Stealing Anne Lamott's words...

[a therapist said] "When an animal has escaped from an attack in the wilds, when, for instance, a wildebeest outruns a lion, afterwards that animal will shake for a while--not in terror, not trembling like we do when we're traumatized, but physically shake hard, to shake it off, to shake off the fight-or-flight chemicals and condition. That is how they begin again, get back to the fullness of their animal selves, in the present, in their bodies, which is life for them, and for us."

I said, "But I'm such a scaredy cat. Not a caribou or a wildebeest." She said I WAS, though, a gazelle with dreadlocks. "But how do I shake it off? How does a human?"

She said, "Shake with laughter. Walk as fast as you can. Dance and shake around the living room to the Rolling Stones. Cry if you need to--cry as hard as you can. Eat with gusto, like Julia Child. Drink a LOT of water. Shake it off in prayer, by crying out from the heart, not your poor old mind. Ride your bike as fast as a kid; like you used to; like the wind. Shake it off, honey."