Benefits

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24 May 2023 

1. Shamanism helps you improve mental, emotional and physical well-being.

2. Your spiritual connection and understanding of the energies uplifts.

3. Improvisation in problem solving abilities and creative thinking.

4. Recovers relationships with self and others.

5.  An experienced Shaman like ShaGuru has a superior connection to the natural environment and its energies.

6. Excellent ability to cope with stress, anxiety and boosts self-confidence and self-esteem.

7. Shamanism increases awareness and understanding of the body’s energy systems.

8. Greater access to spiritual guidance and healing.

9. Shamanism builds Stronger connections with ancestors.

10. Increased access to inner wisdom and intuition.

11. Remove negativity from yourself and others.

12.  Improved ability to manifest desired dreams and visions, life changes and transformations. 

Becoming a shaman involves a long and difficult journey of learning and self-transformation.  There is no “right” way to become a shaman, as each person’s journey is different and unique. Yet there are many aspects in which a person must excel while on the path of Shamanism. Some of the important practices includes:-

ShaGuru's Shamanism helps a beginner study and understand the energies, plants, animals, and elements of nature as it is essential for developing your shamanic abilities. It is extremely necessary for a person to have a Shamanic spiritual mentor or teacher to guide you along the path.

A shaman must be willing to dedicate their life to the service of others and to their own spiritual growth. Shamanic learning requires a period of seclusion and fasting to open up to the spiritual realms. 

In ShaGuru's Shamanism we teach effective ways to practice meditation and other spiritual disciplines. Working with spiritual symbols and rituals is a key element of shamanism. A person must develop an understanding of the spiritual world through trance and dream work as it  deepens one's connection to the spirit realms. He must learn to interpret messages from spiritual guides and other sources of wisdom. It is also beneficial to practice soul retrieval and other healing practices to assist others in their healing journey. Shamans often use drumming, chanting, sound wave frequencies and other techniques to access altered states of consciousness. A shaman must be willing to confront and work with their own fears and shadows in order to become more effective in their work. 

Most importantly, becoming a shaman is a lifelong journey and requires a willingness to grow and evolve.

1. You are very selective: You have very few friends or people whom you like to spend time with. You choose not to open up much as you feel many would not understand your real persona. And you are happy being that way. You never feel lonely or bored as you always have wonderful inner thoughts keeping you engaged.

2. You feel uplifted with Nature. You share a special attachment with Nature. For you being in nature means being in the world of ecstasy. You have always felt an extraordinary bond with the animals, creatures, plants and every small creation of nature. You will notice a similar reciprocation from them, you will often find animals coming near you, birds sitting on you, butterflies hovering near you.

3. You have Astral Traveled. You have experienced Astral Projection/ Astral Travel also known as out-of-body experience. It is a phenomenon where a person discovers himself out of his body while experiencing the reality occurring around them, sometimes also being able to see their sleeping physical body.

4. You see and read. You have the ability to read and understand people just through a scan. You feel the quality of the energy a person possesses. This quality of yours would surprise you too, many times you will know the hidden pain, sufferings, traumas of a person in just one glance.

5. Your ancestors were therapists. You have ancestors who were doctors, healers, spiritual practitioners or herbalists. Shamanic cultures believe that the privilege of being a Shaman is derived from ancestors, if you are called to be a Shaman, then someone of your ancestry has definitely been a great therapist.

6. You have a gifted wisdom. You would have often heard your elders say about you that you are mature for your age, or you may have sensed that you have more wisdom than that is appropriate for your age.

7. You are distinctive. You have a special feature that makes you unique, it could be an unusual birthmark, an extra finger or toe, being born with caul during your birth.

8. You have a very intuitive mind. Shamans are born with an extra intuitive mind, many times you sense the possibility of an incident weeks ago. This characteristic also assists a Shaman during a ritual or healing in many ways.

9. You have a connection with spirit beings. You have always felt a deeper connection with spirit beings, you are aware of the importance of existence of each kind of energy of the universe and you sincerely share a positive connection with them.

10. You are fond of helping. You have always been passionate about helping others and serving humanity. You are the happiest when you could successfully help someone in need. 

11. You have a spiritual guide. All through these years of life you have felt a presence of a spiritual power that guides you at every step of life. You might have also been protected and saved multiple times by such powers. You would also have seen spiritual guides and masters visiting you in dreams.

