A shamanic healing session is a guided spiritual practice in which a trained practitioner enters an altered state of consciousness — usually carried by the steady beat of a drum — to work on your behalf in the spirit world, and returns with healing, guidance, or a part of you that had gone missing. If you’ve never had one, the not-knowing can be the biggest hurdle. So let me take the mystery out of it and walk you through exactly what happens, from the first message you send to the weeks that follow.
What actually happens in a shamanic healing session?
In a typical session, you talk about what brought you, the practitioner drums or rattles to reach a light trance state, journeys on your behalf for 15–30 minutes while you rest, and then returns to tell you what they saw and what was done. You stay awake, clothed, and in control the entire time. Nothing is done to you without your consent, and no substances are involved.
Most people are surprised by how ordinary the outside of it looks. There is no theatre. There’s a room, a candle perhaps, a drum, and two people paying very close attention.
The session, step by step
| Stage | What happens | Roughly how long |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Intake & intention | You describe what’s going on — the symptom, the stuckness, the grief. Together you shape one clear intention. | 15–30 min |
| 2. Opening the space | The practitioner calls in the helping spirits, the directions, the elements. You may be smudged or the space cleansed. | 5 min |
| 3. The journey | Drumming begins. The practitioner journeys while you lie or sit quietly. You don’t have to do anything. | 15–30 min |
| 4. The healing work | Depending on what’s found: a power animal is returned, a soul part retrieved, an intrusion removed, an ancestral thread untangled. | within the journey |
| 5. Return & feedback | The practitioner comes back and tells you, plainly, what they saw and what was done. You ask questions. | 20–30 min |
| 6. Integration guidance | You leave with something to do — a practice, a walk, a piece of homework for the coming weeks. | 10 min |
A full session usually runs 60–90 minutes. Distance sessions, held online or at an agreed time while you rest at home, follow the same arc — the spirit world doesn’t much care about geography.
What kinds of healing might the practitioner do?
The practitioner doesn’t decide in advance. They journey, they ask, and they do what the helping spirits show them. That said, four kinds of work come up again and again in classic core shamanism.
- Power retrieval. When you feel chronically depleted, unlucky, or thin, a power animal may be returned to you as a source of strength and protection.
- Soul retrieval. After trauma, shock, or a long grief, a part of the soul can split away. Soul retrieval brings that part home.
- Extraction. Removing energy that isn’t yours — something that has lodged where it doesn’t belong.
- Ancestral and land work. Untangling a pattern that isn’t strictly yours but keeps arriving through your family line.
Will I feel anything during the session?
Some people feel a great deal — warmth, tingling, waves of emotion, tears that arrive without a story attached. Others feel almost nothing during the session and notice the shift days later. Both are completely normal, and neither predicts how well the work will land.
What I ask of clients is simply this: don’t grade yourself. The drum does most of the work of settling the nervous system, and your only job is to lie there and let it.
How do I prepare for a shamanic healing session?
Preparation is simple: arrive rested, sober, and honest. Bring one clear intention rather than a list of ten. Eat lightly, drink water, and if you can, leave the hour after the session unscheduled.
- Write down, in one sentence, what you would like to be different.
- Skip alcohol and recreational substances for at least 24 hours beforehand.
- Wear something comfortable you can lie down in.
- Bring a notebook — you’ll want to write things down afterwards.
- Tell the practitioner about relevant medical or psychiatric history. It matters.
What happens afterwards — and how long until I feel something?
The session is the beginning, not the end. Most of the change happens in the two to four weeks that follow, as what was returned to you settles into ordinary life. This is called integration, and it’s where the real work lives.
Expect vivid dreams, unusual tiredness for a day or two, sudden clarity about something you’d been avoiding, or a wave of old feeling moving through. Walk. Sleep. Be in water. Be in nature. And do whatever practice your practitioner gave you — that piece is not optional.
My own experience of holding this work
I came to shamanic practice through a long detour of coaching and NLP, which means I’ve spent years watching how people actually change — slowly, and usually not in the way they expected. What still moves me about shamanic healing is how little it asks of the person receiving it. You don’t have to explain yourself well. You don’t have to have insight. You lie down, the drum starts, and something older than both of us gets to work.
The clients who get the most from a session are rarely the most “spiritual” ones. They’re the ones who show up honest and then, afterwards, actually go for the walk.
Is shamanic healing a replacement for therapy or medical care?
No. Shamanic work complements medical and psychological care — it does not replace it. If you’re being treated for a physical or mental health condition, keep your doctor and your therapist, and tell your practitioner what’s going on. The best outcomes I’ve seen come from people who hold both hands: the clinical one and the spiritual one.
Anthropologist Michael Harner, whose work brought core shamanism into the Western world, was clear that shamanic healing sat alongside — not against — modern medicine. Mircea Eliade’s classic study Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy makes the same point across cultures: the shaman was one healer among several in a community, not the only one.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a shamanic healing session last?
Most sessions run 60 to 90 minutes in total. The journey itself — the part with the drumming — is usually only 15 to 30 minutes of that; the rest is conversation before and after.
Do I have to believe in spirits for it to work?
No. You need willingness, not belief. Plenty of people arrive frankly skeptical and leave with something they can’t quite explain. Curiosity is enough to start.
Does a shamanic healing session involve plant medicine or psychedelics?
Not in the tradition I work in. The drum is the vehicle. Across most shamanic cultures worldwide, rhythm — not substance — has always been the doorway, and it’s a safe, sober, repeatable one.
Can a shamanic healing session be done at a distance?
Yes. Distance sessions work the same way: you rest at an agreed time while the practitioner journeys, and you meet afterwards online to talk it through. Many practitioners find distance work no less effective than in-person.
How many sessions will I need?
Often one is enough for a specific issue. Deeper or older patterns — ancestral threads, long-standing soul loss — may take two or three, spaced weeks apart so there’s room to integrate between them.
Is it safe if I’m dealing with a mental health condition?
It can be, with the right practitioner and in addition to — never instead of — your existing care. Be open about your diagnosis and medication. A responsible practitioner will adapt the work, or tell you honestly that now isn’t the moment.
Where to go from here
If something in you leaned forward while reading this, that’s worth listening to. You can book a shamanic healing session with me, in person in Portugal or online as distance healing. And if you’d rather learn to journey yourself first, start with the shamanic journey — it’s the same doorway, walked under your own power.
Carolin is a shamanic practitioner and Certified NLP Trainer (Society of NLP), and the founder of One Shamanism. She works where ancient practice meets modern psychology — what she calls Grounded Magic.
