When a friend suffered a recent bout of back pain, he not only made an appointment with his primary care provider—he also consulted a spiritual healer, or shaman. Not surprisingly, their approaches were worlds apart.
His physician prescribed a short course of painkillers and told him to take it easy for a few days. The shaman, who was also a licensed acupuncturist, used acupuncture on his back, legs and hands to unblock his chi, or energy…placed a volcanic healing stone at the base of his spine…and circled around him while rhythmically drumming.
Who knows which did the trick, but my friend was soon back on his feet.
I can guess what you’re thinking—acupuncture is proven, but stones and drumming? I understand, but I also urge you to read on. Although the evidence that shamanism works is largely anecdotal rather than scientific, there are a good number of people who are convinced, from personal experience, that shamans have helped them overcome a wide variety of health problems including depression, anxiety, migraines and indigestion—not to mention relationship and career dilemmas. So it’s worth knowing a bit more about this ancient form of healing and how it might help you.
Shamanism embraces a variety of spiritual traditions passed down from indigenous peoples around the world. Yet despite their extraordinary range of backgrounds, training and practices, shamans hold one key belief in common: The goal is to heal you in mind, body and soul. That’s one thing I learned from calling New York City-based shamanic practitioner Itzhak Beery, who was trained primarily in Ecuador (where shamanic traditions are very strong) and has led shamanic workshops in the US, Israel, Italy, Switzerland and Holland.
Beery told me that shamanic training is traditionally done through a hands-on apprenticeship that consists of ceremonies and nature trips. One critical part of training, he added, is to “open the third eye” or “see” spirits, entities and ancestral lines and learn how to communicate with them. All shamans carry this gift, he said, but training teaches each one how to access that gift.
As for what to expect when visiting a shaman, Beery told me that no two shamans are the same. But he described what he might do in a typical session with a patient and said that Daily Health News readers could get the flavor from that…
It begins with a discussion of the client’s concerns followed by a candle reading to assess the underlying problem. You stand and rub an unlit candle all over your body and the candle absorbs your physical and spiritual energy. Then the shaman lights the candle. In the flames, the shaman can see events that happened to you in the past (almost like a hologram floating in space) and how they are impacting you in the present. Beery then reads your palm to confirm his findings. For instance, if Beery “sees” a traumatic event in the flame of the candle, he’ll then look for indications of trauma in the person’s palm lines.
The shaman then performs a cleansing ceremony to remove negative energy and replace it with positive, healing energy. While it sounds wacky, Beery starts by blowing purified sugarcane rum over your entire body and burning sage around you. Then he rolls unbroken eggs over body parts to absorb negative energies (such as the back for back pain and the abdomen for digestive disturbances). To create a protective field around you, Beery circles you with sacred volcanic healing stones from the Andes, which carry the power of fire and mountains. Throughout the ceremony he chants, sings, drums and plays other instruments to unify you physically, spiritually and emotionally. In other sessions, he may use acupuncture.
There is no single accepted certification program for shamanism. Beery said that you can find one through word of mouth or by browsing through his site, www.ShamanPortal.org, where you can learn about different approaches and read client testimonials. Fees vary but are typically $100 to $300 per session. Health insurance doesn’t cover shamanism, but insurers have come around to accept acupuncture and other alternative therapies, and Beery hopes that one day they will do the same with shamanism.
It’s important to note that shamanic healing does not replace conventional medicine. Instead, shamanic treatment is intended to complement it. For example, in one case, Beery helped discover a heart problem in a patient that she didn’t know that she had. He saw disturbances around her heart during a candle reading, and her cardiologist subsequently treated it. Beery told me that many clients consult him because they are frustrated that conventional medicine focuses mainly on suppressing symptoms rather than treating the underlying cause. So if you feel “off” and don’t know why or you are struggling with a health problem that conventional medicine can’t seem to fix, you might consider suspending your disbelief momentarily and give the (admittedly weird!) traditions of shamanism a try.
