As stories of healing come in, I like to add them to this page. However, because of the sensitivity and confidentiality of healing work, such anecdotes are often only known between specific practitioners and their clients. It helps, I think, to hear of such stories because they have the potential to extend our vision and understanding of shamanic healing in an era that has largely forgotten this. Whether we are a potential shamanic practitioner who is looking at training, or a potential client considering seeing a practitioner, it helps to know of real situations to understanding exactly what can be hoped for. Not Able to Breathe I started out by Calling in the Directions with the use of my rattle. I sat down with my son laying on his bed across from me. I used my rattle to journey to the upper world to meet up with my spirit teacher. My spirit teacher, the one that I have been working with previously in this level, was waiting for me and immediately started singing the healing song for my son. As he continued singing it, I felt him merge with me and we both began singing it. The song, again, was words that I did not understand and went something like this, “Aom glidesh valtrome” It had a very soothing melody to it. My spirit teacher told me that (my son) was to sing this song whenever he gets sick. Once I was sure I had the song memorized I thanked my spirit teacher and unmerged with him. At this point, in the Inuit tradition, my son and I sat across from one another holding hands and rocking back and forth while we sang the healing song. As he began to commit the song to memory, I became more quiet while he continued to sing. I was bursting forth with pride and had such a smile on my face because he sang his little heart out so seriously. I am truly impressed with his ability to feel shamanism and the principles in his core being. Later on in the evening when I was walking past his bedroom, I heard him singing the song. What is really amazing is the next morning bright and early he came into my bedroom to tell me he felt so much better. As the day went on I could tell he was much improved. This is unusual for him because when he gets an upper respiratory infection or cold, he usually needs an antibiotic to fight it. Both my son and I said thank you to my spirit helper for the healing song.” What an absolutely beautiful experience this was for this practitioner and her son! My heart becomes completely warmed hearing such reports. This particular practitioner is someone I know who follows healing protocols very closely, and I believe it is this, in addition to her exceedingly close relationships with her spirit helpers, that make her work so effective. Then, the practitioner went to do a healing with her spirit helpers. What the spirits and the practitioner were not healing was an 'infection' or a 'cold'. They were working together on spiritual things that may or may not be related to any physiological phenomena. Certainly, healing approaches with a hope that whatever suffering is happening will cease or lessen. However, if that happens, it is because everything is deeply interconnected between the spiritual and the mundane. To be certain though, it was not a 'cold' or an 'infection' that was healed. These are from a different paradigm entirely from that which is shamanic. … I feel blessed and privileged that the spirits find me so worthy to work with... I know what you mean when you say it 'warmed your heart' when I wrote about my son and the song doctoring. He continues to sing his song and is almost back to his normal self. All this with no antibiotics or doctor visits! I continue to be blessed with more practice clients that are truly amazing open people. My life is so much more enriched by their presence. Not only do I teach them about shamanism and the empowerment within themselves, but I continuously learn from each and every one of them which enhances my growth as a practitioner. So thanks again and as always As with any practitioner, this woman’s effectiveness assuredly has a lot less to do with any mentoring I ever did, than her own strong practice and her deep relationships with her spirit helpers. I invite you to read the stories of shamanic healing below, yet keep in mind that there are many things going on in a person’s life other than matters that are spiritual. Shamanism is a spiritual healing practice. We understand that there are spiritual aspects to our world and for this reason, that shamanic healing can be effective. Know the limits of shamanic practice: shamanism works strictly with spiritual dimensions of ‘being human’, and these may or may not be related to matters such as an illness that may or may be present. It is also important to remember that one can never promise an outcome. Everything that a practitioner does only facilitates the spirits’ work: what comes from any shamanic healing practice is strictly in the hands of the spirits, and it would be worse than misleading to suggest otherwise. Also, there is always the potential for numerous issues to be at stake that are entirely non-spiritual. For this reason, whenever a practitioner suspects a non-spiritual element in a client’s situation, referral to an appropriate licensed caregiver is always necessary, whether on ethical, practical, or legal grounds.
