Bridging Spirit and Science: Physiological and Spiritual Effects of Wîwîp’son Healing Swing Sessions

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-8399311/v1

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Bridging Spirit and Science: Physiological and Spiritual Effects of Wîwîp’son Healing Swing Sessions

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8399311/v1

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Objective

Wîwîp’son, the healing swing, is an Indigenous practice rooted in nehiyâw parenting traditions, revitalized for adults to promote healing. This mixed-methods study investigated its physiological and experiential effects to understand how such ancestral practices may facilitate nervous system regulation and support trauma recovery.

Methods

Cohort 1 (N = 14, naïve participants) completed two blinded, randomized sessions: a control swing (to isolate effects of motion alone) and a healing session with ceremony. Cohort 2 (N = 8, familiar participants, all Indigenous) completed one healing session. Physiological measures included electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate variability (HRV), and breathing. Semi-structured interviews conducted post-session were analyzed thematically.

Results

Physiological responses were heterogeneous. Stratification based on independent, expert-rated HRV (identifying a state of physiological calm) identified a responsive subgroup (n = 7) who showed marked increases in slow-wave EEG activity (delta/alpha ratio: g = 0.77; delta + theta/alpha + beta ratio: g = 0.82), consistent with a state of deep rest and reduced cognitive arousal. Qualitative analysis yielded four overarching themes: physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental. Participants reported experiences of being cradled and cared for, emotional release, connection with ancestors, and sensations of floating and warmth. Those whose physiology indicated stress reported narratives of "sudden alertness" and "anxiety shifting to calm," demonstrating convergence between quantitative and qualitative findings.

Conclusion

Wîwîp’son appears to facilitate transitions toward calm and embodied safety for many individuals but can initiate an alert processing state for others. This pilot study provides a novel methodological framework for quantifying how Indigenous healing practices regulate brain-body physiology. These findings offer a lens for understanding and affirming culturally grounded approaches to healing the embodied legacies of trauma.

Physiology

Sociology

Integrative & Complementary Medicine

Health Policy

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released its final report and Calls to Action. The Commission documented that for over a century the residential school system operated not to educate, but to assimilate; its intent was colonial (Miller, 1996; TRC, 2015a). As the TRC states, the system sought “to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures” (TRC, 2015a, Appendix 4: Apologies, p. 369). Children were indoctrinated into Euro-Christian society, often through coercive and abusive means. This legacy left generations of Indigenous peoples with deep disruptions to family life, community health, and cultural continuity.

The harms of forced child removal were not limited to residential schools. During the Sixties Scoop, between the 1960s and 1980s, Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in foster care or adopted into non-Indigenous households. The Government of Canada has since recognized the Sixties Scoop as a “dark and painful chapter in Canada’s history”, issuing formal apologies and acknowledging the cultural, emotional, and spiritual losses caused by these removals (Government of Canada, 2017).

Both residential schools and the Sixties Scoop created conditions consistent with what are now termed adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), a measure that captures the cumulative impact of childhood trauma on long-term health risks (Felitti et al., 1998; Dube et al., 2004). It is important to note that while the standard ACE questionnaire captures interpersonal and household dysfunction, it does not measure the impact of cultural and spiritual deprivations. While what has happened cannot be undone, the impacts of trauma can be addressed through healing. It is in this context that the TRC’s Calls to Action #22 is most relevant for the current study. Specifically, #22 urges Canadian health systems to “recognize the value of Aboriginal healing practices and use them in the treatment of Aboriginal patients in collaboration with Aboriginal healers and Elders where requested” (TRC, 2015b). The pathway to healing from trauma for Indigenous individuals should embrace healing practices that include the cultural and spiritual traditions from which they were isolated.

A central concept guiding this research is that trauma is not only a past event but an embodied imprint that continues to shape the mind, brain, and body over time (Thomas et al., 2023). Contemporary research describes this imprint as physiological with influences on stress regulation, immune function, and patterns of emotional response (Schore, 2012). Research in Canada has shown that the residential school system continues to have measurable biological and mental health impacts across generations (Moon-Riley et al., 2019; McQuaid et al., 2022). These converging findings reinforce the view that trauma resulting from residential schools and the Sixties Scoop is not a closed chapter of history, but a lived, embodied reality for many Indigenous peoples today.

Models of trauma recovery distinguish approaches that emphasize top-down cognitive processing (e.g., talk therapy), pharmacological treatments, and embodied or “bottom-up” processing. Wîwîp’son, the healing swing, can be understood as an intervention that engages embodied regulation with a spiritual element grounded in ceremony. Rooted in nehiyâw parenting traditions, the practice involves swaddling, gentle rocking, prayer, song, and ceremony. Historically, this occurred within the family tipi, surrounded by the smells, sounds, and languages of community life, conveying to the child that they were cherished, safe, and loved (Auger, 2019). Revitalized through a vision received by Dr. Darlene Auger, wîwîp’son has been offered to adults as a healing practice. For more than two decades, community testimonies have reported spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental benefits (Auger, 2017). Within Indigenous knowledge systems, these lived experiences constitute sufficient evidence of efficacy; however, health systems grounded in the dominant biomedical paradigm often lack acceptance of Indigenous epistemologies of healing, thereby requiring empirical evidence before recognizing such practices as legitimate therapeutic modalities.

This study sought to respond to TRC Call to Action #22 (TRC, 2015b) by combining Indigenous knowledge and ceremony with physiological and interpretive methods. Specifically, we asked:

Does participation in a wîwîp’son healing session modulate physiological rhythms associated with stress and hyperarousal, compared to a non-ceremonial swing condition?

How do participants describe their embodied, emotional, mental, and spiritual experiences of wîwîp’son, and how do these accounts converge or diverge from the physiological measures?

By posing these questions, our aim was not only to characterize measurable brain-body changes but also to honour participants’ lived experiences, bridging knowledge systems to examine how ancestral healing practices may facilitate recovery from trauma.

