Atlas›Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield›Guide 022
Guide XII-022

SHEN therapy

Richard R. Pavek1978Sausalito, California
A 34 · L 40 · M 2615 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: SHEN® (also called SHEN Physio-Emotional Release Therapy) as taught by the SHEN Therapy Institute (Sausalito, California) and certified by the International SHEN Therapy Association (ISTA), using the 2023 Certified SHEN Therapist programme outline published for the UK and New Zealand. Pavek's own handbook (The Health Professional's Handbook of SHEN: Physioemotional Release Therapy, 1987) is listed by booksellers; its content is [uncertain: not verified]. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; shentherapy.net]

What it is. SHEN is a hands-on, clothed, very light-touch method developed by Richard R. Pavek, described by its organisations as an American scientist with a background in chemistry, electronics and aeronautics. The founding date is given differently: shentherapy.net says it was founded in 1978; the SHEN Therapy Now history places the originating experience at a workshop on "subtle energies" in the mid-1970s [uncertain: sources differ]. The acronym is also expanded differently by different sources ("Specific Human Emotional Nexus" in an ISTA instructor's article; "Specific Human Energy Nexus" in a consumer directory) [uncertain: sources differ]. [source: shentherapy.net; SHEN's Beginnings; Fox, The Role of Emotion; The Massage Source]

Core idea of change, as SHEN holds it. According to SHEN's own literature, a person has a natural field (called the biofield, "Bioflux" or Ch'i/Qi) tied to emotional perception. Painful emotions (grief, fear, anger, shame, guilt) are said to set off an "Auto-Contractile Pain Reflex" (AcPR): an involuntary contraction around the body area where each emotion is felt (grief in the mid-chest, anger and fear near the solar plexus, shame and guilt in the lower abdomen). SHEN teaches that this contraction holds the emotion out of awareness and affects body and mind. The practitioner places paired hands in planned positions said to follow the direction of biofield flows; this is held to loosen the contraction so the held emotion surfaces, often with memories, and discharges. Then confidence, serenity and love are said to become available. Pavek's later formulation, called "Field Precedence", holds that changes in the field come before and shape biological and psychological responses. These are the method's own concepts, given here as SHEN states them. [source: shentherapy.net; SHEN's Beginnings; Fox, The Role of Emotion; SHEN Center About; SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]

Status in one line each. Evidence: no controlled trials of SHEN were identified, and the organisations' health and effectiveness claims are their own [uncertain: not verified]. Regulation: the programme document states SHEN "is not regulated by any Governmental Licensing Board". ISTA presents the Certified SHEN Therapist title as defined in a US Department of Labor occupational code; this is the organisation's own statement. SHEN sites list physical conditions (migraine, IBS, PMS, chronic pain). This guide does not present SHEN as a treatment for any physical disease. An ISTA instructor's article states that SHEN is not medical, psychiatric or psychological treatment and does not replace such treatment. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; shentherapy.net; Fox, The Role of Emotion]

2. Framework

Session format. A session lasts about an hour. The client lies fully clothed on a padded table fitted with a SHEN "cradle", which lets the practitioner place hands above, beside and below the body. The extremities rest in relaxed positions. The work combines a verbal enquiry (emotional state, body sensations, pain, dreams, emotionally painful history), observation of breathing and tension, a planned series of paired hand placements using pressureless touch, "table coaching" (breathing instructions, gentle pressure or rocking, questions about emotions as they arise), and closing guidance on breathing, posture and movement. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; Fox, The Role of Emotion; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)]

Course of work. SHEN calls itself a brief therapy: the number of sessions "depends on the level of distress" and is agreed with the client. It aims to avoid dependence. The certification programme recognises:

  • Single or regular sessions, planned one at a time, each recorded and reviewed (for interns, by a Mentor before the next session).
  • Intensive series of about ten sessions for one client. In training these are allowed only after 100 counted sessions and with Mentor permission. Double sessions need Mentor permission and a break of at least 15 minutes.
  • The "pivotal session": the client moves through blocked anger, fear, grief or shame to the emotion underneath, and the practitioner stays present without becoming unnerved or withdrawing. Interns must show one to be certified.

