Shamanic Practitioner Training
2027-28
Ancient Wisdom for a Transforming World
For healers, leaders, change-makers and anyone ready to walk in the world differently
HYBRID TRAINING:
THREE IN-PERSON RESIDENTIAL GATHERINGS
Noddfa, Penmaenmawr, North Wales
THREE ONLINE GATHERINGS
** This training starts in October 2027 **
WHAT THIS COURSE IS?
This course provides professional training in shamanic practice. Over 15 months, on one of the UK's most comprehensive shamanic practitioner trainings, you will develop capacities for intuitive perception, deeper ways of knowing, healing in the broadest of sense. You will learn to let go of your analytical mind and connect with a wider consciousness to help you find your way back to your natural state of wholeness.
The course is primarily residential, is deeply experiential, teaches you powerful practices and tools while also going much further than just teaching you technique. It is a profound personal journey that helps you overcome our deep conditioning to operate as if we are separate from ourselves, others, and the world around us. Many past participants describe it as among the most transformative experiences of their lives.
You will leave as a qualified practitioner, able to apply what you have learned to your personal and professional life.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
This training is for people who are ready to go deep.
You may be drawn to this course if you are:
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Seeking a serious, comprehensive foundation in shamanic healing practice
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Someone who feels the pull to reconnect with the natural world — to experience nature not as backdrop to your life, but as something alive, relational, and deeply familiar
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A healer, counsellor, or therapist wanting to integrate shamanic methods into your work
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A leader, professional, or change-maker looking to develop more intuitive, embodied, and transpersonal ways of knowing and working
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A researcher, academic, or practitioner in sustainability, systems change, or ecological futures, seeking a different way of engaging with the challenges of our time
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Someone at a turning point — personally or professionally — ready for a fundamental shift in perspective and practice
A prior introduction to shamanism is required. If you have completed an introduction course with Ioan you are welcome to book directly. If your prior experience is from elsewhere, or if you are unsure whether this course is right for you, get in touch for a conversation first
WHAT YOU WILL GAIN
As a shamanic practitioner, you will be able to:
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Apply a full range of shamanic healing skills — soul retrieval, extraction medicine, divination, ancestral healing, psychopomp work, and shamanic counselling — to support yourself and others
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Work with death, dying, and ancestral realms with care and confidence
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Lead ceremonies and rituals with skill and intention
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Connect deeply and reliably with the natural world, spirit allies, and non-ordinary reality
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Obtain professional insurance and begin working as an independent shamanic healer
For your professional life, you will develop the capacity to:
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Step into your professional life with a clearer sense of who you are, what you are here to do, and where your particular gifts and calling lie
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Access and apply intuitive ways of knowing in your work — whether in leadership, facilitation, therapy, research, or organisational change
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Hold and work with group fields, collective energy, and complex human dynamics with a different quality of presence and awareness
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Bring a fundamentally different way of seeing systems, organisations, and the challenges within them — one rooted in relationship, wholeness, and connection rather than purely analytical frameworks
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Support others — colleagues, clients, teams — in finding their own access to deeper ways of knowing and being
For your personal development and growth, you will:
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Develop a greatly expanded capacity for intuitive, non-analytical knowing — learning to trust and act from what you feel and sense, not just what you think
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Find your way back to a sense of wholeness — overcoming the deep conditioning to experience yourself as separate from others, from nature, and from the wider currents of life
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Develop a new relationship with yourself: your gifts, your limits, your purpose
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Experience nature as alive, relational, and deeply familiar — as kin rather than backdrop
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Be initiated into a small clan of peers who will accompany you through the training and beyond
You will also receive:
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The Shamanic Practice Handbook — a comprehensive 250-page companion handbook covering the full breadth of shamanic theory, practice, and application. Developed over years of teaching and practice, it is a resource you will return to long after the course is complete
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A certificate of completion enabling you to obtain professional insurance and practise as a shamanic healer
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A community of practice — a clan of peers committed to this path alongside you
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Ongoing connection with the ShamanicHealing.org.uk alumni network
THE PROGRAMME
The programme comprises three 7-day residential gatherings and three 2-day online weekends. The gatherings run across 12 months, with homework submitted within three months of the final gathering — giving a total programme length of 15 months.
