Shamanic breathwork (Star Wolf)

1. Introduction

Version followed: Shamanic Breathwork® as Venus Rising Association for Transformation (Whittier, North Carolina) publishes it on its own website, together with the publisher's description of Linda Star Wolf's book Shamanic Breathwork: Journeying beyond the Limits of the Self (Bear & Company, 2009). The psychotherapist's role described here is [synthesis] built on general clinical practice.

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 session is followed by expressive art, a spoken account written down by a partner, and group sharing [source: shamanicbreathwork.org, Shamanic Breathwork; Simon & Schuster book page]. It was created by Linda Star Wolf. She founded Venus Rising Association for Transformation, a non-profit, and is founder and president of Venus Rising University for Shamanic Psychospiritual Studies [source: Linda Star Wolf page; GPBA member listing]. It is a spiritual and psychospiritual practice delivered by facilitators the school certifies. It is not a psychotherapy, and the school does not present it as one [source: Shamanic Breathwork page].

How change is said to happen (the school's account, not established fact). The school says the breath lets participants "Awaken the Shaman Within", meaning the inner witness and healer. In its account old wounds and dysfunctional patterns are released, "lost soul parts" are regained, and the person is empowered, with benefits said to reach family and the wider world [source: Shamanic Breathwork page]. The book description says breath entrains the participant to rhythm, as shamans use drum or rattle. It claims the practice can bring altered states, connection to "cosmic consciousness" and increased paranormal abilities, and can help resolve old traumas. It maps change onto an "Alchemical Map of Shamanic Consciousness", the Five Cycles of Change [source: Simon & Schuster book page]. Each of these is the school's claim and is attributed to it here. Reports the school gives include rebirth experiences, life review, release of grief, fear, rage and anxiety, and changes in addictions [source: Shamanic Breathwork page]. No independent evaluation of Shamanic Breathwork appears among the sources listed below [uncertain: not verified].

Lineage as the school states it. Star Wolf trained in mental health and addictions counselling in the 1980s and is described as a nationally certified alcohol and drug counsellor. She was inspired by Stanislav Grof, founder of Holotropic Breathwork; no claim is made that she trained with him. She became a lead trainer at Jacquelyn Small's Eupsychia Institute (Integrative Breathwork) [source: Linda Star Wolf page]. She studied with Grandmother Twylah Nitsch, described as a Seneca Wolf Clan elder, who adopted her as a spiritual granddaughter and gave her the name Star Wolf [source: Linda Star Wolf page; Simon & Schuster book page]. Her listed degrees are a BS in Human Services (St. Leo College), a Doctorate of Ministry (Summit University) and a PhD in Religious Studies (University for Integrative Learning). The accreditation status of Venus Rising University is not stated [source: Linda Star Wolf page] [uncertain: not verified].

Cross-references. Holotropic Breathwork (Domain VII) for the parent intense-breathwork model and its screening. The Integrative Breathwork guide in this family, for the Eupsychia lineage. Domain XVI for coercive "rebirthing" attachment therapy, which is distinct from this method (see section 4).

2. Framework

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 [synthesis].

2a. The school's training ladder (who may lead a session)

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 [source: Certification page].
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. Prerequisites include S.H.I.P. and a Student Apprenticeship. Completion makes a person eligible for certification as a Shamanic Breathwork Facilitator, who may host ceremonies for individuals and groups, from multi-day events to introductory sessions in bookstores, festivals and yoga studios [source: Certification page; Level II page].
Level III: Master ApprenticeSHIP. Apprentices work behind the scenes, including at staff meetings that plan each day's container. Completion makes a person eligible for certification as a Master Practitioner, a programme the school describes as registered with the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance (GPBA) [source: Certification page; Shamanic Breathwork page]. A Level IV Internship appears in the site navigation, with no detail given [uncertain: not verified].
External standing. GPBA lists Venus Rising as a "Certified School" offering in-person and online formats [source: GPBA member listing]. GPBA is a voluntary professional association, and it is not shown to be a government regulator. Its training standards are not summarised here. No government regulation of Shamanic Breathwork is described in the sources below.
Not published on the pages listed below: module counts, total hours, supervised-practice requirements, screening and contraindication training, consent-to-touch protocols, or the content of the Shamanic Ministers' Code of Ethics (which the site does link to) [uncertain].
Practical meaning. Leading a Shamanic Breathwork session requires the school's facilitator certification. A psychotherapist without it should not run the breathing journey, the bodywork or the energy work. A certified psychotherapist must still decide whether their own professional code allows these elements to be combined with psychotherapy (section 3) [synthesis].

