Shamanic Healing for Chronic Illness: A Mind-Body-Spirit Approach to Coming Home to Yourself
- Dr. Nikita Patel
- 10 minutes ago
- 11 min read
By Dr. Nikita Patel, naturopathic doctor specializing in mindbody medicine and shamanic healing.
Living with chronic illness can be exhausting.
You may have seen doctors and specialists. You may have completed testing, tried medications, changed your diet, taken supplements, and followed treatment plans. Some of those steps may have helped.
Yet you still feel that something important has been missed.
You may carry years of stress, caregiving, grief, fear, emotional pain, or the pressure to keep going. You are deeply sensitive to the emotions and needs of others. You are tired of managing symptoms without feeling fully seen.
Your body is not broken.
Your symptoms are real. Your body deserves appropriate medical care. And you are more than a diagnosis.
You are a whole person with a body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
My work combines shamanic healing with mind-body medicine, clinical hypnosis, and Emotional Freedom Techniques, also known as EFT or tapping. It creates a compassionate space to explore the deeper layers of your healing experience.
What Is Shamanic Healing?
Shamanic healing is a spiritually guided and ceremonial approach to wellbeing.
It recognizes that some experiences of pain, disease, depletion, or disconnection may not be fully described by medical testing alone. It also recognizes that healing can include more than symptom management.
In my practice, shamanic healing may include:
Soul-retrieval ceremonies
Ancestral wound healing
Extraction work
Energetic imprint removal
Aura cleansing
Clinical Hypnosis- age regression, past life meaning, reparenting inner child, soul retrieval
EFT
Mindfulness
Reiki
HeartBrain Coherence
Essentially it is spirit-guided healing with grounding and embodied practices
Each session is unique.
There is no fixed formula because every person has a different story, history, and healing path. A ceremony is guided by your intention, what emerges in the session, and the spiritual guidance that informs the work.
These practices are spiritual and ceremonial. They are not medical procedures or diagnostic tools. They do not replace medical care, therapy, psychiatric care, or emergency support.
My Spiritual Understanding of Chronic Illness
My work is rooted in a shamanic understanding that the physical body is not separate from the spirit.
In the Andean shamanic worldview that guides my work, illness may begin long before it appears in the physical body. A wound, fracture, loss, disconnection, or burden held in the spirit may shape the mind, emotional patterns, nervous system, and physical health.
Over time, a spiritual wound may influence the beliefs you carry, the stories you tell yourself, the ways you protect yourself, and the patterns you repeat.
You may carry beliefs such as:
“I have to do everything alone.”
“My needs do not matter.”
“I have to take care of everyone else.”
“Rest is not safe.”
“I have to earn love through service.”
“It is selfish to care for my needs.”
And then there are these core beliefs - “I am not worthy. I am not enough, I do not belong. I am bad.”
These beliefs tend to develop to help with surviving, belonging, or feeling safe. They may have served an important purpose at one time.
Over time, survival patterns can become exhausting. They may be associated with suppressed or stuck emotions, hypervigilance, depletion, or a sense of disconnection from yourself leading to chronic stress. When stress becomes chronic or normalized, the body may remain in a prolonged state of adaptation. This is sometimes described as allostatic load, or the cumulative “wear and tear” on the body from repeated stress responses.
Chronic stress can affect the nervous, endocrine, immune, metabolic, and cardiovascular systems. It is associated with changes in stress hormones, inflammation, blood pressure, pain sensitivity, sleep, and metabolic health. These changes can contribute to health risk and may worsen symptoms or disease processes over time.¹⁻⁵
In the shamanic worldview that guides my work, I also make room to explore the spiritual meaning, emotional patterns, and lived experiences that underly these physical stress responses.
This is not a claim that every chronic illness has one spiritual cause. It does not mean that you caused your illness. It does not mean that spiritual healing replaces diagnosis, medication, specialists, or evidence-informed medical treatment.
It means that, in my work, we create space to listen for the deeper story.
We may ask:
What is the body trying to communicate here?
For some people, this question opens a meaningful layer of healing that does not get addressed in your mainstream medical care.
