Shamanism: ancient healing tools for modern times
MAY 17, 2017 by MONICA HAIM
In our fast-paced, all-tech, hyper-digital, password-centric, bandwidth-reliant world, where robots do things that people used to and apps seem to rule our day-to-day flow, the last words you expect to hear from your friend when you ask for a bit of help is: “I’ll give you my shaman’s number.” But it’s true: shamanism, despite being rooted in some of the most ancient healing traditions, is alive and well today—and more importantly, according to many, it’s a way for us to heal ourselves and our environments.
We listened to a recent lecture by Itzhak Beery, a shamanic teacher and healer who has studied and practiced shamanism for over 20 years, and whose new book, Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for the Modern World, explores ways in which we can tap into, embrace and teach ancient healing modalities right here and now.
What is shamanic healing?
As Beery explains it, shamanic healing is “the collective experience of humans on this earth that teaches us how to heal ourselves.” In ancient times, he says, since we didn’t have modern tools for healing such as aspirin, antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals, people learned how to work with herbs, plants, waters, teas, muds, eggs and other elements around them as a way to heal. Different modalities arose depending on what specific elements each culture or society had around them, which gave rise to many different shamanic techniques and methodologies.
Shamanic healing, he goes on to explain, has two sides: “one is the use of elements that are in our reality, such as plants, trees, rocks, minerals, crystals, movements—the tangible aspects of life; and the other side is the unseen world, the spiritual world.” The shamanic tradition teaches that everything has spirit, both the tangible and the intangible. “We work with those two types of elements together to bring balance back into a person’s life.”
To clarify his definition of the word balance, Beery uses the metaphor of a river flowing. “When it flows smoothly, there is no difficulty,” he says. “The river flows and moves into the ocean, which is a symbol of our life. But when we have rocks or dams or other blocks inside the river, then we start to have white water and hardships in our life.” As such, the whole purpose of shamanic healing—using all the tangible and intangible elements—is to make the river flow again. To create balance in one’s life. This, Beery notes, is similar to the meridian teaching in Chinese medicine, which also aims to cleanse and strengthen the channels of energy that flows through our body.
What does a shaman do?
The job of the shaman is to figure out not only where the blockages exist in this “river of life,” but also why. By utilizing various tools from ancient traditions—such as drumming, chanting, tapping, and the burning of certain candles or leaves, to name a few—he or she will help to unpack key questions about a person, such as: where and when did their life traumas happen? Why are they holding anger or fear in their body, and where are they holding it? Do they have a balance between feminine and masculine energies? Or is one more dominant? Are they too heady or logical and forget about the heart and the intuition?
A shaman’s analysis can happen through methods such as palm readings or candle readings (to name a few), or they can call upon a spirit guide, such as an animal, to journey on their behalf. “You ask the spirit guide to take you to that person’s soul or body to see where that person’s energy is stuck, and what is the cause or reason for that barrier. Sometimes, it’s a barrier of a trauma, sometimes it’s a barrier of physical or sexual abuse, sometimes it’s emotional. Then you can ask, how can I heal that? How can I open that up? What do I need to do to let that river flow again?”
What’s the difference between a shaman and a healer?
According to Beery, the ability to heal is innate to all of us. We are born with it, he maintains, as a built-in survival mechanism, so that we can continue our lives in a positive way. The shaman, however, goes one step further, by taking on the responsibility of being a community holder, or a “keeper of the fire,” as it is referred to in some cultures. This means they take the charge of the spiritual, mental and physical well being of community. “We may not all feel the call to become shamans,” Beery notes. “But we are certainly all healers.”
A shaman’s tips for energy healing
“People have to understand,” says Beery, “that the nature of negative energy is to pull downward, to sink.” To stop such energy from sinking down into our skin, bones and ultimately our organs, Beery suggests we take active steps to release it from ourselves and our surroundings. Here are several things you can do to dispel negative energy:
www.saludmovil.com/shamanism-ancient-healing-tools-for-modern-times
Monica Haim is a writer and producer. In addition to web content on health and fitness, food, spirituality, music, style, entrepreneurship and personal growth, she's also ghostwritten books for celebrities on Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Chronicle, and a NY Times best-selling memoir on Penguin/Random House. She also produced a documentary, Awake Zion, exploring the links between Judaism and Rastafari.
