What is Shamanic Healing?

Shamanic healing is a form of therapy that seeks to alter a sick person's energy to fix or restore damage in that energy field. Shamanism is a mix of magic, homeopathic medicine, spirituality, and folklore that is rooted in the belief that the human body, psyche, and emotions are all so closely interconnected that by remedying one's energy, physical ailments can also be healed. Many different cultures and religious around the globe practice their own forms of shamanic healing, although most are remarkably similar.

At one time, shamans were considered the primary healers in their respective cultures. It was their purpose to serve their communities' well-being. Most people today prefer modern medicine to shamanic healing. There is, however, an increasing awareness even among modern-day physicians of the role that traditional, spiritual healing methods can play in improving health. This is particularly true in chronically ill people and those suffering from psychiatric and mental disorders.

This type of energy healing works by applying the healing traditions and ceremonies of the shaman to the patient, and more specifically to the patient's spirit or soul. Often, shamanic healing involves the shaman entering a trancelike state, in which he can identify the damage to a person's energy. Shamans believe that exposure to loss, trauma, and stress can cause parts of a person's energy, or soul, to become damaged or fragmented. In a way, shamans are often compared to psychologists because they search for suffering in the subconscious so that they can affect the conscious.

The practice of soul retrieval is said to help restore missing energy to a person's soul. Many ill people who have participated in soul retrieval ceremonies have reported an improvement in their health afterward. Some even report looking years younger as a result.

Another type of energy restoration involves the aura, a membrane that surrounds the human body and many believe can be captured in photographs with specialized cameras. Many people believe that, from birth, this membrane is vulnerable to damage. Shamanic healing works to find breaks in this energy field, and repairing that damage.

Energy healing is not very common in today's society, but a small number of shamans continue to keep it alive. In addition, people who have exhausted all other available forms of healing with no results continue to seek help in restoration shaman healing techniques. In the US, this often means traveling to American Indian reservations or areas of the country with large pockets of immigrants who have brought with them the shamanic traditions of their ancestors.