Soul Retrieval
Soul retrieval is a central practice in my shamanic healing work. I was first introduced to this in my clinical hypnotherapy training by Wellness Institute, and later through my shamanic training at the Shamanic Healing Institute by Paul Sivert, LCPC (retired).
In spiritual language, soul retrieval is a ceremony of reconnecting with soul essence(s) that have been fragmented after difficult experiences.
You may recognize this feeling if you have thought:
- “I do not feel like myself.”
- “I lost myself somewhere along the way.”
- “Part of me never came back after that.”
- “I am here, but I do not feel fully alive.”
- “I know what I need, but I cannot access it.”
- “I feel like something is missing.”
Soul retrieval is not a medical treatment or cure for disease.
It is a ceremonial practice that supports your connection to your vitality, and sense of wholeness.
The goal is not to become who you were before hardship. The goal is to come home to the person you are becoming.
Ancestral Healing and Energetic Clearing
Not every burden begins with us.
Many people carry family patterns of oppression, scarcity, sacrifice, overwork, or emotional suppression. These patterns may be passed through families, culture, relationships, and lived experience. Ancestral healing creates ceremonial space to recognize what has been carried forward and choose what you no longer wish to carry.
Extraction work, energetic imprint removal, and aura cleansing may be used when you feel weighed down, stuck, or depleted that shows up as chronic pain, or long term illness. This usually comes from abusive relationship dynamics.
This work is not about blaming your family. It is not a claim that every struggle comes from your ancestors or another person.
It is about asking a compassionate question:
“What are you ready to release so that you can grow more fully into your true self?”
MindBody Medicine and Integration
Shamanic healing is the spiritual center of my work. Mind-body medicine helps you be fully present, embodied, and in charge in your healing work.
The mind, emotions, nervous system, and body affect one another. Stress, lack of rest, caregiving strain, and emotional overwhelm can influence how the body experiences pain, fatigue, sleep changes, tension, and digestive symptoms.
In my practice, I use hypnotherapy and EFT to support emotional processing, nervous-system regulation, and embodied change.
Clinical Hypnosis
Clinical hypnosis is a focused and collaborative process. It can help you enter a calm state of attention and explore beliefs, emotional responses, and protective patterns that may be difficult to access in everyday life.
You remain aware and in control during hypnosis. It is not mind control. You cannot be made to do, say, or believe anything against your will.
Hypnosis may help you explore:
The mind body connection
Subconscious beliefs
Your healing intelligence
Connection with your higher self
Sense of internal safety
The purpose is not to judge these patterns. It is to understand them with compassion and develop more choice in how you respond.
Emotional Freedom Technique - EFT, Tapping
EFT, often called tapping, combines focused attention with gentle tapping on specific points of the body.
It can help you stay present with emotions, beliefs, physical sensations, and stressful experiences without becoming overwhelmed.
EFT may be supportive when you feel:
- Anxious, overwhelmed, or emotionally flooded
- Stuck in resistance or self-criticism
- Activated by conflict or relationship stress
- Drained by caregiving or work demands
- Disconnected from your body or intuition
- Significantly improving the state of your chronic illness
EFT is not about forcing positive thoughts.
It is about making room for what is true in the moment. It supports a gentler relationship with emotions and the nervous system.
Research on EFT is still developing. Emerging research suggests that EFT may help reduce PTSD, TBI, skin rashes, chronic pain, insomnia, autoimmune condition, weight issues, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, phobias, anxiety and depressive symptoms for some people.13-17 Individual response varies, and continued high-quality research is needed.4,5
How These Approaches Work Together
Approach | Purpose in my practice |
Shamanic Healing | Supports ceremony, spiritual exploration, reconnection, ancestral healing, energetic clearing, and soul-centered care |
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) | Supports emotional processing, nervous-system regulation, and integration between sessions |
Clinical Hypnosis | Helps explore subconscious beliefs, protective patterns, and inner narratives with consent and awareness |
Trauma-sensitive HeartBrain Coherence | Reduces stress hormone cortisol, increases wellbeing hormone DHEAs for increased vitality in the physical body. |
For example, a shamanic ceremony may reveal a deep pattern of believing that love must be earned through service.
