I’ve been doing shamanic healing on behalf of others for nearly 25 years now. My clients often ask for support for holistic weight loss. As a result, I’ve been journeying on this subject and taking counsel from the guides for a very long time. I want to share the most powerful and universal suggestions in the article. This article compliments my shamanic weight loss article, which covers some additional material and some of these concepts in more depth.
In addition to this article, I created an entire course and two free podcast episodes on shamanic weight loss. Plus, I offer shamanic weight loss healing work in my practice. Please reach out if you’re interested in working with me directly!
I’m interested in helping people who want to lose weight to do so gracefully and holistically and then to keep it off without struggle. I want people to feel good in the meantime, not defer their happiness until they’ve reached their goal. I hope to lend you some of my engineering geekiness to shift from pain and helplessness into creative problem-solving. Weight loss is complicated, so we want to figure out all the elegant hacks and creative solutions that pave a graceful and sustainable path to success.
To get in the right mindset, imagine someone tinkering with a car they love fixing up and constantly troubleshooting for fun. Or someone finding the latest study hacks to step up their test taking results. When I was in school getting my mechanical engineering degree, the jobs upcoming engineers were most interested in were in Research and Development. As an R&D Engineer, you can make something that totally fails, catches on fire, or does something completely different than intended and still call the day a win of productive work. People becoming R&D engineers in their own lives can unlock so much possibility and elegance!
The Challenge of Weight Loss in Modern Society
For many modern humans, losing weight is a deeply personal challenge that reflects broader societal struggles. Despite the growing availability of fitness programs, nutritional advice, and weight loss products, a significant portion of the population finds it difficult to achieve lasting results. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 73.6% of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, and within this group, 41.9% are classified as obese. These numbers reflect the reality that maintaining a healthy weight is a widespread issue in today’s world. Now, I would argue that the CDC has some fairly narrow standards for healthy weight, but this still tells a story.
What’s more, nearly half of all U.S. adults are actively trying to lose weight. In the years between 2013 and 2016, the CDC reported that 49.1% of adults had made an effort to lose weight within the previous 12 months. Yet, despite these efforts, the majority of those who try are not able to achieve long-term success. This struggle isn’t about a lack of willpower or personal failing; it’s a reflection of how difficult it is to manage weight in a society that is built around convenience, processed foods, and stress-filled lives.
Our modern environment—filled with high-calorie, nutritionally sparse foods and increasingly sedentary lifestyles—creates conditions that make it hard to lose weight and keep it off. Meanwhile, our bodies still operate on primal survival mechanisms, driving us to store fat and seek out energy-dense foods. The weight loss journey for many people is not just about diet and exercise; it’s a constant battle with biology, stress, and a culture that doesn’t always support healthy habits.
When half of the population is trying to lose weight, and the majority struggle to do so, it becomes clear that this is a complicated challenge, so it’s wonderful to have a lot of powerful tools and hacks to succeed. A shamanic approach to holistic weight loss provides a more complete pathway by addressing not only the physical aspects of weight loss but also the spiritual, emotional, and energetic roots of the challenge. By healing these deeper layers, the journey becomes less about struggle and more about finding balance and joy in a way that aligns with your whole being. By removing hidden obstacles, this approach opens up more success with less effort.
Expect to Iterate: Finding Your Personal Holistic Weight Loss Solution
One of the most powerful strategies you can adopt in your holistic weight loss journey is the mindset of iteration. Expecting to iterate means acknowledging that holistic weight loss is a process that evolves over time, and that success comes from continually refining and adjusting your approach. Rather than expecting a single plan to work perfectly from the start, embrace the idea that you’ll need to try different strategies, assess the results, and adapt based on what you learn.
A great place to start is by sitting down and creating an initial plan. Take some time to think about the changes you want to make, whether they involve dietary shifts, new exercise routines, or even exploring your emotional and spiritual connection to food. Write down your goals and the specific actions you’ll take to reach them. However, it’s crucial to remember that this plan is not set in stone. It’s likely that a small list of changes will be more sustainable than many changes at once. The real magic happens when you attempt your plan, take action (or don’t for that matter), and then regularly check in to assess how it’s going.
Set a specific schedule to sit down and evaluate your progress. This could be weekly or biweekly, depending on what feels most supportive for you. During this check-in, ask yourself: What worked? What didn’t? How did I feel? What challenges came up? This reflective process is key to understanding your own body and mind’s unique needs and how different approaches are working (or not working) for you. After reviewing, update your plan based on what you’ve learned. If something wasn’t as effective as you hoped, decide on a new approach to try, and if something worked well, build on that success. Remember, channel your inner problem solver/engineer filled with engaged curiosity and interest at finding a great solution to a complex problem.
