You Can ‘Shake Off’ Stress. Here’s How

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, and 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. “You go to yoga for an hour, you have to do this and you have to do that.”