How to Ground Yourself After a Shamanic Journey
- Dec 31, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 2
Ash Miner's passions for music and animals resulted in 2 bachelor's degrees and 3 master's degrees before she applied that knowledge to shamanic healing and teaching. A self-published author of the book The Answer to Everything: Earth Wisdom & Beauty, Ash hopes to one day found a healing sanctuary for people and animals who have survived trauma.
Welcome, dear readers, to my sixth article, part four of my articles on this ancient spiritual practice called shamanism. If you haven’t read my first article, I would encourage you to at least do that, and preferably read from the beginning of my publications. Each of my 11 articles for Brainz Magazine builds on the others as teaching stories. This is the old way of sharing wisdom that my helping Spirits have instructed me to follow. I will continue the story, then share the teachings of it afterward for clarity.
Where we left off, Raven had just completed her first shamanic journey and was going out into the forest to learn how to ground the work with the help of Mel, the shamanic practitioner & teacher, and a Tree helper. Raven hadn’t even had a chance to take notes and share yet, because she had some mild discomfort that prioritized doing grounding work first.
Now, the sylvotherapy (forest bathing) practitioner in me wants to note that forests have tremendous benefits on our physical and emotional health. Even just being with sunlight, green leaves, and the soil of the forest floor is scientifically proven to boost health in a myriad of ways. Sunlight, as we know, stimulates vitamin D in us and photosynthesis in plants – an interesting parallel. But the wavelengths for green light have a myriad of health benefits as well, plus the grounding effects of connecting with the Earth beneath our feet directly. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more or go more in-depth with forest healing work specifically.
Teaching stories, part 5
Raven followed Mel out the back door of Mel’s cabin and into the forest. The sun shone brightly, twinkling through the leaves of the trees and down onto the forest floor before them. Within a few yards, though, the shade of the tree canopies overtook the light, and only a scarce spattering of light beams could be seen within the forest itself. As the two approached the treeline, Mel instructed Raven to take off her shoes and socks and walk barefoot from there. A narrow, but soft path lay before them, inviting them in, so they stepped forward and began their walk.
“Let me know when a tree calls to you,” Meliae instructed Raven.
“Calls to me? How will I know when a tree calls to me?” Raven asked, dubious.
“It might feel magnetic, or you might hear its song, or like a fishing reel at your navel pulling you in,” Mel explained, “This is also referred to as a medicine walk or walking journey, where we let Nature, the Spirit of the Forest, offer help or guidance.”
So onward they walked. Birds would sing to each other, insects would buzz from flower to flower, squirrels would squeak and chase each other, and even deer would pause their peaceful grazing to offer the gift of their focus. Still, Raven did not hear or feel the calling of a tree. Mel seemed in no rush whatsoever, so guilt and pressure began to release from Raven as she walked ever onward into the darkening depths of the forest. It was then that Raven felt something, as though attached at the hip, pulling her sideways to the right. She turned her head to see a most glorious young tree, about the same height as she, glowing in a small beam of sunlight through the canopy above.
“I found it!” Raven exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement. This was absolutely true, totally real, and very powerful. She couldn’t believe it. A tree was calling to her. She sidled over to the tree, held one of its leaves between the palms of her hands, and marveled at its every detail while she waited for Mel to catch up.
Mel smiled with a wise and knowing expression. She, too, could recall the first time a tree had connected to her in this deeper way, though she had the good fortune of being much younger than Raven is now. She jogged lightly over to meet Raven at a beautiful little aspen sapling, which stood in front of its much larger and older brothers and sisters. Aspens are rarely individual, but one root system with several trees above the surface. What a wonderful ally for Raven to work with.
“What is it?” Raven asked, turning to Mel as she arrived beside her. “It’s an aspen,” Mel answered without detail.
“It’s just like me,” Raven began, “we’re the same height, even similar bark and skin tones, and its leaves are so beautiful. It is so powerful, so alive,” Raven remarked further.
“What a blessing you have found each other,” Meliae replied without judgment or alteration to Raven’s experience, before instructing, “Ask it how you can ground your experience today, see what happens.”
