Frequently Asked Questions

Therapeutic shamanism is a modern, safe, and therapeutic approach to ancient shamanic wisdom. It integrates traditional shamanic journeying and other healing practices with modern psychological insights, making shamanism accessible and relevant to our contemporary lives. Its focus is on healing soul-loss, restoring wholeness, and helping people grow and develop maturity and resilience. Discover more in our free ebook explaing what shamanism is .

Our students find learning Therapeutic Shamanism helps them reconnect with inner strength, restores lost vitality, and deepens their sense of joy, meaning, purpose and belonging. It also gives them practical tools for healing trauma, developing resilience, and building deeper and more authentic relationships with themselves, with others, and with the natural world too. Many people also find that shamanic practice enhances their creativity, intuition, and spiritual connection.

Shamanism is humanity’s oldest spiritual practice and was originally found in cultures worldwide. At its heart, it is about connecting with the other-than-ordinary reality to seek healing, wisdom, and guidance. Through a process known as “shamanic journeying”, shamanic practitioners travel to non-ordinary realms (known as the “shamanic realms”), to gain knowledge and to restore balance and health to individuals and to communities. To find out more, you can download our free ebook explaining what shamanism is. Or read our blog, What is Shamaism? 

Animism is the experience that everything is alive and interconnected. It recognises that not only humans are conscious, but also other animals, plants, and even rivers, mountains and the Earth itself. Central to animism is living in respectful “right relationship” with the other-than-human beings that we share this world with and treating the world, and everything in it, as alive and sacred. Shamanism is rooted in this animist understanding of a living, relational universe.

Animism is the worldview that life is alive and interconnected, while shamanism is the set of practices that arise from this worldview. Animism is the philosophy; shamanism is one of the primary means of engaging with it.

Whilst we can’t guarantee everyone can learn it, it is rare that people can’t. Shamanic journeying is an innate human capacity. Our courses are designed to help people safely and effectively reconnect with this ability. No special powers are required, just willingness, guidance, and practice.

In shamanism, Power-loss is one of the two main root causes of illness and dis-ease (the other being Soul-loss). Power-loss happens when we become disconnected from nature, the more-than-human world, and our place within it. It is essentially a loss of life-force and vitality. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors knew that staying in relationship with the Earth, animals, plants, and the land kept people strong and protected. When we lose that connection – as so often happens in our modern, domesticated, urban culture – we weaken, leaving “holes” in us where unhealthy energies and influences can creep in. 

Common symptoms of power-loss include:

    • Fatigue and low energy

    • Anxiety, depression, or feeling “flat”

    • A sense of disconnection from life, nature, or the sacred

    • Chronic bad luck, or things repeatedly “going wrong”

    • Feeling vulnerable, unprotected, or not quite “yourself”

Power-loss is extremely common in modern life, almost endemic, but the good news is that it can always be healed by reconnecting with the wider living world. Healing power-loss involves reconnecting with nature. One important practice (one that we start with on the First-Steps course) is a Power Animal retrieval, where we bond with an animal ally who restores our vitality, resilience, and connection to the wider web of life.

Unlike soul-loss (which happens when parts of you go missing), Power-loss is about losing your connection to the greater web of life. Ultimately, healing Power-loss is not a one-off event but a lifelong practice of re-wilding ourselves – learning to live in deeper relationship with nature, community, and the sacred.

Want to know more? Read our blog Power Loss and Shamanism – A Journey to Get Our Power Back 

Soul-loss happens when part of us leaves as a result of trauma, shock, or ongoing wounding. This is one of the most ancient and widely recognised teachings in shamanism. When something is too overwhelming – a bereavement, abuse, accident, illness, or even long-term emotional neglect – part of us, part of our “soul”, may leave in order to protect itself.

While this helps us survive at the time, it leaves us with a persistent and pervasive sense that something is missing from inside of us. Symptoms of soul-loss can include:

    • Feeling that “something is missing” or “I’ve never been the same since…”

    • Emotional numbness or flatness

    • Depression, apathy, or lack of motivation

    • Addictive behaviours or chronic patterns that don’t resolve

    • A sense of being disconnected from life, or from one’s true self

Healing comes through Soul Retrieval, where a practitioner journeys to find the missing part(s) and help bring them back, so the person can feel whole again. Soul-loss sounds dramatic, but it is something almost everyone experiences at some point, especially in our modern-day soulless culture. It is not a life sentence. Soul retrieval and ongoing shamanic practice can bring profound healing and reconnection.

