This weeks blog - more on accessing the Field and crossing the Veil between the worlds and the importance of Kundalini

For the Kundalini/Umbilini/Num to rise, the shaman must go beyond the constraints of ego. The ego is one of the greatest hindrances to the upward movement of Kundalini energy. One has to subordinate ego to the Higher Self to access the Field. Another block to the flow of spiritual energy is a “block” at the heart chakra. The heart must open for energy to flow freely. Bushman healers acknowledge that it is the ability of the healer to love (no matter what she thinks of the patient) that gives them power to heal. This healing energy is Divine healing energy which can be channeled most powerfully with humility and love. Many American indigenous traditions use plant entheogens to open the heart, transcend ego and introduce neophytes to the mystical realms but our Western bias does not support their use. 

A regular spiritual practice is key to this journey.

                     The principle of polarity balance require that the adept develop a meaningful and enjoyable inner practice in order to keep in touch with “Self” and the Field and maintain equilibrium in an often, hostile world. This observance should be performed almost daily whether it is prayer, Yoga, Tai Chi, meditation or anything else. Africans say; “we pray by singing and dancing” and for many Westerners with a strong cognitive orientation some form of physical spiritual practice works best to get them out of the "monkey mind." Hence the success of Yoga in the West which has a lot to do with polarity balance; standing postures/inversions, flexions/extensions, twists to the left/right, inhale/exhale etc. We do not have to have just one avenue, one can mix up spiritual practices that appeal e.g. hiking in nature and yoga. Anything done for its own sake qualifies as a spiritual practice which means it cannot be done to perform, compete or look good. Playing an instrument, painting, drawing, gardening, surfing etc. all can work.

         Shamanic activities facilitate the right brain, the moon or feminine channel  or yin energy and are by their nature inwardly directed. They include ceremony, ritual, drumming, chanting, singing, dancing, fasting, solitude, meditation and in some cultures the use of mind-altering plants or entheogens that induce a spiritual experience. Today massage, acupuncture/pressure, reiki, rolfing, healing touch, distant healing, meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gong and guided imagery can be part of “Energy Medicine” and depending on the intention would also often qualify as being non local and hence “shamanic.”

A schematic rendition of energy anatomy based on the chakra system. 
The Kundalini is Feminine, Shakti, Vibrational Energy that moves up the Central Channel of the spine energizing the chakras as it ascends. The symbol of the Heart Chakra is the Hexagon.

To go Inward we must "turn" left on the diagram above (not right which is so pervasive in our culture.) The moon channel invokes a relaxation response and is healing - the sun, a sympathetic one which sometimes morphs into flight/fight or survival. Chronic overload of the latter can lead to hypertension and athersoschlerosis due to excess output of adrenalin and diabetes because of too much cortisone secretion into the blood stream. If for no other reason a spiritual practice is still healthful.

        

        There is evidence that the Kalahari Bushmen were aware of this kind of energy at least 28,000 years ago. These healing states have been rendered beautifully as painted images on the rocks and cave walls of the subcontinent. This new and at the same time very old medicine originated on the African plains.

This weeks blog has more on the non local Field and how it can enable distant diagnosis and healing

All healing involves four factors: the healer, the patient, the place where healing occurs, and the presence of a universal "Field" which embraces both healer and patient. The best medicine occurs when patient, healer, and place communicate through the "Field," which itself is not localized in space and time. Healer and patient are both within an infinite cosmic Field of potential supported by the spirit world and governed by the Divine Spirit. By achieving balance and guiding their inner energies or life forces, both healer and patient are able to penetrate deeper into, and harness some of the immense healing capacity of the Field. African, Indigenous healers might call the hidden potential in the Field, the ancestors. They have been practicing non-local medicine for eons.

         I invite you to go on an imaginary journey into the interior of the Kalahari desert. You are a visitor to a group of San Bushmen and have come to observe their ancient healing techniques. One night you are sitting around the fire and the women gathered around start to clap and chant. The men wrap rattles around their legs and begin to dance. You and the breathtaking Kalahari sky are the only other witnesses to an amazing dance that is about to unfold. After a short time one of the dancers staggers, shakes and falls. You look into his eyes and all you can see is a vacant stare. The shaman’s soul has left the body and is soaring into the world of ancestors and spirits to plead for the life of a child who is dying. When the healer’s spirit is ready to return from this “little-death,” the women help the re-entry by massaging the body of the healer with warm sand. The shaman now circles the group with an uncanny ability to “see” the sickness amongst the clan. He lays on hands and rubs sweat into the bodies of those who are ailing. He spends a much longer time with the child who is lying motionlessly under a cover of skins. The dance dwindles and stops shortly before sunrise. Later the following afternoon the child sits up and for the first time in days asks for food. You are still trying to figure out how this shaman could have had his foot in the fire without being burned.