“Aloud or in my head?” Raven asked, not taking her eyes off her new aspen tree friend. “From your heart,” Meliae instructed, gazing adoringly at the sapling.
Raven closed her eyes, instinctively put her hands on her heart, and asked the question, "How can I ground after my journey?" She sat in silence for only a little while before she could hear a tender voice say, “Your torso is your trunk, your legs are your roots. You are rooted wherever you are if you connect to your feet.” Raven gasped, both knowing and doubting she didn’t make that up.
“What did she say?” Meliae asked, then bit her lip as she unintentionally announced her recognition of the tree’s spirit’s gender.
“Wait, how did you know she’s a girl?!” Raven stared at Mel directly now, awestruck. “Magic,” Meliae said slyly as she winked at Raven.
“She said, ‘Your torso is your trunk, your legs are your roots. You are rooted wherever you are if you connect to your feet.’” Raven recited perfectly.
“Aha,” said Mel, “And how is that for you, to connect to your feet?”
“Well, I mean, it’s tricky,” Raven explained, “I’ve had some nerve damage from stepping on a nail when I was little and can’t really feel my feet all the way ever since.”
“Sounds like you need an extraction,” said Mel, “But that’s for another day. How is it right now? Can you maybe connect with the souls, S - O - U - L - S, of your feet?”
Raven closed her eyes and simply tried it by intention. There is no way to know how to do that except to try, she assumed. And sure enough, the awareness of her feet grew, and as that connection reformed, her feet began to feel more like tree roots, shooting off here and there between the numb spots. The nausea after returning from the journey went away within just a few seconds of this, and Raven felt a rush of warmth come up through her feet to her entire body – even though she knew her feet were cold from being exposed to the bare earth beneath. She sighed with relief, her entire body relaxing.
“Better?” Mel asked, though she already knew the answer. It’s always powerful to say the change out loud.
“Much!” exclaimed Raven.
So they began a gentle, honoring walk in silence back to Mel’s cabin after bidding the aspen sapling goodbye with heartfelt gratitude. They put their shoes and socks back on before reentering the cabin through the same back door. Once they were seated and comfortable, Raven took a big gulp of water, and Mel said, “Now, take some notes and tell me all about your journey.”
Story teachings: A Shamanic Journey
In this story, we learn that we can journey to the Spirits in the Spirit World, but also by going on a walk to the Spirits in Nature as well. Medicine walks are one of my absolute favorite shamanic practices, and I love to do walking journeys like this with “What is my first [or next] step?” intentions.
Clair senses, or soul senses as I prefer to call them, feel different but can be experienced similarly to our ordinary, everyday senses. We can call on them in the Spirit World, as well as in the Living World. It may take a while, and it may not be at all what you expect, but this spiritual experience is the birthright of every human on Earth. We see it described in cultures all across the globe, so there is no appropriation or blockage of any kind for any of us. All of us had ancestors who walked in this way, who were shamanic.
When we share our experience, it is best for the shamanic practitioner to hold space and not interpret, judge, or alter it in any way. This is a sacred time, and we do not put our own projections above the direct revelations from the Spirits to the Soul.
Feel free to let me know what you see in this walking journey, this medicine walk. What wisdom did I not disclose? Are there parallels between Raven’s experiences and the aspen sapling?
We’ll see how I recommend spirit journeys be worked with in the next article. Stay tuned!
Read more from Ash Miner
Ash Miner, MS, MM, Shamanic Practitioner & Teacher
Ash Miner's personal journey of healing PTSD led her to shamanism. Despite being a total skeptic, she knew in 1 session this was her path, and had been since she was a very little girl. Ash has spent years studying extensively, completing US training by Sandra Ingerman, as well as with Jonathan Horwitz and Zara Waldebäck in Sweden. She has found her true calling in teaching and offering shamanic healing to human beings, animals, and the Earth. Her extensive background in music education and performance, as well as animal behavior, provides a scientific framework for her soul work. She specializes in healing song and healing story. Her mission is to demystify shamanism to make it an approachable healing modality for all of humanity.