Relational and Cultural Context

Wîwîp’son, the healing swing, originates in a spiritual vision received by Darlene Auger, a nehiyâw iskwêw (Cree woman) from Bigstone Cree Nation in Wabasca, Alberta. During a pipe ceremony in 2001, she was shown a large hammock-like swing holding an adult wrapped like a baby and was told in nehiyâwêwin by a spiritual grandmother that “people need to be swung”. Following contemplation, prayer, fasting and guidance from Elders, she constructed the first large swing in 2002 and began to offer this healing practice. Over the following decade, she continued to learn from mentors and spiritual ancestors, while training two other women in the practice. During this time, people of all ages and genders described wide-ranging benefits for spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental well-being.

In 2012, Auger returned to university to “bundle up” her knowledge and share it through academic research. Her doctoral dissertation, Decolonizing the Acquisition of Knowledge: Exploring Vision as a Method for Acquiring Knowledge by Examining the ‘Vision of Wepison’ and the Well-being it has Bestowed upon Community (Auger, 2017), analyzed more than 100 testimonies of individuals who reported healing in the swing, along with journals and interviews that documented how spiritual visions experienced by others can influence community well-being. This work laid the scholarly foundation for understanding wîwîp’son as both a healing practice and a methodology grounded in Indigenous epistemologies of vision and spirit.

While testimonies and community experience provided powerful evidence of wîwîp’son’s healing effects, Dr. Auger recognized that academic audiences often expect empirical data to corroborate such claims. The possibility of such a collaboration was seeded in 2019, when Dr. Fay Fletcher invited Dr. Kelvin Jones to join her McCalla Professorship project. That initiative drew on transformative scenario planning, ceremony, and land-based experiential learning to help faculty and community partners reflect on Indigenous knowledge collaborations in research and teaching. The partnership laid the groundwork for a 2020 Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) Cluster Grant, Experiential Learning for Indigenous Knowledge Collaboration, which convened Elders, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and scholars in collective learning circles. These circles drew on practices of sharing and relational accountability that Fletcher and colleagues have described as foundational for building authentic partnerships between Indigenous and university communities (Kajner, Fletcher, & Makokis, 2012; Fletcher, Hibbert, Hammer, & Ladouceur, 2022). Out of that KIAS cluster, two emergent projects were identified, one of which was the wîwîp’son – the healing swing.

Together, the team designed a study that would bring ceremonial practice into dialogue with empirical approaches such as wearable biometric monitoring and semi-structured interviews. The intent was not to collapse Indigenous and empirical paradigms into one, nor to cast them as oppositional, but to let each illuminate the other in addressing the same research questions. This relational process exemplifies what Auger has described as “spiritual science”: an effort to demonstrate how ceremonial healing manifests simultaneously in the body, mind, spirit, and community.

All supplementary materials, including recruitment posters, consent forms, demographic questionnaires, and analysis workflows, are available in a public repository (Figshare: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29925167).

3.1 Mixed-Method Design and Knowledge Paradigms

This project was conceived as a transformative mixed-method design that brought together Indigenous, interpretivist, and critical realist approaches. Each paradigm caries distinct assumptions about the nature of truth (ontology), what counts as knowledge (epistemology), how knowledge can best be acquired (methodology), and the criteria for good research (quality). Our intent was not to collapse these perspectives into one, but to honour them in their integrity and allow each to contribute to the whole.

Indigenous knowledge and ceremony were at the centre. Wîwîp’son is not simply a swing but a healing practice that involves prayer, song, and spiritual guidance. This ontological grounding guided the study, with Dr. Darlene Auger leading as healing practitioner and knowledge carrier. Interpretivist methods, particularly semi-structured interviews, enabled participants to share subjective accounts of their experiences. Empirical methods, including wearable biometric sensors, offered complementary insights into physiological correlates of the swing (wîwîp’son) experience.

The research team reflected these paradigms. Some members were grounded in empirical science, with commitments to controlling confounds and cautious inference. Others contributed expertise in interpretive qualitative research and Indigenous methodologies that emphasize story, ceremony, and relational accountability. This plurality shaped the project as a collaboration respectful of one another’s knowledge systems.

We found resonance in Secwepemc leader George Manuel’s imagery: “We will steer our own canoe, but we will invite others to help with the paddling” (Contassel, 2013, p. 50). The direction of the canoe was set by Indigenous priorities, with other team members contributing skills to help propel the journey forward. For example, while early study designs proposed comparing swinging versus stationary conditions, Darlene explained that ceremony, not motion, should be the focus. The final design thus compared swing sessions with and without ceremony, ensuring that Indigenous healing practice remained central to the research process.

By adopting a concurrent transformative mixed-methods design (Creswell, 2003), we engaged multiple methods simultaneously and wove them together in the analysis to address a shared, complex question. The result was a living collaboration that evolved over time, honouring Indigenous ways of knowing while drawing on interpretivist and critical realist tools to enrich the inquiry.

3.2 Ethics

The study was approved by the University of Alberta Health Research Ethics Board (Study ID: Pro00109848) which included Indigenous ethics for conducting research on humans adopted from University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills, a First Nations owned and operated university, the first of its kind in Canada. All participants provided written informed consent prior to participation. In line with Indigenous healing protocols, the research team offered tobacco and gifts to Darlene on behalf of all participants at the outset of the project. This gesture acknowledged the cultural context of wîwîp’son and demonstrated respect for the spirit, the healer and the practice. In this way, the project attended to both university and nehiyâw ethical protocols.

Dr. Darlene Auger, healing practitioner and author, conducted all the wîwîp’son sessions. Because of this role, she could not be blinded to condition assignment. For Cohort 1 participants, the study design included a control and ceremony session, which required partial disclosure. Participants were informed that they would attend two wîwîp’son sessions, but they were not told the true purpose, or difference between sessions, until completing both. Participants were debriefed and given the opportunity to ask questions and withdraw their data if they wished; no participants elected to withdraw.

3.3 Setting

Study visits took place in two settings chosen for their cultural appropriateness and ecological validity. The first was the Indigenous Gathering Space at the University of Alberta’s downtown Enterprise Square campus (Fig. 1). This dedicated space was designed in consultation with Elders and community partners to host ceremony, dialogue, and cultural practices, including smudging, which was essential for the wîwîp’son healing sessions. The Gathering Space offered a neutral, non-laboratory environment that minimized distractions from clinical equipment while supporting relational ethics and spiritual practice.