Residential gatherings
take place at Noddfa Retreat Centre, Penmaenmawr, North Wales. All accommodation and meals are included throughout. Living, eating, and practising together over extended periods creates conditions for transformation that simply cannot be replicated in day or weekend formats — and allows participants to travel from across the UK and beyond without the complexity of arranging their own accommodation. Each gathering begins at 6pm on the first day and finishes at 1pm on the final day.
Online weekends
complement the residential gatherings, providing continuity, integration, and additional teaching between in-person sessions. Ioan has extensive experience delivering transformative shamanic training online and these weekends are carefully designed — not a compromise, but an integral part of the programme. Timings will be confirmed closer to the date and will take into account the time zones of participants.
Total: 170+ hours of face-to-face training
Gathering One
9th & 10th October 2027 l Online l Times TBC
Gathering Two
8th - 15th November 2027 l Residential at Penmaenmawr, North Wales l Begins 6pm and Completes 1pm
Gathering Three
15th & 16th January 2028 l Online l Times TBC
Gathering Four
16th - 24th March 2028 l Residential at Penmaenmawr, North Wales l Begins 6pm and Completes 1pm
Gathering Five
1st & 2nd July 2028 l Online l Times TBC
Gathering Six
20th - 27th October 2028 l Residential at Penmaenmawr, North Wales l Begins 6pm and Completes 1pm
*Online weekend timings will be confirmed closer to the date based on the time zones of participants. Likely timings are 10am–5pm UK time or 2–9pm UK time. If the cohort includes participants joining from North America, timings will shift toward the later option to accommodate the time difference.
COURSE MODULES
Each module is taught as a shamanic practice and healing discipline — and as a doorway into a wider way of knowing and being. Whether you are developing as a healer, navigating complexity in your professional life, or simply seeking a more grounded and connected way of living, each module opens something that extends well beyond the practice itself.
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Opening — entering the shamanic path
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Soul Retrieval
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Extraction Medicine
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Sacred Ceremonies and Rituals
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Divination
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Death, Dying and Beyond
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Ancestral Realms
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Shamanic Counselling
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Stepping into the Role of Shaman
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Healing Circles
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Completion and Graduation Ceremony
The practices you learn here are ancient. But their application is entirely contemporary — in how you lead, how you relate, how you make decisions, and how you understand the systems and communities you are part of.
Homework and independent practice
Between gatherings, participants are expected to engage in independent practice. This averages around two to three hours per week over the course of the programme and focuses primarily on practice rather than written work. You will be provided with a homework log to support and structure this. Completed homework is submitted within three months of the final gathering.
THE VENUE
All residential gatherings take place at Noddfa Retreat Centre in Penmaenmawr, North Wales. Noddfa is a Welsh word meaning refuge — a place of welcome, peace, and restoration — and it lives up to its name. Set in the foothills of Snowdonia with the sea just a ten-minute walk away, it offers hills to walk, coastline to breathe in, and a quality of stillness that is rare and genuinely conducive to the kind of deep work this training involves.
The centre is run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary and has welcomed groups and individuals for retreat and spiritual practice for many years. It is a held, peaceful, and beautiful place — and the right setting for this training.
All accommodation and meals are provided throughout each residential gathering. You arrive, and everything is taken care of.
Find out more at noddfa.org.uk
INVESTMENT
Course fee: £4,800
Fully inclusive of all accommodation in a solo room and meals across three 7-day residential gatherings.
Your £4,800 covers not just world-class shamanic training — it covers every meal and night's accommodation (in a solo room) across 21 residential days in North Wales. When compared to courses where participants arrange their own board, the all-in value is significant.