2b. The session arc as the school describes it (descriptive only; not a procedure)

Opening of sacred space. Invocations and smudging with sage, cedar and sweetgrass, which the school calls ceremony [source: Shamanic Breathwork page].
The journey. Participants lie down and are invited to surrender to their "inner shaman" and to call on whatever is sacred to them (spirit guides, power animals, higher powers). Drumming and a chakra-attuned musical set accompany rhythmic connected breathing. Facilitators and co-journeyers give support. Facilitators may offer bodywork, "Shamanic Reiki", "Soul Return" and "Extractions" [source: Shamanic Breathwork page]. This guide gives no breathing rates, durations or counts.
Processing. While still partly in the altered state, the journeyer makes expressive art with a co-journeyer present: mandalas, sculpture, masks, collage, or the "Shamanic Shakti Painting Process". In "sacred scribing" the journeyer tells the experience, the co-journeyer writes it down and then shares their own experience. The stated purpose is integration, grounding and a brief shared review [source: Simon & Schuster book page excerpt, ch. 5].
Community sharing, group processing, integration and grounding [source: Certification page; Level II page].
Interpretation. Facilitators read artwork and imagery through archetypes and the "Elemental Five Cycles of Change" [source: Level II page].

2c. The psychotherapist's frame [synthesis]

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 client can describe the possible effects, and the client has a grounding plan they have practised.
Phase B, attendance. The client attends with a certified facilitator. The psychotherapist does not attend in a clinical role unless that has been explicitly agreed.
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 or new symptoms go to assessment (section 5).
Criterion for not proceeding. An unscreened contraindication, an active crisis, current substance intoxication or early recovery without a support plan, or a facilitator who cannot describe their screening, consent and emergency arrangements.

3. Guiding principles

School principles, as published.

"The Healing is the Training, The Training is the Healing" (Star Wolf) [source: Shamanic Breathwork page]. Practical meaning: facilitators train by undergoing the process. Expect clients who attend trainings to be doing deep personal work in a group, not only learning skills.
The inner shaman guides the journey. Every individual has "an inner shaman guiding their journey" [source: Level II page]. Practical meaning: the method values the participant's own authority over meaning. Use this to support client autonomy in integration.
A "safe container". Facilitators are trained to create and hold space in which participants feel "energetically held" [source: Level II page]. Practical meaning: ask what concretely makes the container safe, such as screening, staffing, touch consent and emergency arrangements.
Archetypal and symbolic reading of experience. This draws on the Five Cycles of Change and on Jung's ideas about mandalas and the Self, as the book excerpt cites them [source: Simon & Schuster book page]. Practical meaning: images are offered as metaphor. Treat them as material to explore, not as facts about the past.

Psychotherapist's principles [synthesis unless cited].

Attribute the beliefs and respect the meaning. Shamanic, chakra, soul-retrieval and energy concepts belong to the school. Do not endorse or debunk them; explore what they mean to the client.
Safety and screening come first. Connected or accelerated breathing can cause hyperventilation effects and intense states (section 4). Screening is the main harm-reduction step.
Stay within competence. Refer to clinicians and practitioners with the relevant skills, and practise only what you are trained in [source: UKCP Code items 23–24; APA Ethics Code 2.01, per the codes listed].
Touch only with explicit consent, which can be withdrawn at any moment, and never sexual. The USABP code says genital or sexual touch is "always inappropriate" and that clients may refuse or end touch at any time [source: USABP Code of Ethics].
Keep roles separate. A psychotherapist who is also a certified facilitator should not run ceremony or bodywork with their own therapy clients unless their profession's code permits it and the client has given informed consent. Give extra weight to dual-relationship and power issues [source: EABP Ethics Guidelines 5.a, 6.b, 7; UKCP item 8].
Do not suggest memories. Avoid searching for or implying hidden memories, and treat newly "recovered" memories with great caution [source: BJP correspondence on Brandon et al. 1998].
Cultural humility. Be aware that ceremonial elements are borrowed from or attributed to Indigenous traditions, and that Native critics object to the commercial use of those traditions (section 4) [source: Aldred 2000, abstract].
No health claims. Shamanic Breathwork is not a treatment for any physical or mental disorder. Never advise a client to change medication because of it.
The client may stop at any time. They may return to ordinary breathing, decline touch, or leave an event, and this is agreed beforehand.

