Where Science Meets Mysticism on the Path to Wholeness
Welcome, fellow travelers. You've found your way to a sanctuary for seekers, sufferers, healers, and the perpetually curious.
I’m so glad you’re here.
I'm Linnea Butler — scientist-turned-psychotherapist, trauma survivor, chronic illness warrior and explorer of consciousness. I walk between worlds: psychology, biology and the mysteries of consciousness, evidence-based practice and ancient wisdom traditions.
How Healing Happens is where science and spirituality meet in the living waters of healing.
Here, we explore how we recover from pain, reconnect with our authentic selves, and grow beyond the limits life once placed around us.
Healing doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in circles, in shared truths, in the spaces between us.
This publication is my offering to that circle: a collection of deep dives, reflections, personal stories, videos, and practical tools to support you on your own sacred journey of healing.
I am a Healer, a Weaver, a Medicine Woman and a Crone. Let’s join the healing circle together!
Is This Space for You?
You belong here if:
You're already on a healing path but sense there's something deeper calling
You appreciate both evidence-based approaches and intuitive wisdom
You've struggled with feeling "too sensitive" or misunderstood
You're curious about the intersection of trauma, consciousness, and spirituality
You're a healing professional seeking fresh perspectives
You've experienced trauma and are looking for holistic ways to integrate and heal
What You'll Find Here
Trauma & Nervous System Healing: Evidence-based and experiential approaches to PTSD and Complex PTSD that honor the body's wisdom
Insights into complex mental health issues: Including PTSD, complex trauma, and neurodivergence
Psychospiritual Development: Healing through shadow work and non-ordinary states of consciousness, including ketamine assisted psychotherapy and sacred medicines
Consciousness & Mysticism: Inquiries into the nature of awareness itself and what lies beyond our current understanding—that which science has yet to prove
Somatic Intelligence: Reconnecting with the wisdom that lives in our bodies
Authentic Connection: Finding belonging in our shared humanity while honoring our individual journeys
Practical Exercises: Guided exercises to help you on your unique healing path to wholeness
Personal stories: From my own psyche excavations, messy, real, and offered in the spirit of solidarity
Every week, I share essays that bridge the rigorous world of psychology and science with the intuitive realm of the mystical; the "woo" that people with scientific backgrounds like mine often dismiss, but which holds profound healing potential.
You can read How Healing Happens in your inbox or through the Substack app for a clean, ad-free experience.
(If you are like me in your inbox is already flooded, you can turn off email notifications and just read on the app.)
Free Subscription
Weekly essays delivered directly to your inbox, exploring the depths of healing and consciousness.
A place where science and mysticism aren’t rivals but partners in the dance of healing.
(And you’ll never get spam or ads, just real words from a real human)
The Inner Healing Circle ($27/month)
Transform Insights Into Lived Experience
What This Path Offers:
🌀 2 Monthly Live Virtual Experiences (75 minutes each)*
Embodied Healing Practices (guided experiential work)
Conscious Conversations (intimate group discussions)
📚 Exclusive Downloadable Library
Monthly self-discovery workbooks
Guided practices for essay themes
Integration exercises between gatherings
🌿 Sacred Community Access
Private subscriber-only discussions
Monthly office hours with direct access to me
Peer support between sessions
✨ First Access to All New Offerings
Early registration for workshops
Beta access to new therapeutic tools
*You can also join the gatherings on a pay-as-you-go model - subscribe to be notified!
Your healing journey deserves dedicated space and community. Transformation happens in relationship - both with yourself and others walking the path.
The Invitation
This space isn't therapy. It's an invitation to go deeper than therapy often allows. To ask the unanswerable questions. To explore the mysteries of consciousness alongside the practical realities of healing. Whether you're healing emotional pain, exploring consciousness, or simply curious about the mechanisms of true transformation — there's a place for you in this conversation.
From my heart to yours — welcome to the circle.
My Journey to Now
I’m a licensed psychotherapist but it took a few careers to get here.
My path has been anything but linear — from growing up on a farm with few resources to working in genetic research with a Nobel laureate; from marketing executive in corporate America to founder of a multi-disciplinary group therapy practice. I've lived on a boat as an infant, traveled across Europe for work, and moved across the country multiple times.
Through each transition, I carried an underlying sense that something essential was missing, a feeling that persisted despite outward success. This publication emerged from my desire to explore topics that felt too "woo" for my professional identity—the mystical questions and soul-level explorations that conventional psychotherapy often leaves untouched.
Today, I specialize in trauma and complex cases as well as psychospiritual development, blending the rigor of science with the deep intuition that honors all that has yet to be proven.
What Readers are Saying:
“Linnea Butler is a rare guide for the soul—part scientist, part mystic, and all heart. A trauma-informed psychotherapist and chronic illness warrior, she bridges science and spirituality with insight, irreverence, and deep care. Her writing is both rigorous and soulful, offering a healing sanctuary for seekers who crave evidence-based wisdom and the sacred unknown. You’ll feel seen, supported, and inspired to walk your own path to wholeness.”
Dr. Bronce Rice, The WellBeing Equation
“If you're into soulful insights with a scientific edge, Linnea Butler’s newsletter is a must. A former scientist turned psychotherapist, she blends irreverence, curiosity, and deep psychospiritual wisdom in every post.”
Dr. Sara Redondo, Zenith Within
“A therapist explores the vast intricacies of the human mind, the healing process, and how we evolve and grow as human beings. Healing resources abound.”
Laura Davis, The Writer’s Journey
“Scientist-turned-Psychotherapist Linnea Butler writes beautifully about the thin veil between science and magic, ecstasy and mysticism, and how all of it provides nourishment for our wellness and healing. A wonderful read!”
Dr. Wendy Pabich, unTamed Science
“Linnea’s writing ‘at the intersection of science and spirituality’ is right up my alley, and I love her writing style.”
Maggie Hollinbeck, Tending the Soul
“Early definitions of trauma as event-based rather than experience-based have led to so many people comparing and discounting their experiences. This message cannot be restated enough, IMO! Thank you Linnea for holding up your megaphone to help reorient us all toward validation and healing.”
“You got me with “Healing means reconnecting with one another through daily acts of care. Cooking together. Fixing things together. Sharing tools and stories and time.”
It’s so true. We connect on the daily acts of nurturing one another - often times these are hands on activities.”
“You’re definitely hitting a nerve here Linnea. We exchanged depth for convenience when we made that choice. The rituals, the roots, they all grounded us, gave us meaning. Now we’re drowning in noise, mistaking clicks for connection. The way forward, as so often, it’s back. Back to what’s real. Back to touch, back to talk, to knowing where our lives actually come from. Let’s stop feeding the machine that’s starving us.”
Extras If You Are Curious…
Fun fact: I’m a huge animal lover and just slightly obsessed with trees. (Okay, more than slightly.)
Here’s a short video we made at my practice, Bay Area Mental Health, to share a bit of that vision. Even though it was created for my practice, it’s rooted in the same values you’ll find in every word here.
