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.

   Hello!

I'm Steve, and I am the head instructor at Shamanism 101. I've worked hard to gather the practices, techniques and rituals that together, provide the most comprehensive, accessible, thorough and professionally oriented core shamanism training class series in the world today. Under the direct mentorship of Shamanism 101, your instructor will observe and validate that you have developed the necessary skill base of core shamanism, which is the essence of what countless generations of shamanic practitioners have discovered, gathered, and passed forward through history and from around the world.

This is a three stage curriculum that can last from one to two years, depending entirely on your committment and effort. 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 passed on.

Individually.

And you will not really be learning, but rather, becoming.
 

             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. 


To achieve this, shamanic students throughout history have sought the personal mentoring, encouragement, direction and validation of someone who has successfully made such shifts. This can't be found over the course of a weekend, or even ten weekends. Perhaps the most important aspect of shamanic training is that teachers instead, need to closely monitor their students throughout the entire course of their education. Today, even among the most personal and thoughtful instructors, extended individual supervision has been lost nearly everywhere.

And understandably so, for the problem is not a lack of interest on the part of the better teachers, but of simple inability. I certainly know I couldn't provide individual mentoring for everyone in an entire class over a weeklong or even two-week retreat, much less during a short weekend. I don't think anyone can.

Until now, that's about all that was available to us.

A serious teacher needs to watch their students grow, and provide them with feedback throughout their training. 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.

That's what led to Shamanism 101. I have done my best to collect and clearly detail the best in everything you need to understand, know, be sensitive to and integrate for a strong and thorough course of shamanic training. Some of the units will take a considerable amount of time and effort, and you will need to cut out the time and space in your life to meet the challenges of this course series. Meeting challenges and surmounting them is something you will do repeatedly, but the effort is worth it because in the end, you will become a grounded, balanced, skilled and capable practitioner.

Over the past four or five decades, shamanic teachers scoffed at the idea of certifying their students as shamanic practitioners, but that was because the way they taught, they couldn't! Fact is that shamanic students since the dawn of time have received the acknowledgement of their teachers. More recently and because of a demand on student's part for some kind of testimony that their money, time and study could translate to the general public with some kind of record, some weekend and retreat teachers have started to provide a document that a student showed up in their class. However, without any direct mentoring, these teachers have simply created 'practitioner mills' and are unable to certify their students' demonstration of competency.

It's your effort and heart that will make the most of your training. Yes, you will assuredly be mastering techniques, shamanic practices and ritual. But these are just part of how we learn shamanism, for it's who we are in the world that is the real deal-breaker. Shamanism is much more than becoming adept at shamanic techniques and practices. And, yes, certification through a teacher's observation and validation is certainly a goal and an important one. However shamanism must be seated in your bones and heart. This is meaningful shamanic training, the 'old way'.

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, 2011 (from the forthcoming text, The Bridge)


You can do this. You can become the bridge. Becoming a capable practitioner is quite manageable, very matter-of-fact and perfectly safe when protocols are followed correctly. 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 ancestral spiritual sites and constructed their foreign churches on top of them. Entire populations (our ancestors) fell to their swords, and later guns. Especially hunted were the educators, who were usually the local priests of indigenous spiritualities. They were slaughtered.

Today, these religions are not foreign. They won, centuries passed, and we forgot.

It is time to take back that which is ours. Shamanic training is enlightening, deeply satisfying, and brings insight as well as wisdom. Yet because of efforts to eradicate indigenous spiritualities, shamanic practices have today 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 psychopomp, power retrieval, divination, extraction and soul retrieval. It is crucial  that practitioners are once again available to do such important services, and that among such practitioners, there are those who are trained sufficiently to spread our shamanic return through teaching.

Yes, there will be initiations and challenges, yet nothing will be put forward for you to experience without a good reason for your understanding of it. 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



These are the sorts of things that were important to me as I put this shamanic training site together.

First, 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, I realized that students also wanted training to be comprehensive and not metered out in expensive bits and pieces, and that they wanted - and needed - a continuing relationship with their teacher, for they were not simply developing healing and divination skills, but much, much more.

For instance, there were growing relationships with their spirit helpers, a deepening understanding of their relationship with the Earth, a complex ethical sensitivity, an increasingly profound posture with respect to their shamanism itself... So, I brought together the best information and experience I had and created this a step-by-step curriculum so that each student would have an absolutely firm foundation and that each successive skill-set would be thoroughly grounded on all of the ones before it. 

Moreover, 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 be spread through something as modern as the internet. It has been close to two years since my online mentoring began, and today, shamanic training is being accessed throughout the world.

I love to hear the somewhat threatened remarks by teachers who would rather see students in their weekend classes. I chuckled aloud when a student of mine remarked how they heard such a teacher exclaim, "Study on-line? That's rediculous. No one can learn shamanism over the internet!" Well, going on close to a hundred successful students are happily demonstrating how wrong that teacher is. Online shamanic training has already proven its effectiveness, and students continuously tell me how remarkably well and assuredly their training unfolds.

It has been my goal to bring excellence in shamanic practice to as wide a reach as possible so I have had and still have quite a number of students throughout the world, stretching from Ireland to New Zealand, and from Ontario to South Africa. However, I am always working with one student at a time. You and I develop a personal relationship in our shared goal of mentoring you towards becoming a well-educated, professional shamanic practitioner, and you will recognize that this is who you are becoming long before you complete your series.


  “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


To complete this series, you be working through 36 challenging, hands-on units of shamanic study and growth that will take you deep into nature, deep into the spirit world, and deep into yourself. Yet this is much more than an educational and skill-building series; to learn shamanism means reestablishing and developing our connection with the Earth, recognizing our vulnerabilities and strenghtening ourselves, releasing that which no longer serves us and opening the egoless 'hollow bone' so that we can work powerfully and fearlessly with others and closely with our helping spirits. Your shamanic training must fan the flame of your ethical compassion, empower your intention, and develop your awareness as you reach deep inside for humility and integrity. Shamanic practice is a spiritual practice that comes from the heart. To embody this is the mark of a true practitioner.



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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