4. Intervention inventory

This section has two parts. Part A describes each component of the method as the school publishes it, so the psychotherapist knows what a client will meet. Only certified facilitators deliver these components. Nothing in Part A is a procedure to carry out, and ceremonial elements are not proceduralised. Part B sets out what the psychotherapist does, which is mostly [synthesis] from general clinical practice. Example therapist language throughout is illustrative.

Part A. Components of Shamanic Breathwork as the school describes them

A1. Opening of sacred space (ceremony)

Purpose and when used (school): opens each journey by establishing "safe and sacred space", with smudging using sage, cedar and sweetgrass, and with prayerful invocations [source: Shamanic Breathwork page].
Steps: this is a ceremonial form and is not proceduralised here. The psychotherapist's task is to let the client know it will happen and to explore how they feel about it.
Example language (illustrative): "The session opens with a ceremony that includes burning herbs and spoken invocations. How does that sit with your own beliefs, and with any breathing or smoke sensitivities you have?"
Watch for: smoke sensitivity or asthma. Religious conflict or a feeling of pressure to join a spiritual framework. Discomfort about ceremonial elements drawn from Indigenous traditions (see B7).

A2. The breathwork journey (connected breathing, drumming, chakra-attuned music)

Purpose and when used (school): the core of the session. Participants lie down, surrender to the "inner shaman" and call on what is sacred to them. Rhythmic connected breathing to drumming and a musical set chosen for each chakra is said to produce a dreamlike altered state in which ego defences are released [source: Shamanic Breathwork page]. The book presents breath as entraining the person to rhythm, as a shaman's drum or rattle does, and includes chakra-attuned rhythms and a guided chakra meditation [source: Simon & Schuster book page]. Chakras and energy fields are the school's concepts and are not established anatomy.
Steps: delivered only by a certified facilitator. This guide gives no breathing rate, session length or round count.
Possible effects to explain to clients. Sustained rapid or connected breathing can lead to hyperventilation and lowered carbon dioxide. Reported effects are tingling, muscle cramping or tetany (spasm, for example of the hands), warmth, anxiety or panic, and a feeling of being unable to get enough breath, alongside strong emotion, vivid imagery and altered consciousness [source: Wheble & Elcin 2025 for tingling, tetany and dizziness in connected-breathing sessions; HealingMaps for the rest, uncertain: secondary, unverified]. The school itself reports states ranging from bliss to struggles with "negative forces", rebirth experiences and life review [source: Shamanic Breathwork page].
Contraindications. The school pages listed below publish no contraindication list [uncertain]. Two better-documented lists for comparable intense breathwork can guide screening. Kripalu's information sheet for its energy-intensive Transformative Breathwork names pregnancy; cardiovascular disease; a personal or family history of aneurysm; epilepsy or other seizure conditions; retinal detachment; recent injury or surgery; a history of mental illness or trauma, or current emotional or mental difficulties the session could aggravate; untreated high blood pressure; conditions needing major medications, especially tranquillisers; infectious conditions; and other serious injury or disease. Participants raise these with a programme director before the session [source: Kripalu breathwork information]. A University of Sussex randomised trial of high-ventilation breathwork excluded people with low or high blood pressure, heart or respiratory disease, a history of fainting, epilepsy or seizures, panic disorder or panic attacks, cerebral aneurysm, past problems in breathwork, pregnancy or breastfeeding, conditions that affect breath pacing, and any regular medication, including blood-pressure medicines, antidepressants, anxiolytics and other psychotropics [source: Sussex breathwork trial protocol, Fincham et al. 2023]. Also treat glaucoma, osteoporosis (tetany can cause injury), bipolar disorder or mania, psychosis, severe PTSD or dissociation, suicidality and acute crisis as reasons for medical or psychiatric clearance [synthesis]. Never practise breath-intensive work in or near water or while driving, because of the risk of losing consciousness [synthesis]. See the Domain VII Holotropic Breathwork guide for that school's screening.
Example language (illustrative): "Breathing this way can cause tingling, cramping in the hands or face, dizziness and very strong feelings. These usually pass when breathing returns to normal, but they can be frightening. Before you go, we'll check that none of the health conditions that make this unsafe apply to you."
Watch for (afterwards): prolonged spasm, chest pain, fainting, seizures, headache or eye pain. Panic that does not settle. Dissociation, derealisation or persistent altered perception. Sleep loss or manic or psychotic features in the days after. Any of these needs medical or psychiatric assessment (section 5).