[source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; SHEN Emotional Release Therapy NZ]

Phases of a course (as reconstructed from the training outline) [synthesis from sources]:

  1. Intake and consent: client history form, consultation consent form, fees, screening against the programme's "Precautionary List". Contents of that list are not published [uncertain: not verified]. Move on when history is complete and consent is signed.
  2. Relaxation and orientation: early sessions let the client get used to the table, touch and the field sensations SHEN describes (warmth, tingling, deep relaxation, sometimes sleep). Move on when the client can rest under the hands and report sensations.
  3. Release work: placements aimed at the body areas where SHEN says the client's dominant painful emotions are held. Move on when emotion surfaces and is discharged without the client being left in pain or a debilitated state.
  4. Consolidation and ending: SHEN says confidence, serenity and love become available; then post-session guidance and spacing out or ending. End when the agreed goals are met or progress stops.

Training and certification route.

  • Two prerequisite 7-day Personal Empowerment Workshops (about 102 hours in total).
  • ISTA membership and an application to the internship. Entry requires no unresolved major emotional conditions or current addictions, and the ability to "receive SHEN well".
  • An 18–36 month internship (most finish in about 24 months) with:
    • two 8-day Clinical Skills Seminars (60+ hours);
    • at least 200 mentored client sessions;
    • at least 100 hours of mentoring, with monthly Mentor contact;
    • personal SHEN at least twice a month, plus a personal intensive;
    • six sessions given to the Mentor;
    • liability insurance.
  • Certification: a short narrative and a self-assessment, verified by the Mentor and passed to the ISTA Certification Committee. The programme is about 626 hours; another ISTA page says 680+ hours [uncertain: sources differ].
  • Instructors and Mentors are certified by the SHEN Therapy Institute. Only Certified SHEN Instructors may teach SHEN publicly; a Certified SHEN Therapist (CST) may teach relaxation flows to a partner or children.
  • Keeping the CST credential requires ISTA membership, continuing education, and no suspension by ISTA's Ethics and Standards of Practice Committee.
  • Entry points: a 1-day introduction (theory of the biofield, basic relaxation and restoration flows, giving and receiving two partner sessions).

[source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; Certification Training Program; Practitioner Qualifications; 1 Day Introduction workshop]

Combining with psychotherapy, as the organisation frames it. The Clinical Skills Seminar teaches "differences between SHEN and psychotherapy approaches" and "interfacing with health professionals". Interns may not combine any health, psychotherapeutic or counselling modality into the SHEN sessions they count towards certification. An ISTA instructor states SHEN is not psychological treatment and does not replace it. SHEN therefore treats itself as a separate method alongside other care, not as a technique to insert into talk therapy. No published position from ISTA on psychotherapists who are also CSTs was found [uncertain: not verified]. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; Fox, The Role of Emotion]

Professional-body and licensing positions [synthesis]. No psychotherapy licensing board or professional body position on SHEN specifically was found [uncertain: not verified]. Before adding any touch to your practice:

  • check your own board's and professional body's rules on touch, scope and dual roles;
  • check your indemnity cover;
  • keep SHEN sessions clearly labelled as a complementary service under separate consent and separate notes, or refer to a CST rather than providing it yourself.

3. Guiding principles

Each principle is SHEN's own unless marked [synthesis].

