Frequently Asked Questions
Questions answered in this section:
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What approach do you use during retreats?
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What is Shamanic Assessment and why is it helpful?
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​The approach we use is Tri-Therapeutic Integration into Wholeness™, a process created by Elizabeth Alanis, LCSW, DD that combines three fundamental pillars of healing — Psychotherapy, Medicine Wheel Wisdom, and Shamanic Healing — into a practice that promotes profound transformation. Each of the three pillars brings its unique strengths, creating a path to wholeness that embraces our complex human experience, and grounds us practically and spiritually.
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Psychotherapy:
This foundational aspect uses Jungian techniques, such as shadow work and voice dialog, alongside theories of attachment styles and archetypes, to address the deep-seated patterns that shape a person’s psyche. By illuminating the shadow and integrating diverse parts of the self, psychotherapy aids in uncovering unconscious motivations and self-defeating beliefs, allowing you to reframe your life narrative and build emotional resilience. -
Medicine Wheel Wisdom:
The Medicine Wheel offers a sacred framework for exploring interconnected aspects of life — emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual. Each direction of the wheel represents life stages and elements, guiding clients to examine relationships with themselves, others, and the natural world. Through relatedness, life balance, and discovering allies (such as power animals), the Medicine Wheel deepens self-understanding and fosters harmony, especially around personal distortions that can misalign perceptions and actions. -
Shamanic Healing:
At its core, Shamanic Healing introduces ancient, ceremonial wisdom practices that address spiritual wounds and reconnect individuals to their essence. This modality includes soul retrieval (to restore fragmented parts of the self lost through trauma), Shamanic Extraction (to purify and balance the individual’s energetic field), and connection with Spirit (to gain insights and guidance from a higher consciousness). Shamanic healing enables individuals to feel spiritually aligned, reconnected to their sense of purpose, and at peace with their spiritual journey.
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What approach do you use during retreats?
Why is this method effective?
​Tri-Therapeutic Integration into Wholeness™ works holistically because it addresses mind, body, and spirit, bridging practical psychological techniques with spiritual and ancestral wisdom. This method also considers the deeper impact of family, ancestral, cultural, and collective consciousness influences, recognizing that healing extends beyond the individual level to encompass these interconnected aspects of one’s life. Each part of the integration supports the others, creating an approach that:
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Facilitates Comprehensive Healing:
By addressing multiple levels — individual, familial, ancestral, and collective — you experience a deeply transformative process that not only alleviates symptoms but also brings alignment with your core being. -
Promotes Sustainable Growth: Through layered insights and profound connections with self and Spirit, you become more self-aware, resilient, and empowered. You gain tools to navigate life with a balanced perspective, honoring both your personal journey and your roots.
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Enhances Self-Understanding: Each of the three pillars invites you to explore your shadow, your connections, and your higher self, fostering wholeness that reflects true self-empowerment and lasting change across personal and relational spheres.
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The layered, integrative nature of this approach makes it uniquely powerful, allowing you to find not only personal healing but also a deep sense of unity that extends through family, ancestry, culture, and collective consciousness.
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What is Shamanic Assessment and why is it helpful?
In Shamanic traditions, health is seen as a balance across the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical realms. Shamans perceive energy flows and identifying the spiritual sources of illness, connecting with larger forces affecting well-being. Here's a streamlined look at their assessment process:
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Entering an Altered State of Consciousness (ASC):
Shamans use techniques like drumming or chanting to enter an ASC, which lets them perceive subtle signs in your spirit beyond ordinary awareness. -
Journeying to the Spirit Realm:
In ASC, shamans "journey" mentally to spiritual realms, often with guidance from spirit allies, to locate sources of imbalance, like energy blockages or unresolved trauma. -
Reading Energy and Aura:
Shamans can "read" your aura, interpreting colors, shapes, or sensations like "cold" or "dark" areas as indicators of imbalances. -
Using Divination Tools:
Crystals, bones, or other tools act as indicators from the spirit world, helping shamans receive insights about imbalances you may have. -
Consulting Spirit Guides or Ancestors:
Dialogue with guiding spirits offers insights into the root of the imbalance whether it's linked to life events, family conflicts, or past traumas. -
Listening to your Story:
The shaman listens closely to understand emotional or spiritual themes in your life that may contribute to suffering.