12. You are spiritual. You are well enlightened about the difference between religion and spirituality and you have always felt a pull towards spirituality, many of you would have been curious for spiritual growth since your childhood.  

Shamanism is helpful in healing injuries of the physical body, recovering all diseases, it helps in releasing blocked energy and restoring balance of elements.
With the help of guided visualization and shamanic journeying, people can explore hidden parts of themselves, emotions that were forgotten and travel to different realms to heal oneself physically, mentally and spiritually.
Shamans help a person in identifying and dissolving unconscious or subconscious patterns that are pulling him back from giving out their full potential.
Shamanism helps in restoring the balance of body, mind and soul.
The powerful energies of ShaGuru's Shamanism helps a person get rid of any negative energies like curses, hexes and negative spirits.
One of the most important aspects of Shamanism is to connect with the ancestors and receive guidance from them. 

Practicing Shamanism releases all kinds of negativity, which gradually uplifts the positivity in our life.
Shamanism is highly helpful in personal transformation especially with healing past wounds and releasing old patterns of behavior.

A Shaman is an expert spiritual healer, a mediator of worlds, communicator of supernatural/spiritual entities, plant mediciner, performer of sorcery and is a practitioner of divination. Roles and abilities of a Shaman vary from culture to culture. Some shamans provide physical healing through natural medicines whereas some shamans practice faith healing through magic, prayer and meditation. Many shamans consult the nature or supernatural beings to bring mental peace or to end an emotional suffering of a person.

Shaman's rituals involve chanting, music, drumming, and dancing:
Shamans typically engage the entire local community in all-night ceremonies. During hours of dancing, drumming, and chanting, the shaman may dramatically recount mythological histories and enact struggles in the spirit world. Shamans also have the capacity to engage in sorcery and malevolent magic to harm others.

Shamans undergo an Altered State of Consciousness (ASC):
Shamans use rituals to induce the altered state of consciousness (ASC) typified in a soul journey, where a spiritual aspect departs the body and travels to the spirit world.The overall physiological dynamics of ASC induction involve excitation until exhaustion, which induces the relaxation response, a natural recuperation process. The shaman’s ASC includes: a death-and-rebirth experience, producing a self-transformation; a flight to the lower, middle, and upper levels of the spirit world, reflecting transformations of consciousness; and personal transformation into an animal, enabling the shaman to travel and use special powers.
Shamans have Out-of-Body Experiences:
Shamans are also believed to be spiritually in tune with the unseen dimensions and are said to have out-of-body experiences. Out-of-body experiences can manifest in many ways. In ShaGuru's Shamanism Shamans typically meditate in order to have these experiences. The purpose of an out-of-body experience is so that a religious specialist can travel into the spiritual realms to communicate with spiritual/supernatural entities, have prophetic encounters, or gain specific information.

Shamans possess power that is beneficial as well as dangerous:

Shamans who are associated with such powers are generally thought to be beneficial to the community, but are believed in some cases to use their powers for sorcery. Shaman-prophets and diviners are concerned with predicting the outcome of a situation, relocating lost objects, and determining the root causes of any physical sickness, emotional suffering and communal discontent.

Shamans recover prolonged diseases, bring back lost souls (defined as the separation of some vital aspect of personal essence):

The shaman-healer’s treatment of prolonged diseases are dictated by his guardian spirit, but usually consisted of the shaman ritually sucking the disease agent out of the body, brushing it off with a bird’s wing or drawing it out with dramatic gestures. Illness could also result from “spirit loss.” The shaman-healer’s action was then directed to recovering the patient’s spirit (either the soul or guardian spirit power, or both) and reintroducing it to the body

Most shamans use their special skills to serve their community, their country, or the people they care about. In ShaGuru's Shamanism, Shamans also use their abilities to connect with spiritual beings/nature in order to understand the fundamental truths of existence. Some shamans write about their experiences, philosophies, and visions to help educate the world on the deeper truths they have divined. Some shamans choose to be recluses while others live and function happily in their chosen societies.
Throughout history and across cultures, shaman talents have manifested as shamans being spiritual leaders who have helped their communities through healing, guidance, battle, and peace. There are many different cultures where shamans still have significant influence.