PAYABLE AS BELOW
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£1,200 deposit on booking
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£1,200 — September 2027 (before Online Weekend 1)
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£1,200 — January 2028 (before Online Weekend 2)
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£1,200 — June 2028 (before Online Weekend 3)
Places are limited. Booking is subject to a short intake conversation to ensure the course is a strong fit for you. If you would like to discuss a bespoke payment arrangement, get in touch.
Starts Oct 9, 2027
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YOUR TRAINER
Ioan Fazey is a Professor in Social Dimensions of Environment and Change at the University of York, with over 85 peer-reviewed research publications and two decades of international work on transformation, resilience, and systems change. He is also a certified shamanic teacher and practitioner with over 90 days of in-person shamanic training, a Certificate in Counselling Skills, and a deep, lived practice spanning more than 20 years.
He has facilitated groups across five continents — from senior government officials to remote indigenous communities — and brings the same quality of presence, skill, and rigour to his shamanic teaching that characterises his academic and professional work.
The combination of serious academic and professional credentials with Ioan's shamanic practice is what helps make this training genuinely different. Ioan does not choose between the two worlds he engages with, but works at their integration. This training is then the fullest expression of that integration and Ioan's lifelong commitment to helping others find their own way back to a more whole and connected way of being.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does online training really work for something as experiential as shamanism? Yes — and this is something Ioan has thought carefully about and developed over many years of online delivery. The online weekends use tried and tested methods: structured breakout groups, drumming tracks, and a carefully paced flow with plenty of breaks that makes two full days feel genuinely manageable and immersive rather than draining. The online format also makes the course significantly more accessible to participants joining from across the UK, Europe, and North America.
What makes this training different from other shamanic practitioner courses? Several things set this training apart. The volume of face-to-face training — 170+ hours, primarily residential and all-inclusive — is rarely available at this level in the UK. Ioan's combination of deep shamanic practice with academic and professional credentials brings a distinctive rigour and breadth to the teaching. The course also goes beyond technique. A dedicated module addresses stepping into the role of shaman in whatever context and profession you are engaged in. A structured practice log supports your development throughout. And participants are actively encouraged to work together as a clan outside of formal gatherings — building a peer community that extends well beyond the training itself.
Who is the training suitable for? Do I need previous experience? This training is open to a wide range of people — from those seeking a deep foundation in shamanic healing to leaders, therapists, academics, and professionals looking to develop more intuitive ways of knowing and working. See the 'Who is this for' section above for a fuller description. A prior introduction to shamanism is required. If you have completed an introduction course with Ioan you are welcome to book directly. If your prior experience is from elsewhere, or if you are unsure whether this course is right for you, get in touch for a conversation first.
I'm a professional, therapist, or leader — is this relevant to my work? Yes. Past participants across Ioan's courses have included therapists, physiotherapists, healers, administrators, charity directors, professors, academics, executive coaches, CEOs, and senior leaders in government institutions. What draws them is not shamanism per se, but what it develops: the capacity to work more intuitively, to hold complexity differently, and to bring a deeper quality of presence and awareness into their work and relationships. The course does not ask you to leave your professional identity at the door. It asks you to expand it.
What does 'fully inclusive' mean — what exactly is covered in the fee? The £4,800 course fee covers all tuition, accommodation, and meals across the three 7-day residential gatherings. You arrive at Noddfa and everything is taken care of — accommodation, all meals throughout your stay, and the full course programme. Travel to and from Penmaenmawr is not included. The three online weekends are delivered via Zoom. The Shamanic Practice Handbook and your certificate of completion are both included in the fee.
Can I join from overseas — particularly from the US, Canada, or other European countries? Yes, and you are warmly welcome. The residential format actually makes joining from overseas straightforward — you travel once per gathering and everything is taken care of on arrival. Penmaenmawr is accessible by train from Manchester or Liverpool airports, or from London if needed. The online weekends are timed with international participants in mind — where the cohort includes participants from North America, timings will shift to accommodate the time difference as much as possible. If you have any questions about logistics or want to discuss whether the course is a good fit before committing, get in touch.