First, it is imperative to know the scope of shamanic practice so as not to confuse it with other healing modalities. For instance, shamanic healing is spiritual work and not medical, psychological or even social service in nature. I suggest reviewing the shamanic healing article on this site in order to not get a false impression of what shamanic healing may or may not be.
With this information, our understanding of our practice can deepen and broaden, as we hear the reports of our colleagues and friends. Naturally, all material remains confidential, and thus anything potentially identifying any specific client has been altered.
“My son… was sick with a cold and complaining of how stuffed up he felt. He was having trouble sleeping because of not being able to breathe. I felt so bad for him because he is constantly getting sick with upper respiratory infections because of his lung issues. I asked him if he would like me to perform a song doctoring. I explained a song doctoring in terms that he would understand and he seemed very open and excited to have one performed for him.
It is nice to read such material, yet it is important to be very clear about what has and what has not been done. In the contemporary world, it is all too easy to mix medical and shamanic paradigms, since practitioners are usually familiar with both. For instance, this practitioner is referring to her son's 'upper respiratory infections', 'colds', and 'antibiotics'. These are medical terms that mean a confluence of specific physiological things.
We can, however, say that 'not breathing easily', not sleeping' or 'feeling badly' were targets of healing. I wrote her back and told her how it warmed my heart to see her work so successful. A few days later, she wrote again, and said:
“Dear Steve,
Much Love :):
Sinus and Chest Problems
"I have been sick lately, bronchitis and with a recurring sinus infection, so we actually had an observational healing on my own physical body… I found that when I entered the upper world there was nothing, just pure white light, and I saw a women standing there. She was short, and a little round, with her hair tied back. She had a dress on that looked like some of the people in South American areas wear, and her presence was strong and comforting."
"She told me her name was Maria, and invited me to join with her as she healed my lungs. I was drawn into her, and I was observing her kneel down in front of my physical body as though looking out from inside of her. In one hand she held a jar, and through her I saw the way she perceived my body and my energy body, like a misty x-ray. My lungs were full of something green and she began reaching in and pulling it out. It looked like handfuls of seaweed, and she placed it into her jar. She told me I should take that jar and bury it in the sacred Earth to destroy the illness inside."
"The next day, I went to the doctors, and my lungs showed no sign of bronchitis, or infection. I experienced real healing, and I discovered a new way of looking into the energy body that I can continue to exercise and experiment with for myself."
"…these journeys filled me with a sense of renewal and power in their support and work with me, and I think it helped me overcome some doubt issues that I have been dealing with, so I am ending this week feeling great!"
Once again, the 'presenting problem' as seen by the client (who was also a practitioner) is looked at as 'bronchitis' and 'infection', both of which are medical terms used to designate specific physiological symptoms and their antecedents. Now, it is true that when she returned to such physicians that from their medical lens they could see 'no sign of bronchitis or infection', this would be from a medical perspective.
However, the healing that was done was spiritual healing, from which we might easily infer that there was an effect in physical phenomena. This is always hoped for whenever such healing is undertaken, however it is important that practitioners recognize that what is being 'healed' are not the physical illnesses as understood by the astounded physicians.
'My Chest Hurt'
"Thursday afternoon I traveled to the upper world to meet a Healer who had passed on. I went to my teacher and asked her if she could introduce me to such a person and she did. I spoke to him (a Healer who had passed on) briefly explaining to him… that I wish to merge with him so I could learn from him and his experiences. He agreed. The first time we went to merge I had a little difficulty and so I stepped back and took a deep breath, nerves I am sure."
"The second time we merged it just didn't feel right. I had a hard time breathing. I felt like I had all kinds of knowledge but unsure how to use it, I felt like my body had aged, at one time I thought he had died from a heart attack and I was feeling that, but remembered that once you die you leave your broken body on Earth so it couldn't be that. I just couldn't pinpoint it. I just knew that my chest hurt, not his (the deceased Healer with whom she had merged)."
