Bradford Keeney - Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement

SHAKING MEDICINE

I had a personal experience of Brads shaking power.... He placed one of his hands on my upper back and the other opposite on my upper chest. He began to shake vigorously, and apparently involuntarily, throughout his entire body. His face, shoulders, torso, and feet were vibrating with some invisible power, like a wave that was continuously cresting in his body and crashing and rippling in his fingertips. I felt the trembling power pass through me.... While receiving this beautiful gift, I was transported to the Kalahari. I saw the tribal people with whom he had danced; I viewed their villages and landscape. I was in Africa as truly as if I had opened my eyes and found myself physically there.

KENNETH COHEN, AUTHOR OF THE WAY OF QIGONG: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CHINESE ENERGY HEALING

Dr. Keeneys work marks the beginning of an awakening of the universal life force that is accessible to everyone. I have personally experienced his method of moving the life force in my own bodycirculating it up and down my spine, passing it through my fingertips, and feeling it tingling the tips of my toes. It is time for each of us to become acquainted with this energizing force.

DR. ROBERT FULFORD, AUTHOR OF DR. FULFORDS TOUCH OF LIFE: ALIGNING BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT TO HONOR THE HEALER WITHIN

Bradford Keeney is an authentic shaman who, in his ceremonial practice, answers the question: What would happen if you gave a university professor a kind heart and a limitless infusion of spiritual power?

STEPHEN AND ROBIN LARSEN, AUTHORS OF A FIRE IN THE MIND: THE LIFE OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL

I felt like I was floating and wanted to move my body with speed and precision. All of my senses were intensified. I recognized this condition as being similar to the ki activation that I had learned to utilize in aikido training. The difference was that the intensity of this energy was magnitudes beyond what I had previously experienced; it was beyond what Id ever imagined.

DON WRIGHT, FORMER TEACHER OF ERICKSONIAN HYPNOTHERAPY AT THE ESALEN INSTITUTE

The experience I had in Brad Keeneys ceremony was very importanthis hands irradiated light in my head.

DR. PIERRE WEIL, AUTHOR OF THE ART OF LIVING IN PEACE: TOWARDS A NEW PEACE CONSCIOUSNESS,FOUNDER OF THE INTERNATIONAL HOLISTIC UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA,AND CONSULTANT TO THE UNITED NATIONS

PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Throughout this book you will notice unusual punctuation marks in words from the Ju|hoan language of the Kalahari Bushmen. These marks are symbols for the four distinct click sounds used in this language. According to the anthropologist and linguist Megan Biesele, they are pronounced as follows:

| is a dental click that sounds like tsk, tsk and is made by putting the tongue behind the teeth.

is an alveolar click, a soft pop made by putting the tongue behind the ridge that is located behind the front teeth.

! is an alveolar-palatal click, a sharp pop made by drawing the tongue down quickly from the roof of the mouth.

|| is a lateral click, a clucking sound similar to that made by the English when they urge on a horse.

is a glottal stop, as in the Cockney English pronunciation of bottle.

FOREWORD

By the Bushman Elders

We, the elder Bushman shamans of the Kalahari, are descendants of the original custodians of shaking medicine. As members of the ancestral culture for all people on earth, we have always looked after the original forms of healing and communicating with God. All of us are delighted that the words of this book are being brought into the world so that others may know what we have known about shaking medicine since the beginning of human existence.

Over the years, we have been grateful for our relationship with Bradford Keeney, who fully understands and practices our healing and spiritual ways He is a n|om-kxao, what we call an owner of n|om, the power that makes one shake in deep and meaningful ways. For the Ju | hoan Bushmen, there are different levels of expertise in the handling of n|om, and we are the last ones entitled to be called Gaqba-n!aan, the Heart of the Spears. This title refers to someone who has spent a lifetime growing in n|om and who has received all the healing knowledge and wisdom of Gods shaking medicine. We regard Bradford Keeney as a Heart of the Spears.

A Heart of the Spears has been made a master of shaking medicine through experiences and lessons taught by God and the ancestors. We have learned that our minds require the inspiration of a loving heart, and that we should be cautious about the trickster voice of any mind disconnected from the love of God. Medicine, in its highest form, is always poured from Gods heart. Please do not consider us the carriers of primitive truths that historically gave way to more evolved ways of thinking, worshipping, and healing. Rather, we hold the purest forms of healing and loving relationships with God, one another, the animals and plants of the world, as well as the earth, water, and sky. In our worldview, First Creation is still present, always ready to breathe its shaking and changing into the stuck world of language, or what we call Second Creation. We, the First People, ask that the world open its heart for a great healing, one that requires the shaking medicine brought about when First Creation and Second Creation interact.

There are many tricksters leading people astray. They almost always use words like good, love, peace, and God, but make their arguments solely with words printed on paper. For us, the truth a person carries is proved by the way his or her voice and body give way to vibrant sound and song and shaking movements of ecstatic joy. Without seeing, hearing, and feeling a performance of loving medicine, we do not accept anyones authority to speak about healing wisdom.

We have danced and shaken with Bradford Keeney for many years. He has placed his healing hands on many of us throughout our villages in Namibia and Botswana. We know that he carries truth in his heart, and that his mind, body, and soul shake with the gods and ancestors. He has been fully cooked by God.

In this book, you will learn about shaking medicine and how it has been known in various places in the world. We have enjoyed hearing many of these stories from Bradford Keeney, and we know that they hold important lessons and truths. He will also tell you how shaking medicine can be brought into your daily life.

We are very aware that the world is in a dangerous crisis, and there is doubt as to whether human beings will survive much longer. We believe that we have helped hold together the threads and ropes of relationship that enable life to continue. Now, those threads have been weakened by human ignorance, selfishness, and greed. Our greatest hope for survival comes from understanding how shaking medicine can help us revitalize and strengthen the threads and ropes of life.

We grant Bradford Keeney full authority to speak about our healing and religious ways. The Bushman wisdom keepers of the Kalahari bless him to do this work. He is a well-chosen spokesperson for shaking medicine, and we hope that his words will help awaken you to receive the gifts that the gods and ancestors are waiting to give you. We invite you to join us in the heartful shaking that promises to bring the greatest joy and fulfillment into your life. We know that this book can help raise your heart.

|KUNTA BOO

TI!AEOMA

N!YAE KXAO

G|AOO KAQECE

GAQBA-N!AAN (HEARTS OF THE SPEARS)

NYAE NYAE CONSERVANCY

NAMIBIA

SEPTEMBER 2006

THE SHAKE

Rediscovering the Oldest and Newest Cure on Earth