What Is Shamanic Healing?
To understand Shamanic healing, you must first understand the shamanic perception of our reality. Shamans perceive each of us as being deeply interconnected with all of creation. I know that on the surface it may seem that we are separate from each other. When you initially look down at your body, you can very clearly see the outline of your skin, and the space your body occupies in this reality. We perceive our bodies as separate from the trees that surround us, the birds we pass on the powerline, the rivers and streams, the sun and the stars. However, for the shaman, these separations are merely an illusion. The shaman understands that we are deeply connected to all beings through the web of life, and that while on the surface things may look separate, this is only true on the physical plane.
In fact there is an entire reality that exists beyond what most of us can see with our eyes. While we may look at ourselves in the mirror, and just see a physical body looking back at us, the truth is we are more than just a brain and a body. We all have a luminous body, an energy field that surrounds and informs our physical bodies. Some may call it the aura or electromagnetic field. The amazing thing is that this field is not debatable, it has been proven countless times in scientific studies. Our luminous energy fields contain a great deal of information in them, from early childhood traumas which left their imprints (and are still informing us), to any predispositions we might have to disease. Shamanic healing offers us an opportunity to access the information stored in this field, and gives us a chance to release what no longer serves us here. As shamans it is our job to journey all the way back to the mouth of the river, back to where the distortion first took hold, and effect change at its source. When we shift things here, at the blueprint layer of reality, it sends a cascade of effects through every area of our lives.
Shamanic Healing Origins
Whether they are called shamans, paqos, curanderas, or medicine women, you will find many similarities in shamanic cultures around the world. When a sick person comes to the shaman, it becomes the shamans responsibility to become a bridge. In Quechua, the indigenous language of the Andes, they call the shaman a chakaruna, or bridge person. This bridge connects our dense three dimensional world, with higher planes of consciousness, in order to translate what is happening with a sick person and understand the best course of action. In many of these traditional cultures the shamans will go into a dramatic state of trance in order to transcend this realm, and psycho-navigate to the spirit world. When they return, they bring back a sort of spiritual prescription and course of action which must be followed in order for the sick person to heal.
Shamanic Healing in the Western World
You see, sometimes we just get stuck in our limited perspectives, and can’t see the forest for the trees. On the surface it can be easy to assume that we are merely physical beings with a body and a brain, and that when something goes wrong with our physical or emotional health, we can just address the symptoms and carry on with our lives. However, what we have largely forgotten in our modern world, is that in order to truly heal, it requires us to address the root of the illness or destructive pattern. Where that seed was planted long, long ago.
Listen, we’ve all gone through challenging experiences in our lives, and most of us simply didn’t have the tools to deal with those traumas in the moment. The charge from those experiences doesn’t just go away on its own, time itself does not heal all wounds. That heavy energy can actually get stuck in our physical and luminous bodies, almost as if it’s frozen in time. That’s why in spite of our best efforts to change, we still energetically carry the baggage from our past. People may end up stuck repeating old limiting patterns, or even develop dis-ease in the body because of these energetic blockages.
The course of treatment may be different for each individual. For example, some people may be unknowingly carrying around what we call a fluid energy attached to their field. These fluid energies can sometimes be an accumulation of thought forms, usually with a distinct personality and a purpose that they serve the host. In these cases, the host may feel this energy as a sort of psychological armor that they’ve carried around their hearts for years. Armor that has put a cap on how much they’ve been able to open to love wholly, and vulnerably. Thusly affecting all of their intimate relationships. This armor initially developed as a response to trauma, and now as an adult seeking healing, the shaman can help their client to release that heavy energy through the process of extraction. The shifts in these cases are palpable. Imagine that you’ve been traveling through life with an old friend, and that everywhere you go, he is there. As you try to grow, this friend only wishes for you to stay the same. With every experience of expansion, you are eventually pulled back into that same old destructive pattern. When you finally release this energy through the process of extraction, it can be as if you're releasing an old friend that was holding you back from expressing your truth. Now, you become free to move in an entirely new direction.
In follow-up sessions it becomes pertinent to perform a soul retrieval, to bring back the missing pieces of the self that were lost due to trauma. When these soul parts fragmented, perhaps long ago, it created an opening in the field. This is why that fluid energy of psychological armor was able to initially take root. By performing soul retrieval, the shaman helps their client to bring back that original quanta of energy, that aspect of their essential self, and guides them on a process to become whole again. We can only become whole, when we choose to embrace all the aspects of ourselves.
How Shamanic Healing Works
Shamanic healing works by giving us the opportunity to step outside of our limited, narrow view of our struggles, and glimpse the bigger picture. The shaman understands that we can overcome any obstacle in our lives, but not by using force. We overcome these trials first by shifting the way we perceive a problem. The observer theory in quantum mechanics even suggests that we may effect reality just by the way we observe it. When we are stuck inside of our story, locked in fight-or-flight response and just trying to get through each day, it can be impossible for us to see a solution to our struggles. Our perception becomes distorted, and clouded by layers of past traumas and limiting beliefs.
The first step to healing is disengaging our fight-or-flight response. Once the parasympathetic nervous system is engaged, some of those clouds begin to dissipate, and we can be able to see a little more clearly. Next we must work on releasing the layers of heavy energy that may have accumulated in our energy fields and bodies over time. Eventually, once that heavy energy is cleared, we can perform soul retrieval work to re-integrate our whole, authentic self.
The benefit of shamanic healing is that you are then able to move forward with ease and clarity, perhaps in a totally new direction. No longer being guided by the traumas of the past, but now being pulled forward by your destiny.
Is Shamanic Healing Right For Me?
Are you stuck repeating old patterns? Do you find that there is a ceiling on your success in some way? Have you found the voice of the inner-saboteur to be running the show in your life? Do you feel like your judgment is clouded, and like you just can’t seem to see clearly? Almost like their is a film over your eyes, or your heart? Do you feel a larger than life dream calling you forward, but overwhelmed by what is required to get there? You have a great deal of power to transform your life from the inside out, but sometimes it can be pertinent to have a helper. If you are looking to accelerate the evolution of your personal growth, and transform that inner saboteur into an ally, then I would be honored to be your guide.