You can read more in our blog Soul Loss – 18 signs a part of your soul is lost & how to get it back 

In Therapeutic Shamanism, Soul and Spirit are distinct but deeply interconnected.

Soul belongs to the Lower-World and is rooted in Mother Earth. It is your authentic blueprint – the unique, individual story of who you were meant to be within the great web of life. Like a seed, your Soul carries within it the potential for your true growth, but how it unfolds depends on your environment and life experiences. Spirit, by contrast, belongs to the Upper-World and is associated with Father Sky. It is not individual in the same way as Soul. Spirit is like a drop of water in an ocean – it connects us with the greater whole, with oneness, transcendence, and that which lies beyond individuality. Both are necessary. Soul grounds us in our particular life, helping us become fully human and live out our unique story. Spirit reminds us that we are also part of something vast, timeless, and universal. A healthy shamanic practice honours both: Soul is our roots, Spirit is our high branches. Together, they form a whole Tree of Life.

Want to know more about the difference between Soul and Spirit? Read our blogs What is Soul and Where Do We Find It?, and The Shamanic Upper-World – Building a Balanced Shamanic Practice 

In shamanism, the body is not separate from Soul and Spirit, but an essential part of our wholeness. It is one of the four main aspects of self, alongside Soul, Spirit, and Mind.

The body has its own wisdom and needs – for warmth, air, water, food, movement, rest, and safety. When we live authentically and in alignment with our Soul, the body thrives. When we live out of alignment, the body often expresses distress through tension, illness, or dis-ease. The body is also the home of our Soul in the middle-world. It is the vehicle through which our Lower-World Soul expresses itself here. This means that body-work (such as movement, breath, and awareness practices), attention to physical needs, and embodiment practices are central to shamanic healing. For instance:

    • Soul loss often involves the body – shock or trauma can make it difficult for soul parts to stay embodied. Healing may involve journeying to reassure and anchor the body so the soul can return.

    • Authenticity matters physically. If we live a false or disconnected life, the body feels that dishonesty and suffers. Shamanic practice helps us live more truthfully, which brings health at every level.

So, shamanism is never just “spiritual” in the sense of abstract transcendence. It is a deeply embodied, earthy, and grounded practice. The body is both sacred in itself and the ground in which our Soul can take root and flourish.

Want to know more? Read our blog Shamasnism and the Wisdom of the Body 

Shamanism and animism do not belong to any one culture or region of the world. Before the modern era, animist thinking was the basis of all human cultures, worldwide. Therapeutic Shamanism deliberately draws from this core shamanism and original animism—the universal principles and practices common to animist cultures throughout the world. It avoids cultural appropriation by focusing on the cross-cultural elements, while blending these with modern therapeutic insights.

Yes – but not in the way people sometimes assume. We do not use ayahuasca, peyote, kambo, or any other entheogenic substances on our courses. Instead, when it comes to plants, we work with them through shamanic journeying and other practices. For example, we use practices such as “grokking” – a way of tuning-in deeply to a plant (or stone, or animal ally) to directly experience its healing qualities and wisdom. Students are often surprised by how profound this can be: what begins as a simple exercise of holding a plant and listening inwardly often becomes a deep altered state of consciousness and a powerful experience of connection. We also draw on the ancient animist understanding that plants are part of our wider family – the “Plant People” – and that they each carry unique medicines and gifts. Working with them in this way is about healing our disconnection, remembering that the world around us is alive and conscious, and learning how to live in respectful, reciprocal relationship with it. So yes, plant spirit medicine is part of the training – but it is approached in a grounded, therapeutic, and ethical way, as part of the broader work of reconnecting with the “more-than-human world”.

To discover more, you can read our blog Working with Plants: Plant Medicine in Shamainc Journeys 

A Power Animal is a spirit ally in animal form who offers us strength, protection, and guidance. In shamanic understanding, humans are not meant to walk through life alone – we are part of a vast community that includes not only other people, but also the Animal, Plant, and Stone People. Power Animals are one of the most important ways we stay connected to this wider web of life. Some key points:

    • Guardians and protectors: Your Power Animal keeps you safe energetically, helping to guard against illness, intrusions, and misfortune.

    • Restorers of vitality: Losing connection with your Power Animal is one of the signs of Power-loss. Reuniting with them restores energy, balance, and resilience.