  • Emotion first ("Heal the soul first"). SHEN puts the emotional component ahead of physical or cognitive explanation. In practice: ask about feelings and where they are felt in the body before asking about stories or explanations. [source: shentherapy.net; SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Field concepts are the method's own frame. Biofield, Qi and "Field Precedence" are SHEN's explanatory model; one UK practitioner site states that clients need not understand or believe in the biofield. In practice: describe them to clients as "what SHEN teaches", not as established physiology. [source: SHEN's Beginnings; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)] [synthesis: client-facing wording]
  • Let the emotion surface; do not push it. The aim is to loosen the contraction so the feeling rises on its own. In practice: follow what emerges, and do not dig for memories or suggest content. [source: SHEN Center About; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)] [synthesis: no-suggestion wording]
  • Neutral, steady presence. Interns are trained to keep a neutral emotional stance, and to notice in themselves and avoid judging, rescuing, criticism, attraction and dependency. In practice: stay with strong affect without soothing it away or withdrawing. [source: Certification Training Program; SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Light, pressureless, clothed touch. In practice: touch is minimal, fully clothed and non-intrusive; never sexual or genital; hands-off placement is offered where touch is not wanted. [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)] [synthesis: hands-off option and touch rules]
  • Plan each session and keep records. In practice: write a session plan from the intake and the last session's notes, and record placements, responses and the state at the end. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Brief, non-dependent work. In practice: agree a limited number of sessions or an intensive, and review progress against the client's own goals. [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion; SHEN Emotional Release Therapy NZ]
  • Never leave a client in pain or a debilitated emotional state. Interns must report aborted sessions or such outcomes to their Mentor urgently. In practice: close every session with the client settled, and seek supervision the same day if not. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Practitioner's own growth. Practitioners receive SHEN regularly, and the programme names markers of growth: less blaming, more personal responsibility, better self-worth. In practice: get regular personal work and supervision so your own reactions do not shape the session. [source: Certification Training Program; SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Keep modalities separate. In practice: do not mix SHEN with psychotherapy techniques inside one session without telling the client; label what you are doing. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023] [synthesis: application outside the internship]
  • Complementary, not medical [synthesis, consistent with Fox]. In practice: never present SHEN as treating a physical illness; keep medical care in place and route questions about medicines to the prescriber.

4. Intervention inventory

SHEN's published materials name the components of a session but do not publish the hand-placement maps ("flows"). Those are taught only in workshops and seminars by certified instructors. The placements are therefore described here only as the sources describe them. Do not improvise placements without SHEN training [uncertain: placement sequences not verified]. Items 1–11 are SHEN components; items 12–15 cover the psychotherapist's own integration work [synthesis].

1. Intake, client history and consent

  • Purpose / when: Before the first session, to get the history, screen for cautions and get written consent. Interns must have a Client History Form approved before starting and a Consultation Consent Form signed; clients who decline the consent form may not receive SHEN from an intern. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Take the history: current emotional difficulties, painful history, physical symptoms and who is treating them, medicines (record only; do not advise), prior therapy, trauma and dissociation, pregnancy, and current crisis or risk [synthesis: the risk and dissociation items].
    2. Check the client against the programme's precautionary categories. The list is not published; consult a Mentor or Instructor where unsure [uncertain: not verified].
    3. Explain the session plainly:
      • the client stays fully clothed on a padded table;
      • the practitioner places light, pressureless hands in pairs above, beside and beneath the body;
      • strong feelings or memories may come up;
      • the client can stop at any time;
      • fees and session length.
    4. Consent to touch [synthesis, in line with the touch rules below]:
      • name the areas the hands will rest near, including the chest and lower abdomen in clinical terms;
      • state that there is no touch to breasts, genitals or buttocks, and nothing sexual;
      • offer hands-off placement for any area;
      • agree a stop word or hand signal;
      • say that consent will be checked again during the session.
    5. Informed consent [synthesis]: SHEN is complementary; its biofield ideas are the method's own; it has no established research evidence; it does not replace medical or psychological care.
    6. Record the consent, the touch areas agreed and the alternatives offered.
  • Example language (illustrative): "SHEN is a complementary method. You stay fully clothed and lie on a padded table. I rest my hands very lightly, in pairs, near different parts of your body: for example one hand under your back and one above your chest. Some people feel warmth or tingling, some feel very relaxed, and sometimes feelings or memories come up. Its ideas about the body's energy field are SHEN's own, and it hasn't been tested in good-quality research. It doesn't replace your doctor or your therapy. You can say 'stop' or raise your hand at any time, and I'll stop straight away. Is there anywhere you'd prefer I didn't place my hands, or kept them just off the body?"
  • Watch for: hesitation about touch; a history of sexual or physical abuse, which needs extra preparation (see item 13); someone hoping SHEN will replace medical treatment; acute crisis. It is working when the client can say what they agreed to in their own words.

