the benchmark shamanic healing
practitioner training program

                                                                                                                                                                


  shamanism 101      

       
       Shamanic healing education and training with 
       Dr. Serr's comprehensive and personally
       focused shamanic healing certificate program. 
       Internationally available to new students as well
       as seasoned practitioners desiring to strengthen
       their practice or prepare to teach shamanism.

  Hi,

I'm Steve Serr, the head instructor at Shamanism 101. Let me take a moment to introduce myself and what this training center is all about. This is the culmination of several years of hard work gathering into one location, the clearly detailed practices, techniques and rituals that together provide what I am confident is the most comprehensive, accessible, and professionally oriented series of core shamanism classes in the world today. What is core shamanism? This is the essence of what countless generations of shamanic practitioners have discovered, and passed forward throughout history and from around the world.

Shamanism 101 is a three stage shamanic training curriculum that usually lasts between sixteen months and two years, depending entirely on your level of committment and effort. Here, your instructors will not only provide you with what in shamanism is unusually clear and comprehensive information, but what is equally important, be able to observe your progress and validate when you have developed the necessary skill base. Within this time you will integrate the primary through advanced healing and divination skills that are recognized as the shared essence of shamanic practice. And, you will do this in the personally mentored old way... the way it was supposed to be done. Individually.


             One cannot just learn shamanic practices or about shamanism
                                  and then expect to be a practitioner.

                One must become the practitioner...
                                              the shift is in who one is.

                                                       Steve Serr, (from the forthcoming text, The Bridge) 


When I say 'the shift is in who one is', you can see, I have taken a dramatic turn away from how shamanism is commonly taught today. Even among the most professional and thoughtful instructors, personhood and practitioner development - something that can only be followed through individual supervision - has nearly been lost. However, shamanic students throughout history needed the personal mentoring, encouragement, direction and validation of someone who had successfully made such shifts. These things can't be obtained over the course of a weekend, or even ten weekends. Perhaps the most important aspect of shamanic training is that teachers need to closely monitor their students throughout the entire course of their education. The fact that this has not been happening among the better instructors is not because of a lack of interest, but of simple inability. I certainly know I couldn't provide individual mentoring for everyone attending an entire class over a weeklong or even two-week retreat, much less during a short weekend. I don't think anyone can.

For the last 40 to 50 years, this loss of the individual supervision of developing practitioners has become taken for granted because that was all that had been available. This has been a serious downfall of shamanic training. A serious teacher needs to watch their students grow, and provide them with feedback throughout their training.

So this is the shift: Shamanism 101 is is no 'practitioner training mill'. I realized early on that shamanism was far more than just learning about something or gathering a few good techniques. A student only becomes a shamanic practitioner by developing relationships with the Earth and the spirit world. A practitioner is necessarily engaging in a living spirituality. It was when I discovered that it was not what we learned but who we became that was the entire point of shamanic training, that I realized that we should demand more.

So, even though that shamanic students since the dawn of time have received the acknowledgement of their teachers, recent teachers scoffed at the idea of certifying shamanic practitioners. What a turn-around! Then, bowing to pressure from their students for some kind of testimony so their time and study could be shown to the public with some kind of record, some of the 'training mills' have started providing a document that a student showed up in their class. However, without any direct mentoring, these teachers were and still are unable to certify their students' actual demonstration of competency.

It's your effort and heart that will make the most of your shamanic training. Yes, you will assuredly be mastering techniques, practices and ritual. But these are just part of how we learn. Shamanism is much more than becoming adept at techniques and practices. Shamanism must be seated in your bones and heart. This is meaningful shamanic training, the 'old way'. In short, shamanism is a spiritual practice.


       "Some say that the shaman crosses the bridge between the worlds.
             Though not untrue, this is only partially the case.

             Actually, the shaman becomes the bridge itself."

                                                Steve Serr, (from the forthcoming text, The Bridge)


Religious evangelists have done much to help us forget our ancestral spiritualities. From a small part of the world near the Mediterranean Sea, sweeping across Europe with the power of the Roman Empire, then extending throughout the world, religious armies have razed  our ancestral spiritual sites and constructed their foreign churches on top of them. Entire populations fell to their swords, and later guns. Especially hunted were the educators, who were usually the local priests of indigenous spiritualities. They were slaughtered.

They killed our ancestors and destroyed our spirituality. Yet today, look around you. These religions are not foreign. They won, centuries passed, and we forgot.

It is time to take back that which is ours. Shamanic practices have been largely tossed aside. The consequence of this neglect is tremendous and unnecessary suffering in areas that shamans throughout history have specifically addressed: crucial matters such as the assisting of souls to transcend, power retrieval, divination, extraction and soul retrieval. It is crucial that practitioners are once again throughout the world and available to do these things. It is imperative that among such practitioners, there are those who are trained sufficiently to spread our shamanic return through teaching.

I train all students as if they were to eventually teach shamanism themselves, so I ask a lot. However, there is nothing you cannot do: it is all within your reach. Taken thoughtfully, this training will be a tremendous experience of growth as you complete your shamanic practitioner preparation.


            "There are no words to describe what this course has done for me spiritually..
             Anyone thinking about taking this course... just do it. You will NOT regret it."

                                                                                 Eli, Louisiana


I feel very strongly that an education in shamanic healing should be affordable for nearly anyone. It doesn't take much in terms of cost to make education prohibitive for a lot of people. Furthermore, these are our common, ancestral ways of spirituality and healing. What right does anyone have to cost this beyond people's means!