A3. Facilitator bodywork and energy work

Purpose and when used (school): during a journey facilitators may use bodywork (taught in Level II as "rebirthing, resistance, conscious touch, and energy clearing") and energy work ("Shamanic Reiki", "Soul Return", "Extractions") [source: Shamanic Breathwork page; Level II page]. Soul loss, soul return and extraction are the school's spiritual concepts.
Note on the word "rebirthing". This is a bodywork technique within a breathwork school. It is distinct from the coercive "rebirthing" attachment therapy that was implicated in a child's death in Colorado in 2000 and then banned by state law. For that harm account, see Domain XVI [uncertain: secondary, unverified].
Steps: certified facilitators only. A psychotherapist does not perform these within psychotherapy (section 3).
Consent. The school pages listed below do not describe consent or boundary protocols for touch [uncertain]. Standards from body psychotherapy that a client can ask about: the practitioner assesses whether touch suits each client, gets informed consent beforehand (written consent recommended), re-checks consent, and respects the right to refuse or end touch at any time. Genital or sexual touch is always inappropriate [source: USABP Code of Ethics]. Clients should be told in advance that physical techniques may be used [source: EABP Ethics Guidelines, Principle 7].
Example language (illustrative): "Facilitators may offer hands-on work or pressure during the breathing. You can say no in advance or at any moment, and a good facilitator will ask first. What would you want them to know about touch?"
Watch for: reports of touch given without asking, touch that went on after the client said stop, sexual or intimate-area contact, or feeling pressured to accept "resistance" work. Treat any of these as a possible boundary violation (B13).

A4. Co-journeyer pairing

Purpose (school): a partner sits with the journeyer during and after the journey, supports them, writes down their account and shares their own experience [source: Shamanic Breathwork page; Simon & Schuster book page].
Steps: arranged by the facilitator.
Example language (illustrative): "Someone in the group, usually not a professional, will sit with you. How comfortable are you being seen in a very open state by a stranger?"
Watch for: clients with social anxiety or a history of boundary violation. Partners who interpret the client's experience for them. Contact after the event that becomes intrusive.

A5. Expressive art (mandalas, Shakti painting and other media)

Purpose (school): integration and grounding while the journeyer is still somewhat altered. Media include mandalas, sculpture, masks, collage and the "Shamanic Shakti Painting Process". That process is described as beginning with smudging and an intention and using what the school calls "kidney breathing" to activate "Shakti energy", with feeling guiding the brush rather than a planned picture. Mandalas begin from a drawn circle, and images are read literally, metaphorically and archetypally with reference to Jung [source: Simon & Schuster book page excerpt, ch. 5]. Shakti energy is the school's concept.
Steps: delivered by the facilitator. The psychotherapist works only with the finished art the client brings (B9).
Example language (illustrative): "Would you like to show me what you made? Tell me about it in your own words first, before anyone's interpretation."
Watch for: a facilitator's reading being taken as fixed truth, especially readings that point to hidden trauma (B10).

A6. Sacred scribing

Purpose (school): the journeyer tells the experience, the co-journeyer writes it down and then shares their own experience. The stated aims are integration, grounding and a brief shared review [source: Simon & Schuster book page excerpt].
Example language (illustrative): "If you have the written account, we can read it together. Notice which parts are your words and which parts came from someone else."
Watch for: a narrative that has absorbed other people's interpretations or the group's language.

