism, social anxiety and fear is gone. 

the ego is weekend slightly here (I think). 

I crave this feeling so much. LOL

[RedLine]

Shadow/trauma release or maybe ego release I guess, all the crow or priest support the idea that devil release is real so it is easy for that people to enter into that state.

 

Theorically it is possible to get that through bioenergetics.

 

By the way, that videos look fake but the fenomenonolgh exists.

Edited July 31, 2020 by RedLine

[WellbeingSeeker]

1 minute ago, RedLine said:

Shadow/trauma release or maybe ego release I guess, all the crow or priest the  support the idea that devil release is real so it is easy for that people to enter into that state.

 

Theorically it is possible to get that through bioenergetics.

Do you have sources to back this up? I'm really intrigued to know if there is a scientific explanation for this stuff. Maybe post an answer expanding your idea on Psychology & Neuroscience StackExchange?

3 minutes ago, RedLine said:

By the way, that videos look fake but the fenomenonolgh exists.

Which ones look fake to you specifically?

[WellbeingSeeker]

1 hour ago, Jay Ray said:

first, I just let my self walk automatically, then it felt like my normal walk turned into a child-like skipping and I started dancing like a lunatic (I was alone at the time). I tried this again by saying " I give up control, I will embrace any action that my body is doing. I wont judge it nor will try and control, any act that is done from my body is ok".  a few days later, I got the urge to walk o the floor like a dog and I did it, I then felt like I was a dog for a few seconds running around and felt like it was not "me" doing it

@Jay Ray Wow, what you described reminded me of people running around like dogs in the so called "Toronto Blessing". Check out this:

Toronto Blessing-Brute Beast Mocking the Lord

 

Edited July 31, 2020 by WellbeingSeeker

[Artsu]

It's spiritual energy, or actual spirits.

You're not going to get a good scientific explanation, until science becomes spiritual.

[WellbeingSeeker]

21 minutes ago, Artsu said:

It's spiritual energy, or actual spirits.

You're not going to get a good scientific explanation, until science becomes spiritual.

@Artsu  that makes sense, it would explain why nobody seems to know a scientific explanation for this stuff. Have you had spiritual experiences yourself involving shaking or trembling?

[Jay Ray]

 @WellbeingSeeker yeah it was very similar to the video (less extreme though).   I will just say that the experience for me at least was that It was very fun and it made me feel more alive and loved.  totally recommend with safety measures.  just think "my subconscious will takeover and I wont judge or try and stop any non-dangerous urge. any safe urge I will give into and let "something" take over this body"

  

[WellbeingSeeker]

Here are more weird trembling and shaking manifestations, check out this short video:

 

What the heck is going on here O.o?

Edited July 31, 2020 by WellbeingSeeker

[RedLine]

11 hours ago, WellbeingSeeker said:

Do you have sources to back this up? I'm really intrigued to know if there is a scientific explanation for this stuff. Maybe post an answer expanding your idea on Psychology & Neuroscience StackExchange?

Which ones look fake to you specifically?

This is about subjectiviy, it is not about sciencie. Science could at best record the brain changes that occur when the shake occurs, as they do with brain wave in meditation, but  I don't think this is of much interest. I think you are still in a materialistic paradigm.

 

If you are asking about literature about the subject, if I remember correctly, Freud and Jung writed about this stuff. In the bioenergy literature I am sure they also deal with things of this type.

 

 

[WellbeingSeeker]

2 hours ago, RedLine said:

This is about subjectiviy, it is not about sciencie. Science could at best record the brain changes that occur when the shake occurs, as they do with brain wave in meditation, but  I don't think this is of much interest. I think you are still in a materialistic paradigm.

I'm very open-minded. I'm not claiming that the materialistic paradigm is correct, in fact I'm very much open to the possibility that the spirit realm exists. I'm just curious to know whether science has addressed this phenomenon at all. If the phenomenon is in fact supernatural, then we would expect science to struggle to come up with a materialistic explanation, and that's actually what I'm observing, I haven't come across yet a single scientific explanation of the phenomenon. That doesn't "prove" that phenomenon is supernatural but at least is consistent with that possibility.

2 hours ago, RedLine said:

If you are asking about literature about the subject, if I remember correctly, Freud and Jung writed about this stuff. In the bioenergy literature I am sure they also deal with things of this type.

I tried googling this but was unsuccessful. Would you mind sharing some links? Thank you in advance.

[WellbeingSeeker]

More examples of shaking and trembling:

 

[WellbeingSeeker]

Here is an astonishing first-hand testimony of someone who experienced extreme uncontrollable body shaking and trembling. The incredible thing is that this guy was an atheist when all of this happened to him. I'm shocked. Check this out and please share your thoughts:

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by WellbeingSeeker

[Artsu]

On 31/07/2020 at 2:35 PM, WellbeingSeeker said:

@Artsu  that makes sense, it would explain why nobody seems to know a scientific explanation for this stuff. Have you had spiritual experiences yourself involving shaking or trembling?

I have certainly had spasms in my body.

I had one time where demons were thrashing me about as i attempted to remove them.

Edit: and many times where i have shaken as if i were cold, due to something of a spiritual nature

Edited August 1, 2020 by Artsu

[Matt23]

I think it's widely understood that animals, including humans, have trauma response cycles which move from flight-fight through to immobility and then back to fight-flight then finally to security and social engagement.  You can see animals exhibit the "freeze" response, and then when they come out of it they well shake and have muscle spasms as a way to release pent-up nervous system energies that were trapped during the freeze response.  Humans have this, but since we have a neo-cortex (rational thought etc.), we can stop this process from completing.  Sometimes we can have traumatic events and then keep the pent-up energies within us for years sometimes.  Though, it's possible to go through these emotions and energies, and i think sometimes shaking is a characteristic of moving through the trauma response.  

I don't know if this at all applies or to what degree.  But I thought it might be an interesting angle to see this phenomenon from.

If you want to learn more about this, Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing is where I got it from.

[Michal__]

Probably a form of automatic concentration/jhãna I think...

[WellbeingSeeker]

7 hours ago, Artsu said:

I have certainly had spasms in my body.

I had one time where demons were thrashing me about as i attempted to remove them.

Edit: and many times where i have shaken as if i were cold, due to something of a spiritual nature

@Artsu Wait, you were attacked by demons and they caused your body to shake  ? How did that happen ?

Edited August 1, 2020 by WellbeingSeeker

[Malekakisioannis]

 

[Nahm]

@WellbeingSeeker

What causes them?

Nothing. 

Is a book a story, or a book?