Debra Morrill - Shamanic Healing

08/13/2026

Even for those who normally walk in the world with healthy energetic boundaries, the last months have been especially challenging. Heartbreaking national and international news stories have saturated our already full energy fields and sent many people straight into overwhelm.

There are some simple suggestions from the “Energy Essentials for Empaths” class which will help in regaining a foothold and better managing your energy:

* Be in nature. Many compassionate nature spirits will help calm and soothe our troubled souls. Walking especially helps open our grounding cord and dump heavy energy to Mother Earth.

* Breathe. Taking slow, deep methodical breaths helps bring ease to our system. The breath can also help release heavy energy.

* Practice grounding several times a day. Imagine tree roots extending out from the tailbone and running straight down to the core of the earth. Allows the roots to connect with the solid, stable energy of Mother Earth, and then begin gently drawing that energy back up through the roots into the body.

* Be clear about what’s yours versus what’s not yours. When you begin to feel heavy energy, pause and ask yourself, “Is this mine or someone else’s?” If it doesn’t belong to you, then choose to release it and set a boundary to avoid taking on any more.

* Ask for assistance from the helping spirits. Our angels, guides, and power animals will support us when requested. Ask them to shore up your boundaries and to release anything you might have taken on.

* Remember to use your tools. Return to the practices that have helped you regain your balance in the past when you’ve experienced difficult or stressful times.

* Reach out for support from shamanic healers, energy workers, or counselors if it’s too much for you to handle on your own.

This work is real, and it matters.

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Learn these and other helpful tools in Module 1 of the fall “Energy Essentials for Empaths” series happens on Zoom on Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 9 am-4:30 pm Central Time. All are welcome, even if you’re not sure you’re an empath. Visit debramorrill.com/workshops for more information and registration.

07/09/2026

I haven't posted much in the last year. I want to share where I've been in that time.

My mother died in May 2025. Last fall, I was processing through my grief, and then in one awful week in December, I experienced three additional losses. All four of these experiences merged and became one big stewpot of emotion. It took me to my knees, and I felt completely unmoored. I was in a very raw place for several months and needed to take time off work to heal.

Unsurprisingly, my physical body had a strong reaction to the grief. I’ve had a long history of heart arrhythmia, with the first instance at age 8, and eight years ago, I was diagnosed with persistent atrial fibrillation.

This winter, the heavy sadness running through my body made my system very sensitive, and my heart responded by going into heart arrhythmia often and uncomfortably.

My cardiologist (who I love) commented that the grief opened up a pathway in my heart for the arrhythmia, and once that road was established it kept using it, putting my heart on a hair trigger. With this one-sentence explanation I felt seen, and as a shamanic healer I felt validation of the mind-body-spirit connection I believe in so strongly.

I had ablation surgery in April to close the pathways, and after some recovery time I am feeling much better – in mind, body and spirit. Over the last month and a half, I’ve slowly returned to seeing clients and teaching classes again.

I gifted myself with spaciousness, and that was exactly what I needed to heal and get through the heavy grief.

I realize now that I was in liminal space. Life as I knew it had changed, but the new hadn’t formed yet. For all those months, I was floating in the middle of a still, dark, vast ocean, knowing that things would be different on the other side, but not knowing what that might look like.

My innate wisdom came forward, and I knew to trust the process, myself and my spirit guides. I would be okay, and eventually peace would come again.

Past the losses I was grieving, a part of me had to die in order to be reborn.

While this new place in my life is still being formed, I have more clarity around what is being birthed…

* A greater appreciation (and need) for just being and not pushing.
* A newfound commitment to my physical body and its need for balance and care.
* A profound sense of love and joy for the two new cats who are now a part of my household.
* A rededication to the work that is such an important part of my life – both shamanic healing and teaching classes.
* A deep desire to bring more ancestral healing into the world.

Whenever I create space, ancestral healing is the thing that shows up. It consistently steps forward into the opening, and it is big and loud. It resonates with my soul.

At the very beginning of my shamanic practice, my helping spirits guided me in ancestral healing work. The client’s ancestors would enter their healing session and share the story of an original wound in the family and ask for healing. My helping spirits helped me develop the work, and it has grown into the Healing the Red Thread classes.