A7. Community sharing and group processing

Purpose (school): facilitators are trained in group processing, integration and grounding, and in giving "meaningful feedback and counseling" [source: Level II page; Certification page].
Example language (illustrative): "How was it to share in the circle? Was there anything you held back, or anything said about you that stayed with you?"
Watch for: group pressure toward a shared interpretation, over-disclosure, shame after disclosure, and feedback presented as counselling by facilitators who are not licensed clinicians.

A8. The Five Cycles of Change and archetypal interpretation

Purpose (school): an "Alchemical Map of Shamanic Consciousness" and the "Elemental Five Cycles of Change" are used to read journeys, art and symbols [source: Simon & Schuster book page; Level II page]. The cycles themselves are not detailed on the pages listed below, so this guide does not set them out [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "The facilitator said this image belongs to a stage of change. Does that framing help you, or does it feel like it doesn't fit?"
Watch for: use of the map to explain away distress that needs clinical assessment.

A9. S.H.I.P. initiations and shamanic ministry

Purpose (school): a series of initiations meant to release old story lines. Completion makes a person eligible for ordination as a Shamanic Minister [source: Certification page].
Example language (illustrative): "You're thinking of joining the training and ordination path. What would that commitment mean for your time, money, relationships and current treatment?"
Watch for: escalating commitment, financial strain, dependency on a teacher or group, and withdrawal from other supports [synthesis].

Part B. The psychotherapist's interventions [synthesis unless cited]

B1. Exploring the request

Purpose: to understand why the client wants Shamanic Breathwork and how it relates to the goals of therapy.
Steps: (1) Ask what they have heard or read, and from whom. (2) Ask what they hope will change. (3) Ask whether they plan to attend a single event, a multi-day retreat, an online session or a training (Level I and above). (4) Place the plan alongside the current treatment plan, phase and risk level. (5) Agree whether and how the experience will be brought back into therapy.
Example language (illustrative): "What draws you to this, and what would tell you it helped? Let's think about where it fits with what we're working on."
Watch for: hope of a single breakthrough that will settle trauma, or avoidance of slower work. Being steered there by a partner or a group.

B2. Medical and psychiatric screening and clearance

Purpose: to identify contraindications, because the school pages listed below publish none; see A2 for the comparison lists used instead [uncertain].
Steps: (1) Ask about cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, aneurysm, epilepsy or seizures, eye conditions (glaucoma, retinal problems), pregnancy, recent surgery or injury, osteoporosis, asthma or COPD, and current medications. (2) Ask about any history of psychosis, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, severe PTSD or dissociation, suicidality or self-harm, eating disorder, and substance use and recovery stage. (3) Where anything is positive, ask the client to get clearance from their physician or psychiatrist before attending, and do not reassure them yourself. (4) Write down the screen and the decision [source: Kripalu breathwork information; Sussex breathwork trial protocol for the condition list; the rest is synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Some health conditions make intense breathing risky. I'll go through a list. For anything that applies, please check with your doctor before booking. I can't give medical clearance."
Watch for: minimising ("my heart thing is minor"), and conditions that are not disclosed to the facilitator. Never suggest pausing or changing medication.

B3. Informed consent about possible effects

Purpose: to make sure the client's decision is informed and that they know they can stop.
Steps: (1) Describe the session arc in plain terms (A1–A7). (2) Name the possible physical effects (A2) and the possible psychological effects: intense emotion, frightening imagery, apparent "memories", spiritual experiences, and feeling raw or disoriented for some days. (3) Say that touch and energy work may be offered and can be declined (A3). (4) Make clear that this is a spiritual practice, not a treatment for any disorder. (5) Check understanding by asking the client to explain it back.
Example language (illustrative): "Some people find this deeply meaningful. Others feel shaken for days, and some feel nothing much. You can stop breathing this way at any point and just lie quietly. Can you tell me in your own words what might happen?"
Watch for: idealisation, and beliefs that the client must "push through" or that stopping means failing.