2. Pre-session enquiry (emotional and somatic interview)

  • Purpose / when: At the start of every session, to find the dominant painful emotion and where it is felt, and so to choose the session focus. The practitioner asks about emotional state, body sensations, pain, dreams and emotionally painful history. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask how the client has been since the last session.
    2. Ask which feeling is strongest now, and where in the body it is felt.
    3. Ask about recent dreams and any pain.
    4. Link the answers to SHEN's emotion–body map: grief in the mid-chest, fear and anger near the solar plexus, shame and guilt in the lower abdomen. [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion]
    5. Agree the focus for the session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What's been weighing on you most this week? … When you think about it now, where do you notice it in your body? … Any dreams that stayed with you?"
  • Watch for: intellectualising, numbness or "no feeling" (SHEN lists "emotionless states" among presenting concerns), and new physical symptoms that need medical review rather than interpretation [synthesis]. It is working when the client can name a feeling and a body location.

3. Observation of body and postural cues

  • Purpose / when: Throughout the session, to track contraction and release. The training teaches reading body and postural cues and watching breathing, torso, face and extremity tension. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Note the client's baseline breathing (depth, where it moves), jaw, brow, shoulders, belly and hands.
    2. During placements, look for changes: a sigh, softening, a jerk or twitch, tears, the breath stopping, fists clenching.
    3. Record what you saw and when.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I noticed your breath caught just then. What's happening inside?"
  • Watch for: freezing, a fixed stare, going pale or shallow breathing, which may signal dissociation or overwhelm rather than release [synthesis]. One ISTA instructor describes involuntary jerks of the legs during sleep in session as a sign of normalising flow; that reading is SHEN's own [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion].

4. Positioning on the cradle

  • Purpose / when: At the start of hands-on work, to support relaxation and give access for placements. The client lies on a padded table with a SHEN cradle, extremities in relaxed positions. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)]
  • Steps:
    1. Invite the client onto the table face up, fully clothed.
    2. Offer supports so the arms and legs rest without effort.
    3. Check comfort, warmth and the client's line of sight to the practitioner and the door [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let your arms and legs be heavy. Would a support under your knees help? Is it all right for me to sit here, by your side?"
  • Watch for: discomfort lying on the back (for example in pregnancy or after injury), and feeling trapped. Adjust or offer a seated or side-lying alternative [synthesis].

5. Paired hand placements ("flows")

  • Purpose / when: The core of the method. Both hands are placed "in a series of planned, paired positions" that SHEN says match the direction of biofield flows, directing "Qi or heat energy" to loosen the contraction around the target area. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)]
  • Steps (as published, without the proprietary maps):
    1. From the session plan, choose the sequence aimed at the body area linked to the dominant emotion.
    2. Before the first placement, say where the hands will go and check consent [synthesis].
    3. Place both hands lightly, without pressure, in the first pair of positions, for example one hand beneath and one above the body (the cradle allows hands above, beside and below the body). [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion; What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)]
    4. Hold the placement and track the client's response.
    5. Move to the next pair to "lift the emotions to the surface", and repeat as needed. [source: SHEN Center About]
    6. Hold times, specific positions and flow directions are taught in SHEN training and are not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Next I'll rest one hand under your upper back and the other just above your chest, not pressing. Is that OK? … You don't need to do anything, just notice."
  • Watch for: clients commonly report warmth, tingling, deep relaxation or sleep, and sometimes memories or strong feeling [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion]. Withdraw immediately if the client signals stop, flinches, or loses contact with the present [synthesis]. Under SHEN's model, it is working when contraction and holding of the breath give way to emotional expression and then to calm.