Struggling to come up with a plan? Use a simple brainstorming process to generate ideas. Google is your friend here. Search for weight loss strategies, healthy eating plans, or workout routines, and create a large list of options that you find interesting or worth exploring. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, so by gathering a variety of possibilities, you can then select the ones that feel most appealing and likely to work for your lifestyle and preferences. You might find approaches like intermittent fasting, strength training, or mindful eating techniques that resonate with you. Choose a few options to start with, and then begin experimenting.
The key is to see the entire process as an experiment. Holistic weight loss is not about getting everything perfect—it’s about learning what works best for you. By iterating, you reduce the frustration and overwhelm that can come from thinking there’s only one way to succeed. Instead, each adjustment brings you closer to a personalized, sustainable solution that honors your body’s needs and the ways and times you get resistant or inspired. This means it’s totally okay to tell yourself you’re going to go to the gym three times next week and not go a single time, as long as you look at what to try next.
We mess with ourselves when we have a story about what we will or won’t do in the coming days or weeks in regards to exercise or diet instead of a experiment of what we’d like to attempt to do or not do. Instead, we can decide what we’d like to try to do and then become the scientist analyzing the data about ourselves based on the actual outcome. Ideally, we learn hacks to move ourselves into easily doing what is aligned for our life. Check out the “Tiny Habits” Ted Talk for some very good hacks for behavior change without struggle.
Want to hear more about the best wisdom from me and my guides about sustainable lifestyle changes? My podcast episodes “Ease and Sustainability for Lifestyle Changes” and “Upleveling Healthy Lifestyle” and “Increasing Self-Efficacy” go into more detail on these topics.
Overcoming Your Brain’s “Power Saver Mode”
One of the less-talked-about challenges of weight loss is that our brains are biologically wired to conserve energy. In the same way that your phone goes into power saver mode to stretch its battery life, your brain is designed to minimize energy output. This means that, by default, we are biologically inclined to avoid activities or changes that seem to require too much effort, especially when it comes to lifestyle changes like weight loss. The book, “Exercised” by Daniel Lieberman goes into depth about why our natural default is to avoid exercise that is being done for the sake of exercise.
This power saver mode also often shows up as resistance to trying new things, where your brain tells you, “That won’t work,” or “This is too hard, so why bother?” It’s a form of mental self-preservation, aimed at conserving the body’s resources. In the context of survival, conserving energy was essential, but in today’s world, this instinct can hinder progress. Our brains naturally look for shortcuts, and one of those shortcuts is convincing ourselves that we should give up before we’ve even started or that something isn’t worth the effort.
To move beyond this tendency, it’s essential to become aware of when your brain is in this “power saver” mode and challenge those automatic thoughts. When you catch yourself thinking, “This would never work for me,” or, “I don’t have the energy for this,” take a step back and ask yourself if that’s truly the case. Often, these thoughts are just your brain’s way of avoiding effort, rather than an accurate reflection of what you’re capable of.
The best way to counteract this is by committing to action—no matter how small. Instead of trying to overhaul everything at once, choose one thing you can try and commit to it. Even if it’s a minor change, like adding a five-minute walk to your day or drinking one more glass of water, taking that action shifts your brain out of power-saving mode. The more you take small, consistent steps, the easier it becomes to break through the mental barriers that tell you something won’t work or isn’t worth the effort. And it’s easier to make a deal with ourselves to do a small thing that doesn’t feel like it “wastes” so much energy. I often work out intensely for 30 minutes after telling myself I’ll just do 10 minutes. No matter how many times I “lie” to myself, it still works.
Remember, it’s not about leaping into drastic changes all at once. It’s about training your brain to stay engaged and proactive, even when it wants to conserve energy. Each step you take, no matter how small, moves you forward and helps you override that biological tendency to give up too soon.
Instincts and Internal Conflict
Holistic weight loss focuses on healing the internal conflict between our modern goals and primal instincts. Our bodies, still wired for survival, push us to overeat foods high in calories, fat, and sugar, creating a struggle between the desire to lose weight and biological urges to store fat.
This internal battle intensifies when we worry about weight, but holistic practices help calm these instincts, moving us out of the fight-or-flight response. By soothing these survival mechanisms first, we create more space for intentional, aligned choices without the pressure of dieting while still in stress state.
I’m offering a special discount (see the resources section below) for my Shamanic Weight Loss Course combined with my Instinct Course.
Body Positivity and Self-Compassion
At the core of holistic weight loss is the principle of body positivity. It emphasizes self-love and the beauty of all body sizes, rejecting societal pressures that make people feel ashamed or unworthy. Holistic weight loss doesn’t impose a standard for beauty or health but encourages honoring your body as perfect in the present moment.
Weight loss should be a personal choice driven by self-compassion, not by external expectations. You haven’t failed by carrying extra weight—it’s a natural experience in today’s world. Focus on what truly aligns with your well-being, not societal judgments.
