Where the practices come from

Where it comes from

In Nordic folk belief and pre-Christian religion, nature was alive and ensouled. The year was marked by festivals at the solstices and equinoxes, and knowledge of herbs was passed down through generations. Much of it survives in folklore, legends and local customs.

My own path

Since 2019 I have followed the turning of the year out in nature. I celebrate the solstices and seasonal festivals, forage for herbs and have sat out in the forest through every season, both in nature meditation and in the old Nordic practice of sitting out (udesidning). Together with a small circle of women I follow the wheel of the year. I am self-taught and have learned from those who walked the path before me.

How I use it

As the frame for all of Mind Nordic: we follow the turning of the year, ask the forest for permission before we enter, and let the plants of the season be part of the ritual.

Read more (in Danish)

• Blandt urter og elverfolk
  Maria Lisette Jacobsen (Hyldemor), Muusmann Forlag
• Hekseurter og folketro
  Anemette Olesen, Hovedland
• Animisme – fra klippekunst til klimakrise
  Rune Engelbreth Larsen, Forlaget Dana

Free articles

From the library of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies (in Danish):

• I vølvens spor
  Annette Høst. On seiðr in Nordic shamanism
• At kende månens veje
  Annette Høst. Moon lore and moon magic
• På røgens vinger
  Annette Høst and Maria Lisette Jacobsen. On ritual smoke in modern and indigenous traditions

Where it comes from

The medicine walk is inspired by the vision quest, a rite of passage rooted in Indigenous North American traditions, where a person goes alone into nature to seek answers. In the West, Steven Foster and Meredith Little have spread modern nature-based rites of passage since the 1970s, and in 1981 they founded The School of Lost Borders in California. I use it with respect for its origins and without imitating ceremonies that belong to other peoples.

Where I learned it

I walked many medicine walks with others before I began guiding myself. I warmly recommend Rasmus, who works as a shamanic counsellor and holds medicine walks grounded in shamanic traditions (in Danish). My walks draw on elements of the shamanic tradition, such as the drum and time alone in nature, and combine them with forest bathing, mindfulness, breathwork, intention setting and the Nordic nature traditions.

• Medicinewalk.dk
  Rasmus

How I use it

As the heart of the walk: you step across a threshold with your intention and let what you meet in the forest become a mirror.

Read more

• The Book of the Vision Quest
  Steven Foster & Meredith Little
• The Roaring of the Sacred River
  Steven Foster & Meredith Little

Where it comes from

I draw on three traditions. Pranayama comes from the Indian yoga tradition, where the breath is seen as the carrier of life force (prana), and techniques such as alternate nostril breathing have been used for centuries. The Wim Hof Method was developed by the Dutchman Wim Hof and combines deep, rhythmic breathing with breath holds. Holotropic Breathwork was developed in the 1970s by psychiatrists Stanislav and Christina Grof as a path to altered states of consciousness.

Where I practise

Yoga, breathwork and sauna rituals (saunagus) have been part of my everyday life four to five times a week for six years. These are the places I practise and can recommend:

• Dóttir Hot Yoga
  Yoga in infrared heat, Nordhavn
• Kailo Yoga
  Yoga, breathwork and meditation, central Copenhagen
• Plugin Heat Club
  Saunagus with cold plunge and breathing techniques, Copenhagen
• Analog Sauna
  Saunagus with cold plunge, Nordhavn

What the research says

A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found that breathwork on average reduces self-reported stress, anxiety and low mood (Fincham et al., 2023). A Stanford trial showed that five minutes a day of “cyclic sighing”, where the exhale is longer than the inhale, improved mood more than mindfulness meditation for the same amount of time (Balban et al., 2023). A Dutch study found that participants trained in the Wim Hof Method could influence their immune response (Kox et al., 2014).

Sources and reading

• Fincham et al. (2023). Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: a meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Scientific Reports
• Balban et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine
• Kox et al. (2014). Voluntary activation of the sympathetic nervous system and attenuation of the innate immune response in humans. PNAS
• Light on Pranayama
  B.K.S. Iyengar
• Breath – The New Science of a Lost Art
  James Nestor
• Holotropic Breathwork
  Stanislav & Christina Grof
• Huberman Lab (podcast)
  Episodes on breathing and the nervous system

Where it comes from

The frame drum has been used in ritual in many cultures, including in the Nordic region, where the Sámi have a long tradition of the ritual drum. In modern core shamanism, described by the anthropologist Michael Harner, a steady drumbeat is used for so-called drum journeys.

Build your own drum

I have sat in many drum circles and taken drum-building courses. I built my own drum with Nicolaj Tscherning Møller at his farm near Kalundborg. He has worked with shamanism for over 25 years and runs drum-building courses where you choose your hide, make your own beater and learn to connect with the drum (in Danish).