B4. Vetting the facilitator and the event

Purpose: to help the client judge whether the setting is safe.
Steps: suggest the client ask the facilitator: (1) Their level of certification with Venus Rising (Facilitator or Master Practitioner), which can be checked through the school's "Find a Facilitator" listing [source: Certification page; Shamanic Breathwork page]. (2) Whether they are also a licensed clinician. (3) What health screening they carry out, and whether it is in writing. (4) How they ask consent for touch and energy work. (5) The ratio of staff to participants, and who is present in the room. (6) What happens if someone panics, faints or is still distressed afterwards, and their emergency and follow-up arrangements. (7) Their ethics code and how to make a complaint (the site links to a Shamanic Ministers' Code of Ethics; GPBA has its own ethics and complaints process) [source: GPBA member listing; touch codes as cited]. (8) For online sessions, how someone is supported if alone at home [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "It's reasonable to ask a facilitator how they screen people, how they ask about touch, and what they do if someone becomes very distressed. A good facilitator will be glad you asked."
Watch for: no screening, discouragement of medical advice, claims to cure illness, pressure to sign up for further levels, or reluctance to answer.

B5. Touch and consent planning

Purpose: to prepare clients with trauma or boundary histories for possible touch.
Steps: (1) Explore past experiences of touch, especially while vulnerable or lying down. (2) Help the client decide in advance what they accept: no touch, specific areas only, or ask first every time. (3) Rehearse saying "no" or "stop", or agree a hand signal. (4) Suggest the client tells the facilitator their decision before the session starts. (5) Remind them that sexual or intimate-area touch is never acceptable [source: USABP Code of Ethics; EABP Principle 7].
Example language (illustrative): "Let's practise how you'd say 'please don't touch me' or 'stop'. You don't owe anyone an explanation."
Watch for: freezing or fawning as habitual responses, which make consent given in the moment unreliable. Agreeing no touch in advance may be safer for these clients.

B6. Stop plan and grounding rehearsal

Purpose: to give the client ways to come out of an overwhelming state that they have already practised.
Steps: (1) Agree that the client can stop the connected breathing and breathe normally, sit up, open their eyes or step out. (2) Practise grounding that does not rely on breathing in session: naming things they can see and hear, feeling their feet and the support beneath them, holding a familiar object, saying today's date and where they are. (3) Plan for the day after: a quiet schedule, no driving if they feel disoriented, someone to contact. (4) Write the plan down.
Example language (illustrative): "If it gets too much, you can stop and simply breathe normally. Let's practise coming back to the room now: tell me three things you can see."
Watch for: the client being unable to ground in session. That suggests they are not ready to attend.

B7. Discussing cultural origins

Purpose: to support an informed and respectful choice.
Steps: (1) Explain that the school attributes parts of its teaching to Twylah Nitsch, described as a Seneca Wolf Clan elder, and to "ancient shamanic lineages" without naming specific cultures, and that it uses smudging with sage, cedar and sweetgrass [source: Shamanic Breathwork page; Linda Star Wolf page]. (2) Note that Native American critics and scholars have objected to non-Native people teaching or selling Native spiritual practices in the New Age market. Aldred (2000), for example, analyses that commercialisation and the objections to it [source: Aldred 2000, abstract]. No reliable published assessment of Shamanic Breathwork in particular appears among the sources below [uncertain: not verified]. (3) Invite the client's own view, especially if they have Indigenous heritage.
Example language (illustrative): "Some of the ceremony draws on Native American practices. Some Indigenous people object to how these are used commercially. Is that something you want to think about before deciding?"
Watch for: distress in Indigenous clients, or clients who feel conflicted about taking part. Do not use this conversation to sway the client toward either choice.

B8. Post-session stabilisation

Purpose: to settle a client who arrives activated after an event.
Steps: (1) Check orientation, sleep, eating and safety, including suicidality. (2) Use grounding (B6) before any exploration. (3) Postpone deep processing until the client is stable. (4) Look for warning signs (A2 and B13).
Example language (illustrative): "Before we go into what came up, let's check how your body is right now. How have you been sleeping since?"
Watch for: nights with little sleep, pressured speech, grandiosity, paranoia or persistent unreality. These need same-day psychiatric assessment.