[Figure 1 near here]

The second setting was Dr. Darlene Auger’s home, where she traditionally offers wîwîp’son (Swing Therapy) to clients. This environment provided continuity with the ceremonial context in which participants typically seek healing, and it supported Indigenous clients already familiar with the practice.

Both settings were experienced as gifts that enabled the healing ceremony to unfold in a manner consistent with Indigenous relational protocols and spiritual practice, while still accommodating physiological measurement.

3.4 Participants

Cohort 1: Volunteer participants

The first cohort consisted of 14 volunteers recruited during July-August 2021 through a convenience sampling strategy. Recruitment relied on circulation of a study poster (Figshare: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29925167) distributed by email and word of mouth. Note: recruitment coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible participants were required to: (i) be 18 years of age or older, (ii) self-identify as female, and (iii) have no prior knowledge of or experience with Indigenous healing practices including wîwîp’son. The restriction to female-identifying participants reflected requirements of the Women’s and Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI), who provided partial funding for the project, rather than being intrinsic to the study design. Participants were not required to self-identify as Indigenous; demographic information, including race/ethnicity, was collected separately using a standardized form (Figshare: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29925167).

Participants in this cohort each completed two study visits in the Indigenous Gathering Space. One visit involved a wîwîp’son healing session with ceremony while the other involved a non-ceremony control swing session, both conducted by Dr. Darlene Auger. The order of conditions was randomized. To maintain blinding, participants were informed that the purpose of the two sessions was to ensure consistency of results, with the true distinction between ceremony and control conditions revealed only during a debrief following the second visit.

Cohort 2: Indigenous clients

The second cohort comprised eight individuals who were existing clients of Dr. Auger and familiar with wîwîp’son and wanted to come for healing. Unlike Cohort 1, all participants in this group self-identified as Indigenous (specifically, First Nations or Métis) on the demographic form. Their inclusion reflected the guidance of Elder Dr. Maggie Hodgson (Auger’s long-time mentor), who emphasized the importance of ensuring Indigenous peoples were represented in the study alongside non-Indigenous volunteers.

These participants each took part in a single wîwîp’son session held in Dr. Auger’s home, the second study setting. This location reflected the context in which they ordinarily sought healing, thereby maintaining continuity with their lived experience. Most individuals in this cohort identified as female; however, one participant selected “nonbinary” and “other” on the demographic form and specified the term ihkwew (a nehiyâw word used by some Two-Spirit or sexuality- and gender-diverse persons).

3.5 Procedures

To reduce reactivity to wearable monitoring devices, participants were provided with a Hexoskin smart shirt, Muse-S headband, and an iPod Touch preloaded with study applications at least three days before their first session. They were instructed to use the equipment daily during this acclimatization period. A printed instruction sheet and in-person orientation were provided by the research assistant (RA, author R.W.), who remained available for troubleshooting by phone or email.

On each study day, participants arrived at the designated setting (the Indigenous Gathering Space, or Dr. Auger’s home, depending on cohort). After greeting and confirming acclimatization, the RA collected demographic information and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire. Participants then donned the Hexoskin shirt and Muse-S headband, and the RA verified device connectivity via the iPod Touch. A brief calibration protocol, including a breathing exercise and a five-minute resting baseline, was conducted to ensure data quality.

For Cohort 1, session order (healing vs. control) was randomized in advance. The RA informed Dr. Auger of the condition, while participants remained blinded until debriefing at study completion. In the control condition, participants were placed in the swing, wrapped securely in blankets, and gently rocked for 45–50 minutes. In the healing condition, procedures were similar but included smudging prior to entry, and Dr. Auger incorporated connection to spirit, prayer and song during the swinging. For Cohort 2, participants experienced a single session with ceremony, reflecting usual healing practice.

At the conclusion of each session, participants completed a visual analogue scale rating alertness. The RA then conducted a semi-structured interview, guided by a standardized script, and recorded field notes. A list of support resources was available should any participant experience distress.

Four days later, the RA conducted a follow-up interview by phone or videoconference to ask about ongoing experiences. For Cohort 1, participants returned ~ 2 weeks later for their second session in the alternate condition. After the final follow-up interview, the RA read a debriefing statement explaining the purpose of the control and ceremony conditions, and answered questions.

3.6 Measures

Physiological Monitoring

Hexoskin Smart Shirt

The Hexoskin Smart Shirt (Carré Technologies Inc., Montréal, Canada) was selected for its capacity to capture high-quality electrocardiographic (ECG) and respiratory signals in an unobtrusive manner that did not interfere with the participants during a wîwîp’son session. Unlike conventional wired laboratory-based systems, the Hexoskin is a lightweight garment that can be worn under clothing, allowing continuous physiological monitoring while respecting the integrity of the healing environment. Laboratory studies have demonstrated the accuracy of Hexoskin-derived ECG and spirometry measures during rest and exercise (Smith et al., 2019). Importantly for the present study, its reliability has also been established across body positions (lying, sitting, standing, walking), with no significant differences relative to standard laboratory systems (Villar et al., 2015; Montes et al., 2018). Its use has also been extended to clinical and complementary therapy contexts for stress reduction (Birdee et al., 2023).

Data collection and analysis

ECG data were collected in a Lead II configuration at a sampling rate of 256 Hz, along with three-axis acceleration data at 64 Hz, using the Hexoskin application running on iPod Touch devices. Custom MATLAB scripts (versions R2021b and R2022a) were used to visualize R-R intervals overlaid on ECG waveforms with automated quality control flagging. R-R intervals marked as noisy, unreliable, or both were excluded. Acceleration data were used to identify supine positioning, swing motion onset and cessation, and session boundaries. R-R time series were trimmed to include data from 5 minutes after swing motion onset to 5 minutes before cessation. Preprocessed R-R intervals were analyzed using the HRVAS toolbox (Ramshur, 2010), which included ectopic beat removal, wavelet packet detrending, and cubic spline resampling at 2 Hz. Power spectral density was estimated using Welch’s periodogram (512 points, 256 window, 128 overlap), and power was extracted from low-frequency (0.04–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (0.15–0.40 Hz) bands in line with established HRV conventions (DeBeck et al., 2010; Shaffer & Ginsberg, 2017).