Out of Body Spirit Flight

         

 The Bushman’s healing abilities are peerless because of their hunter-gatherer lifestyle that embraces all the polarities of nature. Although the healers may not be able to read or write their ability to balance the opposites encountered in the wild Kalahari gives them unrivaled control of healing energy. Their ability to heal cannot be separated from their sense of place, the Kalahari, and the diverse polarities they contend with to survive from day to day. They are constantly juggling the opposites that nature provides; hunger and fullness, the scorching heat and the cold of the desert night, terror and tranquility, light and dark and so on. In fact the notion of the sun and moon energies in Yoga is implicit in their lifestyle. Buddha also emphasized the importance of the middle way and this understanding occurred after prolonged contemplation and meditation in nature. 

Nature is a preferred environment not only for spiritual practice but also for healing.

Sangomas from the Bantu tribes of Southern Africa through "possession states" (trance-channeling,) dreams and divination also access the Field for non local diagnosis and healing. No matter what technique is used by the healer there is a certain universal truth that pertains. This is the core belief of balancing the opposites to achieve spiritual equilibrium.

 This ability to move the spirit that heals has probably existed as long as humans have walked the planet and we need to familiarize ourselves with its mechanism. The Hindu Kundalini and the anatomy and bioenergetic behavior of chakras and their energy channels lie at the core of healing. All Southern African tribes believe in a primal snake that rest in the belly that is feminine and the source of spiritual power. They use drumming, chanting and dancing to access this Umbilini (Zulu) or Num (Kung Bushmen.) Balancing these forces empowers the shaman and the inner healer of the patient as well. If we look at ancient texts we can see that thousands of years ago the Yogis described an energy body unknown to modern medicine. This psycho-spiritual model seems universal even though the details may vary.

In Yoga the balance of the masculine, sun and feminine, moon energies energizes the feminine, Shakti, Kundalini energy that resides at the base of the spine, coiled like a serpent, waiting to move. The sun and moon channels spiral around the central axis of the spine all the way up to the crown chakra of the head where the masculine Shiva principle resides. During our usual state of awareness energy oscillates up and down the sun and moon channels leading to our normal state of awareness. With intense spiritual practice energy can be mobilized from the sun and moon channels into the central channel stimulating and impelling the Kundalini Shakti to move upwards. Depending on the level to which it moves up the chakra hierarchy, a greater or lesser intensity of spiritual experience is appreciated.

Any meaningful spiritual practice can be the gateway to accessing the non local power of the Field, spirit guides and Divine Healing Energy which are key to

healing

In this weeks blog we will explore some crucial healing variables

 A. The Triad of Healing

Allopathic medicine; 

Placebo and Nocebo

 Distant Healing or Hexing 

(If distant/remote viewing is real so too is distant diagnosis. Western medicine objects to the idea of Shamanism but is now slowly beginning to accept the term "medical intuitive."

Central to any healing is the Inner Healer of the patient without which no healing could occur. The mysterious ability of the body to heal itself is often taken for granted and without it all healers would be lost.

At the top of the triangle is allopathic medicine, the West's holy grail of healing. The scientific method  (evidence based medicine) is reliant on double blind studies. These are done to exclude the possibility of placebo and calculate the influence the medicine or procedure alone has on the outcome of a condition. This method is not as reliable as we would like to believe since placebo can vary significantly. 

Some Dr's because of their loving bed-side manner will engender a more powerful placebo response. Shamans uses placebo to good effect rather than trying to discount it. This occurs because of their qualities of charisma, calm, competence, confidence as well as their ability to glean vital non local information magically from the "Field." Although the placebo response is usually around 30%, some healers are able to increase this exponentially. In cases of spontaneous remission of diseases that have resisted the best efforts modern medicine has to offer for an incurable condition, the single most important factor resulting in the miracle of spontaneous remission was a firm belief that all was going to be well. 

Total belief can cure almost anything. 

Less well known is nocebo which is the power of belief to hurt, harm or even kill a patient. Few physicians would acknowledge that this occurs in medicine since nocebo is usually the domain of witches or those with evil inclinations. Nevertheless it can occur in the medical profession because of our litigious society. Sometimes if a prognosis is not given or full informed consent for a procedure not delivered the physician may be subject to a law suite. For some patients, attempting to educate and self-diagnose on complex diseases through the internet can create a nocebo response.

The third part of the triad is distant healing and distant diagnosis (its equivalent, remote viewing, has been studied extensively at Stanford University and even by the C.I.A. in the past.) 

There are numerous double blind studies attesting to the power of distant healing. A comparable selection of patients with a disease is divided into two groups. The one group gets standard therapy and the other, standard therapy as well as distant healing from a group of experienced healers. The patients do not know they are receiving this healing and the healers do not know the patients so there is no possibility for a placebo effect. The results with the"healing" group is usually so significantly better that if it could have easily been delivered in pill form one would have felt negligent for not dispensing it. 

Apart from enhancing placebo Shamans rely on the power of distant healing and diagnosis which is facilitated by their spirit guides through the non local Field. This healing that is channeled can be called Divine Healing Energy which is just love in disguise.

It is important to recognize from the figure below that placebo and nocebo work through the power of belief on the Inner Healer to heal or to harm.

On the other hand distant healing or hexing bypass the belief system of the patient to affect the Inner Healer directly. Healing or harming  will occur whether one believes in it or not or knows about it or not.