Hypnotherapy can help you explore how that belief became part of your inner world.
EFT can help you process the guilt, fear, or anxiety that may arise as you process some of the past traumatic events.
Heart-brain coherence helps you center in your heart and strengthen the feeling of safety in your body.
The ceremony opens a door. Mindbody practices help you walk through it in daily life.
Who This Work May Support
This work may be supportive if you live with chronic illness and feel there may be emotional, spiritual, or relational layers that need attention alongside appropriate naturopathic or conventional medical care.
You may be drawn to this approach if you:
- Feel exhausted from caring for others
- Identify as highly sensitive, empathic, or intuitive
- Feel disconnected from your body, voice, purpose, or inner knowing
- Have tried many approaches but still feel something deeper has been missed
- Want spiritual care with practical mind-body tools
- Are open to ceremony, reflection, hypnosis, EFT, and integration
- Want support without being blamed for your illness
You do not need a spiritual background or a clear answer before beginning.
You only need a willingness to meet yourself with honesty and care.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is shamanic healing for chronic illness?
Shamanic healing for chronic illness is a spiritually guided approach that explores emotional, energetic, relational, and spiritual dimensions of a person’s healing experience. It may include virtual ceremonial soul retrieval, ancestral healing, energetic clearing, and integration practices. It is complementary care and does not replace medical diagnosis or treatment.
Can shamanic healing cure chronic illness?
No. Shamanic healing is not a cure for chronic illness. It is a spiritual and ceremonial practice that intends to support healign inside out and wellbeing alongside appropriate naturopathic or/and conventional medical care.
Does shamanic healing mean my illness is my fault?
No. Chronic illness is complex. It can involve many biological, environmental, social, emotional, and medical factors. My approach does not blame you for your illness or suggest that you caused your symptoms through thoughts, emotions, trauma, or spiritual beliefs.
What is soul retrieval?
In spiritual language, soul retrieval is a ceremony of retrieving and reconnecting with soul essence(s) that have been fragmented after difficult experiences or traumatic events.
What is ancestral wound healing?
Ancestral wound healing is a ceremonial process that explores inherited family, cultural, or relational patterns such as silence, fear, overwork, sacrifice, caregiving, or illness. It is not about blame. It creates space to honor what came before you and choose what you no longer wish to carry.
What is extraction work?
Extraction work is a spiritual practice that is used when you feel burdened, depleted, stuck, or affected by an emotional or energetic pattern that no longer feels aligned with you. It is a ceremonial practice, not a medical procedure or psychiatric diagnosis.
What happens during a shamanic healing session?
Every session is individualized. It may include conversation, intention setting, ceremony, guided reflection, sound, prayer, divination, soul retrieval, energetic clearing, hypnotherapy, EFT, heartbrain coherence and integration practices. You will have space to ask questions and move at a pace that feels supportive.
Will I be controlled during hypnotherapy?
No. Hypnotherapy is collaborative and consent-based. You remain aware, able to communicate, and in control throughout the session.
Is EFT tapping the same as positive thinking?
No. EFT does not ask you to ignore difficult feelings or force positivity. It uses gentle tapping and focused attention based in traditional chinese medicine system of accupressure, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy and exposure therapy to help you acknowledge emotions and respond with greater self-compassion.
Can I work with you while seeing a doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist?
Yes. Shamanic healing, hypnotherapy, and EFT are complementary services. Continue working with qualified medical and mental-health professionals for diagnosis, treatment, medication management, therapy, emergencies, and ongoing care. Complementary approaches are used alongside conventional healthcare; Neither replaces each other..6,7
How do I know whether this approach is right for me?
A consultation can help us determine whether this work aligns with your needs, goals, and current support system. You are welcome to ask about my training, approach, session format, scope, and how I coordinate with other care when appropriate.
Begin Your Inside-Out Healing Journey
You do not have to choose between science and spirit.
You can manage symptoms while also tending to emotions, beliefs, your nervous system, relationships, energy, and spirit for root cause healing.
Healing is not always predictable or linear.
It may look like feeling safer in your body. It may look like deeper rest, stronger boundaries, greater self-trust, renewed meaning, less fear, or a clearer connection to your inner voice resulting in more wellbeing in your body.