    • Guides and teachers: They are not just symbols – they are real beings in the shamanic realms who can teach, guide, and heal us.

    • A living relationship: A Power Animal is not something you “have” as a possession, but a relationship you nurture with respect, gratitude, and reciprocity.

Finding your Power Animal is often one of the first steps in shamanic practice, and it can be a profound, life-changing experience. Many people describe feeling more whole, alive, and “themselves” once they reconnect with their animal ally.

Want to know more? You can read our blog Working With Animals: Finding and Retrieving Your Power Animal 

No prior experience is needed. Our First-Steps course starts from the basics, guiding you step-by-step into safe, grounded and sane shamanic practice.

Book your First Steps course in 3 easy steps:

    1. Click the “Book Now” button on the First-Steps page here

    2. Complete all the information required on the check-out page

    3. Pay for the course

A student account will be created for you and you will receive an email confirming your booking and with instructions on how to find the course materials.

To book Next-Steps, Further-Steps and all other courses, you will need to login to your account before making a booking.

Every student in the college must attend a First Steps course.  When you book on your First Steps course, an account will be created for you as part of the booking process.  You will receive an email with details of your account and how to login and access you account dashboard.

You can pay for your course using PayPal or Credit/Debit card.

Many people succeed in journeying after their very first guided attempt. For other people, it may take a few weeks or even a few months of practice. However, like any skill, depth and fluency develop over time. Joining our courses gives you access to ongoing support to help you become confident and skilled.

Our courses contain a lot of knowledge and practices that are unique to this Therapeutic Shamanism approach. This starts with the First-Steps course and because of this, we have found that skipping the First-Steps never works. In fact, in learning this approach, people with prior experience usually find they have a lot of unlearning and re-evaluating to do. That said, the feedback we receive from students with prior experience is 100% consistently that they find the First-Steps course refreshing, illuminating, and helps clarify their practice and take it to deeper levels, so doing it is never an unnecessary stepping stone, but a vital and useful one. For those reasons, every student of ours starts with the First-Steps course.

Yes. Many of our students come to our courses having read the books first, and still find the courses invaluable. The books provide great context and background, and the courses add more, because they are experiential, and because they provide access to tutors who can answer your questions and help refine your practice. In this way, the courses provide focus, guided practice, feedback and clarification, community support and encouragement, and the opportunity to integrate the teachings into a lived experience.

Written by Paul Francis, and drawing on his wealth of knowledge and experience in shamanism, anthropology, psychotherapy and other fields, the books are a practical and in-depth guide to developing an animist and shamanic practice that is spirit-led, down-to-earth, psychologically-aware, ethical and compassionate; one that draws on ancient wisdom, and yet is deeply-suited and applicable to the times in which we now live. You can find more information about the Therapeutic Shamanism books here.  

You begin with our introductory course and gradually progress through the Next-Steps and Further-Steps courses. Through doing this, you can develop shamanic competencies and experience, therapeutic skills, and (hopefully!) the necessary personal maturity. Having done this, and when ready, you can then apply for the short additional shamanic practitioner course, which looks at the more practical issues about offering shamanism in a professional setting. Details are here Shamanic Practitioner Training. 

Yes. For students on our courses, our tutors are available for support, guidance, and feedback. All our courses include opportunities to connect with both tutors and fellow students in dedicated discussion groups.

All our live sessions are recorded, and the recordings made available usually within 24 hours of the session finishing, so not being able to attend the live sessions is fine. In fact, around half of our students choose not to attend live sessions, and the feedback we get is that doing the courses just through the recordings works well for them. 

Once enrolled, you have ongoing access to the course materials (for as long as you have an account with us), allowing you to both work through the course materials at your own pace, and revisit the teachings whenever and as often as you want. 

We are dedicated to keeping all our courses as low cost as we possibly can, on a permanent basis. As tutors, doing this is important to our ethics and values. It means, if you do a fair comparison of the quality and quantity of what you get for the course fees, our courses are usually hugely cheaper than most other truly comparable courses (often half the price, or even cheaper). This does though mean that we cannot realistically offer any further concessions. We do offer the option of spreading the course fees over a series of interest-free instalments though.

The teaching is led by Paul Francis, founder of Therapeutic Shamanism and author of the Therapeutic Shamanism book series . Paul brings decades of experience as both a shamanic practitioner and a psychotherapist. He is supported by his partner Cat Anderson, a highly experienced Therapeutic Shamanism practitioner, IFS and IEMT practitioner . The team includes Kaja Gulic, a Therapeutic Shamanic practitioner and certified coach , who helps with the live sessions, our website, and our social media etc, and by Colin Froggatt, who handles the IT and tech issues . 