We listened to a recent lecture by Itzhak Beery, a shamanic teacher and healer who has studied and practiced shamanism for over 20 years, and whose new book, Shamanic Healing: Traditional Medicine for the Modern World, explores ways in which we can tap into, embrace and teach ancient healing modalities right here and now.
What is shamanic healing?
As Beery explains it, shamanic healing is “the collective experience of humans on this earth that teaches us how to heal ourselves.” In ancient times, he says, since we didn’t have modern tools for healing such as aspirin, antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals, people learned how to work with herbs, plants, waters, teas, muds, eggs and other elements around them as a way to heal. Different modalities arose depending on what specific elements each culture or society had around them, which gave rise to many different shamanic techniques and methodologies.
Shamanic healing, he goes on to explain, has two sides: “one is the use of elements that are in our reality, such as plants, trees, rocks, minerals, crystals, movements—the tangible aspects of life; and the other side is the unseen world, the spiritual world.” The shamanic tradition teaches that everything has spirit, both the tangible and the intangible. “We work with those two types of elements together to bring balance back into a person’s life.”
To clarify his definition of the word balance, Beery uses the metaphor of a river flowing. “When it flows smoothly, there is no difficulty,” he says. “The river flows and moves into the ocean, which is a symbol of our life. But when we have rocks or dams or other blocks inside the river, then we start to have white water and hardships in our life.” As such, the whole purpose of shamanic healing—using all the tangible and intangible elements—is to make the river flow again. To create balance in one’s life. This, Beery notes, is similar to the meridian teaching in Chinese medicine, which also aims to cleanse and strengthen the channels of energy that flows through our body.
What does a shaman do?
The job of the shaman is to figure out not only where the blockages exist in this “river of life,” but also why. By utilizing various tools from ancient traditions—such as drumming, chanting, tapping, and the burning of certain candles or leaves, to name a few—he or she will help to unpack key questions about a person, such as: where and when did their life traumas happen? Why are they holding anger or fear in their body, and where are they holding it? Do they have a balance between feminine and masculine energies? Or is one more dominant? Are they too heady or logical and forget about the heart and the intuition?
A shaman’s analysis can happen through methods such as palm readings or candle readings (to name a few), or they can call upon a spirit guide, such as an animal, to journey on their behalf. “You ask the spirit guide to take you to that person’s soul or body to see where that person’s energy is stuck, and what is the cause or reason for that barrier. Sometimes, it’s a barrier of a trauma, sometimes it’s a barrier of physical or sexual abuse, sometimes it’s emotional. Then you can ask, how can I heal that? How can I open that up? What do I need to do to let that river flow again?”
What’s the difference between a shaman and a healer?
According to Beery, the ability to heal is innate to all of us. We are born with it, he maintains, as a built-in survival mechanism, so that we can continue our lives in a positive way. The shaman, however, goes one step further, by taking on the responsibility of being a community holder, or a “keeper of the fire,” as it is referred to in some cultures. This means they take the charge of the spiritual, mental and physical well being of community. “We may not all feel the call to become shamans,” Beery notes. “But we are certainly all healers.”
A shaman’s tips for energy healing
“People have to understand,” says Beery, “that the nature of negative energy is to pull downward, to sink.” To stop such energy from sinking down into our skin, bones and ultimately our organs, Beery suggests we take active steps to release it from ourselves and our surroundings. Here are several things you can do to dispel negative energy:
- Take a sea salt bath, or have a swim in the ocean.
- Burn dry leaves, such as sage or pine. The smoke naturally cleanses and burns off bacteria that linger in the air.
- Clapping stones and drumming bring vibrations into a room, and shake negative energy.
- Opening doors and windows are a way to let that energy flow away from the space.
- Spend time in nature, as trees have a way of ionizing one’s energy, which creates a wonderful feeling of freshness.
www.saludmovil.com/shamanism-ancient-healing-tools-for-modern-times
Monica Haim is a writer and producer. In addition to web content on health and fitness, food, spirituality, music, style, entrepreneurship and personal growth, she's also ghostwritten books for celebrities on Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Chronicle, and a NY Times best-selling memoir on Penguin/Random House. She also produced a documentary, Awake Zion, exploring the links between Judaism and Rastafari.