Shamanic Therapy
It is our natural state to be healthy and happy. All our physical and psychological systems are in constant flux, striving to find the point of balance where our wellbeing is assured. Only when that balance is thrown out of alignment do we experience illness, pain or loss of function. All healing therapies work alongside our natural processes to promote or re-start our own natural healing mechanisms. Shamanic Therapy is a perfect example of this.
Shamanism is the oldest form of healing and spirituality known to humans and has been practised for at least 150,000 years in every human culture all over the world. Our hunter gatherer ancestors knew that only a deep connection to their natural habitat would keep them alive and safe. Food, medicine, shelter, tools, clothing – all the essentials to human existence were to be found in nature, but only if you knew how and where to look. The Shamans used their ability to enter a shamanic trance in order to determine which plants had medicinal properties, where there were animals to hunt, how to use the materials around them.
Shamanism helps us re-connect with our authentic, natural selves, to access the body and mind’s innate wisdom alongside the wisdom of the natural world so that we become healthier, better functioning adults and can take our place in the world for the greater good.
In shamanism, there are two main reasons why we get ill; power loss and soul loss. Both are caused by weaknesses in our natural defences against external harms. Our protective layer becomes thin or develops holes through which we ‘leak’ parts of ourselves, or these weak areas allow external harms to enter our field. The symptoms are common; tiredness, sleep disruption, infection or illness, low mood, dysfunctional behaviours, a feeling of ‘something is missing’.
Shamanic healing is a safe, gentle, profound way to deal with deeply entrenched unhealthy patterns. See Valerie Shipp’s practitioner page for more details about what a shamanic therapy session entails.
If you want to know more about shamanism, you can visit www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk. This is the website of my teacher, Paul Francis, and I also recommend his books for further research.