The teaching is led by Paul Francis, founder of Therapeutic Shamanism and author of the Therapeutic Shamanism book series . Paul brings decades of experience as both a shamanic practitioner and a psychotherapist. He is supported by his partner Cat Anderson, a highly experienced Therapeutic Shamanism practitioner, IFS and IEMT practitioner . The team includes Kaja Gulic, a Therapeutic Shamanic practitioner and certified coach , who helps with the live sessions, our website, and our social media etc, and by Colin Froggatt, who handles the IT and tech issues. You can read more about our team here.

1. The way in which we successfully combine ancient shamanic practice with highly relevant modern-day psychotherapeutic knowledge makes our approach almost uniquely suited to the times in which we now live. 
2. We place ethics at the very centre of what we do. 
3. Whilst profound and transformative, our approach is also clear, grounded, sane, practical, and woo-free. 
4. If you want to learn deeply, we offer a far more comprehensive range of courses than you will generally find elsewhere. This means we can provide a shamanic apprenticeship that is unusual in its cohesiveness, depth and breadth. 
5. You’ll be taught by experienced practitioners who strive to offer safety, grounding, and support at every stage. 
6. Signing up for our courses gives you ongoing access to our thriving, lively and supportive international shamanic community. 
7. Once you have signed up for a course with us (and for as long as you have an account with us) you have lifetime access to the teaching materials. In addition, whenever a course is repeated, you can sign up for it again for free and do this as many times as you wish to. 
8. We are committed to keeping our courses as low-cost and accessible as we possibly can. This makes our courses considerably cheaper than almost all other truly comparable courses, in terms of the quality and quantity of teaching and support that you get for your money. Doing this is important to us as tutors, in being true to our ethics and values.
9. Find out more about what makes our courses special here. 

Not at all! Many neurodivergent people (although we prefer the term “neuro-wild”) are attracted to shamanism, and it’s probable that many shamans in indigenous cultures would have not been what we regard as neurotypical. Consequently, we have a high number of students who are autistic, have ADHD, are gifted or twice-exceptional, are otroverts, highly-sensitive people and so on. In addition, many of our neurodivergent students find that the flexible way in which our courses are set up, including the option of not having to be on camera and attend live sessions, self-paced learning, and so on, works well for them. In addition, they welcome being part of our supportive and inclusive online community of like-minded people.

We have a clear and fair refund policy, details of which are outlined in our booking terms and conditions. Refunds are generally available if you cancel within the specified time period before the course begins.

Shamanic work can be of great benefit with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, self-esteem issues, and a sense of disconnection. At the same time, it is not a substitute for medical or psychotherapeutic care when those are needed. Shamanism can, however, complement other therapies and provide powerful tools for healing and personal growth. 

Learning shamanism safely does require a reasonable degree of mental robustness, grounding, and emotional resilience though. As such, like meditation and other similar practices, it can be contra-indicated in mental health issues like psychosis, mania, severe depression, or dissociative disorders. 

Given this, if you have any mental health issues like this (current or historical) which you feel may impact on your ability to journey safely, then you must discuss this with us before booking on any of our courses. Any discussion will, of course, be treated confidentially.

Both aim at healing, wholeness, and integration. Shamanism provides experiential and spiritual tools, such as journeying and soul retrieval, while psychotherapy offers a psychological framework and emotional support. Together, they can create a rich, complementary approach to healing.

Yes. Both approaches recognise that our psyche is made up of different inner “parts”, and both value connecting with, healing, and integrating those parts. Shamanic work with its understanding of things like soul-loss and soul-retrieval fits naturally alongside IFS practices. Find out more in our blog about IFS, Shamainsm, and Parts-of-Self 

Spirituality is seen as a natural dimension of being human. That said, neither Therapeutic Shamanism nor animism are religions. There are no priesthoods, no sacred texts, no dogma, nor any need to believe what others say. Instead, animism and Therapeutic Shamanism are grounded, deeply practical, and rooted in reality. They offer practices that are based on our direct personal experiences, and practical tools that truly work and which help deepen our connection with spirit, soul, nature, and community, while at the same time, respecting individual beliefs and backgrounds.