B9. Integration of imagery, art and the scribed account

Purpose: to help the client make meaning that supports therapy goals.
Steps: (1) Ask the client to describe the experience in their own words before looking at the art or the scribed account. (2) Explore images as metaphor: what the image is like, which feelings go with it, and where it connects to current life. (3) Separate the client's meaning from interpretations given by facilitators or the group. (4) Translate what they found into small, concrete changes. (5) Respect spiritual meaning without endorsing or disputing it.
Example language (illustrative): "If the wolf in your painting could say something about your life right now, what would it say? What might you do differently this week?"
Watch for: the experience being taken as instructions, for example to leave a relationship immediately. Pace big decisions.

B10. Memory caution (birth, past-life and abuse "memories")

Purpose: to avoid harm from treating altered-state imagery as historical fact. The school reports rebirth experiences and life review [source: Shamanic Breathwork page].
Steps: (1) Do not search for hidden memories or suggest them. (2) Treat new "memories" with extreme caution whether they arose in therapy or outside it, and seek corroboration where possible [source: BJP correspondence on Brandon et al. 1998 and the Royal College of Psychiatrists' 1997 recommendations]. (3) Hold the experience as meaningful without deciding it is historically true. (4) Counsel against confronting family or taking legal action on the basis of breathwork imagery alone. (5) Write down what the client reported and the stance you took. Further claims about how altered states affect memory accuracy, beyond these sources, are [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "Experiences in deep states can feel completely real and still be symbolic or reconstructed. We can take seriously what it means to you without deciding yet what happened."
Watch for: facilitators or the group naming abuse as the meaning of an image, mounting certainty after repeated sessions, and estrangement from family.

B11. Spiritual experiences and spiritual crisis

Purpose: to support meaning-making while staying alert for illness.
Steps: (1) Ask about the experience with curiosity. (2) Check functioning, sleep and reality testing. (3) Distinguish distress that is meaningful but contained from psychotic or manic features. (4) Where appropriate, and with consent, involve the client's own faith community.
Example language (illustrative): "That sounds very significant to you. Alongside what it means, how are you managing day to day?"
Watch for: a sense of special mission, voices, or a breakdown in function. Refer these.

B12. Clients in addiction recovery

Purpose: the school links its work to addiction recovery, and its site lists "Shamanic 12 Steps" [source: Shamanic Breathwork page; Linda Star Wolf page; Simon & Schuster book page].
Steps: (1) Ask the client to check with their sponsor or recovery team. (2) Plan for cravings after intense emotional states. (3) Make sure the event is free of alcohol and drugs, and that the client attends sober.
Example language (illustrative): "Strong emotions afterwards can bring cravings. Who will you call if that happens?"
Watch for: the breathwork replacing recovery supports, and any lapse afterwards.

B13. Recognising adverse effects and passing them on

Purpose: to make sure harms are dealt with.
Steps: (1) Medical signs (chest pain, fainting, seizure, persistent spasm, sudden visual change) go to emergency or medical care. (2) Psychiatric signs (psychosis, mania, suicidality, severe dissociation, panic that does not settle) need urgent assessment. (3) Boundary violations or sexual misconduct: support the client, record it, and with their consent explain how to complain to Venus Rising, to GPBA's ethical-concerns process and, where a crime is involved, to the police. (4) Record the effect and your response.
Example language (illustrative): "What you're describing needs a medical check today. I'll help you work out where to go."
Watch for: reluctance to report because of loyalty to the group.

B14. Collaboration and ending the integration work

Purpose: to coordinate care and close this piece of work.
Steps: (1) With written consent, share relevant safety information with the facilitator, and ask the facilitator what happened in the session. (2) Review with the client whether attending supported their therapy goals. (3) Decide together whether they will attend again, take a break or stop. (4) Bring the work back to the main treatment plan.
Example language (illustrative): "Looking back, what did this add, and did it cost you anything? Let's decide together what's next."
Watch for: repeated attendance becoming a way to avoid ordinary therapeutic work.

5. Handling problems

The school pages listed below do not set out problem-handling guidance for referring clinicians. All responses in this section are [synthesis] unless a citation is given.