"I decided to end the merge, and once it was broken, he told me to ‘lift the weight off my chest and I would be fine’. I did not know what he meant and I should have asked him, but at the time I was rattled and will admit it. This morning, Friday, I went to see my doctor for asthma and while there was telling her how much my chest hurts when I cough. Long story short it turns out after ultra sounds etc I have a hernia under my breast bone."
"…I knew when I got up this morning I had to go to see my doctor. I knew the journey was important and that what he said to me was an important message not to taken lightly I just didn't expect the news I got obviously…"
"...I thought for sure I was ‘losing it’ and I had done something wrong. The (spirit) healer I met with, I never got his name but I know I will meet with him again. The entire meeting was like a Broadway show being played out in front of my eyes and as soon as he knew I was in danger, our senses kicked in together and I knew the merge had to end. He gave me the best information he could and he has saved my life, literately."
"Hello Steve,
I wanted to share the following experiences with you:
During my last trip to the city, two weeks ago, I picked up a couple of stones in a new age store. I did not choose them as much as they chose me; as soon as I picked them up, I felt a strong energy from them, moving right through my chakras. The store employee called them Polychrome Jasper. I purchased them, thinking they would be good for meditating with.
A few days ago, intrigued as to their nature, I held the stones in my hands, connect with them, and asked what their purpose was. I silenced my mind to listen to the stones, words came to mind; to remove fears, to calm, to give courage, to inspire, and this is very interesting ‘shamanic stone for journeying’. Seeking confirmation, I looked up their attributes in a crystal book. I was reassured to find the following purposes for these stones; facilitates shamanic journeys and dream recall. Helps align chakras, encourages honesty, and brings courage.
The next day, I held the stones in my hands during an upper world journey. I met one of my spirit guides, Cecilia. She brought me to a secluded area in a treed ‘park’. We sat together, in an open grassed circle, on stone benches…
I returned to the circle and asked Cecilia for a healing for my husband’s skin condition (he has been combating this rash for a couple of months, we had tried almost everything on, without positive results), Cecilia gave me a handful of energy that appeared like a cloudy substance. I quickly blew it into one of my shamanic stones, returned to middle world real time and informed my husband that I had returned with healing energy for him. With my husband’s permission, I blew the energy from my stone into his heart chakra, and then into his crown chakra. I also returned with the knowledge that a shampoo and an ointment containing tar would be helpful. Yesterday, one day after receiving the healing energy, and using the ‘remedies’, my husband’s rash has greatly improved. His ears, the worse area affected, are now clear of any redness or scabs. The rash on his arms and legs has greatly improved.
That’s it!"
So who is to say exactly what is going on. We do not have a clear etiology of phenomena in shamanic work, meaning without jargon, that we cannot step by step determine a specific series of unfolding causes and effects between, in this case, a 'cloudy handful of energy' blown into a stone of jasper, tar remedies provided by a spirit, and the reduction of skin redness or scabs. We are quite willing to resist proposing that jasper or tar effects changes on a human body in the same manner as the medications or protocols that physicians had prescribed, but again, as in the examples provided above, it would be equally hard to resist the implication that in some way a healing was facilitated.
My recommendation is to first become very clear about what is shamanic, and what is medical and physiological. A shamanic practitioner can ask for healing for chest pain, but cannot ask for a healing for bronchitis. Why? Because bronchitis means specific factors resulting in specific physical consequences. Bronchitis refers to specifically physiological causes and effects.
But chest pain? Yes, for this we can ask for healing. 'Chest pain' does not refer to a medical paradigm, where 'bronchitis' specifically does.
This is a delicate matter, this teasing apart of what is shamanic within the larger context of a medically informed present era. However, this is the work of the shamanic practitioner.