I recently took a workshop with a fabulous shamanic healer.

Led by Myron Eshowsky, this workshop was made even more special because my husband joined me, which is way outside of his zone of comfort.

I’m an experienced shamanic practitioner so the shamanic journey comes easy for me, but my husband was just starting out and found it intensely frustrating. Every time the drums started beating, he’d tense up, certain he’d draw a blank rather than see anything. He had no faith he’d receive any guidance or useful visions.

He did what everyone does in the beginning–he told himself he wasn’t doing it right, he was only just imagining, he was making it all up, nothing was happening. Except for anguish. Plenty of that was happening.

This isn’t a rare occurrence. Learning the ancient art of the shamanic journey is so far outside of the Western context, it’s totally disorienting. Frustration is the norm rather than the exception. I knew all this, but this time it was my husband struggling. It was so amazing that he agreed to do this crazy thing with me, so I wanted to fix it for him, make it better. I wanted him to share in this practice that had reshaped my life so powerfully. I got too involved in his process, though I knew better.

The struggle a shamanic journeyer has in the beginning stages of learning is all part of the process.

For those who aren’t familiar with shamanism, the shamanic journey is a technique to bypass the ego by attaining a theta-brain wave altered state of consciousness physically brought about by the repetition of drumming or rattling, and then traveling to one of three shamanic worlds to receive guidance, wisdom, or blessings.

The Three Realms.

The Lower World is the nature realm, where animal and nature spirits dwell. The Middle World is a carbon copy of our 3^rd dimensional reality although discarnate spirits hang out there. And the Upper World is where the higher dimensional beings reside- the angels and ascended masters.

Depending upon where a person needs healing or guidance on any given day dictates where they decide to go on their shamanic journey. The wisdom of the Collective Unconscious can be found within these worlds and great insight can be attained through this ten thousand (plus) year-old practice. For me, it’s a super-magical form of meditation, a place of rejuvenation and spiritual recovery, and a sacred tool for cultivating and harvesting intuition.

The Master.

Myron is a brilliant and skilled healer. He knew Aaron was frustrated. So he had us partner up- I with my husband- and he had us take a journey to the Upper World in order to retrieve information that would assist our partner in their journey process. The drums started beating and I asked my Power Animal to take me Up.

I was surprised when I got there. I guess I was expecting someone more angelic to appear! Nope. It was Steve Jobs. He had just died. Steve showed up to deliver the message Aaron needed to hear, which was wisdom for all of us.

He said, casually and relaxed, that we have lost our ability to imagine in this world. Aaron needs to let go and give himself permission to pretend. “Tell him to make it all up, if that eases his mind”, he said. “What are the odds that out of a million scenarios his imagination could construct, the one that presents is insignificant? Imagination is an infinite doorway that we have to learn to willingly enter. As soon as he opens the door to imagination, his vision will take over, and his frustration will dissipate.”

It worked for Aaron. It totally turned around his experience!

Modern Application.

I can think of countless scenarios in our world where this wisdom applies today.

Seth Godin says this is what is wrong with our innovation, “We’re trained to fit in, not to stand out, and the easiest way in the world to fit in is to never initiate. Don’t speak up. Don’t say anything.” A formula for failure, he writes.

Albert Einstein tried to pass on the same message when he joked about science not giving imagination enough importance. He said, “Creativity is the residue of time wasted on imagination.” He cites his creativity and imagination as leading him to the Theory of Relativity.

When I visualize how much innovation would expand if we all gave ourselves equal time to imagine as we did to logic, I can hardly fathom the benefits to our world. If we allowed ourselves the permission to more frequently luxuriate in the what if.

Imagine the expansion, the new ideas, the solutions, the spiritual and mental freedom that would accompany such a luxury.

Just imagine.

Much Love,

Kristy