Shamans wear special costumes for religious rituals or healing ceremonies. These costumes are made using various decorations and accessories chosen in accordance with their status. A traditional shaman wears a regalia of which generally represents a bird, deer or an animal. Some tribes use sable, wolf and bear skin for their costumes. In some places, this clothing is decorated with representation of human bones, ribs, arms and finger bones whereas others use representation of snakes, frogs, lizards and other animals. In certain cultures, the skins and claws of helping spirits such as squirrels, rabbits etc. are also hung on the costumes. The belief that makes these costumes important and valuable is that it has a sacredness which symbolizes the spirit helpers, which leads to the connection between the spirit and sky gods apart from their spiritual abilities.

Headdress:

Usually made up of a band into which feathers of various birds are pierced. Some shamans also use beaks of birds to decorate their headdresses. The bird is the most commonly used figure in these costumes and it is identified with the rise of the spirit. The eagle owl is especially one of the most powerful motifs and its feathers are used for the decoration of the headdresses. Skins of the birds such as eagle owl etc. are used to make leather headdresses and their wings remain as an ornament.

Footwear:

Shaman wears boots made of buck leather. Sometimes claws of birds or hooves of deer, sometimes paws of bears are used for decorating it.

Mask:

A mask can really be almost anything; a physical object to hide one's face and be used as a sort of spiritual medium, or even the use of a specific attitude or persona in a certain setting. In some places masks are representations of their guardian spirits, and they believe that they can induce a state of trance by wearing these masks and establish a ‘link’ with the said guardian spirit, and some believe Masks can also be used as a form of protection against supernatural dangers, such as to avoid recognition by the spirits of the dead. Various figures and symbols are drawn on the masks which are made using wood, leather and metals besides animal skin. Hides of the strong animals such as bear, wolf etc. are both designed as masks.

Drums: 

A traditional shaman always carries his most important device, the  drum.  Donkey skin is commonly used for the drums according to research & historical archives. This drum is usually decorated with drawings representing the Upper and Lower worlds and sometimes with human and animal figures. The drumstick is made of wood or horn of animals.

Mirror:

 Also known as Toli, is a copper or bronze plate the shaman wears. The mirror is typically round and ornamented on one side but polished on the other, Toli are traditionally worn as part of a shaman's attire around the shaman's neck, Shamans use mirrors for two major purposes: for divination and as part of their

costume for performance, they are also used to protect the wearer from curses and evil spirits. Tolis have additional purposes, they are used for a variety of practices, including purifying and empowering water, collecting and trapping hostile spirits, and providing a home for helper spirits. They also act as vessels for the shaman's spiritual power. They can also collect and store the power of blessings, or power given from the sun, moon, stars or other parts of the world, all of which can be given to a sick person, or which can be added to the shaman's own power.

Shamanic Smudging is an ancient traditional practice that is done for purifying or cleansing a place or a person. When a place is purified using the smudging practice it adds energies of harmony and peace to the place. Similarly, when a person is cleansed using smudging all his negativity is withdrawn and emotional, mental, and physical positive energies are restored. 

In today's world, many religions practice smudging with modern techniques. You can see the smoke ceremony in Churches during the mass, the bukhoor in the Islamic culture and incense sticks smoldering in the Hindu Temples. The smoke clears out all kinds of negativity and connects with higher realms. In ShaGuru's Shamanism smudging is done with herbs or incense cleanse, purify. protect the physical body as well as the spiritual body. 

When should you smudge?
- Before going to bed after having a busy day.
- Before meditating.
- For maintaining peace and harmony.
- While moving to a new house.
- While having  too many negative thoughts/vibrations.
- After a healing session.
- After you find someone at your place depressed/ angry.
- After any illness.
- After an argument/conflict.
- After you had guests at your place.
- Before giving an attunement.
- Before beginning any ceremonies like weddings.
- While beginning a new job/business.

How to Smudge?
 -Take a seashell/ clay bowl, required herb and feather.
- Place the herb in the seashell/ clay bowl.
- Ignite the herb placed, extinguish the flame after 20-25 seconds.
- Form smoke from the burning herb by waving the feather.
- Let the smoke completely surround you, then take the smoke to all corners of your house.
- Recite prayers while taking the smoke around your house.
- After completion, return the ashes of the herb to the soil.

The Five Elements of Nature are involved in the smudging process.
The shell or clay bowl represents water
The herbs and resins represent the earth,
The feather and wind it creates represent air
The flame used to ignite the herbs represents fire.
The prayers, intention or thoughts represent the space.