How can breathing practice support shamanic work?

Why does grounding matter so much? #

“Grounding is the bedrock of shamanic practice (and should be the bedrock of any spiritual practice really).” Before setting off on a shamanic journey, it is important to know with certainty that we can get back. For anyone who is actually psychotic, or having psychotic episodes, the first starting point of their shamanic practice should be grounding practices, “and most definitely not shamanic journeying”.¹

See Is shamanic journeying safe?

How does breath help before a journey? #

The first practices start with the breath: “Take a moment to take a few deep breaths and come into your body.” From there, we notice any tension in the body and let it relax with each out-breath.²

When journeying alone, the step before the journey itself is to hollow out: “spend some time being aware of your breathing, relaxing your body, and deliberately stepping aside from your middle-worldMiddle-world. Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. “If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world.” Read the full answer stuff”.³

Paul Francis’s own practice is not very ritual-based, and the purpose of any pre-journey ritual is to help move awareness from ordinary consciousness into the altered state in which we can be aware of the spirits. What he does is to bring his attention inward to his breath and his body, relaxing and centring himself, and making sure that he feels grounded, something he places a lot of emphasis on.⁴

See What is hollowing out? and How do I prepare for a shamanic journey?

How does breath help us come back? #

Coming back from a journey does not mean retracing our steps. “Your physical body is your anchor and is already there. All you need to do is to become aware of your physical body again.” One way is to become aware of what we are sitting or lying on; another: “Take a few deep breaths, and be aware of your body moving as you breathe. Wriggle your fingers and toes.”⁵

The same movement runs through the practices: becoming aware of any tension in the body, and “with each outbreath, let the tension go. In doing this, let yourself become more relaxed and grounded.”⁶

What does breath practice look like inside a journey? #

Rewilding Yourself includes a meditation done in the Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer. We find a comfortable spot there and sit with Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer by our side, then close our eyes within the journey and bring our attention to the breath, letting it slow down and deepen if needed, “until one cycle of breath is around about six seconds long.” When thoughts arise, we just notice them and let them go, bringing our attention back to the breath.⁷

See How is journeying different from meditation, and can the two work together?

Can breath help us connect with the other Peoples? #

Breath is part of getting to know Bird from the inside. Birds have light-weight, mostly hollow bones, and they breathe in more air than their lungs can hold. In the practice “Being Bird”, the instruction is: “When you breathe in, as well as your lungs filling with air, feel the air filling your hollow bones, so that your whole skeleton fills with air.” Knowing these things helps take us out of being Human and into being Bird.⁸

See What are transformation practices and shapeshifting?