After an initial consultation the person lies fully clothed on a SHEN® cradle. Therapists place their hands on the body in a series of precise locations depending on the client needs. To suppress painful emotions, the body often reacts by stiffening or clenching muscles in a particular area. Stressful situations for example grief, can sometimes cause tightness in the chest area. By flowing qi through this area, the body is relaxed.

Once the person relaxes during SHEN®, the clenching of muscles, which may be holding in painful emotion is eased and the therapist repositions their hands at specific locations to lift and draw this emotion from the body. As this happens the person may feel a tingling or other bodily sensations. They may enter a deeply relaxed meditative state. Often as deep emotion re-surfaces, memories of pivitol events in a person's life will be re-called and sometimes re-experienced. Releasing painful emotions establishes within a person a robust and resilient emotional core and frees a person from emotional pain or trauma.

The number of sessions varies according to personal client needs. More than one session is normally needed to reach deep emotional layers. For many people a brief series of SHEN® sessions is enough to help them better their lives greatly.