Placebo and distant healing are generated by love, nocebo and hexing by fear.

B. The Four Crucial Variables in Healing; Patient, Healer, Place and Field

As can be seen in the diagram below healing will depend on the relationships between  healer, patient, "Field" and the place where healing occurs.

To the extent that the healer and patient can access the Field and obtain "non local" information, the healing will be greater. 

If the patient is returning to a dysfunctional home environment or a toxic work place and does not have access to alternative methods of healing, healthy food or nature the healing will suffer. 

The doctor's office and the hospital are also key areas that need to be addressed for healing and preventing harming.

This week's blog quotes

To achieve is to be externally oriented but to attain deeper effects we need to let go of the attachment to accomplish anything.

Goal orientation and rapture are mutually exclusive in the present moment. Dave Cumes

Nature hides her secrets with consummate modesty and speaks usually in an unintelligible tongue.

Charles Huggins

We are all climbing toward the summit of our heart’s desire. Should the other climber steal your sack and your purse and wax fat on the one and heavy on the other, you should pity him. The climbing will be harder for his flesh and the burden will make his way longer. And should you in your leanness see his flesh puffing upward, help him in a step. It will add to your swiftness. Anonymous

A man/women cannot live and temper his/her metal without honor. There is deep within him/her a sense of heroic quest and our modern way of life with its emphasis on security, its distrust of the unknown and its elevation of abstract collective values has repressed the heroic impulse to a degree that may produce the most dangerous consequences. L. Van der Post

The Hero/ine ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder. Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won. The hero/ine comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his/her fellow human. J. Campbell

What wilderness does is present us with a blueprint  of what creation was about in the beginning when all the plants, trees & animals were magnetic, fresh from the hands of whatever created them.  

L. Van der Post

Does “Shamanism” Matter ?

                  Shamanism is the original prototype for non-local healing and hence when discussed in todays paradigm, I am broadening the real definition to include any healing that may involve the “Big Five.”  (Dean Radin; who works at Noetic Sciences has convincingly proven these five paranormal phenomena:)

Telepathy

Precognition

Clairvoyance/audience/sentience

Remote viewing (and one could include diagnosis here)
(If distant healing - now also proven - and remote viewing are real, so too must be distant diagnosis.)

Telekinesis.

In other words I am including all healers who are able to access paranormal events not localized in space and time as having shamanic like powers.

All shamans use altered or ecstatic states of consciousness and even out of body spirit flight to gain knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of the disease or problem at hand. This unique ability may be hereditarily transmitted, arise spontaneously out of a dream or vision (bestowed by the spirit world,) or occur because of election by the tribe. Sometimes the calling arises out of a deformity, disability, illness or even a form of psychosis. In other words, a “wound” may create the shaman thus generating the true “wounded healer” archetype. Some shamans are self-chosen but they do not usually wield as much power. Most shamans have been “called” by the spirit world to do the work they do. 

In Southern Africa this often leads to an infirmity, the cause of which cannot be explained when investigated by Western medicine.  This is called Thwasa or the "ancestor sickness," for instance, incessant headaches or bizarre body pain. When the  individual responds to the calling the illness mysteriously disappears.

         To understand how paranormal healing first began it is vital to appreciate the concept of the shamanic healer. Herein begin the roots of healing which still hold to this day. This is the original medicine!

The shaman represents a contradictory polarity to healing when compared to our modern allopathic paradigm. A psychological or physical wound may cause a member of a tribe to become a shaman. (The average medical student differs in that she may have no overt wound when she begins the training but is usually wounded in the process.) The shaman embraces mystique rather than methodology, the compassionate and the empathetic rather than the objective and the impersonal, the intuitive rather than the rational. Shamanic techniques are a vital part of healing that have been almost totally ignored by Western medicine. The marriage of science and shamanism creates equilibrium and fulfills the requirement of balancing the opposites for more complete healing. The recently created term, medical intuitive is a polite and acceptable term for a Westerner with shamanic or psychic powers. Ideally the physician should not only be cognizant of the latest technology but be part shaman as well since the psycho-spiritual effects of sickness also usually need to be addressed. However, if they find their shamanic abilities lacking, they should at least be open to the fact that these talents can be extremely useful.

Shamanic medicine is medicine not localized in space and time. This might best be understood by an imaginary visit to see a Zulu shaman or sangoma for divination with the “bones.” One would sit on the floor of her healing hut and the sangoma might throw “bones” to divine the status of your health that would go beyond the physical and into the social and psycho-spiritual realm as well. For instance she might tell you what was happening to your son who was living in New York though you are sitting in Kwazulu, South Africa. This is medicine not localized in space. She might tell you what happened to you at an early age which has a profound influence on your current health status. This would be information relevant to your healing not localized in time. C.A.M. or complimentary and alternative medicine, also called integrative medicine is heading painfully slowly  towards medicine not localized in space and time. There are now numerous controlled studies proving that remote non-local healing given by healers without the knowledge of the patient is highly effective. The healer does not need to know the patient and can do the healing from thousands of miles away.