Muse-S EEG Headband

The Muse-S (InteraXon Inc., Toronto, Canada) was chosen to provide an unobtrusive, wearable option for electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring that respected the healing context of wîwîp’son sessions. Compared to conventional cap-based EEG, the Muse-S is lightweight, comfortable, and well tolerated, allowing participants to remain immersed in the healing session. Previous studies have established the feasibility of research-grade analyses using the earlier Muse headset (Hashemi et al., 2016; Wilkinson et al., 2020), and the Muse-S represented an improved design with enhanced electrode contact and comfort.

Data collection and analysis: EEG data were collected using the Muse-S headband (4-channel configuration: TP9, AF7, AF8, TP10; reference FPz) at 256 Hz via the MindMonitor application on iPod Touch devices. Both MindMonitor and Hexoskin applications were run in parallel on the same devices. Raw data were imported into EEGLAB (Delorme & Makeig, 2004) for preprocessing, artifact rejection, and spectral analysis in line with established guidelines for frequency-domain EEG (Keil et al., 2022). Accelerometer and gyroscope channels from the Muse-S were used to mark: (i) settling into the swing (supine), (ii) onset of sustained periodic swing motion, and (iii) swing cessation/exit. EEG analysis was restricted to the stable swing epoch, trimmed to begin 5 min after swing onset and to end 5 min before cessation (like the ECG analysis pipeline). Within this window, movement-contaminated segments were excluded prior to spectral estimation.

Power spectral density was extracted for standard EEG frequency bands: delta (1–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (7.5–13 Hz), beta (13–30 Hz), and gamma (30–44 Hz). A flowchart illustration of the EEG preprocessing workflow is available as supplementary material (Figshare: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29925167). EEG and physiological signals (Hexoskin) were not temporally synchronized. For each participant, relative band power (i.e. the proportional contribution of each frequency band to the total spectral power) was calculated. Relative power was chosen to normalize for session-specific differences in signal amplitude and artifact, thereby reducing the influence of absolute signal strength, and improving comparability of brain-state metrics within participants across sessions (Control vs. Healing). For the present analyses, spectral estimates were averaged across the two prefrontal electrodes (AF7 and AF8). This decision was made a priori to focus on prefrontal cortical activity, given its well-established role in top-down regulation of limbic structures such as the amygdala (Banks et al., 2007; Morawetz et al., 2017) and their downstream influence on cardiovascular autonomic centers in the brainstem (Jennings et al., 2015; Schumann et al., 2021). Temporal electrodes (TP9, TP10) were excluded to minimize mixing prefrontal and temporal sources. From the prefrontal relative power values, the Delta-Alpha Ratio (DAR) and Delta + Theta/Alpha + Beta Ratio (DTABR) were calculated as a quantitative markers of “cortical arousal” (Finnigan & Van Putten, 2013; Lendner et al., 2020).

EEG frequency band changes between sessions were visualized using paired estimation plots (“Cumming plots”), which display raw paired values alongside the mean paired difference with effect size estimates. Effect sizes were calculated using Hedges’ g for repeated measures, which corrects for small sample bias (Hedges & Olkin, 1985). Qualitative thresholds for interpreting g were: small (< 0.2), moderate (0.5), and large (> 0.8, Cohen, 1988). Confidence intervals (95% CI) were derived by bootstrap resampling and permutation p values are reported for completeness.

Self-Report Measures

Demographics

Participants completed a demographic form including age at the time of data collection, gender identity, and race/ethnicity. These data were used descriptively to contextualize the sample and to confirm representation of Indigenous participants.

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

The PSQI (Buysse et al., 1989) was administered to assess global sleep quality as a potential covariate influencing physiological or experiential responses during wîwîp’son sessions. The PSQI yields a global score ranging from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating poorer sleep quality. A standardized cutoff of > 5 has been shown to distinguish “poor sleepers” with high sensitivity and specificity. We anticipated that poor sleep quality could influence participants’ experiences (e.g. increased likelihood of falling asleep during swinging). In the present study, PSQI scores were compared between the two participant cohorts; the measure was not further incorporated into other analyses.

Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for Alertness

A 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS) was used to assess subjective alertness following each session. The scale was anchored with 0 = minimally alert and 10 = maximally alert. Participants were instructed to “rate your feelings of alertness on this scale from 0–10” and to mark a point along the line accordingly. Scores were quantified as the measured distance (in cm) from the left anchor. For Cohort 1, the primary purpose of the VAS was to compare alertness ratings between the two experimental conditions; no a priori directional hypothesis was specified. The VAS also enabled descriptive comparisons of alertness between Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 participants.

Interviews

Data generation: Semi-structured interviews (Rubin & Rubin, 2012) were conducted immediately following each wîwîp’son session and again four days later. Interviews lasted 20–40 minutes and followed a standardized guide (Figshare repository: 10.6084/m9.figshare.29925167) designed to elicit participants’ experiences during and after a swing session. Prompts focused on expectations, emotions, physical and sensory perceptions, and any changes noticed following the session, including sleep and dreaming. Dr. Auger was interested in capturing data on dreams as during her years of experience in offering wîwîp’son healing sessions, many people had reported significant ‘spiritual messaging’ dreams that offered healing. Interviews were not audio-recorded; instead, detailed field notes were taken by the interviewer to ensure participant comfort and confidentiality.

Data analysis: Interview notes were imported into NVivo (QSR International) for thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2014). An initial coding framework was collaboratively developed by members of the research team, based on interview questions and participant responses. Codes were refined iteratively, with additional codes incorporated in response to recurring participant expressions. Analysis proceeded inductively moving through familiarization, coding, candidate themes, and refinement. Early coding emphasized within-participant (ideographic) themes, with later stages comparing experiences across participants. The final interpretive stage was guided by Indigenous knowledge traditions, i.e. The Medicine Wheel Framework, which shaped the organization of findings into four overarching themes: Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, and Mental Healing.