Exploring the Energetic and Spiritual Causes of Weight Gain
Holistic weight loss recognizes that weight gain can stem from hidden emotional and energetic factors, often serving as protection from emotional pain or societal pressures. For some, extra weight acts as a buffer against overwhelming energy or past trauma.
By addressing these deeper issues, holistic weight loss helps release this “armor.” Spiritual healing and guidance can uncover the root causes of weight retention, heal past wounds, and resolve energetic blockages, making it easier to release excess weight. I cover more on this in my shamanic weight loss article
The Importance of Investing Time and Energy
Just like any complex and meaningful life goal, successful holistic weight loss requires time, patience, and a commitment to the process. Too often, weight loss is approached as something we should be able to achieve quickly or easily, while keeping all the plates in the air. This myth is fed by countless products and programs promising rapid results. You may need to put some other goals on hold in order to work on this one. However, true and lasting change in any area of life—whether it’s advancing in a career, building a meaningful relationship, or mastering a new skill—requires consistent investment and a willingness to explore, learn, and adapt. When you consider that most people are not at the weight they desire despite so much money and effort going into it, it’s easier to see this is a legit project.
And this will come with a ton of collateral healing in other areas of life as well!
By approaching weight loss with the same focus and dedication we would apply to other life goals, we honor the complexity of the challenge and set ourselves up for success. It’s not about achieving results quickly; it’s about developing a relationship with ourselves that supports lasting health and wellness, both physically and spiritually, which weight loss may be a part of.
Shamanic Journey and Soul Retrieval for Weight Loss
Shamanic journeying is a powerful tool for addressing the emotional, spiritual, and energetic factors that influence weight retention. Through journeying, you can connect with your spirit guides to uncover hidden patterns, past traumas, or energetic imbalances that may be contributing to your weight challenges. Your guides may reveal how weight serves as protection or point to emotional wounds that need healing. By receiving energetic interventions—such as clearing blocked energy or balancing your energy field—you can align with a healthier, more supportive weight for your body.
For those unfamiliar with journeying, I can assist by journeying on your behalf. Together, we’ll address the root causes of your weight challenges through spiritual guidance and healing interventions. This process offers deep transformation, both physically and energetically.
Soul retrieval, a core practice in shamanic healing, further supports weight loss by reclaiming lost parts of yourself that fragmented due to trauma or stress. These missing pieces often leave emotional wounds that can lead to unhealthy behaviors around food and body image as well as a hole that can never be filled externally. By retrieving these lost soul parts, you can immediately come into a state of greater wholeness. Soul retrieval helps restore your innate power, allowing you to make choices that honor your body’s needs and foster long-term health.
Finding Happiness and Fulfillment in the Meantime
One of the most important principles of holistic weight loss is the belief that happiness and fulfillment shouldn’t be deferred until the weight loss goal is achieved. Too often, people adopt the mindset that they will only allow themselves to feel happy, confident, or worthy once they’ve reached their target weight. This “when I lose the weight, then I’ll be happy” mentality traps us in a cycle of waiting for a future outcome to feel good about ourselves and our lives.
Instead, it’s essential to cultivate happiness and fulfillment throughout the entire journey. Holistic weight loss encourages you to live fully in the present, enjoying life and nurturing your well-being at every stage of the process. The goal is to find joy and contentment in the small, everyday actions you take toward your health—whether it’s engaging in mindful eating, moving your body in ways that feel good, or connecting with your inner self through spiritual practice.
By focusing on the joy and satisfaction that come from living well now, you create a life where happiness is not tied to an external result like the number on the scale. This approach shifts the focus from deprivation or restriction toward a more balanced, loving relationship with yourself and your body. Rather than enduring the process just to achieve a future result, you’re invited to make the journey itself nourishing, uplifting, and inspiring.
This doesn’t mean giving up on the desire to improve your health or lose weight, but rather creating a life where you can feel vibrant and whole as you move toward that goal. When you find happiness in the meantime, the process becomes lighter and more sustainable, as well as massively more effective.
Additional Resources
Practical Shamanism Podcast- I offer episodes on weight loss and lifestyle changes as well as other topics like dealing with energetic sensitivity.
Shamanic Weight Loss Course- Get lifetime access to this course in my academy.
Instinct Intervention Course- Calming the fight or flight response is one of our best ways to improve our weight loss outcomes. Contact me for a 25% discount if you want to get both the Shamanic Weight Loss Course and the Instinct Intervention.
Soul Retrieval- Check out this healing or book a session now.
Group Programs- I offer shamanic weight loss programs a few times a year with personal healing work in a group setting. To find out when the next one is offered, please join my mailing list.
Tiny Habits- Standford researchers wisdom on behavior change.