Then I realized there was actually a lot more than price of classes that also needed to be addressed. For instance, students needed training to be comprehensive and not metered out in bits and pieces. Moreover, students needed a continuing relationship with their teacher. Why?
Because there were many subtle and important matters that were crucial and needed an understanding mentor, such as regarding the growing relationships students had with their spirit helpers, their growing relationship with a living Earth, the attainment of a complex ethical sensitivity, and so much more!

I chuckled aloud when a student of mine remarked how they heard a weekend teacher exclaim, "Study on-line? That's rediculous. No one can learn shamanism over the internet!" Online shamanic training has proven its effectiveness and students continuously tell me how remarkably well and assuredly their training unfolds. I wanted shamanic training to be accessible to any student anywhere on the planet so that distance and travel were not obstacles for education. I 'got it' when I realized how something as ancient as shamanism was naturally suited to something as modern as the internet. Today, shamanic training is being accessed throughout the world, and close to a hundred successful students stretching from Ireland to New Zealand and from Ontario to South Africa, are happily demonstrating how wrong that weekend teacher was.

It has been my goal to bring excellence in shamanic practice to as wide a reach as possible. However, Shamanism 101 always works with one student at a time. You and I develop a personal relationship in our shared goal of helping you become a well-educated, professional shamanic practitioner.


  “I wept. I do that often with this stuff. It's release, homecoming, some embarrassment
             that I took ‘til now to do it. Though I suppose now is the only time there is.

     Steve, I don't even feel like the same person who initially wrote you. I sure love her,
                   but I'm her no longer.... I just don't have a lot of words for this stuff.

      Much, much, much has happened through this learning I've begun with you. And
       so much of it is pertinent only to me. And less and less I wonder if other people have
        been where I am, or see these things, or go through these steps. Because it's all
         very real, and if it is happening, it is likely the right time…”
 
                                                                    Beverly, California



While you read, by clicking on this
 
you can hear Shamanka in North Wales soul singing! 
Further information at page footer.


Why Shamanism Now?

What is shamanism? Those who have practiced these ancient healing arts know what it means when they say that shamans are 'the ones who see in the dark', who 'seek the hollow bone' and 'become the bridge between the worlds'.

Someday, I hope you will know for yourself what these mean. For now, perhaps all that needs to be said is that shamanism is a spiritual practice and from this, a healing art. It is a primal connection with the Earth, all of her beings, and with the spirit world that our ancestors deep into prehistory recognized, but that we have forgotten. It is sad that we no longer have this generally available to us because shamanism leads us to regather our wholeness, reestablishes our connection with our power and our deepest self, and helps us recover our sacred Earth.

Our planet's growing interest in shamanic studies comes from a silent, deep need to reconnect with the soil, the trees, the mountains, rivers and with each other. Shamanism remembers this deep, primal interconnection. It brings us home to our whole, true self.



                           My heart is overflowing with gratitude for your teachings!

                                                                          Christa, Minnesota



We are being called back, back to our full human potential, and  back to being grounded and complete. Shamanism's earthy, natural spirituality recalls a timely and healing voice to an era that is yearning to reconnect with the Whole from which we came. For this, we need knowledgable and skilled leadership, which is one of the reasons why these courses lead to teacher training. The Earth is sacred and we yearn for this connection. Our common, ancient spiritual drive for wholeness, integration and healing is calling us back to her.

I invite you to explore everything offered throughout this site. There is really enough information just in the articles posted here to get you going, and that's just a taste of it. Go ahead and sign up for the Shamanic Practitioner Newsletter, which I email you about once every couple of months to explore nuances of shamanic practice and help practitioners keep training current and continuing. You will find a sign-up link to access this newsletter among the drop-down links at the top of each page, and be able to review some previous newsletters as well. These, and the other pages of information on this site, are a great way to explore shamanic training and help you determine if this is your path.

Maybe you are one of the all-too-many who want to fill in what had been left out of previous coursework, or want to reestablish your practice with some mentoring. Even well-trained practitioners are taking these classes as a quality refresher, and sometimes to specifically prepare for teaching. Begin by getting a sense of how these courses are put together. Then, when you are ready to formally begin a solid, no-nonsense course of shamanic healing training, or give yourself additional education and experience to 'bump up' your regular practice, I am right here.



              "Dr. Serr maintains a high standard of learning yet mixes this with compassion,
                                                                     understanding and motivational coaching.
                         He wants a student to succeed and is available to all who want to learn.

             I also feel that he practices what he teaches and that combined with the above
                                                                    makes him a 'one in a million' instructor."

                                                                                        Vicki, Washington



Write to me. I want to answer your questions, learn about you and what you are looking for, and get you started. From beginning to advanced certification and teacher training, and from solitary practitioners to those with healing practices, as far as I am concerned, we can start now.

Let's help shamanic sensibilities return to where they are needed. We know the time has come for our world to again have access to the ancient wisdom that was once known everywhere. As we bring shamanic healing and its spirituality back, we can assist in the recovery of our sacred Earth.


         Much love,                         
 
                   Steve Serr,
                   Ben Lomond, California, 2012

    
Welcome message:
Why Shamanism?


(mp3 format about 13 minutes)

Update to welcome message: tuition can be split into two payments with a small bookkeeping fee.)


"Wow I must say, I love working with you on this continuing path that I seek... somehow your words, I want to say touch me, help me to understand much clearer...

Gosh I must thank you with all my heart for this...

There is nothing more I want from this life but to see clearly and to help in any way I can." 

Laura, Florida

                                                                                                                                             
"I just wanted to say thank you for your kind words and encouragement.
I feel blessed and  privileged that the spirits find me so worthy to work with and also to have such a great mentor as yourself. 

So thanks again and as always, much love."

Nancy, Pennsylvania 

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