Demystifying Shamanism

The ancient tradition of Shamanism has become much more commonly known these days. More and more people are talking about it, and yet it is still fairly misunderstood. I think most people don’t give it much notice and believe it does not relate to anything they may need in their lives. Really, what could it have to do with getting your celery juice in, the kids off to school, or paying the bills? There is very little cultural frame of reference or understanding for what a shaman does, or how shamanism may be relevant in our modern world. Unless one has a particular interest in such things, it is just not on most people’s radar. If you go looking to try and understand it, there is some weird and misleading stuff out there. I remember the first time I looked up the definition for “what is a shaman”. The description felt more than a little unsettling.

I don’t want to go into some deeply esoteric explanation that won’t mean anything to many, and won’t be helpful. I love long fascinating conversations, but I want to make this easy and get right to the good stuff. Shamanism is about taking care to be a good steward of your body, heart, spirit, and soul. It is a healing practice, and tools for living your best life. Someone acting as a shaman, (like a doctor, therapist, spiritual advisor, or life coach), is helping you find what’s been injured in your body, heart, sprit, and soul.  Then they help you find the right “medicine”, practice, knowledge, witnessing, and compassion to heal, find your purpose, and live your best life. But it goes even beyond that. In the same way that people take preventative medicine for our bodies, provide maintenance for our cars, and follow best practices in our work, we can do these same things for our body, heart, spirit, and soul though shamanism. When we do, we live our purpose and our best life possible, with much more grace, ease, joy, and compassion.