Heal Your Past

. . . Ground and Center Yourself in the Present

. . . Catalyze Your Future

I love doing shamanic work.

Of the many tools in my “toolbox” – chosen at the suggestion of three PhD-level mental health professionals – I believe the greatest potential for the most immediate, deepest, and purest healing and personal change comes from asking Spirit how to best help a client.

And if you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d be doing this work, I would have said, “Yeah, right.”

That said, I believe in it even though it’s less predictable than other tools, and even though some clients are blown away on the spot, some “get it” over the next few days or weeks, and a few wonder if anything happened.

Shamanic healing is like working on a building’s neglected foundation. After all, we all know we should see our doctor and dentist regularly, and many of us see specialized professionals for our minds and bodies, but most of us have never had a practitioner work with our souls/spirits/energy bodies. So the potential for positive change is great.

At the same time, shamanic work is mysterious, in that the results might be unrelated to your immediate specific need – or might seem to be. For example, my wife and I worked with a client who was suffering from pain related to a back condition. The session provided minimal relief for her physical pain, but it opened the door for great healing in her marriage.

“Shamanic healing [is] . . . about helping patients break through the psychic and emotional barriers that stand between illness and wellness.”
– Rabbi Gershon Winkler

What to Expect from a Shamanic Healing Session

Clients typically report feeling lighter and unburdened, empowered, and more focused, motivated, and excited about life. The pain of traumatic experiences is diminished, and physical pains can be alleviated.

Changes are often immediate, but it’s also common for change to set in later. (Three days is common; long-term changes can take months to fully settle in.) It’s also possible for a client to feel physically or emotionally worse for a few days after a session, because shamanic healing, like psychological work, can “bring things up.” I ask clients to commit to contacting me three to four days after a session so I can determine if more work is needed right away. (This work can often be done remotely.)

You should plan for the whole process to take up to three visits (90 minutes each) over several weeks, although it usually takes one or two.

“The shaman and physician for millenia were the same person until the 19th century, when they were split apart in the name of science.”
– Mark Hyman, M.D.

What is Shamanic Healing and How Do I Know When I Need a Shamanic Healer?

Shamanic Healing deals with the spiritual, psychic, or energetic dimensions of illness, healing, and well being: physical, emotional, mental, and psychological.

Statements that alert shamanic practitioners to a need for help include:

• I just don’t feel like myself anymore . . .
• I haven’t been the same ever since . . .
• I felt like I’d been stabbed in the back when …
• I feel like I lost a part of myself when . . .
• I sometimes feel empty inside . . .
• I feel like something in me broke when . . .
• It’s like someone/something has a hold on me . . .

Clients come for shamanic healing:

• out of desperation, when other things haven’t worked
• as a new path to explore inner growth
• for a “tune up”
• as a way to make sure they haven’t left any “stones unturned” in their quest to grow or get healthier

So you needn’t have “something wrong” to benefit from or enjoy a shamanic session. In indigenous societies, the shaman is/was the village doctor, psychologist, and wise person, keeping villagers healthy, bringing them wisdom and guidance, and helping them live their lives more fully.

“A Hollow Reed”

refers to the ideal of serving as a vessel through which healing can pass from Spirit to clients.