Shamanic Healing--Ancient and Powerful

By Laureen Rama
Published in Issues Magazine
April, 1998

Shamanic practice is an ancient practice for accessing intuitive or spiritual realms for guidance and healing. Shamanic practice is a common heritage of almost all cultures and has been around for at least 30,000 years. It is the way our ancestors expressed their spirituality and was integrated into every aspect of their lives. It is a wonderful complementary practice for almost any spiritual belief system. It is also a powerful vehicle for personal transformation.

Shamanic practice is the practice of deliberately connecting with "non-ordinary reality" for guidance, power, and healing. Non-ordinary reality is present in the same time and space as ordinary reality (in which you are now reading these words, holding this magazine, and maybe eating your lunch) but we are usually not consciously aware of non-ordinary reality. It touches us through our intuitive hunches (we know who is calling on the phone, we feel strongly we should take another route and miss a car accident by doing so); we are probably there in some of our dreams; it may be our own subconscious, or Jung's collective unconscious; it is what some call the spirit world, others the dreamtime. A shaman (a word from the Siberian Tungus tribe) is simply someone who can work with non-ordinary reality to provide guidance and healing for others.

Contemporary Core Shamanism. The method that I have learned, teach others, and use to perform shamanic healing for others, is Michael Harner's core shamanic practice. Harner is an American Anthropologist who developed a synthesis of the essence of shamanic practices from around the world. His core shamanism is an easy-to-learn bare bones approach to accessing non-ordinary reality without any cultural trappings. Every practitioner can develop their own personal style and ritual as to how they do shamanic practice and tailor it to their own spiritual beliefs.

Healing Practices. Shamanic healing is very powerful and usually is best performed by a trained and experienced shamanic healer on behalf of the client. When a shaman connects with non-ordinary reality to ask for healing for a client, the healing practices that may be identified are infinite, but two are common: soul retrieval and removing blocks in spiritual energy.

Soul Retrieval:

Sometimes we may separate from a part of our essential self. In contemporary shamanic practice we refer to this as soul loss. This soul loss is usually a healthy natural coping response to trauma (e.g., car accident, abusive situation). When someone is traumatized, it would be too painful and overwhelming for them to be fully present and aware, so a part of the soul leaves to wait in non-ordinary reality for the person to become more ready to address the situation, or waits until they are out of the traumatic situation. This is often referred to as shock or dissociation. Usually the essence fragment returns naturally, but sometimes it doesn't if the trauma has gone on over time or the person becomes so used to their state that they do not have a strong desire to return to wholeness.

Sometimes we experience soul loss because we have given away a quality of our essence to someone else, or allowed them to take it. We often give away a quality of our essence (e.g., patience, assertiveness, zest for life) to someone else because we want to help them, or they may want this quality of ours for themselves. But no one can make use of our essence but us, and when it is with another person, they are weighed down and we feel unnaturally connected to them. Co-dependent relationships are often a result of such soul trading.

When we have soul loss, we feel something's missing, we have an emptiness, and we may try to fill it through addictions, compulsive behaviour, taking energy from others, or we may simply become depressed. We may have done much personal growth work at the emotional and psychological level but still feel stuck, like there's something we can't get at. Working at the spiritual level, a shamanic healer retrieves our soul, finding and returning those lost parts of our essence. If we are open and ready, this changes us instantly and then our work begins in integrating this wholeness into our lives. We are usually called then to change our lives to reflect our wholeness and everyone in our lives must adjust as well. The focus in follow-up, which is best guided by an experienced shamanic healer, is on using these new inner resources to create a positive future. Further counselling, reading, and calling on a support group can also help us change old habits and behaviours that no longer serve us.

Sandra Ingerman, the author of Soul Retrieval, has pioneered this practice in contemporary times. It is best to ask someone who has taken her five day training course, or my seven day training course, to perform this healing for you.