6. Table coaching: breathing instructions

  • Purpose / when: During placements, to support the release. Breathing instructions are a named component, and "table coaching" is a Clinical Skills Seminar topic. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. When the breath holds or becomes shallow, invite slow, easy breathing into the area being worked on.
    2. When feeling rises, encourage letting the breath move with it rather than holding it down.
    3. If the breath speeds up or becomes forced, slow it and bring the client back to the room [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let the breath go down into your belly… no need to hold anything back." / "Let's slow it right down: breathe out a little longer than you breathe in."
  • Watch for: hyperventilation, dizziness or tingling in the hands, which call for grounding rather than more release [synthesis]. It is working when the breath deepens and the affect moves.

7. Gentle pressure or rocking

  • Purpose / when: During placements, named by the programme as an adjunct technique to help the body let go. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask first.
    2. Apply only light pressure or a slow rock at the consented area, for example a shoulder or a foot.
    3. Stop if the client tenses or says no.
    • The programme does not specify the technique further [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it be OK if I rocked your feet very gently for a moment?"
  • Watch for: startle, or rocking that feels intrusive or infantilising. Use only with clear consent [synthesis].

8. Questions about emerging emotions

  • Purpose / when: When feeling or memory rises during placements, the practitioner asks about the emotion as it arises. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Name what you observe neutrally.
    2. Ask what the feeling is and where it is.
    3. Let the client express it (tears, sound, words).
    4. Do not interpret, suggest memories or lead [synthesis].
    5. Continue placements while the client stays within tolerance.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Something's moving. What's the feeling? … Let it be there; I'm here."
  • Watch for: the client apologising for crying, or going quiet after a disclosure. These may mean shame, so respond warmly. A sudden vivid "new" memory should not be treated as confirmed history; explore it later in talk sessions without suggestion [synthesis].

9. Staying present through the "pivotal" release

  • Purpose / when: When the client moves through blocked anger, fear, grief or shame towards the emotion underneath. The practitioner keeps a neutral emotional stance and must not become unnerved or withdraw. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; Certification Training Program]
  • Steps:
    1. Keep the hands steady and the voice calm.
    2. Avoid rescuing (rushing to comfort), judging, or ending early out of your own discomfort.
    3. Keep checking that the client is still present and willing [synthesis].
    4. Let the intensity peak and subside.
    5. Allow time for the quieter emotions SHEN describes afterwards (confidence, serenity, love).
  • Example language (illustrative): "You're safe here. Let it move through." / "Can you feel my hand under your back? Stay with that as well as the feeling."
  • Watch for: the line between full expression and overwhelm. If the client cannot hear you, cannot feel the table, or stops breathing normally, stop the release and ground them (item 13) [synthesis].

10. Closing and post-session guidance

  • Purpose / when: At the end of every session. The programme lists post-session guidance on breathing, posture and movement, and requires that no client be left in pain or a debilitated emotional state. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Finish placements and tell the client you are removing your hands.
    2. Give time to come back, with eyes open and feet on the floor.
    3. Review what came up.
    4. Give guidance on breathing, posture and gentle movement.
    5. Plan self-care until the next session.
    6. If the client is still distressed, extend the closing, ground, and consult a supervisor or Mentor the same day [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023] [synthesis: grounding steps].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm taking my hands away now. Take your time to sit up. How are you, right now, on a scale of settled to unsettled? … If feelings come back this week, remember the slow breath, and write down anything you want to bring next time."
  • Watch for: spaciness, needing to drive soon after the session, and delayed emotional reactions over the next day or two [synthesis].

11. Session planning, records and supervision

  • Purpose / when: Between sessions. The training teaches session planning and record keeping. Interns send each session record to their Mentor before the next session, and the Mentor is consulted before taking on clients from the Precautionary List. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Record the focus, placements, responses, the state at the end and any concerns.
    2. Plan the next session from these notes.
    3. Bring difficult sessions to supervision.
  • Example language (illustrative, to a supervisor): "Last session the grief release came quickly and she was shaky at the end. I want to plan a gentler next session with more grounding."
  • Watch for: sessions drifting without a plan, and your own countertransference (attraction, rescuing, dependency), which the training names explicitly. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]

