Shamanic breathwork (Star Wolf)

Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical · Linda Star Wolf · Whittier, North Carolina, United States

What it is

Shamanic Breathwork is a group or individual "ceremony" in which participants lie down and use rhythmic, connected breathing to drumming and music chosen for each chakra, entering what the school calls a dreamlike altered state. Trained facilitators and paired "co-journeyers" support them, and the…

Format

• Phase A, deciding and preparing. This takes one or more ordinary sessions: understanding the request, screening, informed consent, vetting the facilitator, and agreeing a touch and stop plan. Move on when there is no unaddressed contraindication, medical clearance is in place where needed, the…
• Phase C, integration. These are ordinary sessions soon after the event and as needed afterwards. They cover stabilisation, making meaning, memory caution, and checking for adverse effects. Move on, or stop the work, when the client is sleeping, functioning and not destabilised. Continued intensity…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Two frameworks need keeping apart. (a) The school's own structure: a training ladder and a session arc. (b) The psychotherapist's frame around a client who attends: before, between and after sessions.
• Level I: Shamanic Healing Initiatory Process (S.H.I.P.). A series of initiations meant to release old story lines and help people "stand in the truth of their authentic being". It is offered by Venus Rising and recognised Venus Rising congregations. Completion makes a person eligible for ordination as a Shamanic Minister.
• Level II: Facilitator Skills. Offered only by Venus Rising and taught in four strands: Bodywork, Music, Art and Processing. Stated outcomes are creating a safe container, facilitating sacred ceremony, developing intuition, shamanic bodywork (rebirthing, resistance, conscious touch, energy clearing), building chakra-attuned musical sets, Shakti art processes, and group processing, integration and grounding.…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• reluctance to report because of loyalty to the group.
• the breathwork replacing recovery supports, and any lapse afterwards.
• repeated attendance becoming a way to avoid ordinary therapeutic work.
• use of the map to explain away distress that needs clinical assessment.
• a sense of special mission, voices, or a breakdown in function. Refer these.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.