Overwhelm during or after a session (panic, tetany, flooding). Afterwards, stabilise first (B8). Explain that tingling and spasm are recognised effects of over-breathing that usually ease once breathing returns to normal [source: Wheble & Elcin 2025 for the effects; HealingMaps for their course, uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Persistent or severe symptoms need medical care. Leave deep exploration until sleep and functioning have recovered, and re-examine whether the client should attend again.
Psychotic, manic or severe dissociative reactions. Arrange urgent psychiatric assessment the same day and inform the GP or prescriber with consent. Record the event and advise against further intense breathwork until a psychiatrist has reviewed the client.
A client is stuck ("nothing happened" or "I failed"). Normalise the range of experience. Explore performance pressure and any comparison with others in the group, and look at what was noticed in body, mood and relationships. Avoid framing this as resistance to be overcome.
Resistance to screening or medical clearance. Explain that screening protects their choice to attend rather than blocking it. If a significant contraindication is left unaddressed, say plainly that you do not support attending, and record the advice. The decision remains theirs.
The client has not followed the plan (attended without clearance, used substances, skipped grounding). Explore what happened without shaming, assess any effects, and revise the plan. Be firm about not attending intoxicated.
Rupture: the client feels you dismiss their spiritual experience. Acknowledge it and repair. Separate respect for the meaning from clinical caution about safety and memory. Ask what attitude from you would help.
Rupture: the client feels you endorse the school's claims. Clarify that you attribute those concepts to the tradition and work with what they mean to the client.
Disclosure of abuse "memories" from a journey. Use B10. Do not confirm or dismiss them. Avoid suggestive questioning, seek corroboration where possible, follow safeguarding duties for any current risk to children or vulnerable adults, and record carefully [source: BJP correspondence on Brandon et al. 1998].
Boundary violation or sexual misconduct by a facilitator or participant. Believe and support the client. Explain the routes for making a complaint (Venus Rising, GPBA's process, police where a crime is involved). Follow any safeguarding or mandatory-reporting duties, and record everything. Published reports of misconduct within this school are not documented among the sources below [uncertain: not verified].
Escalating involvement (repeated retreats, training levels, ordination, financial strain, isolation). Name the pattern gently, look at costs and benefits, and check for dependency on a teacher or group and for undue influence. Support the client's autonomy and their outside relationships.
Online sessions done alone at home. Raise the safety gap: no one may be physically present to help if the client faints, has a seizure or panics. Suggest a support person stays nearby, or that the client chooses in-person sessions.
Cultural conflict or distress (B7). Make room to explore it. Where the client wishes, connect them with their own community or tradition. Do not decide for them.
The psychotherapist is also a certified facilitator and a client asks them to lead a session. Decline within the therapy relationship unless the professional code explicitly permits combining the two and informed consent covers the dual role. Refer to another certified facilitator instead [source: EABP Ethics Guidelines 5.a, 6.b; UKCP Code item 8].
Relapse in addiction recovery after a session. Treat it as a lapse to work through, involve the recovery supports, and review whether intense emotional work is well timed (B12).
A facilitator or event claims to treat illness or advises stopping medication. Advise the client not to change any medication without their prescriber. Help the client weigh whether to keep attending that event.

Sources

Web sources

Books and papers cited

Star Wolf, L. (2009). Shamanic Breathwork: Journeying beyond the Limits of the Self. Bear & Company (foreword by Nicki Scully). Cited from the publisher's description and excerpt only.
Aldred, L. (2000). Plastic shamans and astroturf sun dances: New Age commercialization of Native American spirituality. American Indian Quarterly, 24(3), 329–352. Cited from the abstract only.
Brandon, S., Boakes, J., Glaser, D., et al. (1998). Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: Implications for clinical practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, 296–307. Cited as discussed in the correspondence above; the full paper is not drawn on directly [uncertain].
Royal College of Psychiatrists' Working Group on Reported Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse (1997). Recommendations for good practice. Psychiatric Bulletin, 21, 663–665. Cited as referenced in the correspondence above [uncertain].

Named by the school or GPBA, not used as sources here: the Venus Rising lineage page, the Shamanic Ministers' Code of Ethics and the GPBA Training Standards.

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