What happens after I complete the training — can I work as a practitioner? Yes. On completion you will receive a certificate that enables you to obtain professional insurance and begin working with paying clients as a shamanic healer. Most wellbeing-based insurance providers will cover shamanic healing practice — Balens is one well-known example. What you do with the training is entirely up to you. Some graduates go on to establish a shamanic healing practice. Others bring what they have learned into their existing professional roles in quieter, less visible ways. Many do both. You will also become part of a growing alumni community of people who have walked this path — and that community will continue to develop over time.
Are payment plans available? Yes. A full breakdown of payment options — including an early bird rate, an instalment plan, and a limited number of bursary places — is available in the investment section above. If you would like to discuss a bespoke payment arrangement, get in touch.
What is the Shamanic Practice Handbook? The Shamanic Practice Handbook is a 250-page companion text developed over years of teaching and practice that accompanies the full course. It is not a workbook or a set of session notes — it is a comprehensive reference covering the full breadth of contemporary shamanic theory, practice, and application. The handbook covers the foundations of contemporary shamanism and why it matters in the world today; the principles and ethics of shamanic healing; detailed guidance on specific practices taught across the programme; and a final section on stepping into the role of shaman in whatever context and profession you are engaged in. Each chapter includes practical guidance, suggested journeys, reflection questions, and further reading. Participants receive it as part of their course fee, and it is a resource designed to be returned to long after the training ends.
How many people will be on the course, and how are participants selected? This is a small course by design. Places are deliberately limited to ensure that participants can genuinely get to know one another — you will be working closely together across a 15-month programme, forming a clan that becomes a real community of practice. That intimacy is central to how the training works and cannot happen in a large group. Places are offered following a short intake conversation with Ioan. This is not a formal application process — it is simply a chance to make sure the course is a strong fit for you, to answer any questions you have, and to ensure the cohort as a whole is coherent. If you have completed an introduction course with Ioan you are welcome to book directly without needing a conversation first.
What if I miss one of the gatherings? This course asks for full commitment — not just for your own development but for the group as a whole. Each gathering builds on what came before, and the clan dynamic that makes this training so powerful depends on consistent shared presence. When you book, you are committing to attend everything. That said, life happens. Where unexpected circumstances arise, Ioan will do his best to accommodate you. Depending on what was missed, it may be possible to continue with additional independent work or support from peers to bridge the gap. However, full catch-up cannot always be guaranteed, and in some cases missing a significant element of the programme may affect your ability to complete certification. If you have any concerns about your availability before booking, raise them in your intake conversation.
How much homework is there, and how demanding is it? Homework is an integral part of the training — it is how the practices you learn in the gatherings become genuinely embedded in your life. But it is designed to be manageable alongside ordinary work and life commitments. This is a 15-month programme — 12 months of gatherings followed by three months for homework submission. The homework can be done in blocks rather than requiring a fixed amount each week, and there is no deadline for individual elements other than the final submission date. Based on past participants' experience, it averages around two to three hours per week — though many find it naturally fits into their lives rather than feeling like an additional burden. The homework is primarily independent practice rather than written work. You keep a log of what you have done, and a small number of practices require a short write-up of around two paragraphs. There are no essays, no academic submissions, and no formal assessments. Homework includes things such as individual shamanic healing and other practices, personal development work, ceremonies, and a pilgrimage — which can be somewhere entirely local. Some of the homework involves working with others, and your clan of peers provides a natural support network for this. If you have any concerns about the homework before committing to the course, get in touch with Ioan for a conversation.
Is there any accreditation or formal recognition? On successful completion of the programme, participants receive a certificate of completion from ShamanicHealing.org.uk. This certificate confirms that you have completed the full training and meets the requirements needed to obtain professional insurance and begin working as a shamanic healer with paying clients. The course is taught by Professor Ioan Fazey, whose academic and professional credentials provide a rigorous and credible foundation for the training.