• Forbundethed.dk
  Nicolaj Tscherning Møller

What the research says

A brain imaging study from the Max Planck Institute and Harvard showed that experienced practitioners listening to shamanic drumming had altered connectivity between brain networks and turned their attention more inward than when listening to an irregular rhythm (Hove et al., 2016).

Sources and reading

• Hove et al. (2016). Brain network reconfiguration and perceptual decoupling during an absorptive state of consciousness. Cerebral Cortex

The history of shamanism

• Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy
  Mircea Eliade. The classic of religious studies on shamanism as one of humanity’s oldest practices
• Shamanism: The Timeless Religion
  Manvir Singh, Penguin (2025). A recent academic book on the origins, biology and future of shamanism
• The Way of the Shaman
  Michael Harner. The anthropologist who introduced the drum journey to the West

Nordic shamanism and animism

• The Earth Sings (Danish: Jorden synger)
  Annette Høst. On the power of nature in the Nordic tradition, nature spirits and the practice of sitting out
• Animisme – fra klippekunst til klimakrise
  Rune Engelbreth Larsen, Forlaget Dana (in Danish)

Free articles

From the library of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies:

• All Life is Connected
  Jonathan Horwitz. An introduction to the way and work of the shaman
• Modern Shamanic Practice
  Annette Høst. On core shamanism, neo-shamanism and what we actually do
• En kreds af kraft
  Annette Høst. On starting and keeping a drum circle alive (in Danish)

Other traditions

• The Wisdom Wheel
  Alberto Villoldo. On Inka energy medicine and healing practice

Where it comes from

Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhist meditation practice (sati, awareness). It was brought into Western healthcare by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who developed the MBSR programme in 1979. I am also inspired by Joe Dispenza’s meditations on intention and change, which are more experimental and less scientifically supported.

What the research says

A large review in JAMA Internal Medicine found moderate evidence that mindfulness programmes reduce anxiety, depression and pain (Goyal et al., 2014).

Sources and reading

• Goyal et al. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine
• Full Catastrophe Living
  Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Becoming Supernatural
  Joe Dispenza

Where it comes from

The term shinrin-yoku was introduced in Japan in 1982 as part of a national health initiative. It has since become one of the most studied areas of nature and health.

What the research says

Several reviews suggest that time in the forest lowers the stress hormone cortisol and can reduce heart rate and blood pressure (Antonelli et al., 2019). The Nordic Nature Health Hub at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) offers a Nordic overview of the research.

Sources and reading

• Antonelli et al. (2019). Effects of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) on levels of cortisol as a stress biomarker: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Biometeorology
• Nordic Nature Health Hub, SLU: Forest bathing
• Shinrin-Yoku – The Art and Science of Forest Bathing
  Qing Li

The völva

The völva was a seeress of the Nordic Iron Age and Viking Age. We know her from the sagas, such as the Saga of Erik the Red, and from graves where women were buried with a staff and special objects. She practised seiðr, a form of ritual and divination, and was sought out by the community for her insight.

Today seiðr is a living practice again, and several practitioners call themselves völva. The Nordic traditions are also recognised as a religion: Forn Siðr was approved as a religious community in Denmark in 2005.

The shaman

The word comes from Evenki, a Tungusic language of Siberia, and reached Europe through Russian and German travel accounts in the 17th and 18th centuries. Anthropologists later used it as a shared term for people in many cultures who journey in altered states of consciousness on behalf of their community.

Today shamanism is also a living practice that many people actively follow, both among Indigenous peoples and in modern forms, including here in the Nordic countries. One example is Annette Høst of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies. She does not see modern Nordic practice as a copy of other cultures’ shamanism, but as something that takes its form from the landscape and the era we live in.

The witch

In Danish folk belief it was the “cunning folk” who knew the herbs, helped at births and healed. In the 16th and 17th centuries, hundreds of people in Denmark were accused of witchcraft and executed, most of them women. Today many have reclaimed the word as a symbol of women’s knowledge, connection to nature and independence. For some it is also a living spiritual practice with its own rituals, for example in modern witchcraft and Wicca.

Why the titles matter

In many traditions a title is not something you give yourself. It is given by a community to someone who has followed the path of that tradition, and it carries obligations. For others, the words are an important part of their identity and a way to honour those who came before. If you identify with one of these words, it is absolutely right for you to use it. It is part of your story, and you are the one who chooses how to live your life.

I have taken part in many of these practices myself and learned from those who practise them. But rather than devoting myself to one tradition, such as Nordic shamanism, I have chosen to learn from several. That is why I do not call myself a shaman, völva or witch, nor do I wish to. I am self-taught in the traditions I draw on, and I share practices that have helped me, with respect for where they come from.

Read more (in Danish)

• Heksenes bog
  Andrea Hejlskov, Gads Forlag
• Heksens håndbog
  Dannie Druehyld, Gyldendal
• I vølvens spor
  Annette Høst. On seiðr in Nordic shamanism