The Benefits of Shamanic Journeying
Today, we're going to discuss the benefits of shamanic journeying. When you embark on any shamanic modality for healing, self-discovery, or exploring the past and future, you're not only tapping into these experiences, but you're also receiving various benefits that can train your mind and subconscious for everyday life.
I'd like to draw some insights from the book "The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World" by Alexander Beiner. While the book primarily focuses on psychedelics, I believe the benefits are similar when it comes to shamanic journeys. Although the experiences differ, the advantages apply to both. Let's delve into these benefits.
Two of the most apparent benefits of shamanic journeying are enhanced creativity and intuition.
When you engage in a shamanic journey, you're essentially using your subconscious mind to access altered states of consciousness and alternate realities. From a spiritual perspective, this means opening yourself up to different dimensions and realms that go beyond our ordinary physical reality. This process trains your mind and subconscious, making them more flexible and resilient when you return to your regular daily life.
To explain, when we refer to creativity and intuition, we're not just talking about the information derived from your physical senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch). Instead, we're sharpening the brain centers responsible for these faculties. Even though the information comes from a different reality or dimension, it feeds into the same processes and sensory models in your brain and subconscious, thus expanding your perceptual range and the scope of your thoughts and ideas.
Now, let's discuss four specific elements drawn from Alexander Beiner's book that I believe are highly applicable to shamanic journeying:
1. Flipping: Shamanic journeying helps you learn to switch between realities. As you sit in your room, rattling or drumming, blindfolded and journeying, you alternate between being aware of your physical surroundings and the alternate realm you're exploring. This practice strengthens your ability to hold multiple worldviews simultaneously, which is invaluable in your everyday life, where you often find yourself in various roles and situations that require different perspectives.
2. Grounding: During a shamanic journey, you remain grounded in your body and breath. Even as your mind explores other dimensions, you retain control over your physical body, enabling you to return to the present moment at any time. This grounding is essential for staying centered in your daily activities.
3. Blending: The blending aspect of shamanic journeying involves weaving two worlds together to create something new. By maintaining your awareness in multiple realities and in both your mind and body, you expand the spectrum of possibilities and options available to you. This heightened level of creativity and intuition allows you to craft more innovative solutions to challenges you encounter.
4. Twisting: Shamanic journeying encourages your mind to twist, flex, and embrace new perspectives. You become more adept at accommodating contradictions and complexities, allowing you to navigate intricate situations and acquire new knowledge rapidly. This means you're not confined by rigid logic and can accept multiple truths simultaneously. This enhanced flexibility and openness contribute to your ability to relate to yourself and others and to address various issues in both ordinary and spiritual realities.
In summary, shamanic journeying offers a multitude of benefits. It not only boosts creativity and intuition but also equips you with the ability to flip between realities, maintain grounding in your body, blend ideas and worlds to create novel solutions, and twist your mind to accept new perspectives and possibilities. These skills extend beyond the shamanic realm, enhancing your capacity to navigate the complexities of everyday life.
If you're interested, I recommend checking out the book "The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics Can Help Us Make Sense of the World" by Alexander Beiner. It offers valuable insights into these concepts and more.