12. Intensive series

  • Purpose / when: For a client who wants concentrated work on a specific issue. The programme describes therapeutic intensives of about ten sessions. Interns may give them only after 100 sessions and with Mentor permission; double sessions need permission and a break of at least 15 minutes. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023]
  • Steps:
    1. Agree the focus, number of sessions and spacing in advance.
    2. Screen more carefully than for single sessions: stability, support at home, trauma history [synthesis].
    3. Review the client's state at the start of each session.
    4. Plan a closing session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "An intensive means several sessions close together. Before we commit, let's check you'll have support and time to rest between them."
  • Watch for: cumulative overwhelm, and dependency on the practitioner. Pause the series if functioning drops [synthesis].

13. Trauma-safety layer for SHEN work [synthesis]

SHEN's sites list PTSD, childhood trauma and sexual abuse among the concerns they address. Its published training safeguards are: a precautionary list, Mentor consultation, urgent reporting of aborted sessions or clients left in distress, and entry screening for practitioners. No published SHEN protocol for dissociation or titration was found [uncertain: not verified]. [source: SHEN Center About; SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023] The steps below are general trauma-informed practice added here, not SHEN teaching.

  • Purpose / when: With any client who has trauma, abuse or dissociation in their history, before and during hands-on work.
  • Steps:
    1. Preparation first:
      • stabilisation and grounding skills taught in talk sessions;
      • agreed stop signals;
      • start with placements away from the torso, or hands-off.
    2. Titrate: short placements, frequent check-ins, and open eyes allowed.
    3. Watch for dissociation (glazed eyes, flat voice, no response, losing time) and stop the release at once.
    4. Ground: feet on the floor, name five things you see, hold something cold or textured, sit up.
    5. Re-establish choice: "Do you want to continue, change something, or stop for today?"
    6. Process the material afterwards in talk sessions; do not push for memories.
    7. For clients with a history of sexual abuse: offer hands-off work throughout and consider a support person present, if the client wants one.
  • Example language (illustrative): "We'll go slowly. If anything starts to feel like too much, or you start to feel far away, lift a finger and I'll take my hands away straight away. Let's practise that now."
  • Watch for: compliance without real willingness (saying yes while freezing), and flashbacks. It is working when the client can feel emotion while still knowing where they are.

14. Hands-off option [synthesis]

  • Purpose / when: When touch is unwanted, culturally inappropriate, clinically contraindicated, or not allowed by the therapist's licence or employer. SHEN describes hands placed above, beside and below the body using the cradle. Whether off-body placement is a recognised SHEN variant is not stated in the sources [uncertain: not verified]. [source: What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)]
  • Steps:
    1. Explain that hands will be held a short distance from the body.
    2. Keep the same planning, observation, breathing coaching and closing as in items 2–3, 6 and 8–10.
    3. Respect the client's choice without trying to persuade them otherwise.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I can keep my hands just off your body the whole time. You stay fully in charge of that."
  • Watch for: the client feeling they are getting "less". Normalise the choice.

15. Integrating SHEN with psychotherapy (the therapist's own work) [synthesis]

SHEN teaches it as a separate method: interns may not mix it with counselling during certified sessions, and an ISTA instructor states it does not replace psychological treatment [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023; Fox, The Role of Emotion]. The steps below are a suggested way to work alongside it.

  • Purpose / when: When a psychotherapy client is interested in SHEN, or a therapist who is also a CST wants to offer both.
  • Steps:
    1. Ask about complementary therapies without judgement, and record what the client uses.
    2. Explore the client's hopes and their own model of how SHEN might help them.
    3. Options:
      • (a) refer to an independent CST and coordinate with the client's consent;
      • (b) if you are a CST, offer SHEN only under separate consent, labelling, notes and fees, after checking your board's and indemnity's rules on touch and dual roles;
      • (c) decline, and use non-touch somatic approaches within your training.
    4. In talk sessions, help the client make sense of what emerged in SHEN.
    5. Keep medical care in place: physical symptoms SHEN sites list (pain, migraine, IBS, PMS) need medical assessment. Never advise on medicines; route those questions to the prescriber or pharmacist.
    6. Manage conflicts of interest: do not sell workshops, products or vouchers to your therapy clients, and do not recruit clients into SHEN training.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned wanting to try SHEN. What do you hope it will do for you? … It's a complementary method, so I'd like us to keep your GP in the loop about the physical symptoms, and we can use our sessions to make sense of whatever comes up."
  • Watch for:
    • blurred roles;
    • the client dropping medical care or psychotherapy because of claims made for SHEN;
    • financial pressure from repeated intensives or workshops;
    • group pressure from the 7-day empowerment workshops.