To support analytic transparency, each participant’s data were organized into three documents (healing session, control session, and follow-up interview). Healing and control sessions were internally coded as “Aspen” and “Fern” visits, and follow-up interviews were coded separately (e.g., “positive emotions” vs. “follow-up—positive emotions”) to allow comparison within and across sessions. Coding distinctions were refined during analysis; for example, expressions of being happy or joyful were coded as “positive emotions,” whereas calm, peaceful, relaxing were coded under “calm/peaceful.” Additional codes such as “grounded” and “presence” were created to reflect recurring participant language. Inter-rater reliability checks were conducted by two team members (A.A. and F.F.) on a subset of participants to ensure coding consistency. An audit trail of coding decisions and revisions was maintained throughout. While both healing and control sessions were included for comparison, analysis emphasized healing experiences, as these consistently elicited richer emotional, sensory, and spiritual descriptions, affording more in-depth analysis.

3.7 Additional Analysis

For quantitative variables including age, alertness (VAS), Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and swing session duration, we used estimation statistics rather than relying solely on null hypothesis significance testing (Ho et al., 2019). Within-cohort comparisons (Cohort 1: Healing vs. Control) were analyzed using paired estimation methods, and between-cohort comparisons (Cohort 1 Healing vs. Cohort 2 Healing) were analyzed using two independent group estimation. All analyses were conducted using the DABEST framework (https://www.estimationstats.com; https://github.com/ACCLAB/DABEST-Matlab), which provides effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals derived from 5,000 bootstrap samples (bias-corrected and accelerated). Permutation tests were additionally implemented (5,000 reshuffles) to generate p-values, included here to satisfy journal reporting standards. Effect sizes are reported in the format: effect size [95% CI lower bound, upper bound].

For the analysis of physiological arousal state, ECG-derived heart rate variability (HRV) metrics were complemented by blinded expert assessment. Composite images were generated for each participant in Cohort 1, consisting of R-R interval series, power spectral density plots, time-frequency spectrograms, and LF/HF ratio time-courses for both Contol and Healing sessions. Two independent clinical experts, blinded to session type, reviewed each participant’s pair of images and classified the Healing session relative to the Control as: 1) Calm (lower arousal), 2) Stress (higher arousal), or 3) No Difference. Interrater reliability was quantified using Cohen’s kappa, which demonstrated substantial agreement (κ = 0.75). Discrepancies in classification were resolved by consensus.

4.1 Participants and Cohort Comparisons

A total of twenty-two participants completed at least one wîwîp’son session across two cohorts. Cohort 1 consisted of 14 individuals who were naïve to wîwîp’son and other Indigenous healing practices. These participants were recruited specifically for the blinded Healing versus Control design. Cohort 2 included 8 individuals who self-identified as First Nations or Métis who sought out wîwîp’son as a healing therapy. All members of Cohort 2 had prior experience with the swing and entered sessions with expectations of benefit.

Across both cohorts, the mean age was 39 years (SD 11.8), with a bimodal distribution peaking in the 20–28 and 44–52 year ranges. Most participants self-identified as female; one participant identified as all-gendered. Participants were able to select multiple ethnicities: 40% identified as Caucasian, 52% as First Nations or Métis, and 8% as Asian.

[Table 1 near here]

Table 1. Participant demographics and variables

Participant characteristics and physiological variables for Cohort 1 (n = 14) who completed both control and healing sessions, and Cohort 2 (n = 8) who completed a single healing session. Values are presented as mean (SD). Within-group differences reflect paired comparisons between control and healing sessions in Cohort 1. Between-group differences compare Cohort 1 (Healing) with Cohort 2 (Healing). Values are the effect size [95% Confidence Interval] and the associated p-value. CI = confidence interval, PSQI = Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; higher scores indicate poorer sleep quality, with scores >5 classified as poor sleepers, VAS = Visual Analogue Scale for alertness (0 = very drowsy, 10 = very alert), bpm = breaths per minute

More detailed comparisons are presented in Table 1. Cohort 2 participants were older than those in Cohort 1 (49.0 ± 4.7 vs. 33.4 ± 10.9 years, p = 0.0016). Sleep quality was poorer in Cohort 2 (PSQI of 8.4 ± 3.9 vs. 5.2 ± 1.7, p = 0.0154), and 75% of Cohort 2 participants were classified as poor sleepers (PSQI > 5) compared with 46% in Cohort 1, although this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.20). The duration of a wîwîp’son swing session were longer in Cohort 2 compared to the healing sessions for Cohort 1 (71.4 ± 5.7 vs. 64.1 ± 5.8 min). Within Cohort 1 the healing sessions were on average 4.6 min longer than control, but this difference was not significant. Similarly, the amount of swing movement (RMS of acceleration) was not different between healing and control sessions (p = 0.0974). The frequency of the swing motion ranged between 1.07–1.12 Hz and was the same across the two cohorts. Self-reported alertness and breathing frequency were broadly similar across groups, with no statistically reliable differences.

Taken together, these comparisons underscore two important distinctions. First, Cohort 2 participants arrived with lived experience of wîwîp’son and with higher baseline expectations, making them less suitable for a blinded, partially deceptive Healing versus Control design. Second, the differences in age and sleep quality suggest that baseline physiological state may not be directly comparable between cohorts. For these reasons, the quantitative analyses of physiological arousal (operationalized by heart rate variability — HRV, measures) and cognitive state (operationalized by EEG measures) focus on Cohort 1, while qualitative interview data are presented for both cohorts to capture the breadth of participants’ experience.

4.2 Physiological Arousal: Calm-Stressed Continuum

To assess physiological arousal, composite images were generated for each participant in Cohort 1 to assess the pattern and stability of the autonomic state over the duration of a swing session. Two blinded clinical experts independently evaluated these images and categorized each participant’s healing session relative to their control as reflecting a shift toward: Calm, Stress, or No Difference (Fig. 2, right).