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After gathering insights, the shaman may identify issues like energy blockages, spiritual intrusions, or disconnection from nature, tailoring treatments such as energy extraction, soul retrieval, or spiritual reconnection to restore balance across all levels of being.
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​When a person encounters trauma, part of their soul may "leave" to shield them from the full impact of the experience. This is a natural defense but can lead to long-term issues if the soul fragment isn’t reintegrated.
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Symptoms of Soul Loss:
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Disconnection or Numbness: Feeling detached or "numb," as if life is happening behind a veil, often leading to just "going through the motions."
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Unexplained Sadness: A persistent heaviness, grief, or longing without a clear cause, resembling homesickness for something unknown.
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Chronic Fatigue: A deep, non-physical exhaustion, feeling drained of inner energy and enthusiasm for life.
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Memory Gaps or Mental Fog: Difficulty recalling events, especially traumatic ones, and feeling unfocused or mentally hazy.
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Loss of Passion: A lack of motivation or joy in activities, with dreams and goals feeling distant.
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Incompleteness: A feeling that something essential within is missing.
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Addictive or Avoidant Behaviors: Turning to compulsive habits as an unconscious attempt to fill the emptiness.
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Effects of Soul Retrieval:
After a soul retrieval ceremony, people often feel more "whole" and emotionally connected, with increased energy, clarity, and a renewed sense of purpose. For some, changes are immediate; for others, they unfold gradually.
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Can you explain “soul retrieval”?
What is Shamanic Extraction?
​Shamanic extraction is a powerful healing technique used to remove intrusive spiritual energies from the collective consciousness that have attached to and disrupted a person’s energetic field. Such "intrusions" often enter through trauma, illness, or negative environments, and can manifest as emotional, physical, or mental distress, distorting one's sense of self. By using tools like rattles, drumming, and spirit allies, the shaman enters a trance state to locate and extract these entities, clearing away residual energies and sealing the energy field to restore balance and health.
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Signs of Intrusions:
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Physical Pain: Unexplained, localized pain, often feeling like a weight or pressure.
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Emotional & Mental Distress: Persistent feelings of anger, fear, or sadness that feel foreign or invasive.
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Mental Fog: Difficulty concentrating, memory issues, and decision-making struggles.
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Energy Drainage: Deep fatigue, particularly after specific interactions or environments.
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Self-Distortion: Feeling unlike oneself, as if influenced by an outside force.
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Sleep Disturbances: Nightmares, feelings of attack in dreams, and restless sleep.
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Compulsive Behaviors: Increased reliance on substances or activities to suppress discomfort.
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Extraction Process & After effects
In the extraction session, the shaman removes these energies, often with immediate effects: reduced pain, mental clarity, emotional stability, renewed energy, and a profound sense of wholeness. Healing continues to deepen over time as the person integrates this restored balance.
Shamanic releasing ceremonies serve as a profound reset, empowering individuals to let go of the “old story” and embrace an authentic path forward.
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When people hold onto emotions like guilt, shame, regret, or resentment, these feelings can act as invisible chains, subtly influencing their thoughts, behaviors, and overall well-being, often without them fully realizing it. The effects of these bottled emotions can manifest as:
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Persistent self-criticism
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Avoidance of relationships
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Difficulty forgiving oneself and others
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Chronic stress and physical tension
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Self-sabotage and fear of success
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Feelings of unworthiness
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Perfectionism and overworking
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After a Shamanic Releasing Ceremony
People often report feeling lighter, more compassionate towards themselves, and open to authentic relationships and purpose. They reconnect with their true selves, finding room for joy, growth, and authenticity, free from the grip of self-hate and resentment.
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