I look around our world that is creating trauma faster than it can be healed, and I trace the origin of the imbalance back to unresolved wounds in our family lineages. Ancestral healing is so needed right now to clear intergenerational trauma that impacts our lives and our communities. This is one of the ways we can make an impact on society – helping one heart, one family at a time.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out with inquiries about where I am. I am here. I am healing myself, my heart, and my family and once again holding the space for you to heal yourself and your family.

With love,
Debra

10/26/2025

Many roads lead to the divine.
Beware of anyone who says
their path is the only way.

Send a message to learn more

08/25/2025

Hi, my name is Debra, and I’m an empath. I struggled with my empathic gifts for the first 35 years of my life. I was the sensitive child in a stoic Midwestern family. My parents didn’t know what to do with me and they found emotions uncomfortable, so I kept everything bottled up inside. When there was chaotic, loud energy around me, I would leave my body and experience the sensation of floating above my head. Years later, I realized how ungrounded I was – like a leaf blowing in the wind.

As an empath, I was also affected by the heavy energy of people around me. If a friend was struggling, I would take on their pain as though it were my own. This led to physical illness and exhaustion. When something happened in the larger world, like 9/11 or the death of Princess Diana, I carried the pain and suffering of the country in my energy field.

Later I began to participate in spiritual circles. Many of these gatherings opened with a talking circle where each participant shared their personal struggles. Because I had no boundaries, these stories caused me great pain. As each person went, I felt heavier and heavier, sometimes even crying openly at their pain. Eventually I would collapse into a puddle on the floor.

Finally, a spiritual mentor asked me if I was an empath. Every cell in my being said, “Yes!” And then I asked what that term meant. She explained that an empath is someone with a porous energy field who easily takes on the energy of others around them. That described me perfectly! I didn’t feel so alone when I learned that there were other people like me.

As I continued to explore my spiritual path, I learned to breathe and ground. Long walks in nature helped me open my own personal connection to Mother Earth and the stability available through her grounded energy.

With time I began to develop tools and techniques to help me better manage my empathic abilities. The attention to learning about my gifts worked. I am now grounded and aligned with healthy boundaries that allow me to stay centered in my own energy. I am stronger and more able to speak my truth with greater clarity. Learning to manage my empathy also allows me to do healing sessions for clients without taking on their pain.

I teach these tools and techniques in the “Energy Essentials for Empaths” classes. A handful of simple techniques can help us be grounded and centered within our own being and have healthy energetic boundaries. It’s empowering to be able to stand in our center and share our light and our compassion without it taking a toll on us.

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If you are interested, you would be very welcome to join us. Even if you’re not sure you’re an empath, you are still welcome. These are very helpful tools for life! Module 1 of the “Energy Essentials for Empaths” fall series happens on Zoom on Sunday, September 28 from 9 am-4:30 pm. Visit debramorrill.com/workshops for more information and registration.

05/08/2025

Lately many people mention that they are way more anxious and easily triggered than usual. The chaos of our current environment has had deep impacts.

Our reserves have been depleted so when something upsetting happens, we have no energy stores to fall back on.

If you fall into a place of negative self-talk, please opt for kindness and gently redirect yourself away from any messages of blame or self-judgment. You’re doing the best you can right now. There is no need to judge yourself.

It might also help to realize the things you’re experiencing are also happening to many others. You are not alone.

* If you find yourself crankier than usual, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself more tired than usual, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself having a foggy mind and difficulty retaining information, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself easily triggered, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself more emotional than usual, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself more anxious or fearful than usual, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself easily distracted, you’re not alone.
* If you find yourself overwhelmed by the suffering in the world, you’re not alone.

And please know that there is no need to compare yourself to others. If someone seems to have everything together, that may just be an outward appearance. Inside they may be struggling with their own moments of doubt.

Everyone is undone right now to some degree, so please be kind to yourself and each other.

Self-care, time in nature, meditation, grounding and centering practices are more important than ever.

If you need comfort or support, please reach out to loved ones and to your care team.

This work is real, and it matters.

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This is Alfred, the 5-year-old, 2,000-pound oxen who lives at Crow Moon Healing where many of my workshops and private healing sessions are held. Looking into Alfred's eyes reminds me and many of my students and clients that we are not alone. He is almost always ready to give attention and love to those who need it. Photo credit: Chicken or the Egg Photography.