5. Handling problems

SHEN's published materials address only some problems (overwhelm and aborted sessions, practitioner reactions, client screening). Most guidance below is general psychotherapy practice marked [synthesis].

  • Overwhelm during release.
    • Stop the placements, take the hands away, sit the client up and ground them (item 13).
    • Do not resume until the client is clearly present and chooses to.
    • Intern rule: report a session aborted for this reason, or a client left in pain or a debilitated state, to the Mentor urgently. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023] [synthesis: grounding]
  • Dissociation or a flashback.
    • End hands-on work for the session and orient the client to the present.
    • Review the plan: more preparation, hands-off work, or a pause from SHEN.
    • Consider a trauma-focused psychological therapy as the main treatment. [synthesis]
  • Consent wobbles mid-session (the client tenses, goes quiet or says "I'm fine" flatly).
    • Pause and ask. Treat uncertainty as a no.
    • Document it. [synthesis]
  • Nothing happens / "stuck" client (no feeling, falls asleep every session, only relaxation).
    • SHEN materials treat deep relaxation and sleep as acceptable and possibly helpful. One reported client had no memories over five sessions but felt deeply relaxed. [source: Fox, The Role of Emotion]
    • Review goals with the client. If relaxation is all that is wanted, that may be fine. If change in a specific problem is wanted and none occurs after the agreed sessions, discuss stopping or other treatments. Do not keep adding sessions. [synthesis]
  • Resistance or scepticism about the biofield.
    • Do not argue or persuade. Describe the field concepts as SHEN's own model. One SHEN site says belief is not needed.
    • Respect a decision not to proceed. [source: What Is SHEN Therapy (UK)] [synthesis]
  • Non-attendance or dropping out after an intense session.
    • Reach out once, without pressure, and ask what the session was like for them.
    • Offer talk-only sessions to process it. [synthesis]
  • Rupture: the client feels touched without enough consent, misunderstood, or abandoned during release.
    • Acknowledge it plainly and take responsibility.
    • Re-contract (more check-ins, hands-off option), document it, and seek supervision.
    • If a boundary violation is alleged, follow your professional body's complaints and reporting procedures. [synthesis]
  • Practitioner reactions (feeling unnerved, rescuing, judging, attraction, dependency).
    • These are named training topics.
    • Use supervision and personal work.
    • Never act on attraction; refer the client on if it cannot be managed. [source: SHEN 2-Year Certification Program 2023] [synthesis: referral]
  • Recovered or "new" memories.
    • Do not confirm or build on content that emerges in a relaxed or altered state as historical fact.
    • Explore it neutrally in talk sessions, without suggestion. [synthesis]
  • Client wants SHEN instead of medical care, or attributes a physical illness to stored emotion.
    • Keep SHEN complementary and encourage medical assessment.
    • With consent, coordinate with the doctor. [synthesis; consistent with Fox, The Role of Emotion]
  • Children.
    • SHEN sites list "SHEN for children".
    • Children need parental consent and the child's own assent, a parent present, and safeguarding procedures. Never use SHEN in place of medical care for a child. [source: shentherapy.net] [synthesis]
  • Pregnancy or medical conditions.
    • Check with the client's doctor or midwife where relevant.
    • Adapt the client's position on the table.
    • SHEN's claims about pregnancy are the organisation's own. [synthesis]
  • Cost and pressure.
    • Watch for repeated intensives, multi-day workshops or certification being presented as the route to healing.
    • Discuss the costs openly with the client. [synthesis]

Sources

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