Thirteen participants were scored (one excluded for technical issues), with substantial inter-rater agreement (Cohen’s κ = 0.75). Two initial disagreements were resolved by consensus, resulting in 7 participants labeled Calm, 2 labeled Stress, and 4 labeled No Difference. These labels were used to colour-code data points in the scatterplot (Fig. 2, left).

[Figure 2 near here]

Right panels: Individual examples showing composite HRV images for two participants, one rated Calm (P014) and another rated Stress (P010). Each composite included: R–R interval time series (top), histograms of R–R interval distributions, power spectral density (PSD) estimates highlighting LF (0.04–0.15 Hz, purple) and HF (0.15–0.40 Hz, cyan) bands, time–frequency spectrogram with LF and HF boundaries marked (with interpretive labels “stress” for LF and “calm” for HF), and LF/HF ratio time series (cyan when > 1, pink when < 1). These composites were scaled for publication but presented electronically at full resolution for blinded expert review.

Left panel: Scatterplot of change scores (Healing – Control) for normalized LF power (x-axis) and HF power (y-axis). Data points are color-coded by expert rating: Calm (blue), Stress (red), No Difference (green), and initial disagreements (purple, resolved by consensus). The upper-left quadrant (↑HF, ↓LF) represents a calmer state; the lower-right quadrant (↓HF, ↑LF) represents a stressed state; points near the origin represent no change.

As shown in Fig. 2, the scatterplot of change scores (Healing – Control) revealed a continuum of responses. Participants rated as calmer during the healing condition clustered in the upper left quadrant indicating increased HF and decreased LF power, consistent with reduced physiological arousal and greater vagal influence. By contrast, participants rated as stressed fell in the opposite quadrant, while those with no discernible difference were located near the origin.

Overall, most participants exhibited patterns consistent with a calmer autonomic state during the healing session, though this was a graded response with some individuals showing no change and others demonstrating a pattern consistent with heightened stress. This pattern is consistent with a physiological state of reduced sympathetic arousal and enhanced vagal tone, while also acknowledging inter-individual variability.

4.3 Brain Oscillations: Changes Associated with Calmer Autonomic State

Relative power in standard EEG frequency bands was first compared between control and healing sessions. Across all participants, there is no strong, consistent effect of the healing session on EEG band power. The confidence intervals for all Hedges' g values straddle zero (Fig. 3A).

[Figure 3 near here]

Paired estimation plots show individual participant data (top) and paired mean difference with Hedges’ g effect size (bottom). Panel A: All participants (n = 13). No consistent changes were observed across delta, theta, alpha, beta, or gamma bands. Panel B: Subgroup of participants judged calmer during healing (n = 7). Delta power was increased in healing (Hedges’ g = 0.74, 95% CI [0.38, 1.65], p = 0.000), while alpha power was decreased (g = − 0.61, 95% CI [–1.37, − 0.03], p = 0.07). Theta, beta, and gamma bands showed minimal or inconsistent changes. Theta (g = 0.03, [-0.47, 1.27], p = 0.95), Beta (g = -0.53, [-1.26, 0.09], p = 0.13), & Gamma (g = -0.08, [-1.14, 0.66], p = 0.81). For clarity, “Band-H” denotes the healing session and “Band-C” the control session. Effect sizes are interpreted as small (g ≈ 0.2), moderate (≈ 0.5), or large (≈ 0.8).

When restricting the analysis to participants judged calmer during the healing session (n = 7), clearer changes emerged (Fig. 3B). Delta power increased (Hedges’ g = 0.74 [0.38, 1.65] and alpha power decreased (g = -0.61 [-1.37, -0.03]). Beta power decreased but not a significant amount, while theta and gamma showed minimal change.

Together, these analyses suggest that brain oscillations did not shift uniformly across all participants in cohort 1; not everyone responded the same way. However, among participants for whom the wîwîp’son healing session induced a physiologically calm state, the EEG profile was characterized by increased delta and reduced alpha activity.

Given the observed increases in delta and decreases in alpha (and some reduction in beta) in the calmer subgroup (Fig. 3), we examined whether these patterns translated into established quantitative EEG ratio indices often used as markers of cortical state. DAR and DTABR are typically interpreted as indices of cortical arousal (or slowing), whereas ATR has been proposed as a marker of relaxation and attentional accessibility.

[Figure 4 near here]

Paired estimation plots show the Delta–Alpha Ratio (DAR), Delta + Theta/Alpha + Beta Ratio (DTABR), and Alpha–Theta Ratio (ATR) during control (C) and healing (H) sessions. Each plot displays individual paired values (upper) and the paired mean difference with effect size (Hedges’ g) and 95% confidence interval (lower). Panel A (All participants, n = 13): No consistent differences were observed (DAR: g = 0.14, 95% CI [–0.54, 0.68], p = 0.609; DTABR: g = 0.07, 95% CI [–0.50, 0.69], p = 0.803; ATR: g = − 0.36, 95% CI [–1.18, 0.38], p = 0.353). Panel B (Calm participants only, n = 7): Healing sessions were associated with increased DAR and DTABR (DAR: g = 0.77, 95% CI [0.41, 1.29], p = 0.012; DTABR: g = 0.82, 95% CI [0.31, 1.61], p = 0.014) and a non-significant reduction in ATR (g = − 0.54, 95% CI [–1.49, 0.20], p = 0.172).

Similarly, across all 13 participants there were no consistent changes in the three EEG indices (Fig. 4A). By contrast, in participants rated calmer during the healing session, both DAR and DTABR increased reliably while ATR showed a modest decrease (Fig. 4B). These findings indicate that participants who experienced autonomic calming also showed EEG changes consistent with reduced cortical arousal.

4.4 Qualitative Results

The quantitative data suggested that many participants shifted into a calmer physiological state during a wîwîp’son healing session. To explore how this was experienced, we conducted a thematic analysis of post-session interviews. The coding framework was first structured around the interview questions (e.g., sensory or physical sensations) and then expanded inductively to capture recurring participant descriptions such as “calm,” “relaxing,” or “peaceful.” Through iterative review, four overarching domains emerged: Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Mental, represented in the Medicine Wheel framework (Fig. 5) to reflect the interconnected dimensions of healing described by participants.

