--- title: How do embodiment, grounding and the nervous system support healing? description: Healing in Therapeutic Shamanism happens in a body that is grounded and present, not in a mind floating free of it. Grounding is the bedrock of shamanic practice, and the body is our anchor; it is also where feelings move… url: "https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/wiki/how-do-embodiment-grounding-and-the-nervous-system-support-healing/" updated: "2026-11-10" category: The therapeutic heart tags: - anger - body - breath - counselling - embodiment - fear - feelings - grief - grounding - nervous system - power animal - safety - shamanic healing - truth --- # How do embodiment, grounding and the nervous system support healing? Healing in Therapeutic Shamanism happens in a body that is grounded and present, not in a mind floating free of it. Grounding is the bedrock of shamanic practice, and the body is our anchor; it is also where feelings move and where the truth is held. Paul Francis's books do not teach about the nervous system as such, but they describe safety, feeling and embodiment as the conditions that let healing happen. ## What do embodiment and grounding mean? Being present in our bodies and with our feet firmly in everyday reality. "Healthy shamanic practice involves having a foot in both worlds", and "It is vitally important in doing shamanic work to maintain a good, strong, grounded connection with ordinary, day-to-day surface reality".^[1](#note-1) The first of the qualities of an Adult is that they are "grounded, present, and embodied."^[2](#note-2) Many of us are not: "most people today live very much in their heads, disconnected from their bodies." 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Two, "The Shamanic 'Journey'". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "Real Adults Are Rare". ## Why does grounding matter for healing? Because it keeps shamanic work safe and real. For anyone who has psychotic episodes, grounding practices come before any journeying. "Grounding is the bedrock of shamanic practice (and should be the bedrock of any spiritual practice really)", and it is "the difference between healthy shamanism and psychosis."^[3](#note-3) The body anchors us: at the end of a journey, "you do not need to retrace your steps back to the physical middle-world**Middle-world.** Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. "If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world." [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-the-middle-world/), as your physical body is your anchor and is already there."^[4](#note-4) Losing our grounding is a cost, not a gift: amongst the costs of spiritual bypassing is "An unhealthy degree of ungroundedness and detachment."^[5](#note-5) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Two, "The Shamanic 'Journey'". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Four, "Exercise 3: A Guided Visit to the Lower-World". 3. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Ten, "Spiritual Bypassing". ## What does Therapeutic Shamanism say about the nervous system? Very little in the books, which speak rather of the body, safety and feeling. Paul's books set out no theory of it. The one mention comes in *Finding Your Deep Soul*, drawing on Louis Tinnin and Linda Gantt, two researchers in trauma treatment: the right hemisphere of the brain, which holds our earliest memories, "does maintain a strong connection with the rest of the physical body, though, including things like the digestive, immune, endocrine and autonomic nervous systems."^[6](#note-6) Those memories are "locked into the body". This is why journeying can help heal them, "given that it is largely non-verbal, and can be very somatic, visceral and embodied."^[7](#note-7) See [What is body armouring and what does Reichian work contribute?](/wiki/what-is-body-armouring-and-what-does-reichian-work-contribute/) Once people reach the real Lower-World**Lower-World.** The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-the-lower-world/), its safety helps the nervous system. The Lower-World is safe, deeply and profoundly so, whereas the middle-world is "a mixed bag". Experiencing that Lower-World safety, and knowing we have access to it at will, calms and regulates our nervous system, and grounds and centres us. 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Seven, "Your Lower-World Mother". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Seven, "Your Lower-World Mother". ## What is the relationship between embodiment and safety? They go together from early childhood. Drawing on the paediatrician [Donald Winnicott](/wiki/who-was-donald-winnicott/), children held too loosely by their mothers "never really arrive and take their place in the world or their body. Instead, they feel anxious and ungrounded, with little sense of belonging."^[8](#note-8) The Lower-World offers a safety the everyday world cannot: "Remember that the Lower-World is a place of absolute safety and healing. It always feels deeply safe, safer then here ever feels."^[9](#note-9) The middle-world is different: "Nobody is 'perfectly safe'! That is just not the nature of the middle-world."^[10](#note-10) See [Is shamanic journeying safe?](/wiki/is-shamanic-journeying-safe/) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Seven, "When Mothering Is Good Enough". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Three, "How a Plant Grows (And What This Teaches Us)". 3. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "What Shamanic Healing Is, and What It Is Not". ## What is the relationship between embodiment and truth? The body holds the truth that the head tries to avoid. "The body, however, is incapable of making up stories. It is always authentic and is always trying to tell us the truth." When the head is in charge, "a gap opens between what we think the truth is". What heals us is facing things as they are, not pretending that they are something else. [Carl Rogers](/wiki/who-was-carl-rogers-and-why-does-he-matter-to-therapeutic-shamanism/) understood this too.^[11](#note-11) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "What Shamanic Healing Is, and What It Is Not". ## What does embodiment have to do with anger, grief and fear? Feelings live in the body and need to move through it. "There are no 'good' or 'bad' feelings. Feelings are just feelings. They need to be brought into awareness, acknowledged without judgement, and allowed to move through the body (actually felt, in other words)."^[12](#note-12) Trying to skip them does harm: one of the costs of spiritual bypassing is "A phobia of anger."^[13](#note-13) Healthy hunter-gatherers "were able to laugh heartily and grieve deeply, and be fully embodied and present in their bodies and experience." 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Five, "Example Four". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Ten, "Spiritual Bypassing". ## What does breath have to do with embodiment? Breath is one of the ways we come back into the body. Noticing the breath brings our attention back into the body, and the practices use it to settle and return, as at the end of a journey: "Take a few deep breaths, and be aware of your body moving as you breathe."^[14](#note-14) The books describe these practices rather than explain breath in depth, and the fuller teaching on breath and feeling is for students. 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Four, "Exercise 3: A Guided Visit to the Lower-World". ## How does the Power Animal help embodiment? It keeps us safe: "Your Power Animal**Power Animal.** The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner's first and foremost Guide: Panther, not "my panther". [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-a-power-animal/), if you pay close attention to it, has your back. It is there to protect you and keep you safe as much as it can."^[15](#note-15) The books go no further than this. See [How does Power Animal heal and support us?](/wiki/how-does-power-animal-heal-and-support-us/) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Five, "How to Bond with Your Power Animal". ## How is shamanic healing different from counselling? Talking therapies work mainly through words; in shamanic healing the Guides**Guides.** The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman's power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. [More about this](/wiki/who-are-the-guides/) do the healing. Shamanic healing "is categorically not about getting messages, advice or guidance, or predictions about the future. It is simply about doing the healing."^[16](#note-16) Psychotherapy "is good at creating healthy souls, but rarely will it help us find our Soul."^[17](#note-17) And journeying can reach wounds that words cannot. See [What can psychotherapy and shamanism offer each other, and where should they remain different?](/wiki/what-can-psychotherapy-and-shamanism-offer-each-other-and-where-should-they-remain-different/) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "What Shamanic Healing Is, and What It Is Not". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "A House Built on Soul". ## What makes shamanic healing therapeutic? Respect for the person and their pace, learnt from psychotherapy. People "have to face particular issues at their own pace, and in their own time", and "Resistance needs to be respected and honoured. It is there for a reason, after all."^[18](#note-18) Healing is done with the person, not to them, in a way that empowers them. See [What does it mean to work therapeutically with process, parts and resistance?](/wiki/what-does-it-mean-to-work-therapeutically-with-process-parts-and-resistance/) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Preparation". - [What is body armouring and what does Reichian work contribute?](/wiki/what-is-body-armouring-and-what-does-reichian-work-contribute/) - [Is shamanic journeying safe?](/wiki/is-shamanic-journeying-safe/) - [What is spiritual bypassing and how can psychotherapy help prevent it?](/wiki/what-is-spiritual-bypassing-and-how-can-psychotherapy-help-prevent-it/) - [How does Power Animal heal and support us?](/wiki/how-does-power-animal-heal-and-support-us/) - [What is shamanic healing?](/wiki/what-is-shamanic-healing/) - [What is polyvagal theory, and how does it relate to shamanic work?](/wiki/what-is-polyvagal-theory-and-how-does-it-relate-to-shamanic-work/) - [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/) (Chapter Two, grounding; Chapter Eight, shamanic healing) - [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/) (Chapter Seven, the Mother-wound and the body) - [all courses](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/shamanic-courses/)