A unified treatment of the dynamics of the random twisting and untwisting of a solar magnetic loop by photospheric motion is presented. For motions fast compared to Alfve´n transit time, the shear Alfve´n waves damp rapidly on the stochastic field lines of the loop. For slow motions, the loop passes through a sequence of quasi‐static equilibria but the response is also punctuated by impulsive events identified as nanoflares. The statistics of these events indicate a Poisson process; the frequency of these events scales as &Dgr;E−1Mwhere &Dgr;EMis the energy in each event. Their contribution to heating is estimated.