Participants’ immediate reports following a session focused on physical and emotional sensations in the swing (e.g. muscular relaxation, floating, calmness). In the follow-up interviews four days later, participants were more likely to reflect on lingering effects, including improved sleep, vivid dreams, and feelings of gratitude or connection that persisted beyond the session. For example, several described receiving “spiritual message” dreams in the nights following a healing session, consistent with Dr. Auger’s long-standing observations of wîwîp’son practice. These temporal differences highlight how immediate reports captured embodied sensations in the swing, while follow-up interviews revealed how participants integrated the experience into their lives. For reporting purposes, these reflections were synthesized within the final subthemes.

[Figure 5 near here]

Thematic structure of qualitative findings organized within the Medicine Wheel framework. Four overarching domains (Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Mental) were identified through thematic analysis of post-session interviews. Subthemes within each domain included: Physical (muscular sensations, weight/weightlessness, breathing, touch), Emotional (shifts in emotion, calm/relaxation, feelings of safety and protection, gratitude), Spiritual (songs, imagery and visions, messages, presence of ancestors or spiritual beings), and Mental (learning, cognitive shifts, memories). The Medicine Wheel is depicted using four colors and directions: black in the west (emotional), white in the north (mental), yellow in the east (physical), and red in the south (spiritual). These colors are used here to reflect a pan-Indigenous framework that acknowledges the four nations of people on Earth. While many nehiyâw traditions use blue to represent the west, black is shown in this figure to align with this broader interpretive framework.

Physical experiences

Participants described sensations of muscular release (“jaw and head fully relaxed” [P07]), changes in breathing (“sudden alertness and faster breathing, then calmed down” [P11]), and cocooning touch (“every touch felt so good; hand on me at the end brought me back here” [P15]). A recurring theme was weightlessness: “felt levity—did not feel the weight of my body, almost like floating” [P20].

Emotional experiences

Shifts from tension or grief to calm were common (“anxiety shifted to calm” [P10]; “felt grief well up in my throat when you were singing” [P20]). Participants emphasized safety and gratitude: “felt very, very safe… a survival instinct from past trauma” [P18]; “gratitude—wholeness, balance, felt whole. What a gift I got to receive” [P15].

Spiritual experiences

Many described imagery, songs, and presence beyond the immediate session. Experiences ranged from natural visions (“ocean imagery, blue water” [P10]) to ancestral connection (“paddling with my girl around the island where I come from… what a gift this was” [P22]). Singing was perceived as immersive (“singing in head—everywhere at once, surround-sound” [P05]) and, for some, a vehicle for release (“I started humming the song given to me when fasting… the trauma moved up and out” [P21]).

Mental experiences

Participants described shifts in cognitive activity, including moments of quieting (“mind went from racing to more empty” [P10]), and recollections tied to family and culture (“memories of sewing moose hide … felt really connected” [P15]). Some commented on the ceremonial elements of the session (“liked smudge and prayer song” [P13]), noting how these aspects shaped their overall mental focus and attention.

Control experiences

In Cohort 1, participants consistently described the control sessions as relaxing and restful, comparing the experience to meditation, napping or simply “slowing down”. These sessions typically evoked fewer emotional or spiritual elements than the healing swing, which included ceremony. Participants reported calmness, light bodily sensations, or sleep, but rarely described vivid imagery, ancestral presence, or deep emotional release. While two participants reported healing-like imagery or sensations even in the control condition, most characterized these sessions as restorative but less layered or meaningful compared to the healing sessions.

Taken together, these accounts illustrate that wîwîp’son facilitated healing across interconnected physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental dimensions, offering experiences that participants understood as both grounding and transcendent. These findings also demonstrate how the addition of ceremony distinguished healing sessions from control, suggesting that the cultural and spiritual elements of wîwîp’son were central to the depth of experience reported.

This study responded to the TRC’s Call to Action #22 by using a mixed-methods approach to investigate the physiological and experiential effects of wîwîp’son, the healing swing. Our findings revealed a heterogeneous response, with a clear subgroup of participants showing a shift in both brain and body toward a state of reduced arousal and deep rest, paired with rich qualitative reports of safety, connection, and emotional release.

Two core research questions were addressed. First, can wîwîp’son modulate physiological rhythms associated with trauma? For a defined subgroup, the answer appears to be yes. In these participants we observed an increase in delta relative to alpha power (DAR), a shift consistent with downregulated arousal, as well as rebalancing of autonomic tone as measured by heart rate variability (HRV, Agorastos et al., 2013; Thayer et al., 2012). This pattern suggests a transition from sympathetic dominance to increased vagal tone, consistent with healing from trauma-related hyperarousal (Yehuda et al., 2015).

Second, how do participants experience wîwîp’son? Descriptions reflected changes across physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual domains. Participants often described sensations of calm, floating, or muscular relaxation, and in some cases, dreams or emotional insight in the days following a session. These narratives aligned well with the physiological data, including cases where increased arousal observed in HRV was paired with descriptions of a “racing mind”.

Individual-Level Shifts in Arousal State. Given the observed individual differences, we prioritized within-subject comparisons over group-level means. This strategy was particularly appropriate for an intervention as personalized as wîwîp’son. For those participants who exhibited physiological change, the brain-body signature of reduced arousal was characterized by increased delta and decreased alpha power in the prefrontal EEG signal, alongside HRV markers consistent with increased vagal tone.

The frontal delta increase is notable. While delta oscillations are traditionally associated with deep sleep, waking delta has been linked to metabolic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) (Alper et al., 2006). This brain region is central to emotion regulation and plays a key role in top-down modulation of the amygdala (Banks et al., 2007). Functional neuroimaging studies confirm that activation in the mPFC correlates with reduced amygdala reactivity and greater vagal output via brainstem nuclei controlling heart rate (Thayer et al., 2012). Our EEG montage targeted frontal sites (AF7/AF8), which are well positioned to detect such activity.