Want to know more about animism and shamanic spirituality? Read our blog The Shamanic Upper-World – Building a Balanced Shamanic Practice 

The primary psychotherapeutic influence is humanistic, and specifically, Rogerian or “Person-Centred”. The approach we take though is also undogmatic and highly integrative. So, other key influences include Internal Family Systems therapy, the Voice Dialogue work of Hal Stone, John Rowan’s subpersonality work, Gestalt psychotherapy, Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing, Wilhelm Reich and body-centred psychotherapies, art psychotherapy, Arnold Mindell and Process-Orientated psychotherapy, Hakomi therapy, Transactional Analysis, Transpersonal psychotherapies, Ecopsychotherapy and Ecopsychology, Jungian Depth Psychology, Victor Frankl, logotherapy and existential psychotherapy, compassion-focused psychotherapies, EMDR and IEMT,and the work of people like Gabor Mate and other trauma-informed approaches.

Soul loss occurs when parts of our essence split off due to trauma or difficult life experiences. Soul retrieval is the shamanic process of locating, returning, and reintegrating these lost parts, helping restore vitality, resilience, and wholeness. Find out more about soul loss, and shamanic soul retrieval here. 

In the shamanic journey, the practitioner learns to experience travelling in three different, non-ordinary shamanic realms. These are known as the Upper-World, the middle-world, and the Lower-World. You can read more about these here. 

The Lower-World is a safe and healing realm within shamanic practice. It is the realm of nature. Journeying there allows us to reconnect with lost parts of our soul, find Animal and Plant allies, and other sources of strength and wisdom. Find out more in our blog The Shamanic Journey; A Journey Into the Three Shamanic Realms

Although the two realms are often confused in much shamanic practice these days, the underworld and Lower-World are actually two very different places. The underworld is not a shamanic realm, but our own, human, unconscious. Much healing can be found in exploring it, but it requires a different set of skills and practices to those employed in doing shamanic Lower-World work. The different skills needed can be found in things like Jungian Depth Psychology, and more somatic and body-centred psychotherapy approaches. This is something we draw on and explore in detail in many of our courses. 

Meditation typically cultivates awareness, stillness and presence, while journeying is an active exploration of other-than-ordinary reality. In journeying, you engage with imagery, landscapes, and beings that offer guidance and healing. That said, the two practices are highly compatible and complementary, and enhance each other—something we explore in many of our courses. 

All our courses are guided by clear ethical principles. These include aiming to provide a safe space, with psychological and emotional safety, respect for boundaries, informed consent, confidentiality, cultural sensitivity, welcoming diversity, a strict no bullying or hate speech policy, and ecological responsibility.

The answer to many student questions can be found in the Student Handbook. You should have been sent a copy of this when you registered for a course, but in case you can’t find it:

    1. Sign into your account on the college website.

    2. Go to “My Groups”.

    3. Click on a group (any will do).

    4. In the group, you will see a “Documents” tab. Click on this and you will find the Student Handbook there. Please note, to open it, you first need to download it (click on the three vertical dots, and then on “download”). 

The handbook is very comprehensive, too much so to reproduce here. Instead, what you fill find below are answers to the most common things students ask.

Please login to your account and then click the “account” menu item. This will take you to your account dashboard where you will be able to view your account details. From “Account Details” you can update your email address and change your password.

Click any “login” link on the site. In the login window, below the login button, you will see a “Forgot password?” link. Click this and follow the instructions to receive an email which will allow you to reset your password.

Please login to your account and then click the Account menu item. On the “Login Information” tab, you can change your password.

Please login to your account and then click the Account menu item. On the “Login Information” tab, you can change your email address.

Sign into your account on the website. This will take your to your student dashboard. From there:

    1. Click on “my Courses” (note, “courses”, not “groups”).

    2. Find the course you are looking for and then click on it. 

    3. Scroll down to access the modules and recordings.

Sign into your account on the website. This will take your to your student dashboard. From there:

    1. Click on “My Groups” (note, “groups”, not “courses”).

    2. Find the group you are looking for and then click on it. 

    3. In the “discussion threads” you will find a post about the Zoom link. Click on it, and all the instructions, including the Zoom link, will be there.

Sign into your account on the website. This will take your to your student dashboard. From there:

    1. Click on “My Groups” (note, “groups”, not “courses”).

    2. Find the group you are looking for and then click on it. 

    3. In the “discussion threads” you will find a post about the Signal link. Click on it, and all the instructions about joining the group, including the link, will be there.