Removing Blocks in Spiritual Energy:

This practice removes "spiritual baggage" that does not belong to us, or blockages we have created in our spiritual energy by not addressing intense emotions. For example, we may be angry at someone and stew on that anger without addressing the situation that made us angry or without releasing the anger in a healthy way. We will likely create an angry energy block in our body, usually somewhere in our torso. Then we will have a low level of anger almost all the time and be prone to easily becoming angry. If this block is not released, it may grow and over time it will affect our physical health, likely of our internal organs.

People can also project these energy blocks into others. Again, for example if you are angry at someone and "let them have it" energetically by verbal or non-verbal projection, they may pick up and hold that angry energy in their body. We would only pick up and hold these energy blocks if we were energetically vulnerable. In a vulnerable state, we may also pick up free floating energy that could become a block in our body.

In performing healing, a shamanic healer can remove these intrusions or blocks leaving us feeling lighter and more energetic. It can sometimes effect remarkable healing of physical ailments too. I have had a client with high blood pressure see her blood pressure drop to below normal and stay there for years. Another client had crippling arthritis in her hips and after removing energy blocks, she sat in the lotus position on my couch, and is able to dance and walk freely again. I have had my crooked spine straightened through the removal of energy blocks in my back. I also had an energy block removed that came from a traumatic incident when I was a year and a half old. Once it was gone a low level anxiety that I had always felt left me. I generally felt less fearful and when I ever did experience fear, the tightness in my gut was much less, and I felt it about an inch and a half lower than before. After this healing, I also became closer and more comfortable to the person involved in the incident with me.

Elizabeth's Healing Story. Elizabeth*, a woman who came to me for healing asked to be more trusting of herself and God-directed things, more discerning about what these were, and a blessing for the new directions she felt called to. She received a soul part she lost at 5 that had the qualities of determination, perseverance, and a thirst for knowledge--it had left her when she was told she could not do something important to her--Elizabeth vividly remembered her disappointment at 5 at being told she could not go to school yet. She also received back a soul part that had left at about the same age of 5 or 6 that was very shy and appreciative of beauty and reminded me of a butterfly. She also received a 15 year old soul part from another lifetime that announced to me "I am a mighty healer," definitely confident in her healing gifts! I also removed energy blocks from Elizabeth's body.

The afternoon after she saw me, Elizabeth got an agreement to do the 4 year homeopathy course she had been wanting to take. The next morning she quit her job so that she could partner with three others in opening a homeopathy clinic. A few weeks later, Elizabeth reported that things had quickened in her life. She felt an overall sense of peace, she didn't anguish over things, and although she still had doubts, these were balanced by the faith she felt. She was more open to hearing new things and the world looked different to her--she saw things more clearly and they looked more beautiful to her.

In the follow-up work Elizabeth did to receive guidance through shamanic practice about how to integrate these returned essential qualities into her life, Elizabeth was told to not be afraid to ask silly questions to integrate the first 5 year old soul part. To integrate the quiet qualities of the other 5 year old soul part, she saw her surrounded by butterflies in a meadow and was told to play with her 12 year old son. Elizabeth felt the qualities the teen healer brought back: passion, physicality, and also a thirst for knowledge and felt she needed to dance and be physical to integrate these qualities. She also received power animal spirits that would support her in bringing these new qualities fully into her life.

A year later, Elizabeth is well into her studies as a natural healer, is enjoying working at the healing centre, and is well pleased with the new directions she has moved into. Her former place of employ has since gone out of business, an irony that the secure job she was afraid to leave would have ended anyways, and a reaffirmation to trust where she feels drawn to go.

Shamanic healing is a powerful ancient practice that is being rediscovered and brought to many more people at this time in our history when there is an openness and readiness to heal our souls and recover our wholeness.

*name has been changed and permission has been granted to share this story

Laureen Rama is available to lead retreats and workshops for private groups. She also teaches advanced shamanic healing techniques and offers shamanic healings in person or by distance.

Laureen can be reached at info@soulrestore.com or 1-403-851-1198.