This interpretation is further supported by decreases in alpha power. Alpha is thought to reflect cortical inhibition, and reductions in alpha during the healing sessions may reflect disinhibition of frontal regulatory networks (Knyazev, 2007; Knyazev, 2012). Together, the increased delta and decreased alpha suggest a shift in frontal activity toward active engagement in emotion regulation. These neurophysiological shifts co-occurred with changes in HRV, consistent with amygdala downregulation of autonomic arousal (Schwaber et al., 1982; Kim and Whalen, 2009; Thiebaut de Schotten et al., 2012; Forstenpointner et al., 2022).

Bottom-Up Healing and Interoception. The pattern observed is consistent with trauma frameworks that emphasize embodied regulation approaches in which safety and healing are supported through sensory, rhythmic, and interoceptive processes (Fischer & Ogden, 2009; Schore, 2012). Wîwîp’son includes swaddling, rocking, smudging, singing and prayer that engage somatosensory, vestibular, olfactory and auditory systems in ways known to diminish autonomic arousal and support physiological calm. The increase in delta activity during healing sessions may reflect not only deep rest and recovery but also a shift toward interoceptive awareness. Knyazev (2007; 2012) has argued that waking delta oscillations reflect attentiveness to salient internal experience and bodily needs. In this context, the qualitative reports of warmth, emotional clarity, and bodily relaxation may correspond to a neural shift in attentional focus away from external vigilance and toward internal integration.

Colonial Contexts and the Limits of Individual Therapy. As Mullan (2023) and others have noted, standard trauma therapies often emphasize individual-level neurobiological repair, but may overlook the socio-political and historical context in which trauma occurs. From this perspective, physiological patterns such as increased amygdala activity or disrupted vagal tone are not pathological, but adaptive responses to structural oppression. For Indigenous communities, trauma is frequently intergenerational and collective, arising from colonial policies of displacement enforced through violence, cultural erasure, as well as ongoing systemic marginalization. Interventions like wîwîp’son differ from conventional therapeutic models by centering relational, cultural, and spiritual connection rather than demanding individual agency or cognitive reframing as prerequisites for healing.

Recent breathwork studies (e.g., Balban et al., 2023) have emphasized the role of volitional control in autonomic regulation, suggesting that conscious breathwork offers faster and more potent calming effects than mindfulness. However, such frameworks reflect cultural values of autonomy, agency, and control. In contrast, wîwîp’son does not involve active control. The healing session occurs in the context of trust, relational safety, and ceremony. For many participants, this shift from self-regulation to co-regulation may be a more culturally congruent and effective path to healing.

Integrating Indigenous and Biomedical Knowledge Systems. This pilot study illustrates a collaborative methodological framework for examining brain-body physiology in the context of Indigenous healing practices. The research approach was grounded in respectful partnership and intentionally designed to honour Indigenous epistemologies alongside biomedical physiological measurement, without subordinating one to the other. By situating quantitative physiological data collection within ceremony and relational accountability, the study demonstrates how empirical tools can be applied in ways that are compatible with Indigenous ways of knowing. More broadly, this work contributes to ongoing efforts to recognize Indigenous epistemologies as essential for understanding and addressing the embodied and intergenerational effects of trauma.

These findings must be interpreted with caution. The sample size is small, and the analyses were exploratory. Nonetheless, the convergence of EEG, HRV, and qualitative data in a subset of participants offers preliminary evidence that wîwîp’son can facilitate neurophysiological and experiential shifts consistent with trauma recovery. Future studies should explore these mechanisms in larger samples and consider community-level outcomes. Healing, in this context, is not just an individual neurobiological event, but a collective, cultural, and spiritual process.

Funding Declaration

This research was supported by the University of Alberta Vice-President Indigenous Engaged Research Grant (2021), the Women and Children's Health Research Institute (WCHRI) Innovation Grant (2021), and the Branch Out Neurological Foundation (BONF) Undergraduate and Impact Grants (2021). Additional support was provided through the Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) Cluster Grant on Indigenous and Intercultural Learning (2020–2023).

CRediT Author Statement

Darlene Auger: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Resources, Writing – Review & Editing.

Regan Wright: Investigation, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Validation, Writing – Review & Editing.

Amanda Almond: Project Administration, Methodology, Investigation, Writing – Review & Editing.

Jan Breuer: Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Validation, Software (Quality Control Metrics), Writing – Review & Editing.

Fay Fletcher: Conceptualization, Funding Acquisition, Supervision, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing.

Kelvin E. Jones: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Validation, Funding Acquisition, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision.

Acknowledgements

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the participants who generously shared their time, experiences, and stories. We are grateful to the Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and community partners whose guidance and teachings shaped the design and interpretation of this work. Finally, we acknowledge the staff within WCHRI and BONF whose support helped us to navigate the practical challenges of conducting this research, and whose commitment went beyond administrative roles.

Data Availability and Supplemental Materials

Supplementary materials supporting this article, including recruitment materials, demographic forms, and analysis scripts, are available in a public Figshare repository at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29925167. The manuscript is also available as a preprint on OSF Preprints.

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The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: Darlene Auger is the Indigenous knowledge keeper and practitioner of Wîwîp’son and receives remuneration for healing sessions outside this research. She received an honorarium for her role in the research-based sessions. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Bridging Spirit and Science: Physiological and Spiritual Effects of Wîwîp’son Healing Swing Sessions

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Abstract

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusion

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Introduction

Methods

3.1 Mixed-Method Design and Knowledge Paradigms

3.2 Ethics

3.3 Setting

3.4 Participants

3.5 Procedures

3.6 Measures

3.7 Additional Analysis

Results

4.1 Participants and Cohort Comparisons

4.2 Physiological Arousal: Calm-Stressed Continuum

4.3 Brain Oscillations: Changes Associated with Calmer Autonomic State

4.4 Qualitative Results

Discussion

Conclusion and Future Directions

Declarations

Funding Declaration

CRediT Author Statement

Acknowledgements

Data Availability and Supplemental Materials

References

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