Shamanic Healing, Ritual and Practice: A Description

What is Shamanic Healing?

The Shamanic approach to healing and wellness is one that, in broad terms, sees a fundamental connection between intangible, subtle or transphysical phenomena and a tangible expression in our bodies, in our lives and in our relationships with the world and others around us.  It seeks to identify connections between the physical and the non-physical and to provide pathways to resolving challenges, promoting personal growth and achieving healing.

In particular, the Shamanic approach to healing is one that focuses on the expression and integrity of one’s own Personal Power.  It seeks to reclaim the relationship between the self and Power when that relationship has come out of alignment and causes disturbance or suffering. In their role as a healer, the shamanic practitioner works with the participant to locate misalignments and to determine approaches to realign those relationships positively to bring the participant back into their Power.

This can include but is not limited to various shamanic healing process from clearing the energy body to soul retrieval.  It can involve the use of movement, dance, singing or vocalization.  And it can also manifest as specific rituals or sets of rituals – either drawn from the practitioner’s training or co-created with the participant.

Furthermore, there are times when the participant is called to deepen their own personal spiritual or metaphyiscal connections as part of their healing process.  This might mean connecting with spirit allies, strengthening existing relationships with spirits, deities or helpers, or enhancing a spiritual practice – amongst other possibilities.  It also may involve the practitioner serving as an interlocutor for other realms or non-physical beings to offer guidance and perspective in the healing process.

Finally, while various Shamanic traditions may deal with the same sorts of issues and challenges that we experience, they also take different approaches in their resolution.  A common thread that does weave through various lineages is one that ultimately sees the act of Healing itself as one undertaken by the participant, with the practitioner as a facilitator, a witness and a space holder.  From this perspective, the participant is the one taking action rather than merely having action taken upon them.  It is through this dynamic wherein the participant is called back into their own Power to achieve the Healing they seek.