If you are living with chronic symptoms and feel called to explore a spiritually guided, mind-body approach, I invite you to learn more about working with me.
Dr. Patel is a naturopathic doctor specializing in shamanic healing, and mind-body medicine. Her virtual sessions/ceremonies support highly sensitive, empathic, and intuitive people living with chronic illness, emotional exhaustion, and a sense of disconnection from themselves.
Dr. Patel offers a compassionate, individualized approach that honors both spiritual experience and guidance for appropriate medical care. Her work is grounded in clinical training, mindbody tools, ceremonial practice, and a deep respect for each client’s unique healing process.
References
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Hypnosis. Updated January 2020. Accessed August 17, 2026. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/hypnosis.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Chronic Pain and Complementary Health Approaches: Usefulness and Safety. Updated 2023. Accessed August 17, 2026. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/chronic-pain-and-complementary-health-approaches-usefulness-and-safety.
Langlois P, Perrochon A, David R, et al. Hypnosis to manage musculoskeletal and neuropathic chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022;135:104591. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104591.
Clond M. Emotional freedom techniques for anxiety: a systematic review with meta-analysis. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2016;204(5):388-395. doi:10.1097/NMD.0000000000000483.
Bach D, et al. The effectiveness of emotional freedom techniques for depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychol. 2024;12:642.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Are You Considering a Complementary Health Approach? Accessed August 17, 2026. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/are-you-considering-a-complementary-health-approach.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. 6 Things To Know When Selecting a Complementary Health Practitioner. Accessed August 17, 2026. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/tips/things-to-know-when-selecting-a-complementary-health-practitioner.
McEwen BS. Stress, adaptation, and disease: allostasis and allostatic load. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1998;840:33-44. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09546.x.
Juster RP, McEwen BS, Lupien SJ. Allostatic load biomarkers of chronic stress and impact on health and cognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2010;35(1):2-16. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2009.10.002.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Black PH, Garbutt LD. Stress, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. J Psychosom Res. 2002;52(1):1-23. doi:10.1016/S0022-3999(01)00302-6.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Tawakol A, Ishai A, Takx RAP, et al. Relation between resting amygdalar activity and cardiovascular events: a longitudinal and cohort study. Lancet. 2017;389(10071):834-845. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31714-7.
Sachs-Ericsson NJ, et al. The influence of adverse childhood experiences in pain management: mechanisms and implications. Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2022;3:852808. doi:10.3389/fpain.2022.852808.
Church D, Stapleton P, Vasudevan A, O’Keefe T. Clinical EFT as an evidence-based practice for the treatment of psychological and physiological conditions: a systematic review. Front Psychol. 2022;13:951451. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.951451.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih+1
Church D, Yount G, Brooks AJ. The effect of emotional freedom techniques on stress biochemistry: a randomized controlled trial. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2012;200(10):891-896. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e31826b9fc1.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Church D, Stapleton P, Mollon P, et al. Guidelines for the treatment of PTSD using clinical EFT (emotional freedom techniques). Healthcare (Basel). 2018;6(4):146. doi:10.3390/healthcare6040146.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih
Church D, House D. Borrowing benefits: group treatment with clinical emotional freedom techniques is associated with simultaneous reductions in posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression symptoms. J Evid Based Integr Med.2018;23:2156587218756510. doi:10.1177/2156587218756510.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih
Church D, Stern S, Boath E, et al. Emotional freedom techniques to treat posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans: review of the evidence, survey of practitioners, and proposed clinical guidelines. Perm J. 2017;21:16-100. doi:10.7812/TPP/16-100.
Medical and Scope Disclaimer
The spiritual perspectives and ceremonial practices described in this article reflect the framework of my shamanic-healing practice. They are not medical or scientific claims about the cause of any disease, and they do not provide medical diagnosis or treatment. Shamanic healing, hypnotherapy, EFT, and mind-body medicine are complementary services. They are not replacements for medical care, psychotherapy, psychiatric treatment, medication, emergency care, or care from licensed health professionals. Continue working with appropriate healthcare providers regarding symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and medication decisions.
Comments