What is Extraction Healing?
Extraction healing is a shamanic ceremony in which a practitioner removes blockages, called intrusions, from a client’s energy system. In core shamanic belief, intrusions of inappropriate or negative energies that have taken up residence in the body interfere with the normal functioning of the spirit body and need to be removed through extraction. This is energy that does not belong in the body and may cause illness.
Extraction involves removing a spiritual intrusion—just as there can be infections in ordinary reality, so there can be spiritual intrusions. Michael Harner, founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, compared these intrusions to termites in a wooden house: not inherently evil, but interfering with the structure’s integrity and needing removal. Intrusions can become lodged within the body via conscious or unconscious thought projections, from “curses” or psychic attacks, or from self-created thought forms that have become toxic over years of negative self-talk and poor self-image, or from living in a spiritually toxic environment.
Extraction healing addresses spiritual illness, not medical conditions, though practitioners observe that energetic ailments sometimes manifest as physical symptoms. Shamanic practitioners perceive and remove localized illness and pain due to spiritual factors—this is perhaps the most universal of all shamanic healing practices worldwide.
Origins & Lineage
Shamanic healing is the oldest of all spiritual healing modalities, practiced by our ancestors for millennia, going back to prehistoric times. The work of healing often involves the extraction of offending substances from the patient’s body by sucking, pulling, or other means. This practice appears across indigenous cultures globally—from the Huichol of Mexico to Aboriginal Australians, from Siberian shamans to Peruvian curanderos.
Michael Harner (1929-2018), an anthropologist who studied with shamans across multiple indigenous cultures, identified the universal elements common to all shamanic traditions and developed “core shamanism,” a practice framework accessible to modern Westerners without appropriating specific cultural ceremonies. Harner was introduced to shamanic work in 1961 among the Conibo Indians in eastern Peru, with the aid of native psychedelics; when he returned to the United States and experimented with drumming, he found it worked—drums were reportedly used by shamans almost worldwide.
The Foundation for Shamanic Studies developed extraction healing methods over nearly 50 years through Harner’s pioneering work in contemporary shamanism. All FSS workshops and training courses were originated, researched, and developed by Michael Harner based upon his decades of research and experimentation.
Traditional extraction methods appear in indigenous practices worldwide. Traditional forms of Huichol healing, as practiced by shamans in Mexico, use techniques that have been passed down for thousands of years to guide the shaman in locating and extracting illness. In Amazonian ayahuasca traditions, extraction of pathogenic objects is one use of the sacred brew in healing ceremonies.
How It’s Practiced
In extraction healing, the shaman enters an altered state of consciousness and allows their power animal or healing spirit to merge with them and work through their body—unlike spirit possession, which is involuntary, the shaman puts their ego aside and invites the spirits in to perform the extractions. This is not done through journeying but through working in the Middle World in an altered state of consciousness.
A diagnostic shamanic journey is performed beforehand to ascertain the nature of the intrusions and to receive instructions as to how best to approach the extractions—sometimes there is a specific order or method that must be followed, and the shaman must use their “strong eye” to see the intrusions.
Once the shaman has located the misplaced energy, they merge fully with their guardian spirits or power animals—this increases the shaman’s power and allows them to remove the energy while protecting the shaman from taking the energy into their own body during extraction.
The shaman perceives these intrusions through visionary sight and removes them through a combination of sucking, pulling, or cutting with spiritual tools. Some shamans work by “sucking” the spiritual intrusions from the body, which is particularly hazardous and should never be attempted without proper training. In core shamanism, practitioners use a safe and effective touch-free method.
The extraction process is a hands-on healing that can sometimes become quite rigorous—the intrusions, which have their own consciousness, may try to avoid capture and removal, as these energies have found a home and do not wish to be disturbed. After extraction, the “hole” left behind is filled with healing energy or returned soul parts.
The extraction ceremony is often supported by drummers and/or members of the client’s community who act as witnesses to the healing work—in Western culture, having this kind of spiritual healing performed is so alternative to the usual model for healing that it is useful to have someone close to remind us of the power of the ceremony.
Extraction Healing Today
Extraction healing is now practiced globally through various channels. The Foundation for Shamanic Studies offers standardized training programs, including weekend Shamanic Extraction Healing Training workshops and advanced courses. Participants are trained in how to work powerfully with their helping spirits to identify, remove, and dispose of localized spiritual intrusions causing pain and illness, and to re-empower a client after shamanic extraction to help restore health and well-being.
Advanced methods are practiced in programs including extraction healing, power soul retrieval training, psychopomp work, divination, and work with the spirits of nature. The minimum coursework before application to advanced programs is the FSS basic Way of the Shaman course, Shamanic Extraction Healing Training, and at least two more advanced 2-day FSS workshops, though five or more advanced courses are generally recommended.
Individual practitioners trained in indigenous traditions also offer extraction work. Paqo shamans from Peru’s Qeros Nation practice ancient ceremonies handed down for hundreds of years, using coca leaf readings to determine if extraction is needed and to find the root of the problem.
Seekers encounter extraction healing through shamanic practitioners offering private sessions, workshop training, and integration into broader spiritual healing contexts. All shamanic practices can be done both in-person and at a distance, depending on the practitioner’s training and experience.
Common Misconceptions
Extraction healing is not medical treatment. All Foundation workshops and training programs are offered for teaching purposes only and are not for healing or treating any student or participant for any physical or mental condition or illness. Responsible practitioners emphasize that shamanic work complements but never replaces conventional medical care.
Intrusions are not “evil” spirits that have entered. Intrusions shouldn’t be seen as ‘bad or negative energy’ but as energy that ended up in the wrong place—comparable to woodworm in a musical instrument: the creatures aren’t bad in themselves, but they destroy the instrument.
Extraction healing is not shamanic journeying. While practitioners may journey beforehand for diagnostic purposes, the actual extraction work happens in ordinary reality while the practitioner is in an altered state, working directly with the client’s energy body in the Middle World.
This is not about religious conversion or supernatural intervention. Shamanic facilitation does not involve religious conversion, spirit possession, or supernatural interventions—it is a spiritual practice grounded in cultural and symbolic traditions designed to support healing and balance.
How to Begin
Those interested in receiving extraction healing should seek practitioners trained through reputable organizations like the Foundation for Shamanic Studies or those apprenticed in authentic indigenous lineages. Interview potential practitioners about their training, lineage, and ethical guidelines.
For those called to study extraction healing as practitioners, begin with foundational shamanic training. The Foundation for Shamanic Studies’ basic workshop, “The Way of the Shaman,” teaches core shamanic journeying and relationship with helping spirits. Only after establishing this foundation should students undertake specialized extraction training.
A shamanic practitioner who wants to be a competent healer will undergo a significant amount of training over many years. This kind of work can be dangerous to the shaman if they are not well protected by their guides and power animals.
Michael Harner’s books, particularly The Way of the Shaman (1980), provide foundational understanding of shamanic principles. For those seeking healing rather than training, consultation with an experienced shamanic practitioner can determine whether extraction work is appropriate for specific concerns. Many practitioners offer diagnostic journeys to assess what healing modalities would best serve a client’s needs.